[458] MTSU Global Commerce report: 2016 foreign investment dips slightly statewide; still ‘healthy’

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The latest Middle Tennessee State University Global Commerce report shows foreign investment into Tennessee business and industry dropped slightly last year, but remained “healthy” and “substantial.”

The report by MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center shows that Tennessee's new or expanded foreign-owned operations saw more than $567 million invested and was responsible for bringing in almost 2,600 jobs during 2016.

Tennessee received foreign investment from 18 firms from nine different countries, notes report author Steve Livingston, an MTSU political science professor and Global Commerce editor. The $218.5 million commitment at the JTEKT Automotive expansion in Vonore, Tennessee, was the largest dollar amount investment last year, the report states.

The full Global Commerce report, including maps and charts and comparisons to recent years, can be found at http://capone.mtsu.edu/berc/globalcommerce.html.

Livingston noted that the majority of new foreign investment in 2016 came from Japan and Germany. And while last year saw fewer of the “blockbuster” investments of recent years, “employment and investment in the foreign-owned sector of the state's economy is continuing to grow faster than in its domestic counterpart,” he said.

For more information about the report, contact Livingston at 615-898-2720 or email steven.livingston@mtsu.edu.