Abstract—The purpose of this study is to evaluate the important indicators of location selection for MNC overseas investment.The location selection is a vital issue when MNCs vigorously develop the global investment strategies to enhance their international competitive advantages. This research attempts to evaluate the factors of location selection as the following four steps: First, this research attempts to construct the initial indicators of location selection. Second, a focus group of MNCexperienced managers wasestablished to discover the factors of location selection relating to the evaluation of overseas investment. Third, Fuzzy Delphi method was applied to select the important evaluation criteria. Finally, the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach is employed to explore the relevance among the factors of location selection.The research results indicate that Dimension one D1(Production Cost) has the highest degree of prominence (di + ri).Dimension fiveD5 (Industry Characteristics) has the highest degree of effect (di - ri ). The research results not only indicate the most important factors of dimension and criteria for location selection of investment, but also provide MNCs a valuable strategic guidance to select optimum location for carrying out overseas investment successfully.
Index Terms—Decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL), fuzzy delphi method (FDM), location selection.
Weng-Kun Liu is with Feng Chia University, Taiwan (e-mail: wengkun2004@yahoo.com).
Cite: Weng-Kun Liu, "Using FDM and DEMATEL Approaches to Evaluate the Location Selection of Investment," International Journal of Information and Education Technology vol. 5, no. 10, pp. 732-739, 2015.