Foreign ownership structure of service equity joint ventures in China

Abstract

This paper investigates the foreign ownership structure of service equity joint ventures (EJVs) in China. In less than 20 years, China has emerged from a closed economy to become the second largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world. Now that China is a member of the World Trade Organisation, liberalisation of FDI is expected to accelerate even further. Despite the fact that an increasing proportion of FDI in China is in the form of equity joint ventures in the service sector, little is known of the ownership structure of service EJVs. Using a database of 6,430 foreign EJVs, in China from 1984 to 1996, this paper shows that foreign equity ownership differs significantly between service and manufacturing EJVs with foreign ownership generally being higher in service EJVs. The overall results also suggest that the gradual liberalisation of FDI in the service sector by Chinese authorities has had a positive effect on foreign equity ownership.