Intellectual property rights and foreign direct investment in emerging markets
With the continued progression towards a more globalized economy, multinational businesses are having increased difficulty in protecting their intellectual properties from theft or infringement. This is most especially true when they have employed their intellectual property in foreign direct investments (FDI) in emerging markets. This paper details many important considerations regarding the security of intellectual properties that have been largely ignored by management in its environmental scanning and decision‐making prior to undertaking FDI. The author proposes an auditing procedure, the cross‐environmental technology audit (CETA), to ensure that all decisions specifically consider intellectual property issues prior to unnecessarily risking it in a foreign venture.