Acquiring global footprints: Internationalization strategy of Chinese multinational enterprises and human resource implications

Abstract

The expansion of the Chinese firms' global footprints in recent years reveals their growingly evident strategic intent and emerging capability, and calls for the need to (re)examine how emerging multinational enterprises' (EMNEs) internationalization strategies could be conceptualized with implications for human resource management (HRM). However, there remains insufficient research on cross-border merger and acquisition activities by emerging economy firms in general and by Chinese firms more specifically. This review paper fills part of this research gap by examining the acquisition intent and post-acquisition strategy of Chinese MNEs (CMNEs). Specifically it examines the post-acquisition challenges they are likely to encounter, and the implications for organizational and HRM capability building. We identify a set of research avenues for future investigation that may shed further light on how institutional and cultural factors at various levels and CMNEs' strategy impact various aspects of HRM practices.