Southern Transnationals: The New Kids on the Block?

The mid-1990s witnessed the dramatic emergence of transnational corporations from the developing world. Although much of the investment by these corporations is concentrated in other developing countries (South-South), they are increasingly investing heavily in developed countries (South-North) as well. The South-South and South-North FDI flows are growing much faster than the traditional North-South FDI flows. However, 87 per cent of the total outward FDI flows in 2004 originated from just 10 developing countries.
In terms of foreign assets, the majority of top 50 Southern TNCs are headquartered in Asia (32), followed by Latin America (11) and Africa (7, all of them in South Africa). What…