As the world continues to converge into a global village, cross-border trade and investments have become increasingly essential for the economic growth of several countries. Pivotal to this growth especially in developing economies has been the access to foreign direct investment (FDI). Nigeria as a developing country, largely relies on the inflow of FDI for numerous benefits which ultimately culminates to the fulfilment of its macroeconomic goals. However, socio-political risk within the country threatens the inflow and sustainability of FDI. While political risk has hitherto been explored in the context of Nigeria, existing literature has failed to capture the regional specifics of socio-political risks and their impact on inward FDI. Following a thematic analysis of interview data from fifteen multinational corporations, the results reveal three themes– FDI externalities, Resource seeking and Fragile economy that impact inward FDI in Nigeria. This study contributes to the literature by allowing for a more comprehensive account of the FDI/socio-political risk situation in Nigeria demystifying previously unbalanced interpretations which are highly prevalent in subject discourse. It is recommended that the Nigerian government invest in measures to curb socio-political risks, seek foreign aid from international organisations, improve institutional frameworks and prioritise the diversification of the economy.

International trade in Russia is increasingly controversial because of the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions meant to reign in Putin’s aggressive stance. This research examines the change in trade specialization of Russian goods from 2002 to 2022 utilizing measures of trade specialization. The results reveal that in twenty years there have been significant changes in trade specialization in Russian exports along with shifts among trade partners. A brief discussion identifies the likely causes of these variations including friendshoring and international sanctions. Finally, potential future directions are suggested.

This paper investigates the outward internationalisation of Mexican subnational regions, focusing on: (i) the regional propensity to engage in OFDI; (ii) the extent of regional OFDI (extensive margin); and (iii) how (i) and (ii) change depending on the geographical destination of OFDI. The conceptual framework drawn on different literatures merges four complementary categories of regional determinants: innovation capacity and competence base; international openness; public financial support to internationalisation; and industrial structure. The empirical analysis uses data on the OFDI of 32 Mexican regions in 8 economic sectors observed over the years 2006-2017. The main findings highlight that regional financial support is key to overcome home-region disadvantages deterring local firms’ from engaging in OFDI, irrespective of its vertical or horizontal nature. Regions with higher skills show more propensity to investment in advanced high-income countries, responding to a learning region model. However, the regional extent of engagement abroad confirms the negative association between internationalisation and local innovation and R&D systems, supporting the view of OFDI driven by home region disadvantages particularly when targeting advanced economies.

It is expected that firms will be deterred from engaging with tax havens by formal and informal institutions. However, our understanding of how tax haven investment decisions are influenced by shifting institutional deterrents and varying organizational contexts remains limited. Combining the institutional complexity perspective with behavioral theory, this study explores the extent to which formal and informal institutions deter firm investment into tax havens. We theorize and explain how variance in the organizational context, such as the firm’s degree of managerial discretion and influence, act to sensitize or de-sensitize organizational decision makers to institutional deterrents. Drawing on a comprehensive and granular dataset of tax haven subsidiaries by 2,857 firms between 2009 and 2017, this study contributes to the advancement of theory, policy, and practice on the global strategic management of tax havens.