Risk Assessment of OFDI for Technology‐Based Enterprises under the Background of “One Belt One Road”

Abstract

With the proposal of “One Belt One Road” initiative, more and more technology‐driven enterprises in China are going abroad for foreign direct investment (FDI). But at the same time, due to the special geographical location of the countries along the “Belt and Road,” the turbulent geopolitical pattern, weak economic growth, and constant conflicts between religious civilizations, all these will make Chinese technology‐driven enterprises’ investment in the countries along the “Belt and Road” face a nonnegligible risk. Thus, how to correctly assess and reasonably prevent OFDI risk has become urgent task for enterprises. This paper takes 20 countries along the “Belt and Road” as the research object and combines the characteristics of technology‐oriented enterprises to determine the risk assessment indicators at all levels from four aspects: politics and policy, economy and finance, society and culture, and technological risks. Using fuzzy cluster analysis, the countries along the “Belt and Road” are classified into four groups: low, medium‐low, medium‐high, and high risks and corresponding countermeasures are proposed. Technology‐oriented enterprises should raise their political risk awareness, comprehensively assess the economic and financial environment of host countries before making FDIs, implement “localized” operation and management, and pay attention to the protection of intellectual property rights.