Abstract
An overall comparative study of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from BRIC countries and strategies conducted by multinational companies (MNCs) based in the BRICs is elaborated on with a same methodology for Brazil, Russia, India and China. The comparison pertains to the historical emergence of firms' internationalisation, their booming expansion in the 2000s then their muddling through the current crisis, the specificities of OFDI from each home country, OFDI geographical distribution and industrial structure, econometric testing of the respective determinants of Brazilian, Russian, Indian and Chinese OFDI, and the role of home countries' governments vis-a-vis home-based MNCs. Beyond some common characteristics, BRICs' MNCs exhibit a number of major country-specific features.