Ref. Ares(2014)644686 - 10/03/2014 Exchange of Good Practice in Foreign Direct Investment Promotion A study carried out under the Framework Contract ENTR/2009/033 Client: DG Enterprise & Industry Final report – 2nd revision Rotterdam, 4 July 2013 Exchange of Good Practice in Foreign Direct Investment Promotion A study carried out under the Framework Contract ENTR/2009/033 Client: DG Enterprise & Industry Rotterdam, 4 July 2013 About Ecorys At Ecorys we aim to deliver real benefit to society through the work we do. We offer research, consultancy and project management, specialising in economic, social and spatial development. Focusing on complex market, policy and management issues we provide our clients in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors worldwide with a unique perspective and high-value solutions. Ecorys’ remarkable history spans more than 80 years. 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Box 4175 3006 AD Rotterdam The Netherlands T +31 (0)10 453 88 00 F +31 (0)10 453 07 68 E [email protected] Registration no. 24316726 W www.ecorys.nl FX98657 Table of contents Preface i Executive Summary iii Conclusions ix Policy recommendations for IPAs x 1 Background to this study 1 2 A changing context for FDI promotion 2 2.1 Recent shifts in FDI flows 2 2.1.1 Regional shift 2 2.1.2 Shift in sectoral distribution 11 2.1.3 FDI modes 12 2.2 FDI in companies’ international strategy 13 2.2.1 Towards an optimal value chain 13 2.2.2 Drivers of FDI 14 2.2.3 Europe’s changing position as investment location in global value chains 15 2.3 Challenges for Europe in FDI promotion 17 2.3.1 Towards an optimal network configuration for FDI promotion in Europe 17 2.3.2 New recipes of FDI promotion for new investors? 18 2.3.3 Availability of skilled workforce 19 2.3.4 Smart investor targeting to support economic development 20 2.4 Challenges experienced by IPAs in EU Member States 21 3 A framework for FDI promotion 23 3.1 Outlining strategic, tactical, and operational levels of FDI promotion 25 3.2 Strategic 25 3.2.1 Policy and business environment 26 3.2.2 Investor incentives 26 3.3 Tactical 27 3.3.1 Governance model 27 3.3.2 Staff 28 3.3.3 Networks, partners and stakeholders 29 3.4 Operational 30 3.4.1 Image and brand building 30 3.4.2 Lead generation 31 3.4.3 Investor servicing 32 3.4.4 Aftercare 32 4 Investment promotion: expert opinion and current practice in the EU 33 4.1 Good practice for strategy 33 4.1.1 Policy and business environment 33 4.1.2 Investor incentives 35 4.2 Current practice for tactics 36 4.2.1 Governance 36 4.2.2 Staff 40 Exchange of Good Practice in Foreign Direct Investment Promotion 4.2.3 Networks, partners, and stakeholders 42 4.3 Current practice for operations 46 4.3.1 Image and brand building 46 4.3.2 Lead generation 47 4.3.3 Investor servicing and aftercare 51 4.4 IPAs response to challenges 52 4.4.1 Market reality and New venues for IPAs 52 4.4.2 Measures taken to overcome country/region-specific challenges 52 4.4.3 Challenges at agency level 53 5 The effectiveness of some European practice 54 5.1 A discussion of quantitative evaluation of good practice 54 5.2 Approach to the quantitative assessment for this report 57 5.2.1 Introduction 57 5.2.2 Identification of good practices 58 5.2.3 Selection of good practices for further quantitative analysis 78 5.3 Quantitative analysis of three identified good practices 78 5.3.1 Introduction 78 5.3.2 Strategic targeting of specific (sub) sectors and activities 78 5.3.3 (Formalised) links with the private sector 79 5.3.4 From general image building and branding activities to becoming a consultancy- driven service organisation 80 5.3.5 Results of the analysis 81 6 Upcoming issues and trends in FDI 85 6.1 Online communication is more than a website 85 6.2 China: opportunity or “threat”? 86 6.3 Soft-asset seeking 87 6.4 Localised promotion, regional cooperation, and the role of Europe 87 6.4.1 Coordinated measures to take at EU level – suggested by individual IPAs 88 6.5 Sustainable FDI: the disconnect between theory and practice 89 Annex A A summary of the agencies analysed A-1 Aderly 1 Austria Business Agency 2 Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency 4 Czech Invest 6 Estonia Investment and Trade 7 Flanders Invest 9 Frankfurt 10 Germany Trade and Invest 11 Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency 13 Invest in Andalucia 15 Invest in Bavaria 16 Invest in Denmark 17 Invest in Finland 18 Invest in France 20 Exchange of Good Practice in Foreign Direct Investment Promotion Invest in Greece 21 Invest in Spain 22 Invest Lithuania 24 Invitalia 25 Ireland Industrial Development Authority 26 Malta Enterprise 28 Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency 30 North Rhine-Westphalia Invest 31 Paris Region Economic Development Agency 32 Portugal Global 34 Romania Trade and Invest 35 Scottish Development International 36 UK Trade and Invest 38 Welsh Assembly Government 40 Annex B References B-1 Exchange of Good Practice in Foreign Direct Investment Promotion Preface The information and views set out in this report do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Commission. Neither the European Union institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use of the information contained within this report. The independent authors of this report have endeavoured to accurately reflect the views expressed by stakeholders interviewed over the course of the research for this report. However, Ecorys does do not accept any responsibility for actions taken on the basis of information presented in the report. Exchange of Good Practice in Foreign Direct Investment Promotion i Executive Summary Developing countries have attracted more FDI than developed ones for three years running In 2011, for the third year in a row, emerging economies outperformed developed countries in attracting FDI. Over 50 percent of global FDI inflows went to developing economies, 44 percent to developed economies and 6 percent to economies in transition. In 2012, the top destinations of FDI inflows were China (USD 170 billion) and the United States (USD 140 billion), followed by Brazil (USD 48 billion), the United Kingdom (USD 47 billion), and France (USD 46 billion). The rise of the developed world increases the number of voices promoting investment From a European perspective, some have focussed their attention on how FDI flows into the EU fell in 2008 and 2009 and have not yet recovered to 2007 levels, but this misses a more fundamental takeaway. The rise of the developed world means more opportunities to pursue and more agencies from the developed world pursuing these opportunities. The rise of the region also brings more participants The rising number of actors is as much about the rise of regions as the rise of the developed world. In 2010, for example, Turkey inaugurated 26 new regional agencies, each of which would push out message to investors. Investors, in fact, make investment decisions more and more from a regional or city level perspective, which necessitates a more regional and focussed approach. Specific targeting and new media is also changing how investors can be reached A corollary to the rise of the number of actors pursuing investors is also the way that those investors are reached. Smart targeting means that bespoke value propositions, targeted to specific groups and sectors, are being used more and more. New media to reach those investors also multiply the messages. Good practice in investment promotion looks to cut through this noise More investors, more message, more media—this all creates noise, meaning that generic messages more often fail to reach investors. Investment promotion agencies have been reacting to this environment with more targeting and tailored messages. Most of the investment promotion agencies (IPAs) we have analysed realise that it is no longer enough to talk about the general advantages of a region, but rather to recognise competitive advantages in specific sub-sectors and also the more innovative elements of the economy. One size does not fit all: smart specialisation means understanding no single formula exists Recognising Europe cannot dominate the world, but must rather find its role within it has partly led the European Union to push the idea “smart specialisation” as a way for regions to focus their improvement efforts on a policy level. This smart specialisation mirrors the way that IPAs have also become more focussed in how they approach international investors. While targeting sectors and producing bespoke value propositions has been proclaimed as “good practice” for the last decade, our survey results show that it has generally been in the last five years that these practices have become more wide spread across the European Union.