| Type | Journal article (guest editorial) |
| Title | “Emerging Multinationals: Home and Host Country Determinants and Outcomes” |
| Authors | P. Gammeltoft · J. P. Pradhan · A. Goldstein |
| Published | 2010 · International Journal of Emerging Markets, 5(3/4), pp. 254–265 · Emerald Group Publishing |
| Read | DOI |
This is a plain-language summary of “Emerging Multinationals: Home and Host Country Determinants and Outcomes,” a guest editorial I co-wrote with Peter Gammeltoft and Andrea Goldstein for a 2010 special issue of the International Journal of Emerging Markets. The figures below reflect data available at that time.
In short:
- Companies from emerging economies have invested abroad since the 1970s, but by the late 2000s the scale and sophistication were on another level — their foreign investment grew from $12 billion in 1990 to over $340 billion in 2008.
- The four BRIC economies took distinctly different paths abroad, shaped by who was doing the investing and what they were after.
- This wasn’t a niche trend: emerging-market firms went from 5% to 18% of global foreign investment in under two decades.
The rise of the emerging-market multinational
Something fundamental shifted in global business: firms from China, India, Brazil, and beyond stopped being only targets of foreign investment and became major investors themselves. The growth was steep on every measure:
| EMNCs’ foreign investment | $12 bn (1990) → $340+ bn (2008) |
| Share of global foreign investment | 5% → 18% |
| Share of capital formation invested abroad (2007) | ~10% — a nine-fold rise since 1990 |
The paper frames this as three waves: tentative regional pioneers before 1985; growing but still-limited internationalisation from 1985 to 1995; and, from 1995 on, a dramatic expansion in both reach and sophistication.
Four different paths
The most distinctive finding is that the BRIC economies did not globalise in the same way. They differed along two axes — who was investing (private firms or the state) and what they were chasing (natural resources or a more diversified mix):
The detail behind each position:
| Country | Who invests | Main focus | Distinctive approach | Outward FDI (2008) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | State-owned enterprises | Natural resources | Government-backed; investment doubled despite the global crisis | ~$52 bn |
| India | Private sector | Diversified — IT, pharma, manufacturing | Market-oriented | $16.7 bn |
| Russia | Mostly private (except Gazprom) | Natural resources | Late but aggressive; focused on neighbouring countries | — |
| Brazil | Mixed private & state | Resources & manufacturing | Steady; often routed via tax havens | — |
Why they rose
The paper traces the surge to a consistent set of forces: home-country economic liberalisation that freed firms to invest abroad; growing technological capability; better access to global capital markets; strong domestic growth that gave firms financial muscle; and intensifying global competition that made international expansion a matter of survival rather than ambition.
What it means
The rise of emerging-market multinationals reaches well beyond the firms themselves — reshaping global competition and industry consolidation, deepening South–South economic cooperation, moving technology and management practices in new directions, and feeding back into the development of the emerging economies themselves. For business leaders, it means watching for competitors from unexpected places and weighing partnerships with them for market access. For policymakers, it raises the harder balance — managing rising inbound investment from these firms, weighing national security against openness, and supporting their own companies’ expansion abroad.
Read the academic abstract
Purpose — The purpose of this paper is to present a framework for analysing the home- and host-country determinants and outcomes of emerging multinationals (EMNCs). Design/methodology/approach — The paper applies a conceptual approach combined with analyses of statistics and secondary material. Findings — The paper identifies changing trends and features of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from emerging economies, and in particular the differences between outflows from Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC). Originality/value — The paper puts forward a framework for analysing the determinants and outcomes of the structures and strategies of multinationals from emerging economies, and surveys the contemporary trends and features of outward FDI from these economies.Cite this article
Gammeltoft, P., Pradhan, J. P., & Goldstein, A. (2010). Emerging multinationals: Home and host country determinants and outcomes. International Journal of Emerging Markets, 5(3/4), 254–265. Emerald Group Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1108/17468801011058370
