Publication

The influence of German development cooperation on foreign direct investment decisions of German investors

; 
Graefe, Y.
; 
Aboagye, G.
Publication Date
2025
End of Embargo
Supervisor
Keywords
Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, Foreign direct investment, German development cooperation, Network effect, Reputational effect
Rights
© 2025 The Author(s). Thunderbird International Business Review published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Peer-Reviewed
Yes
Open Access status
openAccess
Accepted for publication
2025-05-14
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Management and Law Publications
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Adams_et_al_2025.pdf
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Abstract
This study critically examines the relationship between the neo-liberal economic precepts of development cooperation, overseas development assistance and foreign direct investment (FDI). Specifically, it explores how Germany’s neo-liberal Marshall Plan with Africa influences the investment decisions of German companies. The analysis is based on in-depth semi-structured key informant interviews conducted with German companies, business associations and development cooperation institutions currently active in Côte d’Ivoire – one of the largest French-speaking countries in Africa. It introduces an analysis of the reputational and network effects of development cooperation on FDI. This study contributes to theory by demonstrating how the reputational and network effect of development cooperation provides a clear signal to the private sector through an improved image of the host country due to its reform partner status. The study also extends the fundamental theories of the official development aid-FDI nexus by showing that new forms of development cooperation can significantly impact FDI. It further contributes to the country image literature by suggesting that development cooperation should be included in a country’s reputation frameworks – which is a key government policy for most emerging economies seeking to attract FDI.
URI
https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/handle/10454/20585
Version
Published version
Citation
Adams K, Graefe Y and Aboagye G (2025) The influence of German development cooperation on foreign direct investment decisions of German investors. Thunderbird International Business Review. Accepted for Publication.
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Link to published version
Link to Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.70019
Type
Article
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