International Expansion of Chinese Emerging Market Multinational Corporations to Developed Markets: A Qualitative Analysis of Post-acquisition and Integration Strategies

Abstract

Since the end of Great Recession about a decade ago, the 20 biggest emerging market economies have become the drivers for global outward foreign direct investments (OFDI) (Casanova and Miroux in Emerging Market Multinational Report, 2017), and these capital outflows are increasingly directed toward developed countries in form of international mergers and acquisitions (Thomson Reuters in Mergers and acquisition review, 2018; UNCTAD in World investment report: investment and new industrial policies. United Nations 646 Publications, New York, 2018). Particularly China has become a key player in the global market for corporate takeovers since the turn of the century. The country already constitutes the world’s second largest economy (and largest emerging economy) for OFDI through international mergers and acquisitions, second only to the United States. In fact, the total transaction value of outbound international mergers and acquisitions of emerging market multinational corporations (EMNCs) from China amounted to nearly US$256 billion in 2016, with particular focus on target companies in developed economies (Casanova and Miroux in Emerging Market Multinational Report, 2017). Due to the significant capabilities gap between EMNCs from China and developed market companies, however, international acquisitions of the latter by the former require a unique post-acquisition integration approach that differs from those prescribed by extant research. In addition, due to the unique institutional environment of China, which is characterized by a considerable oversight and influence of the central government on the foreign market entry and location decisions by Chinese companies that are conducting outward foreign direct investments, a better understanding about the specific institutional demands and legitimacy pressures is needed for this context. This chapter aims to address these issues by examining the unique institutional environment of China in the context of the internationalization strategies of indigenous firms through acquisitions in developed markets, and the related, context-specific integration approaches Chinese EMNCs employ for these transactions.