2019 02 28 Manual 1124.08c

M
REAPNORT
UAL
FEBRUARY
DECEMBER2019
2018 TPSA CANADA–INDONESIA
CANADA–INDONESIA TRADE
PRIVATE
PRIVATE SECTOR
TRADE AND
AND
SECTOR ASSISTANCE
ASSISTANCE PROJECT
PROJECT
Guidelines for Developing

an Investment Promotion
Strategy
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
Program undertaken with the financial

support of the Government of Canada
provided through Global Affairs Canada
Guidelines for Investment Promotion Strategy Development
Prepared by Henry Loewendahl (CEO) and Scott Bryan (Senior Partner), WAVTEQ
WAVTEQ is a global consulting and technology company focused on helping governments worldwide
attract foreign direct investment (FDI) which will contribute to the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals.
About the TPSA Project

The Canada–Indonesia Trade and Private Sector Assistance (TPSA) Project is a five-year, C$12-million
project funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada. The project is executed by
The Conference Board of Canada, and the primary implementation partner is the Directorate General for
National Export Development, Indonesian Ministry of Trade.
TPSA is designed to provide training, research, and technical assistance to Indonesian government
agencies, the private sector (particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs), academics,
and civil-society organizations on trade-related information, trade policy analysis, regulatory reforms,
and trade and investment promotion by Canadian, Indonesian, and other experts from public and
private organizations.
The overall objective of TPSA is to support greater sustainable economic growth and reduce poverty in
Indonesia through increased trade and trade-enabling investment between Indonesia and Canada. TPSA is
intended to increase sustainable and gender-responsive trade and investment opportunities, particularly
for Indonesian SMEs, and to increase the use of trade and investment analysis by Indonesian stakeholders
for expanded trade and investment partnerships between Indonesia and Canada.
© 2019 TPSA Project
Guidelines for Developing an Investment Promotion Strategy 2

Contents
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Investment Promotion Strategy Framework. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
What Is the Prime Function of Investment Promotion Agencies?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
What Is an Investment Promotion Strategy?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Vision and Mission Statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Strategic Objectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Goals and Objectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
The Client Charter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Economic Development Objectives of Attracting FDI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Importance of FDI to Capital Investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Role of FDI as a Source of External Finance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Role of MNEs in the World Economy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The Indirect Economic Development Benefits of FDI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Three Main Types of FDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
What Type of FDI Should Be Targeted?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Economic Development Benefits by Type of FDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
IPA Perspectives on the Type of FDI to Target . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Key Learnings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Benchmarking and Image-Building. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Why Conduct Location Benchmarking?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
How to Benchmark Location Competitiveness for FDI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Step 1: Identify Key Location Determinants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Step 2: Identify Key Competitor and Comparator Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Step 3: Identify Key Data Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Step 4: Weighting of Data Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Step 5: Understand the Operating Costs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Step 6: Benchmark the Comparator Locations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Step 7: Evaluate the Competitive Position. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
The Need for Image-Building. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
What is Image-Building?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Image-Building Activities and Objectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
How to Identify Investor Perceptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Basic Steps of Image-Building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Image-Building Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Key Learnings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Sector and Market Strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Why Develop a Sector Targeting Strategy?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Framework for Identifying Target Sectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Methods for Identifying Target Sectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Location Quotient. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Revealed Comparative Advantage in Exports (RCA-Exports). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
FDI Demand-Side Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
RCA for FDI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Identifying Key Source Countries for FDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Factors to Consider in Identifying Target Countries for FDI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Key Learnings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Marketing and Promotion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Marketing Strategy: Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Marketing Strategy: Online. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Marketing Strategy: Public Relations, Advertising, and Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Investor Targeting and Lead Generation Strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Key Learnings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Product Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Policy Advocacy Role of an IPA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Key Learnings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Budgets and Resource Allocation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Key Learnings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Organization of Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
IPA Organizational Principles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
IPA Key Positions and Skill Sets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Key Learnings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Key Performance Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
IPA/EDO Performance—What and How to Measure?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
How to Measure FDI Results of the IPA/EDO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
How to Measure IPA/EDO Involvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Publishing the Results of the IPA/EDO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Key Learnings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Action Plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Types of Action Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Appendix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Abbreviations
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
BKPM Badan Koordinasi Penanaman Modal (Indonesia’s Investment Coordinating Board)
CRM Customer relationship management
EDO Economic development organization
ESCAP Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
FDI Foreign direct investment
GDP Gross domestic product
IPA Investment promotion agency
IPP Investment promotion proposal
IPS Investment promotion strategy
IPZ Investment promotion zone
IT Information technology
JV Joint venture
JVAP Joint venture, alliances, and partnership
LQ Location quotient
KPI Key performance indicators
M&A Mergers and acquisitions
MNE Multinational enterprises
NFI New forms of investment
NEM Non-equity modes
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
PPP Public-private partnerships
PR Public relations
RCA Revealed comparative advantage
RCA-FDI Revealed comparative advantage in foreign direct investment
ROI Return on investment
R&D Research and development
SDG Sustainable development goals
SEO Search engine optimization
SIC Standard industrial classification
SME Small and medium-sized enterprise
SWOT Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
TNC Trans-national corporation
U.K. United Kingdom
UN United Nations
UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
U.S./US United States
USP Unique selling proposition or point

Investment Promotion
Strategy Framework
What Is the Prime Function of Investment Promotion Agencies?
The prime function of an investment promotion agency (IPA) is to develop and implement an effective
investment promotion strategy (IPS) for a given country or region. This also applies to the inward investment
function of broader economic development organizations (EDOs).
In order to do that, the IPA requires a clear and comprehensive understanding of both the national and
international policy contexts and how these affect the country’s potential to attract the desired quality and
quantity of foreign direct investment (FDI), as set by policy. It also requires the identification of key sectors
to target for inward investment.1
What Is an Investment Promotion Strategy?

An IPS is essentially active investment promotion, targeting, and facilitation of a country or region by an
IPA or EDO.
The content of the IPS revolves around the question of what to promote and depends on the balance
between the country’s business competitiveness and attractiveness to investment opportunities on the
one hand, and the perceptions and investment intentions of investors on the other hand.
The goal of an investment promotion strategy should be to specifically outline how much FDI, of what type,
in what sector, and in what location (in accordance with certain quality criteria, including sustainability)
should be attracted within a certain time period. Ideally, the goals of the IPS should link to the country’s
overall investment-policy goals, which in turn link to general development goals.
An IPS is not the same as an investment policy, and the goals of each are at different levels. Investment
policies generally aim to improve the overall investment climate, while IPSs have more quantifiable goals
that refer to the amount of FDI the country or region aims to attract within a certain time limit. In other
words, an IPS does not cover policies; rather, it looks at concrete modalities and tools to promote, attract,
and facilitate FDI.2
A successful IPS consists of 10 key components.3 The chapters in this guideline are organized around
these key components:
1. vision and mission statement
2. strategic objectives
3. benchmarking and image-building
4. sector and market strategies
5. marketing and promotion
6. product development: activities to improve the local investment climate
7. budgets and resource allocation
1
Loewendahl, “A Framework,” 5.
2
ESCAP, Handbook on Policies, 205.
3

8. organization of resources: organizational diagram showing each department with functions and staff
members and their responsibilities
9. key performance indicators (KPIs) for monitoring and evaluation
10. action plan: short-, medium-, and long-term actions required to meet each target and goal, outlining
investment promotion tools and budgets
Once the IPS is formulated, it is then used within the IPA/EDO organization.

Vision and Mission
Statement
Each IPA/EDO should carefully create a vision statement for its organization and/or location. A vision
should be a concise, clear statement of what the organization intends to become and to achieve at some
point in the future. Most vision statements refer to sustainable economic development goals and the
expected benefits that FDI will have for the people of the country or region.
The mission statement should be an inspiring statement about how the vision will be achieved. A mission
statement can also refer to a particular set of higher-level goals that need to be achieved in order to realize
the vision. Ideally, mission statements should be simple, short, concise, clear, and known to all employees
of the IPA/EDO. As much as possible, they should reflect the uniqueness of an organization.
Here are two examples of vision and mission statements:4
•• Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA)

Vision: The best partner to investors distinguished by the integrity and professionalism of its people.
Mission: To ensure Malaysia achieves its goal in economic transformation and its aspiration of a
developed nation by 2020.
•• Board of Investment of Sri Lanka
Vision: To make Sri Lanka the most preferred destination for sustainable investment in Asia.
Mission: Attract and secure sustainable investments for optimum utilization of resources and talents,
through vigorous promotion and excellent investor facilitation, whilst preserving harmony with the
natural environment as a significant contributor in the development of the national economy.
4

Strategic Objectives
Goals and Objectives
Goals are general statements about what the IPA/EDO wants to achieve. As such, they need to be
integrated with the IPA/EDO’s vision and mission. Goal-setting is the major outcome of strategic planning,
after all necessary information has been gathered.
Goals should be:

••suitable: aligned with the vision and mission statements
••acceptable: a good fit with the values of the IPA/EDO/government and the employees
••understandable: stated simply and easy to understand
••flexible: can be adapted and changed as needed
Objectives are specific, quantifiable, time-sensitive statements about what is going to be achieved and
when it will be achieved. They are milestones along the path to achieving the goals.
Objectives should be:

••specific: precise about what must be achieved
••measurable: clear on how to measure the achievement of the objective
••agreed or achievable: realistic expectations
••relevant: to the organization and to whom they are assigned
••time-based: clear indication of start and finish date
Here is an example of investment goals and objectives:5
Board of Investment of Sri Lanka

••Foster and generate economic development.
••Widen and strengthen the base of the economy.
••Encourage and promote investment, specifically FDI.
••Promote interdisciplinary interaction and collaboration.
••Help existing enterprises in dealing with macro socio-economic challenges and help in
their transformation.
••Diversify the sources of foreign exchange earnings and increase export earnings.
••Promote innovation and the adoption of new technologies and generate new employment.
••Establish Investment Promotion Zones (IPZs) throughout the country, especially through public and
private partnership.
••Promote Sri Lanka as a trading hub.
5

The Client Charter
A client charter is a kind of letter of engagement that informs potential investors about the IPA/EDO’s
standards and the delivery of products and services. It also indicates what the IPA/EDO, in turn, expects
from its clients in order to meet its commitments to them and sets targets for service delivery.
In particular, the charter sets out:

•• what the IPA/EDO will do for investors
•• how it proposes to do it
•• on what timeline
The charter is a way of ensuring that:

••The IPA/EDO creates and maintains a client focus.
••It communicates effectively with clients.
••It maintains levels of service above predetermined service expectations.
••Its program and service portfolio are tailored appropriately to client needs.
The following is an example of a typical client charter:6
Malaysian Investment Development Authority

We are committed to provide services in a professional, efficient, and ethical manner to industrialists and
potential investors in the manufacturing and services sectors by:
•• responding to all investment enquiries in a prompt and courteous manner;
•• disseminating accurate and up-to-date information on investments;
•• assisting investors in the implementation of their projects.
We are committed to answer relevant enquiries, and to complete the evaluation of applications from the
date of complete information received, within the stipulated time frame as follows:
•• enquiries received via website: two working days
•• manufacturing license:
––
normal track: four weeks
––
fast track: seven working days
•• incentives: six weeks
•• tax exemption from custom duties: four weeks
•• principal hub: six weeks
•• regional office and representative office: four weeks
•• expatriate posts:
––
normal track: four weeks
––
fast track: seven working days
Economic Development Objectives of Attracting FDI

The economic development objectives will help determine the sectors, types of company, and types of
FDI the IPA/EDO will be tasked with attracting. (See Table 1.) It is expected that the mandate of IPAs will
increasingly focus not only on traditional capital-investment and job-creation targets, but also on FDI that
will contribute to the country achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
relevant to their location—what WAVTEQ calls an “SDG target-driven FDI strategy.”7
6
7
See www.wavteq.com/sias.

TABLE 1
OBJECTIVES AND IMPLICATIONS
Objective of attracting FDI Implications for investment promotion strategy
Job creation Focus on greenfield FDI projects in labour-intensive sectors
Capital investment Focus on capital-intensive industries and countries specializing in these

industries
Foreign exchange/financing Focus on large-scale greenfield FDI, mergers and acquisitions (M&A),
new forms of investment (NFI) projects, and headquarters/offshore
operations
Exports Focus on greenfield FDI in export-oriented industries
Import substitution Focus on greenfield FDI in sectors that can replace imports with local
production
Technology Focus on tech sectors and companies contributing to local technology

absorption through different types of FDI
Infrastructure development Focus on major foreign investors with likely key focus on NFI (contracts/
PPP projects)
Productivity gains Focus on high-productivity companies, which can be achieved via

greenfield FDI and M&A
Wage premium Focus on high-wage sectors and companies, most likely through
greenfield FDI
Regional development Focus on sectors that have mobility to invest in less-developed regions
through greenfield FDI and M&A
Supply-chain development Focus on sectors and companies with the strongest potential to source
locally and support local firms
Sustainable development Focus on sectors and specific companies that will provide economic,
goals environmental and social benefits
Source: WAVTEQ.

Importance of FDI to Capital Investment
While Chart 1 should only be taken as a barometer of the role of FDI (because not all FDI inflows will
necessarily increase capital formation, e.g., M&A), it does indicate that FDI is relatively more important for
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region as a source of capital formation.
CHART 1
FDI INFLOWS AS A SHARE OF GROSS FIXED CAPITAL FORMATION
(per cent)
 2013  2014  2015  2016

20 19 19
18
15 14
11 11
10
8 8
7 7 7 7
6 6 6 6
5
0
ASEAN Asia Developed Developing
economies economies
Source: UNCTAD, World Investment Report.
Role of FDI as a Source of External Finance

As Chart 2 displays, FDI has become the most important source of external finance for countries. In 2017,
FDI accounted for 39 per cent of external finance for developing economies, which was about the same
importance as remittances and official development assistance combined (35 per cent) and more than
double that of portfolio investment (18 per cent).

CHART 2
SOURCES OF EXTERNAL FINANCE, DEVELOPING ECONOMIES, 2013–2017
(share of total, per cent)
11 9
 FDI
18
 Remittances
 Portfolio investment
 Official development assistance and other
39
official flows
 Other investment (mainly block loans)
24
Source: UNCTAD, World Investment Report 2018, 13.
Role of MNEs in the World Economy

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are the vehicle through which most FDI takes place and bring most of the
economic development benefits. As Exhibit 1 shows, MNEs play an extensive role in the world economy:
The world’s top 500 companies control 70 per cent of world trade and the top 700 companies account for
two-thirds of corporate research and development (R&D) spending worldwide.
EXHIBIT 1
THE ROLE OF MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES IN THE WORLD ECONOMY

World GDP

World Corporate

World Trade

R&D Employment
R&D USA
Top 200 MNEs Top 700 MNEs Top 500 MNEs All MNEs
28% 67% 70% 80%
Source: Adapted by WAVTEQ from multiple sources.

The Indirect Economic Development Benefits of FDI
FDI can have positive benefits for an economy. The indirect, spillover, or multiplier impact of FDI is
primarily achieved through supply-chain linkages, increased consumer purchasing power, and increased
tax revenue associated with FDI, all of which create additional economic stimuli. The following indirect
impacts of FDI are based on WAVTEQ’s review of the evidence and what is typical:8
•• $1 in FDI leads to $1 in domestic investment
•• one manufacturing FDI job creates three indirect jobs in the local economy
•• outsourcing projects have a bigger multiplier impact on the economy
The actual indirect impact of FDI is company-, project-, and location-specific, and will be strongly
influenced by host-country government policies that encourage foreign investors to do more in
the country.
Three Main Types of FDI

The OECD states that:
“Foreign direct investment reflects the objective of establishing a lasting interest by a resident enterprise in
one economy (direct investor) in an enterprise (direct investment enterprise) that is resident in an economy
other than that of the direct investor. The lasting interest implies the existence of a long-term relationship
between the direct investor and the direct investment enterprise and a significant degree of influence on
the management of the enterprise. The direct or indirect ownership of 10 per cent or more of the voting
power of an enterprise resident in one economy by an investor resident in another economy is evidence
of such a relationship.”9
International businesses are engaged in many types of FDI and often consider multiple types at the same
time when considering how to enter a new market. Using a broad definition, the types of FDI are:
•• greenfield and expansion:
––
new physical operation
––
brownfield (on existing site, typically by a new company)
––
expansion/reinvestment (of an existing operation)
•• equity investments:
––
mergers and acquisitions (M&A)
––
joint ventures (JVs)
•• new forms of investment (NFI) or non-equity modes (NEM):
––
subcontracting, licensing, production-sharing
––
franchising, management, and turnkey projects
What Type of FDI Should Be Targeted?

The general consensus is that greenfield FDI delivers the most economic development benefits. The
OECD notes:
“It is generally considered that cross-border investments in the form of M&As will not involve significant
changes in the performance of economic variables such as production, employment, turnover, etc., unless
the acquired enterprise is subject to significant restructuring. On the other hand, new investments, greenfield
investments, and extension of capital are likely to add new dimensions to the economic performance of
the host economy and to the earnings of the direct investor.”10
8
WAVTEQ based on several studies, including Driffield and Hughes, Foreign and Domestic Investment, and Richards and Schaefer,
Jobs Attributable to Foreign Direct Investment.
9
OECD, OECD Benchmark Definition, 48–49.
10
OECD, Benchmark Definition, 87.

Economic Development Benefits by Type of FDI
While the OECD suggests that greenfield FDI is likely to bring more benefits than the M&A type of FDI,
each type does have the potential to generate significant economic development benefits. The type of FDI
an IPA/EDO should target depends on their prioritization of economic development benefits, which may
also vary across industries and regions within a country. Table 2 shows each type of FDI and its associated
desired benefits.
TABLE 2
FDI TYPES AND BENEFITS
Access Foreign
Fixed capital to export exchange Long-term
Type of FDI Job creation formation Technology markets earnings finance
FDI flows Medium Medium Medium Medium High High
Greenfield High High High High High High

FDI
M&A Low Low Low High High Medium
NFI/NEM Medium Medium High High Low Low
Source: WAVTEQ.
The type of FDI to target also depends on:

••the sectors in the economy (e.g., the R&D and tech sectors are driven more by M&A and NFI/NEM
types of FDI);
••the existence of local firms both suitable for, and with a clear desire for, engaging in M&A and/or
NFI/NEM transactions with foreign investors;
••the impact on achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (e.g., licensing of a technology to
increase energy, water, and waste efficiency may have a large impact on sustainable development
while not directly creating new jobs or capital investment);
••the capability of the IPA/EDO to promote and facilitate non-greenfield types of FDI.

IPA Perspectives on the Type of FDI to Target
Table 3 provides a breakdown of the various types of FDI and their associated benefits as well as the
associated costs or risks. This is a non-comprehensive, high-level summary intended to provide a brief
overview to quickly analyze the differences between the types of FDI that can be targeted.
TABLE 3
TYPE OF FDI TO TARGET: COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS
Type of FDI Benefits Costs/risks
Greenfield •• Jobs and capital investment •• A lot of IPA time but low conversion rate
•• Business rates and tax revenue versus working with local and existing
•• Increased competition leading to more businesses
innovation •• Over-selling the location—reality may
•• Local linkages and spillover benefits be different
•• First mover & halo effects •• Misunderstanding of local practices
•• Good PR for the location and the IPA •• Foreign investors bargain hard for
incentives
Mergers and •• Foreign exchange inflows to the country •• Streamlining and asset-stripping
acquisitions •• Management expertise •• Loss of decision-making control to
(M&A) •• Access to new markets another country
•• Safeguards jobs •• Risk that the M&A integration will fail
•• Brings in established brands •• Public perception risk, if a homegrown
•• Opportunity for reinvestment–aftercare/ brand is lost
business retention and expansion •• IPAs can help with matchmaking but
need professional services firms to do
the deal—the IPA has limited influence
on making the deal happen
Public-private •• Can attract very high level of capital •• Long-term costs of paying the investor
partnerships investment •• Model of PPP may not be ideal as
(PPP) •• Projects can be financed that may not external factors change (e.g., rapid
go ahead otherwise decline in renewable-energy prices
•• Improved perception as pro-business makes PPP in nuclear energy less
and government-business relations attractive)
•• Government requires very strong
expertise in PPP and high transparency,
which it may not have
•• Public perception risks
Joint •• Easier market entry for foreign investors •• Failure of the partnership
ventures, •• Promotes sector strengths •• Finding the right partner
alliances, and •• Develops links into other countries
partnerships •• Knowledge and skills bought in
(JVAP) •• Short lead time
•• Low risks to jobs
Source: Based on the responses from over 30 IPAs at the International Investment Promotion Workshop, September 30, 2016,
Financial Times Ltd./WAVTEQ.

Key Learnings
•• FDI has the potential to bring many direct and indirect economic development benefits to a country.
•• To develop an IPS, the IPA/EDO should have a very clear understanding of its objectives in
attracting FDI.
•• The economic development objectives of attracting FDI will be a key determinant of which sectors,
companies, markets, and types of FDI to target. For example:
–– If the focus is job creation, then targeting greenfield FDI in BPO, textiles, tourism, agribusiness, and
other labour-intensive sectors is likely to be a key part of the IPS.
–– If the focus is capital investment, then the IPS will likely target manufacturing and resource-based
sectors.
–– If the focus is foreign exchange and external finance, then the IPS will usually demonstrate an
openness to the M&A type of investment.
–– If the focus is on R&D, technology sectors, or achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals, then
the IPS will generally focus on NFI/NEM FDI.
•• Different types of FDI have different economic development benefits—and risks. The services
provided by the IPA/EDO will also be influenced by the type of FDI being targeted.
•• It is therefore essential that the IPS defines the key objectives in attracting FDI and the type of FDI to
be targeted.

Benchmarking and
Image-Building
Why Conduct Location Benchmarking?
Competitive positioning entails:
••understanding your region’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats;
••more importantly, understanding your region’s relative strengths vis-à-vis competing regions
(i.e., differentiators);
••understanding where your region is lacking so that you can ensure that these aspects are avoided or
de-emphasized or, more importantly, prepare a carefully crafted rebuttal in advance. All regions have
drawbacks; it is about how you sway the investor toward the positive and provide a suitable answer so
that they do not focus on the negative, but rather on the opportunity and the positive aspects.
Location benchmarking is a key technique used to assess the competitive position of an area. It mirrors
the corporate location/site-selection process that companies use when analyzing a long list of location
candidates. Exhibit 2 shows how a location benchmarking approach can be used by EDOs and IPAs.
EXHIBIT 2
LOCATION BENCHMARKING APPROACH
1 2 3
Evaluate the sectors and Identify unique selling points Handle investor enquiries by
subsectors in which a location and develop sector-specific providing investors with
has a strong competitive value propositions and high-quality comparative data
position and therefore potential marketing materials for aligned to their location
to attract inward investment promoting inward investment selection criterion
in a specific sector
Source: Loewendahl and Barklie, How to Identify, 17.

How to Benchmark Location Competitiveness for FDI
Exhibit 3 shows a step-by-step explanation of the typical methodology used by major companies and
site-selection firms to compare location candidates for an FDI project and develop a short list of preferred
locations. It is usually only after the short-listing phase (which may include only one or two locations) that
the company makes site visits, requests meetings with IPAs, and conducts more detailed due diligence.
EXHIBIT 3
METHODOLOGY FOR BENCHMARKING LOCATION COMPETITIVENESS FOR FDI
Identify the key location
1 2
Identify the key competitor or
determinants for each sector or
comparator locations for each
business activity being considered
sector
for inward investment attraction
Add a “weight” to each data point as

Identify the key data points that
3 4
some data points will be more important
are available to benchmark the
than others in the corporate location
location determinants for each
decision so should have a higher weight
sector and location
in the benchmarking model
Understand the operating cost Crunch the data to compare
5 6
model of each sector and collect locations for each sector across
data on each location for the key the key location determinants and
cost inputs (e.g. labour, property, weighted data points assigned to
and utility costs) each location determinant
Evaluate the competitive position
7 and key strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities, and threats for
inward investment in each location
Source: Based on Loewendahl and Barklie, How to Identify, 14.

By mirroring the corporate location-benchmarking methodology, IPAs can understand from the investor’s
perspective their competitive position for FDI and identify their key strengths (and weaknesses) for FDI in
different sectors compared with competitor locations. It is also recommended that IPAs benchmark their
competitiveness against key source countries for FDI, which companies also often do in order to provide
a baseline benchmark.
The methodology for benchmarking location competitiveness for FDI not only facilitates strategic
decisions on which sectors to target and how to position the location for FDI, but also enables IPAs to
provide companies with value-added comparative data highlighting their key relative strengths aligned
with companies’ FDI project requirements. When this is provided as part of a proactive lead-generation/
investor-outreach program, it can help get the location added to the investor’s long list. When it is provided
reactively, following inbound enquiries from companies or their site selectors, it can help get the location
on the short list. It is therefore essential for every IPA to conduct location benchmarking.
Step 1: Identify Key Location Determinants

To conduct a location benchmarking study, the first step is to identify the key determinants that will be
used to benchmark a potential location. This includes identifying the project parameters, such as the
sectors and project types being evaluated. Note that location determinants can include both cost and
quality factors.
The example in Exhibit 4 is for a consumer electronics plant. The head count, job functions, utility
requirements, and key location determinants have all been defined. The example is a generic model; the
project specification will vary depending on which countries/regions the investor is looking at and will also
be company specific.

EXHIBIT 4
EXAMPLE PROJECT SPECIFICATION FOR A CONSUMER ELECTRONICS PLANT
Source: WAVTEQ customized fDi Benchmark model from the Financial Times Ltd., 2018.

Step 2: Identify Key Competitor and Comparator Locations
The second step is to identify the key locations to benchmark. These will generally be the major countries
the IPA is competing against for FDI in the sector. Adding key source countries for FDI in the sector can
also be considered.
Generally, key competitor countries are located in the same region as the IPA, especially if they are a
member of a regional free trade agreement. Most FDI projects serve national and regional markets. In
certain sectors (e.g., medical devices) companies do establish global production and R&D operations, and
competition can be global in some cases.
It should also be noted that, in addition to country-level benchmarking, companies also typically
benchmark cities and regions within countries, as access to markets, industry clusters, infrastructure
assets, and labour force vary significantly within countries, as do cost levels.
Step 3: Identify Key Data Points

Once the project specification and key locations being benchmarked are determined, the next step is to
identify reliable and comparable data to benchmark the locations. Typically, 50 to 100 or more data points
will be used to benchmark locations for a specific sector.
Depending on the region of the world, companies will benchmark countries first and then drill down to
cities within their short list of countries. (In developed economies, companies mostly benchmark at the
city level in the first phase, as the national investment environments are all pro-business and high-quality.)
The Financial Times benchmarking model for a consumer electronics plant includes 130 quality
competitiveness data points to benchmark countries. Table 4 below shows the top 10 data points (ranked
by their overall weight in the FDI decision) for a consumer electronics plant. These are essentially the most
important data points for comparing the quality competitiveness of locations.
TABLE 4
TOP 10 QUALITY COMPETITIVENESS DATA POINTS
Data point name Data point location sector
1. Household final consumption expenditure Proximity to consumers
2. Mobile cellular subscriptions Proximity to consumers
3. Personal computers Proximity to consumers
4. Manufacturing, value added Size of industry
5. Consumer goods (inward FDI) Track record
6. Employment in industry (per cent of total employment) Experienced industry-specific staff
7. Companies in consumer electronics Size of industry
8. Labour force (estimate) Overall size of labour market
9. Availability of scientists and engineers Experienced industry-specific staff
10. Overall infrastructure quality Quality of local infrastructure
Source: WAVTEQ customized fDi benchmark model from the Financial Times Ltd., 2018.

Step 4: Weighting of Data Points
Each data point is then weighted based on its importance in the location decision. The table below shows
data points for Indonesia and its ranking against the other four locations in this study (Malaysia, Philippines,
Thailand, and Vietnam). The table also shows the weights attached to each data point. Indonesia ranks
first on the number of personal computers, the number of mobile cellular subscriptions, and the size of its
labour force.
TABLE 5
INDONESIA’S GLOBAL RANKING
Data point Rank* Data Unit Year Weight % Global rank**
Employment in industry (per cent 4 21.72 Per cent 2017 7.35 49

of total employment)
Household final consumption 1 538 US$ billions 2016 6.40 16

expenditures
Consumer goods (inward FDI) 3 95 Projects 2017 5.40 19
Personal computers 1 39 Basic unit value 2012 3.20 14

(millions)
Manufacturing, value added 1 191 US$ billions 2016 3.20 10
Mobile cellular subscriptions 1 459 Millions of 2017 3.20 3

subscriptions
Companies in consumer 5 337 Companies 2018 2.40 41

electronics
Quality of port infrastructure 3 3.99 Out of 7 2017 2.40 61
Labour force (estimate) 1 126 Millions of 2017 2.10 4

people
Availability of scientists and 2 4.5 Out of 7 2017 2.10 32

engineers
Labour force, forecast growth 3 1.252 Per cent 2018 2.10 35

(per year)
Exports of consumer electronics 4 1262 US$ millions 2017 2.00 18

manufacturing
Overall infrastructure quality 2 4.13 Out of 7 2017 1.80 57
Gross enrolment ratio, 3 86.0 Per cent 2016 1.80 70

secondary, both sexes (per cent)
Total tax rate (per cent of profit) 2 30.1 Per cent 2018 1.80 25
Household final consumption 4 5.04 Per cent 2016 1.60 19

expenditure annual growth
(per cent)

Data point Rank* Data Unit Year Weight % Global rank**
Household final consumption 4 3.9 Per cent 2016 1.60 22

expenditure per capita annual
growth (per cent)
Manufacturing, value added 3 21.3 Per cent 2016 1.60 15

(per cent of GDP)
Quality of air transport 3 4.8 Out of 7 2017 1.60 48

infrastructure
*Rank among Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

**Global rank among 98 countries in fDi Benchmark (covers all major economies).
Source: WAVTEQ customized fDi Benchmark model from the Financial Times Ltd., 2018.
Step 5: Understand the Operating Costs

As well as assessing the quality competitiveness indicators of a country aligned to the location determinants
of a consumer electronics plant, companies will also benchmark cost competitiveness. Key cost inputs are
shown in Exhibit 4. Chart 3 shows an example of the annual labour costs for a skilled production operative.
These costs include salary and additional costs such as statutory social security costs. Indonesian skilled
production operatives have the lowest costs among the six comparator countries and therefore would be
ranked in first place.
CHART 3
ANNUAL LABOUR COSTS FOR A SKILLED PRODUCTION OPERATIVE, 2017
(US$)
 Salary  Additional costs
Indonesia 3,365 395
Vietnam 3,523 757
Philippines 4,485 476
Thailand 5,542 333
Malaysia 6,165 925
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000
Sources: fDi Intelligence based on Willis Towers Watson Global Remuneration Planning Report 2017/18 and national statistics.

Step 6: Benchmark the Comparator Locations
Below are example data points for benchmarking Indonesia against four major ASEAN countries for a
consumer electronics plant. The example data points are aligned to the key location determinants for FDI
in the sector as shown in Exhibit 4.
Industry cluster/proximity to customers: Proximity to customers has the highest weight in the location
model because consumer electronics companies invest to serve large national and regional markets.
Chart 4 reveals that Indonesia has a very large domestic market, with over $500 billion in household
expenditures, and is ranked first among the comparators (16th in the world).
CHART 4
HOUSEHOLD FINAL CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURES, 2015
(US$ billions)
600
538
500
400
300
224
206
200 163
141
100
0
Indonesia Philippines Thailand Malaysia Vietnam
Source: World Bank World Development Indicators.
Large and growing household expenditure is reflected in the size of the consumer electronics market.
Chart 5 shows the example for mobile cellular subscriptions, with Indonesia having over 400 million
mobile cellular phone subscribers, the highest among the comparator countries (ranked in third
place globally).

CHART 5
MOBILE CELLULAR SUBSCRIPTIONS, 2017
(millions of subscriptions)
500 459
400
300
200
122 120 116

100
42
0
Indonesia Thailand Vietnam Philippines Malaysia
Source: International Telecommunication Union.
Industry cluster/size of industry: The size of industry has a high weight in the location model, with
consumer electronics investors looking to invest in a location with a strong manufacturing sector. Chart 6
shows that Indonesia has the largest manufacturing sector among the comparator countries (ranked in
10th place globally).
CHART 6
MANUFACTURING VALUE ADDED, 2015
(US$)
200 191
150
112
100
66
60
50
29
0
Indonesia Thailand Malaysia Philippines Vietnam
Source: World Bank World Development Indicators.

Industry cluster/track record: Track record has a high weight in the location model, with consumer
electronics investors looking to invest in countries with a good track record of attracting FDI. Chart 7 shows
that Indonesia has a very strong track record attracting FDI in consumer electronics, ranking third among
the comparator countries in its performance in attracting FDI in the sector (ranked in 19th place globally).
CHART 7
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS FDI, 2003–2017
(number of greenfield FDI projects)

180
163
157
160
140
120
100 95
80 75
60
46
40
20
0
Thailand Vietnam Indonesia Malaysia Philippines
Source: fDi Intelligence using fDi Benchmark.
Labour availability and quality/size of labour force: This is an important location determinant for a
consumer electronics plant, as these are typically labour-intensive operations requiring a large workforce.
Indonesia has the largest labour force in ASEAN and the fourth-largest in the world. When combined
with the large size of the manufacturing sector, Indonesia is in a strong position to meet the labour-force
requirements of an FDI project in the sector.

CHART 8
LABOUR FORCE, 2017
(millions of people)
140
126
120
100
80
60 56
45
39
40
20 16
0
Indonesia Vietnam Philippines Thailand Malaysia
Source: fDi Benchmark from the Financial Times Ltd.
Labour availability and quality/experienced staff: Consumer electronics firms are also looking for a skilled
workforce. Chart 9 shows that Indonesia is rated highly by firms for availability of scientists and engineers.
CHART 9
INDEX OF THE AVAILABILITY OF SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS, 2017
(1 = non-existent, 7 = widely available)

6
5.3
5
4.5
4.1
4 3.8 3.8
0
Malaysia Indonesia Thailand Philippines Vietnam
Source: fDi Intelligence using fDi Benchmark.

Infrastructure and accessibility/quality of local infrastructure: The quality of infrastructure is an
important requirement for consumer electronics investors to enable efficient importing of components,
exporting of finished goods, and distribution of finished goods within the country. Chart 10 shows
that Indonesia is tied for second place with Thailand among the comparator counties for quality
of infrastructure.
CHART 10
INDEX OF OVERALL INFRASTRUCTURE QUALITY, 2017
(1 = extremely underdeveloped; 7 = extensive and efficient by international standards)

6
5.3
5
4.1 4.1
4 3.6
3.0
3
0
Malaysia Indonesia Thailand Vietnam Philippines
Sources: World Economic Forum, Global Competitiveness Report.
Step 7: Evaluate the Competitive Position

To evaluate the competitive position of locations, major companies and site-selection firms typically
present the results as a matrix showing the cost differences between locations compared with
the quality differences. This enables companies to see the trade-offs between cost and quality for
short-listed locations.
Chart 11 shows such a matrix for the consumer electronics plant. The average cost and quality score is
100 across all five locations. The matrix is based on the cost model and quality model for the consumer
electronics plant. The cost model shows the primary cost inputs for the operation and the quality model
identifies the most important location determinants for the project. The cost and quality scores are
calculated using real data on all the locations, with weights attached to each data point are applied. In our
example for the consumer electronics plant, we can see that Indonesia is located in the ideal upper-left
quadrant, which indicates a combination of high quality and low cost.

CHART 11
COMPETITIVE POSITION MATRIX FOR A CONSUMER ELECTRONICS PLANT, 2018
(cost and quality scores)
160
140
Quality score (average = 100)
120
Indonesia
Malaysia
100 Thailand
Vietnam
Philippines
80
60
40
20
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Cost score (average = 100)
Source: fDi Intelligence using fDi Benchmark based on WAVTEQ customized model for an ASEAN consumer electronics plant.
If we assume, in the case of the consumer electronics plant, that 50 per cent of the FDI location decision
is based on the quality of the location and 50 per cent is based on the cost, Chart 12 shows that Indonesia
would be ranked the most attractive FDI location.

CHART 12
FDI COMPETITIVENESS RANKING FOR A CONSUMER ELECTRONICS PLANT, 2018
 quality score (one half)  cost score (one half)
Indonesia 56.2 60.8
Thailand 51.1 45.7
Malaysia 53.5 42.6
Vietnam 46.3 48.8
Philippines 42.9 52.1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Source: fDi Intelligence using fDi Benchmark based on WAVTEQ customized model for an ASEAN consumer electronics plant.
The Need for Image-Building

Over 70 per cent of all clients of site-location consultancies put together a short list of location options
before the site-selection professional is even contacted;11 over 50 per cent of companies use external
resources to help them choose an overseas location;12 and over half of U.S companies are planning to
outsource site selection.13
When a company draws up a long list of location candidates for a project, the process is often based on
the personal perceptions of the corporate location executives in the company as well as those of their
location advisors.
Investors will typically review locations:14

•• where they have invested before
•• where their competitors have already invested
•• where major customers or suppliers have a presence
•• that appear in location-attractiveness rankings
•• about which they have read positive reports in the business press and media
•• where they have visited on business trips or vacations
•• where they have family roots
Even when investors are aware of certain locations, their perceptions may be either right or wrong, but are
rarely accurate.
11
12
Lawlor, Corporate Overseas Expansion, 20.
13
DCI, Winning Strategies, 34.
14
Millennium Cities Initiative and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment, Handbook for Promoting, 22.

What is Image-Building?
An investment promotion program must include image-building: the communication of the true
characteristics of a host country/location that matter to investors. Image-building may include positive
reinforcement of investor perceptions or removal/correction of negative bias based on incorrect investor
perceptions of a location.
A location benchmarking study and investor perception study are critical components in developing an
image-building and investment promotion strategy. These are needed in order to develop compelling
sales messages and proposition-based marketing materials and tools.
IPAs/EDOs need to adopt a strategic approach over time to improve the image of the country or region
vis-à-vis other locales for investment by facilitating investment at all stages, servicing investors, and acting
as an effective intermediary in all relevant areas. Effective IPAs/EDOs should react to complaints from
existing investors and advocate for changes that lead them to reinvest and disseminate a positive image
of the country’s investment climate.
Image-building is a foundational step in the process of attracting FDI. Its role is primarily that of focusing
investor interest on the location and overcoming negative perceptions, rather than directly persuading an
MNE to invest.
Image-building is particularly important for countries that are new to investment attraction and are
undergoing rapid political and/or economic reform, countries that are looking to promote investment
into new industries, or countries that have faced violence or terrorist acts (directed either at themselves
or at neighboring countries). It is equally important for small countries that receive little international
media coverage.
Successful image-building may require considerable, well-targeted expenditures over time, but spending
is not enough to make an investor decide on a particular country or location as an investment destination.
At the image-building stage, the basic tools of marketing are applied to promote the country or region to
the general investor, but also to targeted investors. Techniques include the following:
•• segmenting markets
•• direct marketing
•• telemarketing
•• investment exhibitions
•• missions and seminars
•• direct selling, where individual companies represent a key target audience
Image-Building Activities and Objectives

Some common and effective international image-building activities include:15
••inviting foreign financial media on a tour at least once in a calendar year;
••ensuring regular interface between senior IPA/EDO officials and foreign media;
••disseminating information and materials electronically and through mailings;
••participating in international trade and industry fairs;
••appointing members from overseas chambers of commerce or other business associations as
honorary investment ambassadors;
••organizing investment seminars in key overseas markets.
15
ESCAP, Handbook on Policies, 204–205.

The objectives of image-building include:
••controlling the narrative by focusing on the details most relevant to attracting FDI;
••educating prospective investors on what the region actually offers versus their assumptions;
••ensuring the investor enters the conversation with a positive image of and interest in the region;
••helping the region to stand out positively against its competitors;
••ensuring that the perception of the region is not left up to chance.
Location benchmarking is a key technique to identify what the region offers versus its competitors:
••It provides “apples-to-apples” data so that regions can be objectively compared.
••It enables ranking of a region and positioning against competitors to develop key selling messages.
••It identifies quality and cost factors aligned to the key location determinants of investors in a quick
and easy-to-read format so that image-building can focus on comparative advantages.
How to Identify Investor Perceptions

To establish the key elements of an image-building strategy, it is necessary to first identify what potential
investors think about a location.
Investor perceptions can be measured in a number of ways:16

•• Review publicly available reports on a location and its investment climate. A variety of organizations
produce these reports, including multilateral institutions and both governmental and non-
governmental sources. Such organizations include the World Bank, UNCTAD (World Investment
Report), and investment guides developed by private consulting firms.
•• Perform online searches of the archives of leading newspapers and specialized reports/magazines/
periodicals. Examining online country reports and news articles will reveal how influential government
and media sources commonly portray a country. These portrayals frequently shape investors’ general
perceptions of a location and will likely vary from sector to sector. If a location already receives
investment from a particular sector, investors from that sector are likely to possess better-than-
average information about that location. The converse is also true.
•• Undertake surveys and distribute questionnaires among existing and potential investors about their
perceptions of the location. Whether the target audience comes from sectors already investing in a
country or not, it is essential to know how specific aspects of a location are perceived.17
•• Information provided by commercial and tourism websites of major governments also has a major
impact on perceptions of a location and FDI interest.18
Basic Steps of Image-Building19

Step 1: Ensure that the necessary information is available, that senior officials within and outside of the
IPA/EDO are committed to image-building, and that the IPA/EDO’s staff have the required competencies
to undertake all parts of the image-building campaign.
Step 2: Define the target audiences for the image-building campaign, including existing and prospective
investors, people who influence public opinion, and other targets.
Step 3: Clearly define the content of the image-building message. It should contain a unique selling
proposition or point (USP), which is a statement highlighting a characteristic that sets the location being
promoted apart from its competition as an investment location. The USP is developed based on location
benchmarking and SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis and should be
16
17
See Loewendhal and Gutierrez, Investor Perception Survey, for an example investor perception survey.
18
For example, the U.S. Department of State has a website with investment information on various countries. The page for Jamaica
is https://www.state.gov/e/eb/rls/othr/ics/2017/wha/270080.htm.
19

accurate and truthful. If the location is not able to develop a meaningful USP, it should instead develop
a phrase that clearly spells out the location’s advantages for investors, even though other locations may
have equal competitive advantages.
Step 4: Set clear goals and priorities for the image-building campaign, such as overcoming particular
negative images or creating awareness of new or little-known positive features of your location. Determine
the priority attached to each objective and consider dropping low-priority goals or objectives. Set targets,
including interim targets, with clear time frames to achieve each goal or objective. This enables monitoring
and motivates team members.
Step 5: Identify and develop the main strategic activities by which you will convey the message to the
target audiences. Some key elements of an image-building strategy are:
•• Identify the marketing theme, including USP, targeted messages, and promotional materials for
investors. Ensure that the marketing theme fits your goals.
•• Continually develop and update relevant public relations materials.
•• Use a broad spectrum of media to convey the message, and continuously build and develop
media contacts.
•• Position the local IPA as the best source of information for the media on investment-related issues
(i.e., build its credibility), and work to position the head of the IPA as a regular spokesperson for
the organization.
Step 6: Before launching the campaign, coordinate with everyone involved, including potential partners,
to ensure there are no conflicting commitments or overlapping programs and activities and that there is
adequate time to execute the campaign. Two major mistakes in public-relations programming are not
knowing what others have planned and not allowing adequate time to execute your plan.
Step 7: Communicate with team members and other stakeholders throughout the planning and
implementation stages.
Step 8: Prepare a written plan, including clear deadlines and allocation of tasks, for consideration by the
IPA/EDO’s advisory board or board of directors. A detailed project plan helps to communicate objectives,
resource requirements, schedules, and milestones.
Image-Building Tools20
•• News releases, features, and articles provide an opportunity to control the narrative in the media
and should contain impactful, relevant information that will draw the attention of investors or other
media that could influence investors. Note that such releases and articles may not always be placed
in well-established newspapers or relevant business journals, and offer very little editorial control to
the IPA/EDO. In addition, for a news release to be effective, it should be picked up by more than one
news outlet and contain a persuasive message.
•• Introductory brochures should be well-designed, accurate, and truthful, include brief, to-the-
point information, and provide a summary of expected services for investors. The brochure should
convincingly answer the question: Why should an investor choose to invest in this location?
•• Fact sheets should provide a brief, simple list of data that are relevant to the investor, including
general economic and industrial data, trade statistics, indicators of investment climate, incentives,
labour and skills availability, principal laws and regulations, taxation, costs of doing business, quality
of life, and the role of and services provided by the IPA/EDO. Testimonials from existing investors can
also be included.
20

•• Brochures and fact sheets can be published on the IPA/EDO’s website and social media networks,
such as LinkedIn and Facebook.
•• A promotional video provides a quick way to reach the target audience and stimulates their interest
through multiple senses. After Google, YouTube is the second-biggest search engine in the world,
so videos should be linked to or made available on YouTube. (Note that professionally produced
videos are relatively expensive and can become outdated quickly.) Videos should be brief, focused,
and interesting, and should not contain lengthy statements by politicians about how wonderful the
region is. An emerging trend in 2018, facilitated by advances in video technology, is creating video
site-selection tours of a location. This is very attractive for investors, as they do not need to make a
resource-intensive site visit to check out a new location. It is also attractive for IPAs, as they can show
companies what it is like on the ground in their country, correct misperceptions, provide value-added
insights to companies, and encourage them to make an actual site visit if they are impressed by what
they see in the video.
•• Well-timed and well-placed advertising campaigns can be extremely valuable. It is important that
they be conducted in investor home countries for a targeted audience. Such campaigns should be
run in relevant journals and newspapers and can also take the form of brief commercials on major
television channels. However, be aware that advertising campaigns not produced in-house can be
expensive, and that advertising campaigns lack credibility and should therefore contain testimonials
from established investors with international reputations. A specialized advertising/public relations
firm can be recruited for this purpose if the IPA/EDO’s budget allows.
•• Infomercials for TV can be effective if shown repeatedly. They are very costly in terms of
development and placement, but give the IPA/EDO total control over their content.
•• Promotional conferences, fairs, seminars, and roadshows aimed at targeted audiences should
be well-prepared with high-quality speakers, including established investors who can act as
ambassadors for the location. It is important to ensure a lot of press coverage of these events. Large
fairs should only be conducted after the development of a specific sector or launch of an image-
building campaign, and are probably better used as an investment promotion tool, rather than as an
image-building tool.
Key Learnings
•• Location benchmarking is an activity every IPA/EDO should regularly undertake in order to:
–– understand the location’s competitive position for FDI overall and in key sectors;
–– provide comparative benchmarking data to identify key location strengths to help develop value
propositions and marketing materials;
–– collect data to facilitate high-quality investor enquiry handling.
•• Location benchmarking and competitive positioning provide the messages and evidence to support
image-building.
•• An image-building strategy should also involve:
–– a review of news stories about the region (in both mainstream and business media);
–– a review of rankings and competitiveness studies;
–– a review of how major governments portray the location;
–– investor-perception surveys.
•• Investor-perception surveys of both potential and existing investors are very useful for investment
promotion strategy development.

Sector and Market
Strategies
Why Develop a Sector Targeting Strategy?21
Identifying target sectors for FDI attraction is critical to success and should drive the overall investment
promotion strategy. The sector strategy identifies the key sectors to target for inward investment attraction.
Most IPAs/EDOs build teams with sector-specific expertise to help companies invest and expand their
operations in the location and create local linkages with SMEs, research institutions, skills and training
centres, and other entities.
Sector strategy informs proactive investment promotion and lead-generation activities: which trade shows
and events to attend, which overseas missions to make, which partnerships to create, and, most importantly,
which specific companies to target are all driven by the sector strategy. It also has a major influence on
print and digital marketing strategies (e.g., which sector brochures and propositions to develop) and on
international strategy (e.g., which source countries to target for inward investment).
When identifying sectors, it is essential to be as focused as possible. Most IPAs/EDOs have sector
strategies that are far too broad, making it difficult to proactively target companies. Targeting the food
sector, IT sector, or renewable-energy sector is insufficient for an investment promotion strategy; specific
subsectors and individual product areas must be identified.
The sector targeting strategy of IPAs/EDOs may not fit standard industry-classification systems. For
example, cyber security, artificial intelligence, and big data are among the hottest subsectors for FDI
but fit no standard industry classification. Furthermore, many IPAs/EDOs are actually targeting business
activities that are sector-agnostic. For example, an IPA/EDO may target business process outsourcing
(BPO) operations, which can come from multiple industry sectors.
Framework for Identifying Target Sectors

WAVTEQ has developed a Three Force Model for creating sector strategies (see Exhibit 5) that evaluates
sectors according to the following factors:22
•• Economic development objectives: Is the objective job creation, capital investment, wage upgrading,
R&D, export development, supply-chain and cluster development, or sustainable investment? Which
sectors should be targeted to achieve the desired economic development objectives?
•• Competitive position: The IPA/EDO will be more successful in targeting inward investment in sectors
where they have a genuine competitive position and strong value proposition relative to competing
locations for FDI in these sectors. Location benchmarking is a key technique.
•• Market demand: There can be sectors that meet economic-development objectives and where the
location has a strong competitive position, but where there is limited greenfield inward investment.
Examples include genetics, which is driven by strategic partnerships and M&A rather than greenfield
cross-border investment, or certain agricultural products, which are often an export play rather than
an inward investment opportunity. The size and growth of the FDI market for each sector needs to
21
Loewendahl and Barklie, How to Identify; Loewendahl, “A Framework,” 10–13.
22
Loewendahl and Barklie, How to Identify, 5.

be carefully considered and aligned to the economic development results being targeted and the
services being provided to investors.
EXHIBIT 5
WAVTEQ THREE FORCE MODEL OF TARGET SECTOR IDENTIFICATION
COMPETITIVE
POSITION
ECONOMIC
MARKET
DEVELOPMENT
DEMAND
OBJECTIVES
TARGET
SECTORS
Source: WAVTEQ.
Methods for Identifying Target Sectors

In 2018 WAVTEQ published a comprehensive guide entitled How to Identify Target Sectors for Inward
Investment. The guide outlines five key quantitative methods to help identify target sectors for FDI:
1. location quotients (LQs)
2. revealed comparative advantage (RCA) in exports (RCA-Exports)
3. location benchmarking and competitive positioning
4. FDI demand-side analysis
5. revealed comparative advantage in FDI (RCA-FDI)
The following sections provide a summary of each method (other than location benchmarking and
competitive positioning, which were covered in the previous section). A combination of these methods is
recommended when identifying target sectors for FDI.
As well as applying the above methods to conduct a quantitative analysis of sectors to target for FDI, a
qualitative approach is also recommended, focusing on:
•• specific investment opportunities for foreign investors (e.g., a new shovel-ready site or property for an
investor(s) in a specific sector, PPP opportunities, or JV opportunities);
•• specific investment assets in a location that can be used to leverage FDI (e.g., a research centre
specializing in a specific sector/subsector; a rare or high-value natural resource that can be
commoditized; a major foreign investor providing supply-chain opportunities; or a cluster of start-up
companies specializing in a specific subsector that could attract foreign investors).

Location Quotient23
Location quotients (LQs) are used in economic development to identify industries where a geographic
area is relatively strong, with the LQ measuring how concentrated or dominant an industry is in an area
compared with a larger region (e.g., a state or national average), typically using employment data. LQs are
normally used to analyze industry strengths at the sub-national level rather than the country level.
The formula for LQ for industry “x” in a particular sub-region is:
Sub-region employment in industry x

Sub-region total employment
LQ =
Region employment in industry x
Region total employment
An LQ score greater than one indicates the area has a larger proportion of employment in a particular
industry than would be expected. A score of less than one indicates the area has a smaller proportion of
employment in a particular industry than would be expected.
An LQ provides a measure of the degree of industry specialization within an area. A high LQ in a specific
industry may translate into a competitive advantage in that industry. Economic development opportunities
may exist for additional growth of exports or related industries due to the presence of an existing skilled-
labour pool or other resources such as suppliers, facilities, or transportation hubs in the region.
Changes in an LQ score over time are useful in identifying industries that are growing or declining: If a
sector’s score is increasing over time, this is likely to indicate the area is becoming more competitive in
that sector.
Careful investigation is needed to understand why a location has a high or low LQ and how that translates
into the area’s competitive position for inward investment, taking into consideration how up-to-date the
available data are and what may have changed since the last data were published.
Revealed Comparative Advantage in Exports (RCA-Exports)

The theory of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) is similar to that of LQ; the difference is that RCA
focuses on export data while LQ focuses on employment data. RCA identifies the industries where a
country has a comparative advantage in exports, which underlies explanations for the observed pattern
of inter-industry trade. The RCA-Exports formula has been used in international economics for decades to
calculate the relative advantage of a country in specific products or services, using data on trade flows to
calculate the RCA.
23

The formula for RCA-Exports for product or service “x” in a particular country is:
Country exports of products/services x

Country total exports
RCA–Exports =
World exports of products/services x
World total exports
A score greater than one implies that the country has a revealed comparative advantage in exports of
the product or service. If the value is less than one, the country is said to have a revealed comparative
disadvantage in exports of the product or service.
The RCA-Exports score is very useful in quickly identifying the competitive sectors in a country. The
method can be applied worldwide, as comparable export data is available for most countries. Data are
also updated annually, allowing for accurate time-series analysis, and very detailed sector- and product-
level analysis is also possible using standard industrial-classification systems. Furthermore, export data is
available for free from many international sources, making it attractive to use.
As with LQs based on employment statistics, export data in most countries cannot differentiate at a sector
level between exports by domestically-owned and foreign-owned companies, and therefore the RCA-
Exports score cannot determine whether an RCA is an export-development (trade) opportunity, an inward
FDI opportunity, or both.
The RCA-Export scores for Indonesia reveal the following key facts:
••Of 97 products, Indonesia has 30 products (31 per cent of all products evaluated) with an RCA greater
than one. (See Table 6.) This means Indonesia has a revealed comparative advantage in exports of
those products. These are mainly agricultural products, natural-resource-based products, textiles,
and several light-manufacturing sectors.
••Indonesia has a revealed comparative disadvantage in exports of 67 products (69 per cent of all
products evaluated). These are mostly medium- and high-tech manufactured products, chemicals-
related products, and certain agricultural products. (See the appendix for a list of the commodities for
which Indonesia has a revealed comparative disadvantage.)
TABLE 6
PRODUCTS FOR WHICH INDONESIA HAS A REVEALED COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE, 2017
Indonesia’s share
Indonesia’s value World value of of world exports,
Product of exports, 2017 exports, 2017 2017 (per cent) RCA
Tin and articles thereof 1,595,191 4,807,112 33.2 23.93
Animal or vegetable fats and 22,965,596 87,312,944 26.3 18.96

oils and their cleavage products;
prepared edible fats; animal ...
Prepared feathers and down and 441,377 1,816,775 24.3 17.52

articles made of feathers or of
down; artificial flowers; articles ...

Indonesia’s share
Vegetable plaiting materials; 145,207 762,324 19.0 13.73

vegetable products not
elsewhere specified or included
Manufactures of straw, of esparto 71,398 420,094 17.0 12.25

or of other plaiting materials;
basketware and wickerwork
Musical instruments; parts and 554,435 3,861,906 14.4 10.35

accessories of such articles
Man-made staple fibres 2,063,672 18,683,035 11.0 7.96
Footwear, gaiters and the like; 4,911,846 61,899,470 7.9 5.72

parts of such articles
Rubber and articles thereof 7,743,062 125,917,879 6.1 4.43
Pulp of wood or of other fibrous 2,426,018 43,371,630 5.6 4.03

cellulosic material; recovered
(waste and scrap) paper or ...
Coffee, tea, maté and spices 1,965,354 37,824,451 5.2 3.75
Man-made filaments; strip and 950,289 21,544,277 4.4 3.18

the like of man-made textile
materials
Nickel and articles thereof 646,656 15,595,599 4.1 2.99
Articles of apparel and clothing 4,146,456 102,453,376 4.0 2.92

accessories, not knitted or
crocheted
Fish and crustaceans, molluscs 3,271,469 83,676,311 3.9 2.82

and other aquatic invertebrates
Wood and articles of wood; wood 4,004,286 103,120,776 3.9 2.80

charcoal
Articles of apparel and clothing 3,735,543 97,959,736 3.8 2.75

accessories, knitted or crocheted
Preparations of meat, of fish or of 931,698 25,228,454 3.7 2.66

crustaceans, molluscs or other
aquatic invertebrates
Tobacco and manufactured 1,139,600 34,122,628 3.3 2.41

tobacco substitutes
Cocoa and cocoa preparations 1,120,764 33,931,309 3.3 2.38

Indonesia’s share
Paper and paperboard; articles 3,799,573 121,223,263 3.1 2.26

of paper pulp, of paper or of
paperboard
Mineral fuels, mineral oils and 36,866,865 1,289,144,264 2.9 2.06

products of their distillation;
bituminous substances; mineral ...
Miscellaneous chemical products 3,894,805 141,070,532 2.8 1.99
Cotton 819,007 33,997,639 2.4 1.74
Soap, organic surface-active 1,059,455 45,479,062 2.3 1.68

agents, washing preparations,
lubricating preparations, artificial ...
Lac; gums, resins and other 94,715 4,569,276 2.1 1.49

vegetable saps and extracts
Ores, slag and ash 3,769,649 184,655,747 2.0 1.47
Miscellaneous edible 1,025,568 51,702,405 2.0 1.43

preparations
Copper and articles thereof 2,060,357 115,726,609 1.8 1.28
Preparations of cereals, flour, 972,480 54,659,322 1.8 1.28

starch or milk; pastrycooks’
products
Source: WAVTEQ calculations based on UN COMTRADE statistics.
FDI Demand-Side Analysis24

The key objective of FDI demand-side analysis is to identify and evaluate sectors based on quantitative
evidence about the size and growth of FDI into the country, region, and globally. The track record of a
country in attracting FDI can inform which sectors to target because of:
•• Follow-the-leader strategies: These are very common in corporate location decision-making. When
an area attracts its first flagship investor, the global investor community takes note, and a halo effect is
often observed, with other major investors in the same or related sectors also locating in the area.
•• Supply chains and value chains: If an area attracts a major investor, this often leads to inward
investment being made by supporting and related industries (a clustering effect).
•• Skilled workforce and talent pool: Inward investment increases the skilled workforce and talent pool
in an area through the training and experience employees gain, through related training and research
institutions that expand to meet the needs of inward investors, and through the attraction of skilled
workers to the area due to new job opportunities. As long as the labour market does not become too
tight, these agglomeration effects make the location more attractive to other inward investors.
Understanding FDI trends in the wider region and globally enables IPAs/EDOs to see the size and
growth of the contestable market for inward investment in different sectors (i.e., locations where the IPA’s
24

location could realistically have been a candidate for the investment). This is made possible by databases
like www.fdimarkets.com from the Financial Times and www.investmentmap.org from the International
Trade Centre.
There are some important caveats with FDI demand-side analysis:

••Niche-sector strengths: An area may have a strong competitive position for FDI in a niche sector.
Even if the FDI volume is currently low, it could still be attractive to target due to the higher
probability of success, and also because the sector could be high value-added and/or help develop
related and supporting industries.
••Data coverage: Commercially available FDI databases cannot achieve 100 per cent coverage or
accuracy due to companies not releasing public information on their projects, small projects being
difficult to track, difficulty in qualification of investments, or because no database tracks all the modes
of inward investment a company can make.
••Forecasts: While real-time data on sector and subsector FDI trends are readily available, forecast
data are still not available.
Table 7 shows an example of major industrial clusters for global greenfield FDI, which can be used to
identify the major sectors to target for FDI and to cross-reference target sectors against sector potential.
TABLE 7
INDUSTRY CLUSTERS RANKED BY GLOBAL GREENFIELD FDI, 2017
Capital investment in Direct job creation in

greenfield FDI projects greenfield FDI projects Number of greenfield
Industry cluster (US$ billions) (number of jobs) FDI projects
ICT and electronics 96.7 260,235 2,272
Energy 84.3 36,322 271
Transport equipment 78.5 340,776 1,426
Construction 62.8 231,619 504
Retail trade 54.3 296,754 2,486
Environmental technology 52.6 39,532 454
Physical sciences 45.2 61,241 364
Food, beverages, and 39.1 131,016 931

tobacco
Transportation, 36.2 111,118 775

warehousing, and storage
Industrial 30.7 111,811 1,145
Financial services 26.4 77,108 1,155
Tourism 23.1 60,679 349
Professional services 22.7 74,080 1,185

Capital investment in Direct job creation in
greenfield FDI projects greenfield FDI projects Number of greenfield
Industry cluster (US$ billions) (number of jobs) FDI projects
Wood, apparel, & related 21.0 105,364 334

products
Life sciences 20.1 62,330 766
Consumer goods 14.9 98,541 534
Creative industries 10.3 38,646 909
Total 719.0 2,137,172 15,860
Note: Data includes estimates on capital investment and job creation.

Source: fDi Markets from the Financial Times Ltd.
The data in Table 7 show that ICT and electronics is the leading industry cluster for greenfield investment
and the second-leading cluster for the number of greenfield projects. Retail trade is the leading cluster for
the number of greenfield projects. Transport equipment is the leading cluster for job creation. The table
also shows that certain high-value-added sectors such as life sciences have a relatively low volume of
FDI. A similar analysis can be conducted at a regional (e.g., ASEAN) or country level as well as for specific
sectors and subsectors.
RCA for FDI

WAVTEQ has developed a new model of revealed comparative advantage. This method identifies target
sectors based on the RCA of countries for FDI rather than exports.
The formula for RCA-FDI for sector “x” in a particular country is:
Volume of FDI into country in industry x

Volume of world FDI in industry x
RCA–FDI =
Volume of FDI into country
Volume of world FDI
The formula can be adapted to focus on a region (e.g., ASEAN) instead of the world.
A score greater than one indicates that the country has a revealed comparative advantage in the sector for
inward FDI. A score less than one indicates that the country has a revealed comparative disadvantage in
the sector for inward FDI. Table 8 shows an RCA-FDI analysis for Indonesia. This is based on an analysis of
the number of greenfield FDI projects in Indonesia and ASEAN. The same analysis can also be conducted
using different FDI metrics where data are available (e.g., capital investment, job creation, or FDI flows). The
RCA-FDI analysis can also be conducted at the sub-national level (e.g., to identify sectors where regions
within Indonesia have a revealed comparative advantage for FDI).

TABLE 8
INDONESIA’S RCA-FDI IN ASEAN BY SECTOR

(based on the number of greenfield FDI projects over the period January 2014–March 2018)
Sectors where Indonesia’s RCA RCA Sectors where Indonesia’s RCA RCA
index for FDI is greater than 1 score index for FDI is less than 1 index
Beverages 2.71 Transportation 0.94
Coal, oil, & natural gas 2.29 Plastics 0.91
Hotels & tourism 2.24 Industrial machinery, equipment, & tools 0.88
Ceramics & glass 2.12 Pharmaceuticals 0.87
Metals 1.82 Electronic components 0.83
Warehousing & storage 1.72 Software & IT services 0.81
Wood products 1.56 Leisure & entertainment 0.81
Building & construction materials 1.52 Aerospace 0.70
Food & tobacco 1.40 Business services 0.64
Consumer products 1.38 Financial services 0.58
Consumer electronics 1.31 Textiles 0.55
Chemicals 1.30 Medical devices 0.43
Automotive components 1.29 Biotechnology 0.41
Renewable energy 1.28 Semiconductors 0.25
Healthcare 1.23 Paper, printing, & packaging 0.23
Non-auto transport 1.21 Engines & turbines 0.00
Automotive 1.21
Minerals 1.13
Real estate 1.04
Space & defence 1.02
Business machines & equipment 1.00
Communications 1.00
Source: WAVTEQ based on fDi Markets data from the Financial Times Ltd.
Table 8 reveals that Indonesia has a comparative advantage in over half of the sectors. Indonesia generally
has a comparative advantage in natural-resource-based sectors and low-technology manufacturing and
a comparative disadvantage in medium- and high-technology sectors.

Identifying Key Source Countries for FDI
Identifying a country to target for FDI is based on many factors, such as the geographic location of that
country (countries that are geographically close to you and have a shared or similar history, language,
and culture are more likely to invest), the history and track record of that country’s investment into your
country/region (size, growth, and type of FDI), and whether that country is a major investor in your target
sectors. An analysis of global FDI trends can identify the leading countries to target for FDI. Table 9 shows
a snapshot of six FDI metrics in 2017. The table shows that the U.S. was the world’s leading source of FDI
across five of the six metrics. China and the U.K. were ahead of the U.S. on the value of M&A FDI.
TABLE 9
LEADING SOURCE COUNTRIES FOR FDI, 2017
Capital Direct job Number of M&A by

FDI flows investment creation FDI projects M&A FDI by number of
(2017) (2017)* (2017)* (2017)* value (2017) deals (2017)
1 U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. China U.S.
2 Japan Germany Germany Germany U.K. U.K.
3 China China Japan U.K. U.S. Canada
4 U.K. Japan France France Canada France
5 Hong Kong Russia China Japan Japan Japan
6 Germany U.K. U.K. China Germany China
7 Canada France South Korea Switzerland France Germany
8 British Virgin South Korea Spain Spain Hong Kong Sweden

Islands
9 France Italy Italy Netherlands Switzerland Hong Kong
10 Luxembourg Spain Switzerland Italy Russia Switzerland
11 Spain Netherlands Netherlands Sweden Singapore Netherlands
12 Russia Switzerland Sweden Canada South Korea Singapore
13 South Korea Taiwan Taiwan India Australia Australia
14 Cayman Saudi Arabia India Australia Luxembourg Luxembourg

Islands
15 Singapore Singapore Hong Kong Denmark Denmark Spain
*Greenfield FDI only.

Source: WAVTEQ based on data from UNCTAD and fDi Markets.
The U.S., Japan, China, Germany, the U.K., and France are the overall leading sources of greenfield FDI, with
Hong Kong being a major source of FDI flows (including significant round-tripping with mainland Chinese
FDI being put through Hong Kong25) and Canada a major source of M&A FDI.
25
Loewendahl, Deng, and Fraser, How to Attract FDI, 6.

Global FDI trend analysis can also be conducted on a sector basis. Table 10 ranks countries for different sectors in terms of their volume of greenfield FDI
projects overseas. This shows that the countries to target for FDI also depends on the sectors the IPA/EDO plans to target.
TABLE 10
RANKING OF TOP SOURCE COUNTRIES FOR GREENFIELD FDI IN SELECTED SECTORS

(greenfield FDI projects, January 2014–August 2017)
Food, Professional
Source Creative Renewable beverages, & ICT & Life Physical & financial Transport All

country Construction industries Energy energy tobacco electronics sciences sciences services Tourism equipment sectors
U.S. 5 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1
Germany 9 7 8 4 2 6 2 4 10 11 1 2
Japan 3 5 6 9 5 4 4 5 7 10 2 3
China 1 4 2 1 4 5 6 1 14 7 4 4
France 6 3 5 5 7 8 5 9 3 4 5 5
U.K. 7 2 4 7 3 7 3 3 2 3 7 6
South Korea 11 11 14 12 10 3 13 7 12 14 6 7
Taiwan 13 14 16 11 16 2 15 16 16 15 10 8
Singapore 2 6 9 15 12 12 8 10 13 6 15 9
Switzerland 12 13 13 13 6 13 7 8 6 12 12 10
Spain 16 9 11 3 11 15 12 14 5 2 13 11
Italy 15 16 7 6 13 14 14 15 15 16 11 12
Hong Kong 8 15 15 10 14 10 16 11 11 8 14 13
Canada 10 8 3 8 8 11 11 6 8 9 9 14
India 14 10 12 14 15 9 9 12 4 13 8 15
UAE 4 12 10 16 9 16 10 13 9 5 16 16
Source: WAVTEQ based on data from fDi Markets.
Guidelines for Developing an Investment Promotion Strategy

47
It is also recommended that you compare global and regional FDI data with the official data on FDI into
the country. Table 11 shows FDI into Indonesia in the first half of 2017 by the top 30 countries of origin. The
data reveal that Singapore, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and the U.S. were the top five investors. This aligns
with the global FDI trends data, other than Singapore. The top ranking of Singapore for FDI into Indonesia
reflects low distance costs, with Singapore and Indonesia in the same geographic region and trading
bloc, and that a significant volume of FDI from Singapore is round-tripping from companies from other
countries using Singapore as a regional hub for their FDI (the same applies to countries such as Hong
Kong, Mauritius, the Netherlands, and the British Virgin Islands).
TABLE 11
INDONESIA INWARD FDI BY TOP 30 COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN, JANUARY–JUNE 2017
Rank Country Investment (US$ millions) Number of projects
1 Singapore 3,661.4 4,359
2 Japan 2,845.6 2,254
3 China 1,955.1 1,243
4 Hong Kong 1,019.5 812
5 United States 968.8 442
6 South Korea 901.3 1,984
7 Malaysia 559.0 1,117
8 Mauritius 516.9 175
9 The Netherlands 490.2 527
10 United Kingdom 448.8 405
11 Switzerland 375.9 147
12 British Virgin Islands 362.5 740
13 Taiwan 294.8 330
14 Australia 206.0 524
15 Germany 182.3 234
16 France 131.8 319
17 Seychelles 122.7 86
18 Belgium 105.8 90
19 Thailand 70.7 169
20 Luxembourg 59.8 69
21 Cayman Islands 55.3 68
22 Canada 30.5 82

Rank Country Investment (US$ millions) Number of projects
23 Philippines 22.0 26
24 India 19.2 324
25 Channel Islands 14.8 7
26 Brazil 14.3 13
27 Italy 13.2 145
28 Iran 11.3 17
29 Sweden 9.4 40
30 United Arab Emirates 8.1 43
Source: BKPM.
An example of the application of RCA-FDI combined with FDI demand analysis (i.e., FDI market size and
growth) is shown in Chart 13. This example is for Izmir, a large industrial city in Turkey, but can also be
applied at the country level.
CHART 13
REVEALED COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE FOR FDI COMPARED TO FDI MARKET SIZE AND GROWTH
2.5
Production of non-
auto transport
Revealed FDI comparative advantage
Agriculture equipment Motor vehicles

2
Consumer electronics
Tourism/
1.5 Logistics renewables
Chemicals
Office, business & data
Fishery & processing machines Design/ Food & beverage Industrial
1 related R&D production machinery
Medical devices ICT

0.5
Electronic
components
Biotechnology
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
FDI market size and growth
Source: WAVTEQ Investment Promotion Strategy for Izmir Development Agency (2011).
The upper right quadrant shows sectors where the location has both a revealed comparative advantage
for FDI and where FDI market opportunities are strongest. These four sectors would be key target sectors.

Factors to Consider in Identifying Target Countries for FDI
For image building and investment facilitation, the target countries influence the languages you publish
your marketing materials in and the country specialists you recruit to handle investor enquiries and
site visits.
For marketing and lead generation, the target countries influence where you do lead generation, where
you hold seminars, which trade shows you go to, where you go on sales trips, and the focus of your
marketing activities (advertising, PR, social media campaigns etc.).
Key Learnings
•• Developing a sector strategy is critical, as it will drive most of your investment promotion strategy.
•• There are many quantitative techniques that can be used to identify the strongest sectors in an
economy to help inform which sectors to target for FDI. Key techniques include:
–– location quotients
–– revealed comparative advantage in exports
–– location benchmarking
–– FDI demand analysis of FDI trends in the country, region and globally
–– revealed comparative advantage in FDI
•• A combination of quantitative techniques is recommended.
•• A qualitative sector assessment should also take place to identify key specific investment
opportunities and assets in the economy that can be used to attract FDI.
•• Your sector targeting strategy will have a major impact on which countries to target for FDI, as
different countries specialize in different sectors for outward FDI.
•• Target markets for FDI should also take into consideration the track record of FDI in the country,
distance costs, and the size, growth, and composition of FDI.

Marketing and
Promotion
Marketing Strategy: Materials
IPAs need a range of materials as part of their marketing strategy.26 Examples include:
Sector profiles: Good sector profiles do not merely describe the features (e.g., natural resources,
production levels) of a sector in a location, but also highlight any advantageous cost factors or competitive
advantages compared with other locations. Exhibit 6 shows an example of a sector profile for Indonesia’s
air transportation sector.
EXHIBIT 6
EXAMPLE OF A SECTOR PROFILE FOR INDONESIA’S AIR TRANSPORTATION SECTOR
Source: WAVTEQ. (See www.wavteq.com/publications/#presentations-workshops to download all nine sector flyers).
26
ESCAP, chapter 7.

Brochures: A brochure should contain, at minimum, an overview of all the key information an investor
needs to know, such as the services provided by the IPA/EDO, statistics on investment, the main selling
points of the location, cost benchmark data, macroeconomic data, and contact information. The brochure
should answer the question: Why should an investor choose to invest in this location?
Opportunity profiles: Most IPAs/EDOs also produce opportunity profiles to steer investors towards
tangible investment opportunities. In some cases, opportunity profiles present the details of a single
project opportunity, while in other cases a set of brief profiles might be included in one document. For
both types, the following information should be contained for each project:
•• name and contact information of project initiator;
•• description of the project and financing estimates;
•• estimated return on investment and expected payback period;
•• form of cooperation (e.g., lease, joint venture, etc.);
•• any relevant incentives offered by the government.
Investment project proposals (IPPs): IPPs are specific defined projects in particular sectors or industries
that foreign investors can invest in. These can pave the way for direct FDI or matchmaking opportunities
between domestic and foreign firms. A good example of a list of investment project proposals is the one
provided by the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka at www.investsrilanka.com/images/publications/pdf/
Structured_Projects_Proposals.pdf.
There are four main sections in an IPP:

••Market context: Briefly elaborate on project promoters, current market conditions, growth forecasts,
and sector overview for the specific investment opportunity.
••The investment opportunity: This is a concise business case with information on market orientation,
project capacity parameters, business processes, competitors, etc.
••Description of technical requirements: This includes a brief overview of technical requirements (e.g.,
project engineering, production process requirements) and an overview of current business costs
(e.g., labour costs, utility costs, etc.).
••Expected benefits for the investor: You should elaborate on incentives (e.g., tax breaks) and other
specific benefits.
Marketing Strategy: Online

One of the most important investment promotion tools for an IPA is a well-developed website. But simply
creating the website and posting it on the Internet is not enough. The website must be registered with the
leading search engines to make sure it is included in their retrievals when a user conducts a search. This is
referred to as search engine optimization (SEO).
The website should contain lead tracking and some form of customer relationship management
(CRM) system to capture those investors who are interested in learning more about the host country
or potential investment location. Examples of lead tracking software include A1WebStats, Leady, and
Lead Forensics.
An e-newsletter is an important marketing instrument for communicating with existing and potential
investors, stakeholders, and the wider investment community. It can be prepared and distributed bimonthly
or quarterly. The contents of the newsletter may include:
•• trends in investment, e.g., an annual or quarterly data stream;
•• sector-related items and events;
•• new infrastructure plans and developments;
•• major companies announcing new investments or reinvestment projects;

•• major changes in the policy environment;
•• case studies and testimonials;
•• interviews with subject-matter experts;
•• activities of the agency, e.g., trade shows, new staff, etc.;
•• new sector studies or benchmark studies on the host country;
•• headline news about the host country;
•• findings from international studies on the host country or its main regions;
•• interviews with investors and other stakeholders;
•• international press about the host country.
Marketing Strategy: Public Relations, Advertising, and Events
Public relations (PR) is an important part of most investment promotion campaigns, and includes
establishing relationships and contacts with key people in the media, providing information, success
stories, and testimonials, hosting visiting journalists, and systematically monitoring media coverage
(especially the publications read by targeted investors) and assessing the results.
Advertising is another form of investment promotion. This is an extremely expensive promotional tool. If
used, it should be closely monitored to determine whether it is an effective use of resources. The best way
to determine if an advertising campaign has been accurately targeted and is having the desired effect on
the intended audience is to ask members of that audience. Reply cards, surveys, and direct consultations
are all effective ways of doing this. Online advertising makes it much easier to measure its impact.
Seminars, investment forums and conferences, and presentations: Other investment promotion activities
include speeches, seminars, and presentations to business audiences; open houses or hospitality sessions
hosted by the IPA/EDO; participation in trade or investment shows or forums or other business events; and
briefings to key investor organizations and intermediaries. An IPA/EDO needs to monitor these activities to
determine which produce the largest number of subsequent inquiries, because many of these activities
can be expensive, particularly if they involve staff travel overseas. The most successful investment seminars
or conferences are sector-based and include presentations by satisfied investors.27
Investor Targeting and Lead Generation Strategy

Investor targeting involves the presentation of well-researched niche business opportunities in a given
location to specific senior managers at the targeted companies. The major advantages of investor
targeting are:
•• It lets the IPA focus its efforts on the best prospects.
•• It has the potential to greatly increase investor and broker (investment advisors) awareness.
•• Investors respond best to material that is relevant to them.
•• It can help develop local industry clusters.
•• It is cost-effective (takes more time than money).
•• It can be outsourced to specialist lead-generation firms, which can be more cost-efficient, effective,
performance-based, and quicker to market.
Five key principles define investor targeting:

•• Target industries and sectors first and then move to active identification of specific companies and
investment projects.
•• Carefully plan and manage investor-search programs.
•• Investigate and analyze specific corporate priorities.
•• Engage in confidential promotion to specific corporate executives.
•• Maintain single agency leadership.
27
Loewendahl, “A Framework,” 17.

When companies are first contacted by an IPA/EDO, it is unlikely that these companies will have immediate
FDI projects ready that the host location can compete for. The key to successful investor targeting is
staying in touch with the targeted companies on a sustained basis, so that when an investment project
does arise, the IPA/EDO and location are well-positioned to be considered for the investment. This is
called lead generation. Obviously, it is important that the targeted companies are in line with the host
country/location’s competitive advantages and with realistic opportunities that the host country/location
can offer.
IPAs/EDOs can use additional criteria to target specific investments and companies. For example:
•• sustainability (this should be a requirement): only target companies that implement recognized
standards of responsible business conduct and have a proven track record in this regard;
•• form of investment: greenfield, M&A, joint ventures;
•• nationality of investors: Is any source country of FDI preferred? Do they prefer FDI from developed
countries only? Or from other developing countries or regional partners?
•• clusters/supply chain: companies that are related to or provide supply-chain-related products/
services to companies already present in the host country;
•• size of investors: large companies? SMEs? Related to cluster criteria.
Investor targeting, while more cost-effective than promotional marketing (PR and advertising), requires
more dedicated resources and greater sector-specific and commercial understanding. In short, it takes
more time than money. As it is very time-intensive to identify, contact, and build relations with potential
investors, the main success factor of investor targeting is a selective approach to maximize use of
limited resources.
The key to success is what the private sector calls “managing the sales pipeline.” This means that while
one should always ensure a strong enough sales pipeline (i.e., a number of good-quality investment leads)
that will help achieve the level of inward investment sought, at the same time the sales pipeline should not
be bigger than the IPA/EDO can manage. If it is bigger, it will be counterproductive to securing projects.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems

CRM is an essential part of a marketing and promotion strategy. Using CRM, an IPA/EDO can:
••capture all corporate intelligence (especially important with high staff turnover in many IPAs/EDOs);
••measure its FDI pipeline, performance, and results;
••evaluate performance across sectors, markets, and teams;
••conduct marketing campaigns.
Examples of three CRM systems are shown in Exhibits 7, 8, and 9.

EXHIBIT 7
SALESFORCE
Salesforce is a cloud-based CRM platform for sales,

service, and marketing. It doesn’t require IT experts to
set up or manage; users can log in and start connecting
to customers.

EXHIBIT 8
MICROSOFT DYNAMICS CRM
Microsoft Dynamics CRM software helps sales, marketing,

and service professionals improve processes and better
manage the customer experience by allowing users to
access their customer-facing activities (activities that
interact or communicate directly with the customer)
through a single interface.

EXHIBIT 9
IPA CRM
WAVTEQ’s IPA CRM is 100 per cent designed for the needs
of IPAs with no customization needed to manage inward
investment pipelines.
Key requirements of a CRM for FDI marketing and promotion include:

••cloud-based and mobile-compatible so it can be accessed anywhere;
••dashboard showing overall FDI pipeline and results;
••ability to manage and record the results of multiple marketing and promotion campaigns;
••structured so it can be used for promotion, facilitation, and aftercare;
••registration of company and contact information;
••step-by-step tracking of company interactions and communication;
••systematic lead classification and assessment;
••ability to track milestones in the investment project cycle;
••tracking services rendered to both potential and existing investors;
••value for money and excellent reliability, security, service, and support;
••built specifically for IPAs with minimal customization needed now or in the future, as this can be very
expensive and time-consuming;
••easy to use—otherwise it will be very difficult to get staff to use the CRM.

Key Learnings
•• The investment promotion strategy should outline the key marketing and promotion activities to
take place.
•• Key marketing activities include:
–– creation of materials and value propositions;
–– use of online marketing tools;
–– public relations, advertising, and events.
•• Key promotion activities focus on investor targeting and lead generation.
•• It is essential to use a CRM specifically designed for EDOs/IPAs to help manage the
delivery of marketing and promotion activities, monitor and evaluate results, and capture all
corporate intelligence.

Product Development
Policy Advocacy Role of an IPA
IPAs/EDOs cannot always act on complaints from investors. However, they can play an important role in
policy advocacy, which is directly linked to aftercare. UNCTAD defines policy advocacy as “IPA efforts to
effect changes in regulations, laws, government policies, and their administration, pertaining to fields such
as investment, trade, labour, immigration, real estate, taxes, infrastructure, technology, and education.”28
The investment promotion strategy should have a policy advocacy component.
The immediate goal of this advocacy is to shape a climate conducive to attracting and benefiting from FDI.
UNCTAD distinguishes three goals of policy advocacy:29
1. shaping the investment climate to attract greater inflows of FDI;
2. promoting policies that allow greater benefits to be extracted from FDI;
3. building national and/or regional competitiveness in the global economy.
According to UNCTAD, “IPAs have a combination of access and understanding of business and political
stakeholders that may be unparalleled in most countries. This gives them a unique position not only to act
as messengers between the private sector and government, but also as drivers of the changes needed for
economic growth and development.”30
For the purpose of policy advocacy, UNCTAD proposes a four-step process:31

1. problem identification and agenda-setting, which requires frequent interaction and consultation with
investors;
2. developing the most effective policy remedy based on established criteria (e.g., expected impact);
3. consensus-building through policy dialogues and public-private sector forums;
4. monitoring and evaluation.
Key Learnings
•• IPAs should establish a policy advocacy team to systematically catalogue feedback received
from potential and existing investors on how to improve the business environment and location
competitiveness.
•• The IPA should have a clear mandate to provide policy advocacy to the government.
•• Investor surveys can be used to support policy advocacy.
28
UNCTAD, Handbook on Policies, 1.
29
30
UNCTAD, Handbook on Policies, 5–6.
31

Budgets and Resource
Allocation
The preparation of the budget for an IPA/EDO requires a clear understanding of the essential cost items.32
These include:
••staff costs (including training);
••office costs (a nice office is essential for investor meetings and staff retention) and related overhead
and utilities, including high-speed Internet access for all staff (essential, as so much IPA/EDO work is
done online);
••computers/notebooks for all staff and tablets for business development teams traveling to meet
investors;
••development and maintenance of an inward investment website;
••development and printing of marketing materials;
••company car for taking investors on site visits;
••telephone (local and international service is essential), postage, stationary, and printing costs;
••local travel costs to meet with investors and stakeholders;
••translation of important legal and promotional documents into English and other key languages as
needed.
Other core cost items include:

•• travel for overseas investment missions, international industry events, and FDI seminars;
•• using specialist FDI firms for lead generation, website development, preparing marketing materials,
data and company intelligence, and licensing a CRM.
The total annual budget outlay for an IPA/EDO can range from US$250,000 for a very small organization
to more than US$10 million for a fully-fledged autonomous organization with 20 or more staff, able to
compete internationally for investment and engage in all activities in the investment promotion cycle
(including overseas representation and a dedicated aftercare unit).
A typical breakdown of the budget is:

•• 60 per cent for staff expenses
•• 20 per cent for program expenses
•• less than 20 per cent for overhead
•• 2 per cent for capital expenditures
Sources of funding for an IPA/EDO are typically the government budget, private-sector contributions, and
resources from multilateral aid agencies. It is not advisable to charge investors a registration fee, as this
defies the purpose of an investor-friendly IPA/EDO.
Key Learnings
•• IPAs should prepare a detailed budget, typically for a three- to five year-period, reviewed each year.
•• The budget should include clear budget lines for proactive investment promotion activities, including:
–– recruitment of business development staff;
32
For more information see Linsi, Less Compelling, and ESCAP, Handbook on Policies.

–– overseas travel to meet pre-qualified potential investors;
–– attending carefully targeted trade shows to meet potential investors (note that a booth is not
essential for this);
–– organizing FDI promotion events (note that these are especially effective in Asia but less so in
Europe or North America);
–– appointing specialized lead-generation consulting firms to support overseas investor recruitment
activities.

Organization of
Resources
IPA Organizational Principles33
A government needs to create an effective IPA/EDO that is responsible for attracting inward FDI. Some
best-practice organizational principles include:
•• a clearly defined role and mandate;
•• clearly assigned responsibilities and functionalities;
•• access to expertise and information to allow for independence from third parties;
•• strong linkages with both public and private stakeholders;
•• coordination among subnational IPAs/EDOs and national-level government agencies and ministries
to formulate a coherent and consistent policy approach to FDI.
In most countries, IPAs/EDOs are part of the government and are often placed within line ministries.
However, given the coordinating role of IPAs/EDOs and the special nature of investment promotion, many
agencies have requested a higher level of independence or autonomy. The most effective IPAs/EDOs are
indeed those that enjoy independent status and report directly to the head of government or state. These
IPAs/EDOs are also able to create high-performing corporate office cultures and attract staff from the
private sector by offering competitive salaries.
There are four common ways to position IPAs/EDOs within the overall government institutional structure:
••as an integral unit of a major ministry (e.g. industry, trade, finance, planning, economic development,
foreign affairs, etc.);
••as a unit within the prime minister’s or president’s office;
••as a separate ministry;
••as an autonomous agency.
IPA Key Positions and Skill Sets34

At a minimum, the IPA/EDO should include the following key positions:
•• chief executive officer: serves as head of office;
•• investment promotion manager: handles investor inquiries and is responsible for generating new
inquiries (investor targeting);
•• investment facilitation manager: assists an investor with all the regulatory, permitting, legal, and
operational issues of setting up a new operation in the country/region;
•• marketing and research manager: provides the research and marketing collateral in order to promote
the location and meet the information requirements of investors;
•• aftercare manager: works with the major existing investors to retain and expand FDI.
While the specific skill sets needed will vary based on the job position within the IPA/EDO, key skills
required include:
•• excellent command of spoken and written business English and other languages spoken by the
principal investors being targeted;
33
34

•• customer focused, to anticipate and satisfy investor enquiries;
•• strong communication and relationship skills, to build trust with investors;
•• ability to effectively and efficiently organize exhibitions, events, and seminars and develop and deliver
high-quality presentations to investors;
•• ability to effectively and efficiently identify potential investors and decision-makers and conduct direct
outreach (relationship-building) with companies;
•• understanding of business structures, corporate strategy, and forces of competitiveness;
•• understanding of foreign investors’ decision-making processes and business life cycle;
•• understanding of sustainability issues, national development plans and priorities, and principles of
responsible business conduct;
•• ability to lobby and advocate for improvement in the investment climate;
•• ability to use CRM systems and databases;
•• ability to establish and manage local linkage programs;
•• ability to network with local, national, and international partners and stakeholders, in particular
national and local government ministries, agencies, business associations, chambers of
commerce, etc.
Key Learnings
•• IPAs/EDOs need to have a strong mandate from government and a clear and visible institutional
position in overall FDI attraction activities.
•• IPAs/EDOs need to have the resources and skills necessary to deliver results.
•• While IPAs/EDOs vary considerably in size, all IPAs/EDOs should have key people in positions of
investment promotion, investment facilitation, marketing and research, and aftercare.
•• For larger IPAs/EDOs, a key decision for the investment promotion and services department is
whether to organize on a sector or geographic market basis:
–– If the main focus of the IPA/EDO is on investor servicing, facilitation, and aftercare (i.e., more
reactive activities), having sector teams is likely to be the best model.
–– If the main focus is on investment promotion (i.e., more proactive activities), having market teams
may be the best model, especially if FDI to the country as effective lead generation requires
expertise of the countries being targeted (e.g., understanding of business culture, language, and
networks in the country).
–– Many IPAs/EDOs organize their investment promotion teams on a geographic basis and their
investor services/facilitation and aftercare teams on a sector basis.

Key Performance
Indicators
IPA/EDO Performance—What and How to Measure?
A considerable number of IPAs/EDOs lack clear key performance indicators (KPIs), including key indicators
of staff performance and a baseline against which progress can be measured. Such indicators can be
quantitative (e.g., number of investment projects, attracted capital, created jobs, tax revenues) or qualitative
(e.g., priority or strategic types of industries and companies attracted, quality of created jobs), depending
on what is being measured.
Most IPAs/EDOs evaluate the success of their actions on the basis of investment announcements rather
than realized investment projects, as it can often take one to two years before an announced investment
project is actually realized. In addition, IPAs/EDOs measure the direct job creation, safeguarded jobs, and
capital investment of these projects.35
Table 12 shows sample KPIs for IPAs/EDOs. The most common KPIs used by IPAs/EDOs are number of FDI
projects, number of jobs, and volume of capital investment.
TABLE 12
SAMPLE KPIs FOR AN IPA/EDO
•• Number of investments •• Policy or regulatory improvements in

the investment environment
•• Value of investment projects •• National or provincial growth rates

•• Number of jobs created •• Sector growth rates
•• Increase in tax revenue •• Quality of investments (e.g., moving up the
value chain)
•• Per capita income growth •• Sources of investment (greater diversity

is better than reliance on one or two main
sources)
•• Number of successful linkages with domestic •• New spinoff industries

companies
•• Investors’ perceptions of the location •• Sources of leads (forum, mailing, advertisement,

etc.)
•• Investors’ rating of the IPA’s services •• Number of trans-national corporation (TNC)

headquarters established
•• Retention and expansion rates of investment •• Number of R&D facilities established by TNCs
projects
35
Loewendahl, A New Foreign Direct Investment, 1.

•• Conversion rates of:
–– contacts becoming leads
–– leads making site visits
–– site visitors becoming investors
Source: ESCAP, Handbook on Policies, 190.
How to Measure FDI Results of the IPA/EDO

In order to help IPAs/EDO better evaluate their success in attracting greenfield FDI, the following
standardized accounting method, which is based around eight key areas and complements investment-
tracking systems, can be used:36
1. company information: company name, type (public/private), percentage of foreign equity, and origin
country of the ultimate parent;
2. project details and status: project type (new/expansion/merger and acquisition/joint venture),
project status (announced/opened), and description of the project;
3. location and sector information: location of the investment down to the site address, the
International Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) sector code or similar for each project, and the
business function;
4. investment and employment: total capital investment and jobs to be created within three years, and
validation of investment and jobs over time;
5. qualification that announced investments will happen: evidence from investors that their projects
will happen (project information, business plan, official press release, or written declaration) and/or
that the investment process has started (company registration, proof of a real-estate transaction and
recruitment);
6. evidence of IPA/EDO involvement in securing the investment: inbound enquiry from IPA/EDO
marketing activities, meeting the companies and providing business-case information or an incentives
package before companies announced their investments, organizing site visits for companies, and
providing services to help facilitate their investment;
7. quality of investment: the technology level of each project (using international definitions), average
salary levels, identifying strategic projects that are high-tech and have high levels of investment and
job creation;
8. return on investment: key metrics are cost per project, cost per job, and the investment multiplier
relative to IPA/EDO budgets. Return on investment of incentives should also be calculated.
WAVTEQ has developed the only specialized software tool to help IPAs accurately measure FDI and
organization performance, called FDI Accounting.37 An example of outputs from the tool can be seen on
www.dubaifdimonitor.com.
How to Measure IPA/EDO Involvement

Some IPAs/EDOs go a step further and require investors to complete a questionnaire to validate and
certify the role of the IPA/EDO in securing the project. An example from Invest in Sweden Agency is shown
in Exhibit 10.
36
Loewendahl, A New Foreign Direct Investment, 2–3.
37
www.fdiaccounting.com

EXHIBIT 10
INVEST IN SWEDEN AGENCY INVESTOR QUESTIONNAIRE 38
1. Contact details—investing company 2. Contact details—company in Sweden

Name of company investing in Sweden Name of company/entity in Sweden
Contact person Contact person
Telephone no. Corporate registration no.
3. Type of investment (please choose one)

New establishment Joint venture Expansion (of existing business in Sweden)

Acquisition Franchise

Strategic alliance Venture capital Other

4. Jobs at the entity in Sweden
a) If acquisition, please indicate number of existing jobs at the acquired entity
For any type of investment (incl. acquisitions) please indicate
b) Number of new jobs created at the time of the investment
c) Expected number of new jobs created one year after the investment (in total)
d) Expected number of new jobs created two years after the investment (in total)
5. Capital
Approximate capital investment (SEK)
6. Type of services provided by ISA

Advice and counseling in Information especially Publications fact sheets

the decision process tailored to your needs
Contacts with regional and Practical assistance in Other

local authorities, companies the actual establishment
and others process
7. Quality
Overall quality of assistance Poor Excellent
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Quality of publications fact sheets provided Poor Excellent

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

8. ISA participation
To what extent did ISA contribute to your Not at all Substantially
investment in Sweden 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The example shows the focus on capturing job-creation and capital-investment data, but questionnaires
and surveys for existing investors can also be used to capture other economic impact data including
wages, exports, R&D, supply-chain linkages etc.
38

Publishing the Results of the IPA/EDO39
The overall objective behind monitoring and evaluating an IPA/EDO is to utilize the findings to improve
the IPA/EDO’s performance and enhance the local investment environment. By doing so, the IPA/EDO
becomes more effective, while the location benefits from higher levels of employment, income, and an
overall improvement in its socio-economic development.
There are various ways to disseminate the findings of evaluations:

••Upload evaluation reports and other knowledge products based on evaluations to the IPA/EDO
website. Ensure that reports and knowledge products are written clearly and made available in the
most commonly used languages, including English.
••Organize a meeting with interested stakeholders, i.e., investors, ministries, donors and sponsors, and
IPA staff to discuss lessons from the evaluation(s). These meetings could be held on an annual basis.
••Incorporate evaluation findings and lessons learned in the IPA/EDO’s existing publications, such as
annual reports, newsletters, or bulletins.
••Develop a brochure for the IPA/EDO’s activities and accomplishments.
••Develop a brief with a concise summary in plain language and widely circulate.
••Publish an article for a journal (business, economic, or academic) both in the country of the IPA and
in the home country of main investors based on the evaluation findings.
••Present a paper at a conference related to the evaluation subject area. This could be a domestic
investment forum or international investment conference such as the UNCTAD World Investment
Forum or Dubai Annual Investment Meeting.
Key Learnings
•• It is best practice for IPAs/EDOs to have quantitative targets for attracting FDI, e.g., number of
projects, number of new jobs, capital investment, etc.
•• However, there needs to be a clear methodology to:
–– qualify that the FDI is definitely happening—what information is needed to be able to confirm an
FDI project as a success?
–– measure the role of the IPA/EDO in securing the project:
Criteria should be put in place for measuring IPA involvement so that the FDI results can be
attributed to the IPA/EDO’s activities.
This can be very hard, as the IPA/EDO may have had an indirect impact through image-building
and marketing activities.
It can be easier to measure cases where the IPA/EDO directly supported the investor in making
their investment.
•• The impact of FDI should be evaluated, including direct and indirect impacts. This will show that the
IPA/EDO is making a much greater contribution to the country than the headline FDI data shows.
•• The return on investment (ROI) of the IPA/EDO should also be assessed:
–– What is the investment multiplier (the amount of direct and indirect capital investment the IPA/
EDO attracted relative to its budget)?
–– What is the cost per job (the amount of direct and indirect jobs the IPA/EDO attracted relative to
its budget)?
–– The ROI calculation should be made both including and excluding incentives, as incentives given
to investors are part of the costs of attracting FDI.
39

Action Plan
Types of Action Plan
An IPS requires careful planning. It must ensure the following:
•• Its activities are relevant to the strategy objectives.
•• Its activities are physically achievable within the constraints of human resources, time, and budget.
•• The activities it selects provide the best odds for ROI.
•• Its activities are measurable, so that they can be monitored, reported on, scored, adjusted, and
learned from.
An IPS action plan should contain or provide:

•• a three-year strategic plan
•• a one-year implementation plan
•• a one-year business development plan showing the planning of lead-generation and marketing
activities including:
––
identified sectors and markets to be targeted
––
strategic target investors
––
conferences/trade shows that will be attended
––
investment promotion seminars that will be held
––
roadshows that will be conducted
––
marketing and communication activities
––
social media activities
––
clear schedule of when activities and events will take place
•• key performance indicators (KPIs)

Exhibit 11 shows a basic IPS action plan.
EXHIBIT 11
INVESTMENT PROMOTION STRATEGY ACTION PLAN
INVESTMENT STRATEGY REVISE INVESTMENT EVALUATE: IS THIS

NO STRATEGY AND
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
APPROACH
SUCCESSFUL?
YES
ORGANIZATIONAL
COMMITMENT
MAINTAIN CURRENT
INVESTMENT STRATEGY
Prioritize your
target markets, TARGETING
sectors and PROCESS
investors
Tailor your marketing

efforts based on your TAILORED
prioritized markets, MARKETING PLAN
sectors and investors
Develop well-defined investment

INVESTMENT
proposals to raise awareness
PROPOSALS
among investors
AFTERCARE FOR
INVESTMENTS
Source: ESCAP, Handbook on Policies, 205.

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Lawlor, Anna. “Corporate Overseas Expansion: Opportunities and Barriers.” The Economist Intelligence
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strategy-leadership/corporate-overseas-expansion.
Linsi, Lukas. Less Compelling Than It Seems: Rethinking the Relationship Between Aggregate FDI Inflows and
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Loewendahl, Henry. “A Framework for FDI Promotion.” Transnational Corporations 10, no. 1 (April 2001):
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Loewendahl, Henry. Bargaining with Multinationals: The Investment of Siemens and Nissan in North-East
England. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2001.
Loewendahl, Henry. A New Foreign Direct Investment Accounting Methodology for Economic Development
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Loewendahl-FINAL.pdf.
Loewendahl, Henry. Best Practices and Innovative Approaches to Attract Foreign Direct Investment. n.p.:
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VCC and MCI, 2009. Accessed October 18, 2018. http://mci.ei.columbia.edu/files/2012/12/MCI-City-
Investment-Promotion-Handbook2.pdf.
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worldbank.org/curated/en/417211468168230072/Foreign-direct-investment.

Appendix
COMMODITIES FOR WHICH INDONESIA HAS A REVEALED COMPARATIVE DISADVANTAGE, 2017
Indonesia’s World value Indonesia’s share

value of of exports, of world exports,
Product exports, 2017 2017 2017 (per cent) RCA
Articles of leather; saddlery and 460,209 33,584,245 1.4 0.99

harness; travel goods, handbags and
similar containers; articles ...
Furniture; bedding, mattresses, 1,721,646 127,784,210 1.3 0.97

mattress supports, cushions and
similar stuffed furnishings; ...
Headgear and parts thereof 42,731 3,331,940 1.3 0.92
Miscellaneous manufactured articles 368,917 29,511,871 1.3 0.90
Iron and steel 3,349,482 269,742,114 1.2 0.90
Organic chemicals 3,115,960 263,255,634 1.2 0.85
Ceramic products 338,744 28,862,692 1.2 0.85
Edible fruit and nuts; peel of citrus 935,952 85,435,055 1.1 0.79
fruit or melons
Residues and waste from the food 605,359 55,417,948 1.1 0.79
industries; prepared animal fodder
Inorganic chemicals; organic or 819,142 77,711,973 1.1 0.76

inorganic compounds of precious
metals, of rare-earth metals, ...
Natural or cultured pearls, precious 5,608,016 534,781,174 1.0 0.76

or semi-precious stones, precious
metals, metals clad ...
Wadding, felt and nonwovens; special 173,213 16,801,682 1.0 0.74

yarns; twine, cordage, ropes and
cables and articles thereof
Toys, games and sports requisites; 464,552 46,241,254 1.0 0.72

parts and accessories thereof
Impregnated, coated, covered or 141,833 14,632,665 1.0 0.70

laminated textile fabrics; textile
articles of a kind suitable ...
Special woven fabrics; tufted textile 52,891 5,930,622 0.9 0.64

fabrics; lace; tapestries; trimmings;
embroidery

Fertilisers 285,757 32,134,666 0.9 0.64
Other made-up textile articles; 264,713 29,941,300 0.9 0.64

sets; worn clothing and worn textile
articles; rags
Tanning or dyeing extracts; tannins 533,420 60,991,617 0.9 0.63

and their derivatives; dyes, pigments
and other colouring ...
Carpets and other textile floor 77,083 10,235,349 0.8 0.54

coverings
Essential oils and resinoids; 716,229 95,287,870 0.8 0.54

perfumery, cosmetic or toilet
preparations
Knitted or crocheted fabrics 102,173 13,811,929 0.7 0.53
Preparations of vegetables, fruit, nuts 290,026 40,852,348 0.7 0.51

or other parts of plants
Salt; sulphur; earths and stone; 209,705 29,654,039 0.7 0.51

plastering materials, lime and cement
Sugars and sugar confectionery 232,093 35,093,581 0.7 0.48
Glass and glassware 279,386 45,041,525 0.6 0.45
Plastics and articles thereof 2,396,579 401,160,697 0.6 0.43
Articles of iron or steel 1,067,964 185,665,889 0.6 0.41
Vehicles other than railway or 6,835,398 1,228,127,966 0.6 0.40

tramway rolling stock, and parts and
accessories thereof
Electrical machinery and equipment 8,466,667 1,529,964,014 0.6 0.40

and parts thereof; sound recorders
and reproducers, television ...
Dairy produce; birds’ eggs; natural 315,631 61,741,702 0.5 0.37

honey; edible products of animal
origin, not elsewhere ...
Products of the milling industry; malt; 66,663 13,183,519 0.5 0.36

starches; inulin; wheat gluten
Aluminium and articles thereof 555,050 118,175,546 0.5 0.34
Articles of stone, plaster, cement, 159,874 34,114,538 0.5 0.34

asbestos, mica or similar materials
Other vegetable textile fibres; paper 8,465 1,834,136 0.5 0.33

yarn and woven fabrics of paper yarn

Machinery, mechanical appliances, 5,873,438 1,412,680,886 0.4 0.30

nuclear reactors, boilers; parts thereof
Live animals 63,999 15,698,036 0.4 0.29
Raw hides and skins (other than 84,994 21,270,481 0.4 0.29
furskins) and leather
Products of animal origin, not 22,693 6,419,390 0.4 0.25

elsewhere specified or included
Lead and articles thereof 26,596 7,528,571 0.4 0.25
Explosives; pyrotechnic products; 10,304 2,958,681 0.3 0.25

matches; pyrophoric alloys; certain
combustible preparations
Miscellaneous articles of base metal 121,685 40,758,150 0.3 0.22
Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits; 254,659 87,979,782 0.3 0.21

miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruit;
industrial or medicinal ...
Albuminoidal substances; modified 51,970 19,552,552 0.3 0.19

starches; glues; enzymes
Umbrellas, sun umbrellas, walking 1,354 548,634 0.2 0.18

sticks, seat-sticks, whips, riding-crops
and parts thereof
Ships, boats and floating structures 227,768 97,031,728 0.2 0.17
Edible vegetables and certain roots 104,425 45,221,593 0.2 0.17

and tubers
Beverages, spirits and vinegar 179,348 81,400,177 0.2 0.16
Tools, implements, cutlery, spoons 79,960 40,723,176 0.2 0.14

and forks, of base metal; parts thereof
of base metal
Live trees and other plants; bulbs, 17,637 9,863,177 0.2 0.13
roots and the like; cut flowers and
ornamental foliage
Optical, photographic, 594,875 424,178,747 0.1 0.10

cinematographic, measuring,
checking, precision, medical or
surgical ...
Pharmaceutical products 557,698 449,320,099 0.1 0.09
Zinc and articles thereof 18,374 15,607,968 0.1 0.08

Printed books, newspapers, pictures 32,485 28,272,147 0.1 0.08

and other products of the printing
industry; manuscripts, ...
Other base metals; cermets; articles 12,015 11,206,489 0.1 0.08

thereof
Railway or tramway locomotives, 20,909 22,972,707 0.1 0.07

rolling stock and parts thereof; railway
or tramway track fixtures ...
Clocks and watches and parts thereof 19,436 39,967,125 0.0 0.04
Aircraft, spacecraft, and parts thereof 103,858 263,517,656 0.0 0.03
Works of art, collectors’ pieces and 9,503 25,142,361 0.0 0.03

antiques
Silk 262 762,967 0.0 0.02
Furskins and artificial fur; 846 4,554,532 0.0 0.01

manufactures thereof
Meat and edible meat offal 18,278 106,848,124 0.0 0.01
Commodities not elsewhere specified 40,678 259,364,989 0.0 0.01
Cork and articles of cork 234 1,627,463 0.0 0.01
Wool, fine or coarse animal hair; 1,063 10,531,356 0.0 0.01

horsehair yarn and woven fabric
Photographic or cinematographic 696 11,330,041 0.0 0.00

goods
Cereals 4,350 87,431,925 0.0 0.00
Arms and ammunition; parts and 249 12,592,503 0.0 0.00

accessories thereof
Source: WAVTEQ calculations based on UN COMTRADE statistics.

TPSA CANADA–INDONESIA TRADE AND
PRIVATE SECTOR ASSISTANCE PROJECT
Canada Centre, World Trade Centre 5, 15th Floor

Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav 29-31 Jakarta 12190, Indonesia
p: +62-21-5296-0376 or +62-21-5296-0389
f: +62-21-5296-0385
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M

Guidelines for Developing

Program undertaken with the financial

About the TPSA Project

© 2019 TPSA Project

Guidelines for Developing an Investment Promotion Strategy 2

Investment Promotion Strategy Framework. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

What Is the Prime Function of Investment Promotion Agencies?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

What Is an Investment Promotion Strategy?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Vision and Mission Statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Goals and Objectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

The Client Charter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Economic Development Objectives of Attracting FDI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Importance of FDI to Capital Investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Role of FDI as a Source of External Finance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Role of MNEs in the World Economy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

The Indirect Economic Development Benefits of FDI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Three Main Types of FDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

What Type of FDI Should Be Targeted?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Economic Development Benefits by Type of FDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

IPA Perspectives on the Type of FDI to Target . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Benchmarking and Image-Building. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Why Conduct Location Benchmarking?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

How to Benchmark Location Competitiveness for FDI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Step 1: Identify Key Location Determinants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Step 2: Identify Key Competitor and Comparator Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Step 3: Identify Key Data Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Step 4: Weighting of Data Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Step 5: Understand the Operating Costs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Step 6: Benchmark the Comparator Locations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Step 7: Evaluate the Competitive Position. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

The Need for Image-Building. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Guidelines for Developing an Investment Promotion Strategy 3

How to Identify Investor Perceptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Basic Steps of Image-Building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Sector and Market Strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Why Develop a Sector Targeting Strategy?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Framework for Identifying Target Sectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Methods for Identifying Target Sectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Revealed Comparative Advantage in Exports (RCA-Exports). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

FDI Demand-Side Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

RCA for FDI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Identifying Key Source Countries for FDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Factors to Consider in Identifying Target Countries for FDI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Marketing and Promotion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Marketing Strategy: Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Marketing Strategy: Online. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Marketing Strategy: Public Relations, Advertising, and Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Investor Targeting and Lead Generation Strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Policy Advocacy Role of an IPA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Budgets and Resource Allocation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

IPA Organizational Principles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

IPA Key Positions and Skill Sets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Guidelines for Developing an Investment Promotion Strategy 4

IPA/EDO Performance—What and How to Measure?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

How to Measure FDI Results of the IPA/EDO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

How to Measure IPA/EDO Involvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65