Modes of International Investment

The role of technical progress as a key to economic growth is widely recognized today. New technologies can be developed domestically through investments in research and development (R&D), they can be imported in various ways from abroad, or generated through some combination of the two. Since R&D activities are normally very costly, many countries rely heavily on imports of modern technology from abroad. In most cases they must turn to multinational corporations, who have become the most important actors in the generation of technology.