| The phenomenon of industrial cluster has occurred for a long time, in the research of which, SME cluster has always been the focus. However, since the late 20th century, the rapid development of economic globalization has made the cluster region no longer a closed local system as Marshall observed, but co-exist with economic globalization. In this process, on the one hand, multinational corporations, as the vector of economic globalization, naturally became an important link between global economy and the traditional local industrial clusters; on the other hand, with waves of the new round of international industrial transfer, multinational corporations has also participated and induced the formation of a large number of new exogenous industrial clusters. This brings both profound change to the traditional concept of industrial cluster and significant impact to the competitive advantage of TNCs and their FDI location choice. The World Investment Report in 2001 analyzed that the trend of FDI is highly centralized around the world, and the trend is spontaneous, orderly, shows obvious feature of industrial cluster. Also, based on the statistics of China, foreign capital mainly flows into the east coastal regions such as Pearl River delta, Yangtze River delta and the Bohai Rim. Precisely, the development of industrial clusters is relatively more mature in these areas. Based on the above, it is of great significance in both theory and practice to study the interaction mechanisms between multinational companies and industrial clusters.This paper tries to make a comprehensive use of the theory of FDI and industrial cluster, to expound the mechanism of foreign investment in the formation and development of industrial clusters, and also the influence of industrial clusters on transnational corporations. On the basis of relevant basic theories, we refer to Romer's study of economic growth model, basing on the condition that multinational corporations would maximize profits when they invest. Then we could get the basic conclusion:FDI and industrial cluster would promote and affect each other. After that, we have demonstrated the interaction mechanism from two aspects:For one, from the perspective of the industrial cluster's formation and development, we respectively explained the role of FDI play on traditional endogenous clusters and emerging exogenous clusters; For another, from the perspective of influence on transnational corporations, we investigated the effect of cluster regions on competitive advantage of TNCs and their FDI location choice.Based on the study of the above theories, we take Tianjin Binhai New Area to do an empirical analysis. First, we give a brief introduction of Binhai New Area. Then, use data to analyze the status and features of FDI in this region. And then, we measure industrial clusters of different developing degree by calculating of location quotient and dynamic concentration index. After that, we make a regression analysis, using panel data of 33 sub-industry's concentration levels and the corresponding FDI in Binhai New Area from 1999 to 2007. It is found that the industrial clusters in Binhai New Area have significant correlation with multinational corporations, and they promote and affect each other. In the end, the paper summarizes both the theory and empirical research conclusion, and reveals the interaction relationship between TNCs and industrial cluster, according to which, some theoretical basis was provided for nowadays macro-economic policy, also some suggestion was posed in the end. |
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