Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): New Forms of International and Cross-Industry Collaboration for Sustainable Growth and Development

Anna Visvizi,Peiquan Jin,Miltiadis D Lytras

doi:10.3390/su12010193

Abstract

Building on the tradition, promises, and advances brought by the historical Silk Road, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), launched by the Chinese government in 2013, has a profound impact on international business and the established forms of international collaboration. Exploiting the advantages of liberalization of trade in goods, services, capital, and public procurement, BRI will benefit the Chinese economy. At the same time, it will prompt substantial changes in the field of international business, e.g., by means of fostering business to business (B2B) and peer to peer (P2P) collaboration. It will also influence patterns of Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI). Geography plays a role in BRI; geopolitics is also in the cards. Given the profound implications BRI is likely to generate in the fields of businesses, economy, society, and politics, it is imperative to frame and streamline the discussion to identify the key mechanisms and causal relationships that it induces. This is precisely what this Special Issue sought to do.

Highlights

Promises, and advances brought by the historical Silk Road, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), launched by the Chinese government in 2013, has a profound impact on international business and the established forms of international collaboration
BRI’s implementation is only possible because of the far-reaching achievements pertaining to the liberalization of trade, which has been promoted incrementally over the past decades through the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO)
The Editors of the Special Issue sought to attract papers addressing a variety of issues and topics that pertain to BRI, including, for instance, questions of research and development (R&D), sophisticated information and communication technology (ICT), BRI and international business, modes of collaboration, investment patters, infrastructure development, smart applications, smart cities, and many more

Summary

Mainstreaming and Expanding the Debate on BRI

The objective of this Special Issue was to query BRI from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. The Editors of the Special Issue sought to attract papers addressing a variety of issues and topics that pertain to BRI, including, for instance, questions of research and development (R&D), sophisticated information and communication technology (ICT), BRI and international business, modes of collaboration, investment patters, infrastructure development, smart applications, smart cities, and many more. These topics reach the surface of the scholarly and political debate on BRI [7,8,9]. Papers included in this Special Issue position themselves in the mainstream of the bourgeoning debate on BRI, and add much-needed constructive dialogue

Overview of the Special Issue

Conclusions