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Amazon’s HQ2 Site Selection Criteria: The New ‘Gold Standard’ in FDI Decision-Making
[journal article]
Abstract
In 2017–2018, Seattle-based Tech behemoth Amazon executed a highly publicised location-finding process for a $5 billion investment project, dubbed ‘HQ2’. Owing to the combination of high investment volume and the company’s unique public exposure, the HQ2 process is on course to becoming a basic yard... view more
In 2017–2018, Seattle-based Tech behemoth Amazon executed a highly publicised location-finding process for a $5 billion investment project, dubbed ‘HQ2’. Owing to the combination of high investment volume and the company’s unique public exposure, the HQ2 process is on course to becoming a basic yardstick for future foreign direct investment (FDI) projects all over the world. This article compiles the company’s previously unpublished site selection criteria and develops an evidence-based system of investment decision arguments which is employed to test the currently dominant approaches in location decision theory - behavioural, neoclassical, and institutional. Our results identify gaps vis-à-vis this emerging ‘Gold Standard’ and we propose the addition of a fourth, project-oriented approach to theory to fill the detected shortcomings. Furthermore, this system equips policymakers with a tool to evaluate their investment attraction strategies based on the decision criteria extracted from the HQ2 process.... view less
Classification
Area Development Planning, Regional Research
Free Keywords
Amazon; HQ2; economic policy; foreign direct investment; impact assessment; local economic development; location decision; policy; urban development
Document language
English
Publication Year
2020
Page/Pages
p. 403-417
Journal
Urban Planning, 5 (2020) 3
Issue topic
Planning for Local Economic Development: Research into Policymaking and Practice
ISSN
2183-7635
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed