Exploring the regional distribution of inbound foreign direct investment in the UK in theory and practice: evidence from a five-region study

This paper examines the main factors that attract inbound foreign direct investment (FDI) at the UK regional level using econometric data from five sample UK regions (the South East, the West Midlands, the North West, Wales, and Scotland) broadly representing the country's regional economic divide. The findings indicate that regional and national (but not European Union-level) factors, linked to several underlying strategic determinants, help determine the regional distribution of inbound foreign direct investment, and its inter-regional variation. The paper concludes that governmental policy-makers at the national and regional levels can have an important role to play in drawing targeted foreign direct investment inflows to the UK regions