A comparative analysis of location-specific factors of inward foreign direct investment of Slovenia and Czech Republic

Tuje neposredne naložbe (TNN) so ena zahtevnejših oblik vstopa na tuji trg, ki jih izvedejo podjetja predvsem z namenom izkoriščanja prednosti tujih trgov, kot so na primer nižji stroški poslovanja in delovne sile ter izogibanja slabostim trga, iz katerega prihajajo investitorji, kot so na primer visoke davčne stopnje. Motivi, zaradi katerih se podjetja odločajo za naložbe na tujih trgih, lahko razdelimo v štiri skupine motivov, in sicer na: motive z namenom povečevanja učinkovitosti podjetja, motive iskanja cenejših virov, motive povezane s trgom, kot so na primer sledenje konkurenci, in motive, ki so povezani s strateškimi cilji in zmožnostmi podjetij. Za države investitorice in prejemnice lahko to prinese tako pozitivne kot negativne učinke. Države investitorice lahko s tem pridobijo dodatne prihodke, zaradi večje izpostavljenosti tujim trgom postanejo podjetja, ki investirajo, bolj konkurenčna in pridobijo nova znanja ter izkušnje, prav tako se poveča tudi zaposlenost v državi investitorici. Vendar pa lahko naložbe domačih podjetij v tujini pomenijo tudi, da pride do odpuščanja številnih delavcev v domači državi zaradi cenejše delovne sile v tujini. Za državo prejemnico pa to pomeni, da se z naložbo tujih podjetij poveča konkurenca na trgu, kar je lahko dobro, saj imajo potrošniki več izbire, domača podjetja pa so prisiljena izboljšati svoje poslovanje, da bi bila bolj konkurenčna tujim podjetjem. Z vprašanjem, zakaj se podjetja odločijo za TNN, se ukvarjajo različne teorije, kot so teorija monopolističnih prednosti, teorija življenjskega cikla proizvoda, internalizacijska teorija in eklektična paradigma. Na to, ali se bo podjetje odločilo za naložbo na tujem trgu, vplivajo številni dejavniki, ki so vezani tako na podjetje, državo, v katero so namenjene naložb, kot na druge dejavnike. Tako eklektična paradigma loči med podjetniško-specifičnimi prednostmi, ki so edinstvene za podjetje, lokacijsko-specifičnimi prednostmi, ki se nanašajo na značilnosti lokacije oziroma države, v katero namerava podjetje vlagati, in na internalizacijske prednosti, ki se nanašajo na dajanje prednosti vzpostavitvi lastnih podružnic v tujini namesto prodaje pravic za delovanje drugim tujim podjetjem. Naša empirična raziskava je pokazala, da je Češka bolj ugodna lokacija za TNN kot Slovenija, saj je njen obseg vhodnih TNN veliko večji, kar pomeni, da je konkurenčnost Slovenije manjša. To lahko vidimo tudi po raziskavah, ki preučujejo konkurenčnost in poslovno okolje držav. Kljub veliki razliki med obsegom vhodnih TNN prejemata obe državi največ naložb iz evropskih držav. Češka ima dobro razvito poslovno okolje, kar kažejo tudi podatki o visoki gospodarski rasti in nizki stopnji brezposelnosti. Slovenija pa se sooča s številnimi problemi, med drugim ima dokaj visoko brezposelnost, visok javni dolg, nizek obseg TNN in zapleteno poslovno okolje. Kljub temu pa imata na določenih področjih enake težave. To so področja pravne države, neučinkovitosti sodstva, neučinkovitosti javnih institucij, plačevanja davkov, najemanja kreditov in pridobitve gradbenih dovoljenj. Slovenija je manj ekonomsko svobodna kot Češka, prav tako podjetja v poslovnem okolju Češke veliko enostavneje poslujejo kot v Sloveniji.Foreign direct investment (FDI) is one of the most complicated ways of entering a foreign market, which is carried out by firms to exploit the advantages of foreign markets, for example, lower cost of business performance and labour force, as well as to avoid the disadvantages of the investors’ home market, like high tax rates. The motives of firms to be in favour of the FDI can be divided into four groupsmotives with the intention to enhance the efficiency of the firm, motives for seeking low cost resources, motives related to the market, as following the competition, and motives related to the strategic goals and capabilities of firms. For home and foreign countries, FDI can have either many positive or negative effects. Home countries get extra income, and greater exposure of domestic firms to foreign markets aids these investing firms in becoming more competitive and gaining new knowledge and experiences. It also raises employment in the home country. However, FDI can also cause firing workers in home countries at the cost to low cost workforce from foreign markets. For foreign countries, FDI means increased competition on their market, as an advantage, and the consumers have more choice. On the other hand, domestic firms are forced to enhance their performance of being more competitive. Various theories are occupied with the question, why the firms choose FDI for entering a foreign market, like the theory of monopolistic advantages, the product life-cycle theory, the internalization theory and the eclectic paradigm. The decision of firms whether to invest in foreign markets or not is affected by numerous factors, which are connected to the firm itself, the country in which they plan to invest and other factors. The eclectic paradigm tells the difference between ownership-specific advantages, which are unique for the firms possessing them, location-specific advantages, which refer to the location or country, where the firms intend to invest, and internalization advantages which give priority to the establishment of their own subsidiaries on foreign markets instead of selling the rights to use their business model to foreign firms. The results of our empiric research have shown that the Czech Republic is a more beneficent location than Slovenia, as the extent of the inward FDI into the Czech has become considerably bigger. It means that Slovenia is less competitive than the Czech Republic. This can be seen from the researches, which are analysing the competitiveness and economic environment of countries. Even though there is a relatively large difference between the extent of the inward FDI in the Czech Republic and Slovenia, both countries receive the most FDI from European countries. The Czech Republic has a well-developed business environment, which is evident from the high economic growth and low unemployment rate. Slovenia, on the other hand, has been facing numerous problemsa high unemployment rate, high national debt, low extent of FDI and a complicated business environment. Nevertheless, both countries face similar problems in some fields. These are the fields of legal state, inefficiency of the judicial system, inefficiency of public institutions, payment of taxes, taking out loans and gaining construction permits. Slovenia has less economic freedom than the Czech Republic and also firms can do business much more easily in the Czech Republic than in Slovenia