Analysing the Cities’ Inward Investment Promotion Websites

Purpose – This paper aims to answer the question of importance of the cities’ investment promotion, and to analyse their inward investment promotion websites, which are the primary investment promotion tools. The analysis should identify common features of these websites, thereby indicate the crucial information from the point of view of target audiences.Methodology – Inward investment promotion websites of four leading European cities (Barcelona, Manchester, Wrocław, and Lublin), concerning the foreign direct investment strategy, were analysed comparatively using an original tool based on the Website Attributive Evaluation System – City’s Inward Investment Promotion Website Evaluation System.Findings – The analysis showed that all four cities’ websites are very similar in terms of the presented content. Moreover, the comparative approach to communication with investors is visible. However, there are significant differences in a graphic layout.Research limitations – Only four websites were analysed comparatively. Hence, it is recommended to conduct similar research on a more significant sample.Practical implications – The findings indicate that it can be possible to design transferable model of the city’s inward investment promotion website.Originality – An original tool was designed to analyse comparatively the cities’ inward investment promotion websites.