Preface

Since the start of the century, the world has been facing quite a substantial setback in foreign direct investment (FDI). The reasons for this could be the saturation happening in some economies (China, Central and Eastern Europe) or even disappointment, because in some cases FDI did not meet basic expectations of the receiving countries.

These events are in a way sanctioning the theoretical debate on FDI as well as the discussion surrounding mergers and acquisitions.

This book is organized into two sections.

The section on "Selected Perspectives on International Capital Flows" includes two chapters. The first chapter provides a deep analysis of how a weak business climate can cause foreign direct divestment. The chapter highlights the externalities of foreign direct divestment and suggests some ideas to overcome the related global negative impact, which is likely to be significant in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The second chapter in this section highlights some of the most important impacts of FDI that are subject to inverse processes later. The chapter discusses drivers of these processes and searches for different patterns, obviously often deriving outside economic rationale from the position of a developed market economy. Based on their expertise, the authors connect concrete findings of their study with possible drivers of divestment.

The section "Regional Specific Issues of Foreign Direct Investment and Divestment" consists of four chapters.

The first chapter identifies the location drivers and barriers influencing FDI in the hotel sector in selected Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries. Results of the study show that hotel-specific variables and country-specific factors influence FDI flows in MENA countries. In addition, the study exposes taxation, level of investment freedom, and political instability as the most important barriers to these processes.

The second chapter in this section highlights the behavior of global investors in five Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) stock markets at the industry level. The authors add important information to the topic of ASEAN capital market integration. The results of the study show that there are still differences in the level of integration between countries and industries in ASEAN, however, they also prove that the Indonesian capital market provides the greatest benefits to global investors, giving them the opportunity to utilize all Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) industrial sectors as a reliable portfolio.

In the third chapter, the authors discuss prospects and trends in how diaspora investment can help to achieve sustainable development goals in Africa. The chapter argues that governments, financial institutions, the private sector, and the diaspora itself

should view diaspora investments as part of the development financing mix, especially as part of blended finance' packages.

The last chapter of this section highlights the application of consistency fuzzy preference relations in order to select a strategy that attracts FDI in developing supporting industries for Vietnam. The authors prove that institutional policies, domestic supply capacity, human resources, and technological development, coupled with innovation, are the key criteria to consider when selecting a strategy that attracts regular FDI. Furthermore, analytical results presented in this chapter demonstrate that the best strategies for attracting FDI to Vietnam are those that motivate sustainable economic growth on an ongoing basis.

I would like to thank IntechOpen for giving me the opportunity to edit this book. I would also like to thank all the authors who responded to the call for chapters and submitted manuscripts to this book. I think that the valuable contributions included in this book are important assets for the professional community.

> **Anita Maček** University of Applied Sciences FH Joanneum, Graz, Austria

> > Doba Business School, Maribor, Slovenia

> > > **1**

Section 1

Selected Perspectives

on International Capital

Flows

## Section 1
