Abstract EN:

THIS THESIS ANALYSES INTERNATIONAL DIRECT INVESTMENT (IDI) STRATEGIES IN ECONOMIC ORGANISATION OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS). IT IS A THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL STUDY OF THE LOGICS OF FOREIGN ENTERPRISES AND OF THE POLICIES OF LOCALIZATION OF THEIR ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES IN WEST AFRICA. FIRST, IN ORDER TO GIVE A CLEAR EXPLANATION OF THE IDI PHENOMENA IN WEST AFRICA, WE HAD TO POINT TO THE FACT THAT THE DIFFERENT THEORIES SUGGESTED SINCE THE 50'S DO NOT ALLOW US TO GIVE A PROPER ACCOUNT OF PHENOMENA IN THESE CPUNTRIES. THE RECENT ONES, MORE SPECIFICALLY THE INTERNALISATION THEORY AND THE ECLECTIC THEORY GIVE CONVERGING EXPLANATIONS BUT THEY DO NOT TOTALLY EXPLAIN THE CHARACTERISTICS AND DYNAMICS OF EXISTING FORCES IN ECOWAS. SECOND, WE POINTED OUT THREE KINDS OF INTERNATIONAL DIRECT INVESTMENT STRATEGIES. THE POLICIES ADOPTED BY EUREOPEAN MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES TO LOCALIZE THEIR ACTIVITIES AND PRODUCTION OPERATIONS ARE ESSENTIALLY CONDITIONNED BY BOTH THEIR NEEDS FOR NATURAL RESSOURCES AND THE EXPANSION OF THEIR EXPORTS. IN ORDER TO EXPLOIT THEIR SPECIFIC ADVANTAGES IN OIL REFINING, THE AMERICAN ENTERPRISES HAVE ADOPTED OFFENSIVE STRATEGIES VIS-A-VIS EUROPEANS. BUT SINCE THE NATIONALISATION POLICIES IN WEST AFRICA, THESE HAVE TENDED TO OPERATE INTO JOINT VENTURE ENTERPRISES. AS REGARDS JAPANESE INVESTORS, THEIR FIRST INTEREST GOES TO NATURAL RESSOURCES, BUT IN ORDER TO EXPAND THEIR EXPORTS, THEY ORGANISE THEIR ACTIVITIES IN ASSOCIATION with THE EUROPEAN FIRMS OR DEVELOP AN OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE (ODA) IN RELATION WITH SECTORS CONCERNING THEIR EXPORTS. FINALLY, FROM EMPIRICAL STUDIES SUCH AS CROSS-SECTIONAL ANALYSIS AND TIME SERIES ANALYSIS, IT APPEARS THAT AN UNSTABLE SET OF ECONOMICS FACTORS HAVE INFLUENCED THE ALLOCATION AND THE LEVEL OF INTERNATIONAL DIRECT INVESTMENT IN WEST AFRICAN COUNTRIES FROM 1970 TO 1990. HOWEVER OTHER UNQUANTIFIABLE FACTORS SEEM TO HAVE A NEGATIVE INFLUENCE ON THE INTERNATIONAL