Inward foreign direct investment (IFDI) is known to be a significant driver of local economic development, especially in fostering entrepreneurship. Current studies have conducted in-depth investigations into the impact of IFDI on the survival, productivity, and innovation of established firms. Recently, a growing body of work has started to examine its influence on entrepreneurship and new venture creation. Notably, most of these studies leverage a broad, country-level perspective and often yield inconsistent findings. This represents a notable gap in existing literature on IFDI, particularly in the context of large emerging economies where substantial within-country variation exists. For instance, China and India demonstrate pronounced regional and industrial heterogeneity, necessitating further fine-grained analyses.

In a new study, an international team of researchers, led by Assistant Professor Lingli Luo from the International Business School at Zhejiang University (ZIBS), China, and including Professor Junichi Yamanoi from the School of Commerce at Waseda University, Japan, Dr. Xufei Ma from the Department of Management at Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, and Dr. Linan Lei from ZIBS, has explored the multifaceted effects of IFDI on new venture creation. Their insightful findings were made available online on December 12, 2025, and will be published in Volume 41, Issue 2 of the Journal of Business Venturing on March 1, 2026.

Luo highlights the key contributions of their work. “The impact of IFDI on local ventures—bringing both learning opportunities and competitive threats—is a long-standing debate. We address this issue by examining how IFDI shapes new venture creation at the industry-regional (subnational) level, moving beyond country-level analyses. Specifically, we establish three distinct ways in which IFDI influences new venture creation: a nonlinear effect of within-boundary IFDI, a spillover effect of cross-boundary IFDI, and a contingent effect shaped by local institutions.”

The team utilizes learning and competition theories to argue that IFDI in a specific industry and region has an inverted U-shaped effect, where moderate IFDI levels stimulate the maximum level of new venture creation. This phenomenon is driven by dual forces: learning opportunities and competitive threats anticipated by prospective entrepreneurs.

Moreover, IFDI in the focal industry in adjacent regions, as well as in related industries in the focal region, both promote new venture creation. The present study identifies adaptation-based learning and imitation-based learning from IFDI in related industries and in adjacent regions, respectively. It further highlights that a supportive institutional environment, such as a highly developed non-state economy in the focal region, boosts the effects of IFDI at the industry-regional level.

The researchers carried out empirical analysis to validate their proposals. They analyzed the China National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System data on all registered firms in China between 2013 and 2023, demonstrating robust support for their hypotheses.


“Our study provides actionable guidance for designing industrial policies that leverage IFDI to stimulate local entrepreneurship. Our findings show that IFDI exerts a dual influence: moderate levels foster learning opportunities, while excessive IFDI can deter entrepreneurial entry through intensified competition. Local governments should therefore calibrate IFDI inflows to maintain an entrepreneurship-enhancing balance,” points out Yamanoi.

Overall, this work makes significant theoretical contributions to research on FDI and entrepreneurship, and to the literature on learning and competition.

Reference
Authors: Lingli Luo¹, Junichi Yamanoi², Xufei Ma³, and Linan Lei¹
Title of original paper: Beyond direct impact: Exploring inward FDI’s multifaceted effects on new venture creation
Journal: Journal of Business Venturing
DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106562
Affiliations: ¹International Business School, Zhejiang University
²School of Commerce, Waseda University
³Department of Management, Chinese University of Hong Kong

About Waseda University
Located in the heart of Tokyo, Waseda University is a leading private research university that has long been dedicated to academic excellence, innovative research, and civic engagement at both the local and global levels since 1882. The University has produced many changemakers in its history, including eight prime ministers and many leaders in business, science and technology, literature, sports, and film. Waseda has strong collaborations with overseas research institutions and is committed to advancing cutting-edge research and developing leaders who can contribute to the resolution of complex, global social issues. The University has set a target of achieving a zero-carbon campus by 2032, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015.

To learn more about Waseda University, visit https://www.waseda.jp/top/en

About Professor Junichi Yamanoi
Dr. Junichi Yamanoi is a Professor at the School of Commerce, Waseda University, Japan. He received a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Connecticut, USA. His research focuses on strategic management, including diverse topics such as managerial psychological characteristics, the interplay of competition and cooperation, mergers and acquisitions, foreign direct investment, and family firms.