Foreign direct investment trends: an analysis of the structure and dynamics in the context of globalization

Abstract

The phenomenon of the international investment activity in the context of globalization is investigated in the article. Foreign direct investment is the most important basis for further analysis of the world economy. The article discusses the current trends of the foreign direct investment flows with an emphasis on their geographical location. In particular, the inflows of FDI by region and national economies are considered. The specific features of modern factors of the foreign investments’ distribution by regions are determined. The study shows that some methodological approaches are useful in determining the level of national economies’ interconnection of the linked processes of international capital flows. The clustering method was used for the analysis of foreign investments and the minimum spanning trees for the selected groups of countries were constructed. From the defined list of countries, one group with similar trends in the FDI movement has been distinguished. The article stipulates that countries should consider the need for their active involvement in globalization processes and contribute to the formation of a favourable investment environment within the country.