It is well known that the current business world, and also the investments, today are based on the global markets expansion. Contemporary reality shows us the image of a world which is irreversibly evolving towards the businesses globalization and the companies' internationalization. The internal markets often become overcrowded, and the companies access more profoundly the global marketplace, which not only provides a place for all competitors, but also represents a source of new advantages

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... all. In the context of globalization the investment activity has gained new dimensions, becoming a global one, with serious implications, which manifest itself over the national economies and also over the world economy. Starting from these premises, the present paper's purpose is to analyze a current, important and intensely debated issue, namely, the direct foreign investments, pointing out the main elements of their historic development and highlighting their fundamental role for the economic development of a country. Thus, here are reviewed some of the indisputable benefits of direct foreign investments generated within the country – as a dynamic development engine. Beyond the beneficial effects, which unequivocally denote the importance of drawing direct foreign investments, we try to answer the question "Can be identified negative effects of direct foreign investments which affect the receiving country?"