The Economic Capital and the Multinationalisation of Spanish Export Firms. an Integration of Resources Based Approach into the Eclectic Paradigm

This paper based on a sample of 940 Spanish exporting enterprises, of which 188 were multinationals, confirmed that foreign direct investment decisions are conditioned by the nature of the firms economic capital that constitute its competitive advantage. At the same time we found that international experience not only increases the likelihood of investing abroad but also facilitates geographic diversification. Finally, from the point of view of resources based approach we test that incorporating the location advantage into the analysis of factors that determine internationalization, makes it possible to better understand the firm’s multinationalization process which, in our opinion, supports the eclectic paradigm as a framework of the analysis of this economic reallity.