Logistics FDI in Italy: integration strategies and motivations

European Transport Research Review

Original Paper

Elena Maggi¹  Ilaria Mariotti² 

[1]Faculty of Economics, Department SEGeS, Università degli Studi del Molise, via De Sanctis, 86100, Campobasso, Italy

[2]Politecnico di Milano, DiAP, piazza L. da Vinci, 32, 20133, Milan, Italy

关键词: Logistics industry;    Integration strategies;    FDI;    MNE;    M&A;    Greenfield investments;   

DOI  :  10.1007/s12544-010-0024-3

 received in 2009-07-23, accepted in 2010-02-01,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Background and aimThe aim of the paper is to investigate the integration strategies (vertical, horizontal and conglomerate) undertaken by foreign logistics multinational enterprises (MNE) in Italy, and analyze the related motivations.MethodsThe empirical analysis consists of descriptive statistics, which makes use of the LogINT database, monitoring inward logistics foreign direct investments (FDI) in Italy in 2000–2008, and of additional information on the foreign logistics MNE’s integration strategies.ResultIt results that inward logistics FDI are mainly horizontal, that is they operate in the same parent company’s sub-industry, and are mainly driven by market power’ and economies of scale’ increase. Vertical integrations, which are in a logistics sub-industry differing from the MNE’s one, are driven by competitive considerations, by the need to reach economies of scope and reduce transaction costs. The conglomerate integrations, which are mainly undertaken by financial and real estate investors and manufacturing firms, are motivated by the need to achieve economies of scale and reduce transaction costs.ConclusionThe empirical analysis has showed that the motivations driving inward FDI are often multiple and differ according to the peculiarities of the sub-industry.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2010. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.