How the Belt and Road Initiative Affects China’s Outward FDI: Comparing Chinese Independent Firms and Business Group Affiliates

Abstract

By using Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) data of listed companies from 2010 to 2015, Chap. 13 examines how the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) affects the international strategy of two types of firms, independent and corporate group affiliates. The empirical results show that the BRI can advance the OFDI of both Chinese independent firms and corporate group affiliates. For the latter, corporate groups and improved external institutions have coevolved as a complementarity rather than a substitution, as most current literature points out. The BRI has a greater push effect on the OFDI of corporate group affiliates’ than on that of independent firms. The results also confirm that Chinese firms are growing by leveraging BRI policy and an international expansion strategy.