1. Foreign Direct Investment
Hwy-Chang Moon
Professor of International Business, Strategy & Competitiveness
Graduate School of International Studies
Seoul National University
Class Time: Mon. 2:30 – 5:20 pm
Classroom: Bldg , Rm. 202
Office Hours: Mon. & Tue. 1:25 - 2:25 pm or by appointment
Office: Bldg , Rm. 311
Teaching Assistant: Wenyan Yin

2. Course Description
Understanding globalization has become crucial in almost every aspect of business. In the past, international trade was the main tool for globalization. However, in today’s business environment, foreign direct investment (FDI) is often more useful for firms and countries to achieve certain strategic goals. This course will help students understand the key issues of FDI and formulate competitiveness-building strategies for firms, regions, and nations.
This course is divided into two parts.
Part 1 deals with the theoretical foundations of FDI studies, from both conventional and unconventional perspectives (Classes 3 through 6).
Part 2 deals with FDI practices and extended issues on how firms and governments can cooperate to create and sustain competitive advantages of firms and nations (Classes 7 through 13).
This is an advanced course to provide students with various perspectives and in-depth understanding on the changing environment and relevant global business strategies. This course aims to help students build analytical skills, conduct rigorous research, and make professional presentations.

3. Grading Policy (1) Grading [total 100%] Professionalism (25%)
Professionalism: attitude, attendance, and participation (25%)
Weekly summary of readings for each class (25%)
Group Presentation(s): Class-topic and project presentation (25%)
Final exam (25%)
Professionalism (25%)
Students should attend all classes. Those who miss more than two classes may not receive a grade. Tardiness and class disturbances may be reflected in the grade.
Students are also required to know the Honor Code and apply it to all work and behavior in the class.
Weekly summary (25%)
Students are required to submit a one-page summary based on assigned readings for Classes 3 through 7 and 9 through 13 (10 total). Summaries should be submitted via to and at least 24 hours before class (by 2:30 pm on Sunday).
The weekly summary should (i) discuss what you think most interesting in the readings, and (ii) provide constructive criticism and variant views. The one-page summary should be approximately 400 to 500 words in length.

4. Weekly Summary Style and Guideline
Please title your as “FDI Weekly Summary_Class #_Your Full Name.”
Your full name
Class number (e.g., Class 03)
Summary of the article(s)
Uniqueness
Main points
Evaluation
Constructive evaluation
Possible extension

5. Grading Policy (2) Group Presentation(s) (25%) Final exam (25%)
Students are required to give two presentations. The first is a class-topic presentation of interesting points from class readings. The second is a project presentation in Class 14, where students present on any topic related to the course.
Students are expected to choose their own topics and group members, which will be determined in Class 2. Further information regarding the presentations will be given later.
Students should submit both class and project presentation PPT files at least 24 hours before the class of their presentations.
Final exam (25%)
It will take two hours with open books and notes in the last class (Class 15).

6. Course Materials Textbook
Moon, Hwy-Chang Foreign Direct Investment: A Global Perspective. Singapore: World Scientific.
Students can purchase the book on the website of ShinBook ( the local bookseller of the publisher, with a special discount.
Other readings can be downloaded via the SNU ETL website (etl.snu.ac.kr) or will be distributed before classes.
Students should read the materials before class, so class meetings can be used for discussion rather than by straight lecture.

7. Class Schedule (1) Class 1 (Mar 6) Introduction Course guideline
Important issues of FDI
Class 2 (Mar 13) FDI as a Means of Global Strategy
Friedman, T. L Made in the World. New York Times, January 28th.
Case study: Bata Shoes (Film: One Man's Multinational)
One page c.v. with photo
Groups will be formed for group project and presentation of class articles.
Class 3 (Mar 20) International Players: From Western Multinationals to Global Firms
Textbook, Chapter 1 (Changing nature of firms and business landscapes)
Reich, R. B Who Is Us? Harvard Business Review, 68(1):
Economist A World to Conquer. May 31st.
Class 4 (Mar 27) International Business Strategy: From Trade to FDI
Textbook, Chapter 2 (FDI and competitiveness building for firms and nations)
Moon, H. C., Rugman, A. M., and Verbeke, A A Generalized Double Diamond Approach to the International Competitiveness of Korea and Singapore. International Business Review, 7(2):
Rosen, D. H. and Hanemann, T The Rise in Chinese Overseas Investment and What It Means for American Businesses. China Business Review, July 1st.

8. Class Schedule (2)
Class 5 (Apr 3) The Western Perspective on FDI: From Market Failure to OLI Paradigm
Textbook. Chapter 3 (Conventional FDI theory mainly for explaining the FDI from developed firms)
Moon, H. C The Evolution of Theories of Foreign Direct Investment. Review of Business History, 33:
Yin, W Motivations of Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investment: An Organizing Framework and Empirical Investigation. Journal of International Business and Economy, 16(1):
Class 6 (Apr 10) The Global Perspective on FDI: From OLI Paradigm to Imbalance Theory
Textbook. Chapter 4 (Unconventional FDI theory for better explaining the unconventional FDI from developing firms)
Moon, H. C. and Roehl, T. W Unconventional Foreign Direct Investment and the Imbalance Theory. International Business Review, 10(2):
Ramamurti, R What Is Really Different about Emerging Market Multinationals? Global Strategy Journal, 2:
Class 7 (Apr 17) FDI Impacts on Country: From Negative to Positive Perspective
Textbook. Chapter 5 (FDI impacts on both home and host countries)
Moon, H. C. and Bark, T. H Asian Economic Crisis, FDI and Stabilized Economic Growth. Journal of International Business and Economy, 2(1):
Economist The Irish Economy: Celtic Phoenix. Nov 19th.
Project and presentation guidelines will be provided.
Class 8 (Apr 24) Group Project Mid-term Report
Proposal presentation (10 minutes for each group)

9. Class Schedule (3) Class 9 (May 1) Recent Trends of FDI
UNCTAD World Investment Report 2015: Overview (pp. IX-XX, 1-26, 33-40)
UNCTAD World Investment Report 2013 (Chapter IV): Global Value Chains: Investment and Trade for Development. New York and Geneva, UNCTAD. (Introduction and Part A, pp )
Class 10(May 8) FDI and Cluster: From Local to Global Link
Textbook. Chapter 6 (Extension of the scope of clusters from regional to global)
Porter, M. E Clusters and the New Economics of Competition. Harvard Business Review, 76(6):
Moon H. C. and Jung, J. S Northeast Asian Cluster through Business and Cultural Cooperation. Journal of Korea Trade, 14(2):
Class 11 (May 15) Assessing the Investment Attractiveness: From Theory to Practice
Textbook. Chapter 7 (Devising a comprehensive model for assessing the locational FDI attractiveness )
Porter, M. E The Competitive Advantage of Nations. Harvard Business Review, 68(2): 73–93
Cho, D. S. and Moon, H. C International Review of National Competitiveness: A Detailed Analysis of Sources and Rankings. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. (Chapter 3: Conceptual Framework and Analytical Methodologies) (handout)

10. Class Schedule (4)
Class 12 (May 22) Entry Mode Choices: From Market Failure to Three Considerations
Textbook. Chapter 8 (Introducing a more comprehensive framework for the variables of entry mode choices)
Moon, H. C. and Kwon, D. B Entry Mode Choice between Wholly-Owned Subsidiary and Joint Venture: A Case Study of the Automotive Industry in India, International Journal of Performability Engineering, 6(6):
Financial Times Emerging World Needs the Right Kind of FDI. June 26th.
Class 13 (May 29) Global Citizenship: From Responsibility to Opportunity
Textbook. Chapter 9 (Multinationals’ co-creating values with host and home countries)
Porter, M. E. and Kramer, M. R Creating Shared Value. Harvard Business Review, 89(1/2):
Moon, H. C. and Lee, Y. W Corporate Social Responsibility: Peter Drucker, Michael Porter and Beyond. Journal of Creativity and Innovation, 7(2):
Class 14 (Jun 5) Group Project
Presentation (PPT file) and discussion
Class 15 (Jun 12) Final Exam
Open book/notes