Shanghai's New Strategies in Attracting Inward FDI

The FDI induction and promotion strategies of Shanghai government need to take some new directions to aid to the endeavors of the city to become a global center for economy, trade, finance, transportation, as well as innovations. The suggestions are: 1) Focus on the foreign investment projects whose technology can be assimilated by the local industry; 2) Focus on the FDI projects in the emerging and promising high technology industries; 3) Selectively pick the foreign investors; 4) Decrease the percentage of wholly owned subsidiaries in FDI, and foster FDI entry mode diversification; 5) Diversify the capital source countries; 6) Other strategies for attracting inward FDI. The foreign investors in Shanghai have been contributing significantly to the host city's economic and social development by involving deeply into the strategically critical industries in the economy, as attested by the recent series of reports from Shanghai Business Bulletin. The Shanghai municipal government needs to find innovative ways to attract more inward foreign direct investment so that FDI may contribute further to the evolution and rationalization of the local industry structures.