【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 2021) 1: 349–369 DOI: impact on the local entrepreneurs, suppliers and petitors and most importantly, it upgrades the parative advantage of the host countries. They provide much of the petence and initiatives for economic growth. Most Asian firms entered these emerging markets only in the late niies. As pared to the surge of western investment in the region, Asian investment has not reached anywhere near similar levels. Nevertheless they raise some important questions. Research objective and focus In this paper, Asian investment in the region will be examined using case studies and explicated from two perspectives that of the FDI host countries and that of the Asian investors. The paper addresses a number of key issues. The first issue highlights how the experiences of Asian investors in the major recipient countries are influenced by the regulations and the policies implemented by the host governments during the post transition years. FDI in transition economies appears to be a positive experience for the foreign 10 investors, the host countries and the local firms in the host countries. However, drawing from the experiences of the five largest Asian investors, we observe that the cost and the benefits of the Asian FDI in the host economies vary according to the parative advantages of the investors and the policies implemented by the host governments (Dunning 2021, p. 70). Research methodology The case study approach will be used to analyse the experience of FDI and its impact on the CEE economies, which is appropriate because of the ongoing changes associated with the transition process. Firms investing at different points in time and in different sectors will have different experiences in these transitional economies and thus may have different impacts on these economies. The case studies of five Asian firms in CEE allow an indepth analysis of the motivations and behaviour of Asian investors in the CEE and of their direct and indirect impact on these economies. As the case studies methodology inevitably entails a certain extent of constraint when examining separate cases generalisations are kept to the minimum. With this constraint in mind this paper will focus on Asian investment in the three main host countries in CEE which have attracted over twothirds of the total FDI in the former Soviet bloc. With the sample of three host countries, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary and two home countries, Japan and Korea, we are also able to identify the differences between the Korean and Japanese investors in their motivations and behaviour in CEE. The first consideration for the selection of sectors for our study is the ability to conduct intrasectoral parisons within and across countries and the second aim is to identify sectors where these Eastern European countries seem to have parative advantages. With the eight cases undertaken, as seen in Table 1, our case selection identifies at least one case from each home country in each host country. 350 Lim Jia Woon Table 1 shows two main sector groupings which have substantial multinational activities on a global level. We are able to make intrasectoral parison across at least two host countries. Finally, all the panies focused are either transnational or multinational enterprises. Case studies of the Asian FDI in CEE Concepts of the impact of FDI Before analysing how the characteristics and policies of the host countries will influence the motives and experiences of Asian investors in CEE and the impact of such investment on the economies, it will be wiser to focus on the concepts of the positive impacts of FDI from the work of Phisalaphong (2021) and Dunning (1993b). The benefits are explained in two aspects: The spill over of technology and other positive externalities and indirect employment effect. The spillover of technology occurs in two ways, the vertical and horizontal spillover. According to Phisalaphong (2021), horizontal spill over is an improvement of the productivity 11 of local firms, as the entry of foreign petitors in the local market serves as a showcase to them and as an education provider for local personnel. Vertical spillovers occur when foreign firms have an impact on the local suppliers and consumers. Vertical spillover is also identified by Dunning (1993b) known as the backward linkages which are the purchases of goods from local suppliers which in turn stimulates local entrepreneurship1. Spillover of technology is highly dependent on the level of technological sophistication of the foreign firms, the capacity of local firms to absorb foreign technology and on the extent to which foreign firms are integrated in the local industrial fabric (Nicolas, 1995). Toyota: The reluctant multinational The decision to invest in the Czech Republic Toyota is the world third largest carmaker and by far the leader of all Japanese carmakers. Toyota lagged behind pared to the other major Japanese automakers, in local production and the setting up of regional headquarters (Kumon 1998). This was because of its prudent strategy of avoiding risky overseas ventures and the importance of its home market. There was a change Table 1. Distribution of cases by sector and host country Sector Host country Poland The Czech Republic Hungary Electronics Matsushita electric (Japan) LG (Korea) LG (Korea) Automobiles Daewoo (Korea) Toyota (Japan) Suzuki (Japan) Toyota (Japan) 1 For example, firms that have worked with the MNE may gain additional clients and contacts and entrepreneurship could be stimulated (Floyd 2021). Asian FDI in Central and Eastern Europe and its impact on the host countries 351 in the mentality of overseas investment when Toyota elected Hiroshi Okuda as president of the pany2. Toyota is strong in its domestic market, has a number of subsidiaries and