Studies On External Condition And Internal Motivation Of U.S. Outward Direct Investment

The United States is the most developed capitalist country and poses.significant influence to the world economy. After the world war two, especially the 1990s, with a rapid development of the multinational corporations, international direct investment increases dramatically and greatly promotes the development of economy of the home country, host countries and the whole world. The American multinational corporations have played a dominant role in western multinational corporations and U.S. outward direct investment remains prior to that of other western countries. Therefore, to study and analyse the external condition and internal motivation of the development of U.S. outward direct investment is of important theoretical and practical significance.This thesis contains four parts. The first part analyses the development and characteristics of U.S. outward direct investment with specific figure. In this part, the whole development process of U.S. outward direct investment is divided into three periods:the first period is confined to pro-world war two. During this period Canada and Latin America which are near the United States are the main targets of U.S. direct investment, and manufacturing and mining are the main industries that U.S. invests to; The second period is from the end of the word war two to 1980s. With the development of science and technology and the improvement of transportation and communication, the U.S. outward direct investment grows rapidly, and it mainly flows into the western countries. The manufacture and service industry, however, gain more favor. The third period is from 1990s to now. During this period, the global economy enlarges the scale of U.S. outward direct investment, and at the same time more and more developing countries are gaining the attraction. Service industry has taken place of the manufacture industry, and multinational merge becomes the main way of outward investment. The second part of the thesis analyzes the external condition of the U.S. outward direct investment through four aspects:development of the technology, globalization, the U.S. government's promotional policies and the target countries'adjusted policies. The rapid growth of the technology promotes the internationalization, and deepens the international association. All of these provide a possible and beneficial condition to the U.S. outward direct investment. Economic globalization includes trade, finance and investment globalization. The trade globalization provides the new energy, and finance and investment globalization create the good condition for the enlargement of the U.S. outward direct investment. The U.S. government's supports on the tax guarantee, finance and information service make it possible to enlarge and expedite the investment.In the targets countries, market economy gains more favor, and the quality of the labor gets better and better. In addition with the encouraging policies, the U.S. direct investment is attracted and encouraged a lot. The third part gets a closer eye on the internal motivation of the U.S. outward direct investment. For the corporations, there are many reasons both for the action and enlargement of the outward direct investment. For instance, to control the resource and the fuel; to monopolize and compete for the overseas market; to low down the cost, raise the productivity and strengthen the competition; to transfer pollution and make the corporation globalized. But the ultimate motivation of the U.S. outward direct investment is to get the highest profit. Besides, all kinds of advantages of the American multinational corporations make it possible for the direct investment. The fourth part provides a brief introduction on the strategies of the U.S. outward direct investment. These strategies include the Variety and Multi-developmental Strategy, which is centered by the core competition, Mass Customization Strategy, Merge-dominant Strategy, and Service and Local Strategy. To adopt appropriate strategies according to the self condition and the change of market is the best way for American multinational corporations to survive and develop in the furious competition.For the U.S. outward direct investment, the dominant motivation is to pursue high profit. Some other reasons such as striving for markets, raising the efficiency of investment and transferring the pollution are the indirect displays. The improvement of the external environment provides the possible and favored condition for the American multinational corporations, and it promotes, in the certain degree, the direct investment positively.