As international business grows at an accelerating pace and corporations seek to internationalize their operations, understanding the decision-making behind a foreign direct investment is necessary. A pattern often recognized in international business is a multinational corporation aiming towards gaining a stable foundation in an emerging market via internationalizing to the desired market. In order to understand a multinational corporation's foreign direct investments, understanding factors affecting decision-making process is focal. 

The purpose of this study is to gather information regarding the factors that affect a multinational corporation foreign direct investments, and considering that an MNC was of great importance for the thesis, a single study on Swedish heavy-duty truck manufacturer Scania was conducted.  

Since gathering information for this thesis was based on interviewing Scania professionals with knowledge, a qualitative research method was most suitable. For the research method, five Scania professionals were interviewed across four occasions. 

The research question of the thesis is: Which factors motivate foreign direct investment for multinational corporations? The empirical findings show the many different and important factors, such as the need to get closer to their customers and prior knowledge about the market affecting MNC’s foreign direct investment decision-making process. 

In conclusion, MNC’s have to consider multiple factors that can play a role in the decision process. MNC’s have to adapt to the market in various ways, depending which the desired market is, to be able to streamline its internationalization and create a smooth process - but initiating all this is the decision-making process behind a MNC’s foreign direct investment.The factors driving FDI for MNCs are complex and interconnected, frequently combining market objectives, technological aspirations, the acquisition of strategic assets, institutional navigation, the acquisition of resources and home-base-augmenting motivations.