In a number of US states – including Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia – privately owned utility companies are putting their weight behind local investment promotion efforts, using their extensive resources and discounted energy rates to attract big businesses into the area and increase their customer base. 

As animosity between North America and China grows, North America is being increasingly protectionist in its FDI policies, which Chinese investors are rebuffing with claims that they lack clarity and transparency.

The Netherlands is altering its business landscape by bringing in a series of laws intended to make it even easier for foreign companies to invest in the country.

In a bid to cater for their increasingly globalised clients, law firms are having to extend their international reach, making expensive and time-consuming investments in regional offices, which sometimes do not even turn a profit.

The growing trend of airports as strategic assets to attract inward investors has led to a rise in both airport cities, which place airports at the centre with new cities growing around them, and existing air hubs receiving extensive facelifts. 

The world's economic balance is shifting, and sovereign wealth funds are starting to cut their exposure to developed economies and head towards emerging markets. But facing challenges such as limited availability of 'free-float' equity, the move does not come without risk.

Its high growth and relative stability in such times of economic uncertainty has seen myriad countries trying to position themselves as Islamic finance hubs. Ireland is the latest country to do this, and the early signs – including a $2bn sukuk issued on its stock exchange by Goldman Sachs last year – are promising.

With a number of scandals at Chinese companies listed in New York, the US Securities and Exchange Commission tightened the rules on private companies going public by merging with a shell company. But smaller companies, unable to launch initial public offerings, are set to lose out, as reverse mergers are the only way to attract capital.

Crossborder ‘non-equity modes’ activity is estimated to have generated more than $2000bn in exports in 2010 and is reshaping global trade patterns. But despite employing up to 21 million people worldwide, the NEM concept is still being eyed with caution.

The corporate responsibility standards expected of multinationals has been spelled out in guidelines published by the OECD. However, while take-up among countries has been encouraging, there are still some notable exceptions.