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Evaluating Inward and Outward Investment:
Two Checklists

How can we evaluate the impact of the investment plans of a particular company? Here are two checklists which you can use to weigh up the benefits and disadvantages.

The first one you can use for a foreign company wanting to invest in your country. The second one you can use for a local company planning to invest abroad.

INWARD INVESTMENT: A CHECKLIST

• Will the incoming investment create jobs, directly or indirectly? How many? What sort of jobs? (skills level, full-time/part-time, permanent/casual, etc.)
• Will the investment transfer technological know-how and skills to local workers?
• Will strategic control of the enterprise stay overseas?
• If your trade union movement has adopted a Code of Conduct for Investment in your country, does the incoming investor agree to meet its requirements?
• Does the incoming investor have its own code of conduct or social mission statement? If so, is it independently monitored?
• What sort of links will the investment create with other industries in our country? Will it force smaller local companies out of business? What will be the loss of employment if that happens?
• Does the company product or service help to meet the basic needs of our people?
• Is the company involved in privatisation?
• What government help or incentives are being offered to the investor? What is the value of these incentives compared to the numbers and types of jobs that will be created?
• What is the company's industrial relations record like in other countries? Is it anti-union?
• What is the company's environmental record like in other countries?
• Where can we go for more information? How can we make contact with workers and activists overseas who may know more about this company?

  OUTWARD INVESTMENT: A CHECKLIST

• Will the new activity abroad fit with or change the company's activities at our workplace?
• Does the investment abroad indicate a lower priority for our workplace or the industry in our country? Will there be any impact on (a) our jobs, (b) our terms and conditions, or (c) technological change?
• Will the workers in the new location abroad have full union rights? What will be their working conditions? Will they be lower than ours? Does our union have contact with their union?
• What information can we share about the company's labour practices and environmental record? How can we build solidarity with workers and activists elsewhere to share the information we have?

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