<![CDATA[Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is widely regarded as a strategic catalyst for economic growth, particularly in developing countries facing domestic capital constraints. The World Bank introduced the Business Ready (B-Ready) index in October 2024 to replace the discontinued Doing Business report, offering a more comprehensive and reproducible measure of the business environment. This study examines the relationship between the ten B-Ready dimensions and the FDI-to-GDP ratio across 94 countries using a descriptive quadrant analysis approach, with median values serving as threshold lines on scatter plots. The results show that the relationship between business environment quality and FDI inflows does not form a consistent or linear pattern across any of the ten B-Ready aspects. Quadrant I (high B-Ready, high FDI) consistently contains the largest share of countries, yet the substantial presence of countries in Quadrant II (low B-Ready, high FDI) and Quadrant IV (high B-Ready, low FDI) indicates that institutional quality alone does not determine investment outcomes. Quadrant II is dominated by low-income, resource-rich countries such as Chad, Congo Dem. Rep., and Gambia, consistent with resource-seeking investment motives under Dunning’s OLI paradigm. Quadrant IV is dominated by high-income countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, and Ireland, reflecting an economic scale effect rather than a lack of investment appeal. These findings suggest that business environment reform functions as an enabling condition rather than a sufficient condition for attracting foreign investment]]>
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