Considering the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in the sustainable development of a country, the main aim of this paper is to identify some macroeconomic factors that positively or negatively influence FDI in Visegrad group countries after the European Union (EU) enlargement in 2004. We employed two types of approaches in our analysis: i) time series and ii) panel data approach. According to the generalized ridge regressions estimated in Bayesian framework, the perceived corruption was a factor that influenced FDI in all the countries. In Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia corruption came through as a serious obstacle for FDIs since 2005, but this was not the case for Hungary. Even if Hungary is perceived as a country with high influence, foreign investors seem no to care about this fact and are more interested in the quality of human resources and the possibility to increase exports. Our panel approach based on a panel ARDL model identified a significant relationship between FDI, corruption index and labour force with advanced education however this causality was only detected in the long run. According to the Granger causality in panel, the attraction of FDI inflows succeeded in generating changes in total tax rate, but the issues related to corruption were not reduced at an acceptable level for foreign investors in Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

Discussing the problem of economic sustainability, we are in general deal with life cycles and economic activity. Factors causing dynamics in entrepreneurial ventures, their duration and process rate depend on environmental conditions, including institutional, market, infrastructure, and resource aspects. A cumulative impact of all of these factors appears at a specific level of enterprise survival, which becomes a universal characteristic of sustainable economy. Going from official statistics on business demography and complementary empirical data, in this research, we focus on enterprise survival trends in Russia and the EU. The results obtained for Russia assume that in a number of industries, there is an intensive turnover of companies. Over the past two years, a medium-term trend towards a reducing number of enterprise births and increasing number of enterprise deaths in Russia has had a negative ratio. The average enterprise survival rate within a horizon of one year (2013/2014) was 74% in Russia and 77% in the EU. For a five-year period of 2009/2014, the average enterprise survival rate was less than 55% and 45% respectively. In general, in countries with a low average enterprise survival rate, in the first year, there is a persisting low rating in almost all of the industries, assuming that trends in enterprise sustainability dynamics depend on an overall economic situation instead of specifics in a particular sector. An important conclusion from the research is that the long-term survival rate of Russian companies is clearly higher, while the short-term one is lower than that of companies in the EU.

Empirically based, the data description covers business transparency in Russia and availability of corporate information for interested parties. Entry barriers in the form of a fee for hard copies of documents are perceptible as an important indicator of business publicity. The study made it possible to summarize current data on 5070 Russian enterprises in order to estimate document copying cost differentiation according to the developed model. The sample size made it also possible to ensure high levels of data quality and representativeness. Actual limiting average mean error Δp was 3.47% with 99% of study validity. The analysis relied on regional and sectorial data groupings to show a strength of various impact factors. In view of this, correlation coefficients, average and weighted average cost values, and descriptive statistics became secondary indicators. The cost value distributed along an interval scale is a major empirical result of the research. The examination of the obtained data makes it possible to identify an availability level of corporate information for various stakeholders and the general public. This is a part of civil right enforcement in the field of information control and validity check. Conjugated scientific issues include pricing of non-core services of companies, corporate relations and modelling of market behaviours. By making a representative data set, authors make an effort to fill the fact-based gap available in other disciplines and related to business transparency in Russia.

Foreign investment is of high importance for economic growth in Russia. The problem of enhancing investment flows makes it increasingly relevant to search for effective tools for stimulating investment activity. We attempt to identify the factors affecting the dynamics of foreign direct investment (FDI). The paper analyses the current state of foreign direct investment in the Russian economy. Using empirical data for 2001–2018, we construct an econometric model for Russia which considers such factors as inflation (the Consumer Price Index), the exchange rate and imports. The results of the model’s testing do not confirm the initial assumptions that inflation exerts a more profound effect on FDI than the exchange rate and that there is a correlation between these indicators. For Russia, the dependence of FDI on the exchange rate remains insignificant; in addition, we find a direct relationship between the indicators. According to the model, the impact of inflation (direct relationship) and the volume of imports (inverse relationship) are of greater significance. It is noteworthy that the dynamics of foreign direct investment is partially due to its fluctuations with a time lag. The model forecasts that from 2019 to 2024 Russia is expected to experience a rise in FDI net outflows. The findings indicate that in order to attract foreign direct investment, it is necessary to implement economic transformations that will improve the business environment and lead to the development of healthy competition.

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