Abstract
Focuses on multinational enterprise (MNE) direct investment in manufacturing and assembly, i.e. the globalization of industry via foreign direct investment, with some references to FDI in services as well. Argues that MNE investment can be a powerful force to create employment and decent work. It reviews how some developing countries have been able to harness MNE investment to move into increasingly sophisticated higher-skilled manufacturing activities, with backward linkages and spillovers that benefit host countries, firms and workers. It also reviews the policies that countries have put in place to achieve these results.