Global location choices for foreign direct investments by MNCs aim to benefit both from the advantages of collocation with other activities of the firm (internal agglomeration) and the advantages of proximity to local industry clusters of similar activities (external agglomeration). We submit that there are important trade-offs between internal and external agglomeration because internal knowledge transfer associated with collocation of various value-chain activities of the MNC is confronted with greater risk of knowledge spillovers to rival firms if there is a substantial local cluster. Moreover, we argue that the international connectivity of a location reduces the importance of local agglomeration as a driver of investment location decisions because connectivity allows the MNC to reap benefits from agglomeration at a distance through the (temporary) transfer of people and knowledge. Connectivity changes the trade-offs between internal and external agglomeration because it enhances the spatial reach of internal agglomeration more than external agglomeration. The influence of connectivity is greater for service-related value-chain activities than for production-related activities. We find support for these hypotheses in an analysis of 38,873 greenfield cross-border investment decisions across diverse value-chain activities and industries in 71 global cities, 2008–2016.

跨国公司对外直接投资的全球区位选择旨在既受益于与企业其他活动的协同优势（内部集聚），又受益于邻近具有类似活动的当地产业集群的优势（外部集聚）。我们认为，内部集聚和外部集聚之间存在重要的权衡，因为如果存在大量的本地集群，与跨国公司各种价值链活动搭配相关的内部知识转移将面临更大的知识溢出到竞争对手公司的风险。此外，我们认为，一个地点的国际连通性降低了当地集聚作为投资地点决策驱动因素的重要性，因为连通性使跨国公司能够通过（临时）人员和知识转移从远距离集聚中获益。连通性改变了内部集聚与外部集聚之间的权衡，因为它比外部集聚更能增强内部集聚的空间范围。连通性对服务相关价值链活动的影响大于生产相关活动。我们通过对 2008 年至 2016 年全球 71 个城市不同价值链活动和行业的 38,873 个绿地跨境投资决策的分析，找到了对这些假设的支持。