Russian outbound investments - towards a new perspective?

The purpose of the paper is to review the current theoretical understanding of the foreign direct investment (FDI) activities of the Russian transnational corporations (TNCs) with a view to assessing the appropriateness and applicability of classical theoretical concepts in accounting for Russian outward FDI. Propositions for alternative analytical perspectives are also considered. The internationalisation strategies and global expansion of TNCs from the developing and transitional economies is a rapidly evolving field of international business research, yet there remains scope for further critical discussion and theoretical contributions. The first part of the paper will review existing studies in the field of Russian outbound FDIs. The second part will analyse the nature and peculiarities of the Russian OFDIs in the light of the leading internationalisation theories. In the final part, the LLL model (linkage, leverage, learning) will be discussed in the context of Russian TNC’s investment activities together with ‘political risk mitigation’ strategies. Particular attention will be given to the motivations stimulating the foreign investment activities of Russian companies.