Foreign direct investment in a late industrialising country

This article uses the investment development path to analyse the evolution of Portugal’s competitiveness in recent years. This is interpreted as the country’s capacity to both attract and engage in foreign direct investment. The estimation of the Portuguese IDP confirms previous claims that Portugal has joined other late industrialising countries as a 'stage 4 ' country, but that this position may not be consolidated. Outward FDI, albeit limited in terms of the number of firms and destinations, seems to show most characteristics expected at this stage of development. However, the fading of export-oriented inward FDI during the 1990s represents a danger in a country where FDI has been critical for market access and industrial diversification despite a much smaller weight in the economy than in other OECD countrie