Chinese Multinational Enterprises Research Articles

The micro-foundation of ambidextrous opportunity identification in international expansion

This study builds upon social cognitive theory and the research on micro-foundations to elaborate on how, and under what conditions, multinational enterprises (MNEs) identify various international opportunities (e.g., ambidextrous and non-ambidextrous opportunities). Using a qualitative approach, this study develops a theoretical framework for explaining the international opportunity identification behaviour in the empirical context of Chinese MNEs. The findings establish cognitive mechanisms enabled by international management teams relevant to international opportunity identification and clarify the specific constituents of self-efficacy in the ambidextrous opportunity identification process. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of findings for the international business literature.

Post-entry growth in scope and scale among Chinese multinational enterprises: a structural embeddedness explanation

PurposeBoth the scope of postentry growth and the scale of postentry growth are essential for Chinese multinational enterprises' aggressive internationalization. Yet, prior literature has not considered the synergistic approach of postentry growth that seeks the scope of growth and the scale of growth simultaneously. Building upon the embeddedness perspective and the learning view, we address how structural embeddedness directly affects firms' postentry growth in the form of scope and scale and indirectly affects postentry growth via both the scope of growth and the scale of growth. Particularly, we investigate the decreasing mediating effect of the growth's scale on the growth's scope when embeddedness strengthens.Design/methodology/approachWith a survey data set of 206 Chinese multinational firms from manufacturing and service industries, we conduct structural equation modeling (SEM), partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM), instantaneous indirect effect assessment and hierarchical linear regression model to test our hypotheses.FindingsFirst, Chinese multinational enterprises’ (CMNEs) structural embeddedness is positively related to their scope of postentry growth, while has aU-shaped relationship with their scale of postentry growth. Second, CMNEs' scope of postentry growth mediates the relationship between structural embeddedness and the scale of postentry growth, the mediation effect counts for 33.5% of the over effect. Finally, the indirect effect of structural embeddedness on the scope of postentry growth through the scale of postentry growth is nonlinear. As the structural embeddedness strengthens, the positive indirect effect gradually weakens.Originality/valueWe believe this study further connects core international business research on postentry growth to the fast-growing literature on emerging markets multinational enterprises' internationalization. In addition, we undertake an initial effort in addressing an important gap in the literature: how structural embeddedness matters to firms' postentry growth. Moreover, this study finds important evidence to support the direct and indirect effect of structural embeddedness on postentry growth.

Analyzing the reliability of Chinese outward FDI studies: a replication approach

PurposeMany academic studies in international business empirically test the determinants of Chinese outward (O)FDI. A weakness with these studies is the limited critical evaluation given to the way in which Chinese OFDI data is collected and used. Chinese multinational enterprises (C)MNEs frequently establish special purpose entities in tax havens to transit FDI via intermediary jurisdictions. The purpose of this paper is to develop an alternative approach for measuring CMNE OFDI and subsequently explore how the results of previous studies may have been confounded use of tax havens by MNEs. The authors address the latter question by replicating widely cited quantitative studies.Design/methodology/approachReplication approach.FindingsThrough the replication of several studies, this paper finds high levels of discrepancies in general sign and significance between global ultimate ownership modeling results and those using officially recorded FDI data. More specifically, the main areas impacted by using official data rather than data which accounts for the use of tax havens are cultural proximity, geographic distance and natural resource seeking.Practical implicationsThis paper looks at studies, which use official FDI data to understand CMNE behavior. It is important to note, however, that there are many hundreds, if not thousands, of studies that use other national-level FDI data to draw similar types of inferences about MNE activity. In this sense, the authors’ critical evaluation of CMNE work holds a much broader and, arguably, more important question: How reliable, in general, are studies, which use officially recorded FDI data? The results from this paper have already caused reflection on the impact of tax haven use on official FDI collection organizations, such as the OECD.Social implicationsThe social implications of companies using tax havens to route FDI is immense. The use of tax havens not only aids in tax minimization for companies, but also obscures the true providence and identity of companies. This is problematic in a society, which increasingly desires to understand where, how and by whom a product or service was created prior to consumption.Originality/valueThis paper argues that the tendency for Chinese MNEs to establish offshore holding companies in tax havens has given rise to significant biases in official FDI statistics. Through the use of global ultimate ownership data, the authors have put forward an alternate approach to measure genuine CMNEs’ OFDI activity, one which confronts and deals with their pervasive engagement with tax havens. Through the replication of several Chinese OFDI location choice studies, it was possible to understand how methodological issues stemming from the use of official FDI data may influence prior econometric results. In doing so, the authors hope to have sparked a debate which may lead to a re-evaluation of earlier received wisdom regarding Chinese MNE investment strategy and behaviors. This in turn should foster improved theorizing regarding the Chinese MNE and its outward investment activities.

Chinese Multinational Enterprises Operating in Western Economies: Huawei in the US and the UK

ABSTRACT Huawei serves as a vehicle for presenting the multiple barriers faced by Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) that happen to be born in China, a non-democratic and non-Western country who now challenges the world’s No.1 superpower, thus requires a multi-disciplinary analytical framework by taking much broader contexts into considerations. This comparative case study of its operations in the US and UK aims to develop the old model of examining Chinese MNEs that is heavily economic factor focused by including more variables, such as ‘bilateral relations’, ‘law’, ‘media influence’ and ‘cultural proximity’ under host country factors, and ‘governance structure’ under home country factors. The new model will show the increasing complexity in the global competitive landscape and inspire more research to further advance understanding of this new international business phenomenon.

Speed Up or Slow Down? Toward a Domestic Dependency Network Model

The Uppsala model has been widely used to explain variations in firms’ internationalization speed by focusing on foreign networks. To correct a potential geographic blind spot in the Uppsala model, we add a domestic dependency network viewpoint, concentrating upon political and business ties with domestic network actors, based upon resource dependence theory (RDT). We test the proposed model on a sample of 689 Chinese multinational enterprises (CMNEs) between 1999 and 2013. The results show that CMNEs politically tied to the central government internationalize faster than CMNEs without such ties. We also find that CMNEs with ties to local governments and to foreign JV partners internationalize more slowly than CMNEs without such ties. We also show how multiple domestic dependency network ties interact to influence internationalization speed. We discuss the implications of our findings for the Uppsala model and RDT.

Knowledge Without Borders: A Systematic Review of Knowledge in Chinese Multinational Enterprises

Research on the knowledge management practices of Chinese MNEs has increased considerably in the past 15 years that reflects the growing tendency of pursuing technologies to promote competitiveness and performance. However, the understanding of critical factors in Chinese MNEs affecting knowledge acquisition, transfer, and utilization still insufficient due to fragmentation. This systematic review synthesizes and integrates insights from 101 selected articles from top business and management journals that develop a comprehensive framework for critical influential factors and the evolution of knowledge management behaviors of Chinese MNEs. This study identifies several promising research avenues for stimulating future research, besides the snapshot of the knowledge management process in Chinese MNEs. Particularly, we propose that future researchers should focus on the new trends of knowledge management of Chinese MNEs in this coming digital era, and the shift mechanism of knowledge exploitation to innovativeness-based knowledge exploration and integration.

Risk management, legitimacy, and the overseas subsidiary performance of emerging market MNEs

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are exposed to substantial risks when operating abroad and effective risk management plays a key role in determining firms’ competitiveness and success in overseas markets. Integrating the notion of home-country government-created advantages with the legitimacy perspective, we look at a concrete manifestation of government-created advantages, the impact of home-country risk-safeguarding mechanisms on Chinese MNEs’ overseas subsidiary performance. Moreover, we examine their effect under the contingency of firms’ legitimacy in host countries. Using survey data, we find that Chinese MNEs’ overseas subsidiary performance is positively associated with the use of home-country risk-safeguarding mechanisms. The strength of this association depends on Chinese firms’ legitimacy in host countries. The low level of legitimacy of these firms with host-country government and business communities can generate a negative spill-over effect that compromises the role of home-country risk-safeguarding mechanisms.

Political risk distribution of Chinese outward foreign direct investment

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding on relations between Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) and host country political risk. To contribute to a better understanding of whether traditional wisdom on foreign direct investment (FDI) is sufficient to explain the internationalization of Chinese multinational enterprises, the author collected 15 proxy variables from the PRS Group and Heritage Foundation and applied principal component analysis (PCA) to construct a new political risk index (PRI) that measures multiple facets of political risk for 139 countries.Design/methodology/approachUsing this new PRI as a criterion, the author investigated changes in the political risk distribution (PRD) of Chinese outward FDI (OFDI) regarding investment destinations, large projects, annual investment outflows and sectorial distributions from 2006–2017.FindingsThe author found that the vast majority of Chinese OFDI during this period is concentrated in moderate- and low-risk countries, even at the sectorial level. This paper also shows that the continuing reform of Chinese OFDI policy and strong government support have led to an unprecedented increase in Chinese OFDI, while the PRD of Chinese OFDI has maintained a gradual decline over the past decade.Originality/valueThis research provides a new measurement that covers multiple facets of political risk.

Willingness to work for multinational enterprises from emerging countries: The case of Chinese multinational enterprises in the Netherlands

How do perceptions of country-of-origin image (COI) relate to willingness of Western people to work for subsidiaries in advanced countries of multinational enterprises from emerging countries (EMNEs)? We seek to shed light on this question by exploring six hypotheses based on environment-processing metatheory. Applying a PLS-SEM analysis of online survey data from the Netherlands, we find that the COI and familiarity with the EMNE’s home country are positively associated with willingness to work. Additionally, we reveal a few mediating effects indicating that familiarity and individual difference are indirectly related to willingness to work. This study contributes to our understanding of the inability of EMNEs to attract talent in the Western world by adding a macro perspective to the human resource management literature. Furthermore, we extend environment-processing metatheory by expanding the focus from the perceived internal context (corporate information) to the perceived external environment (country of origin), as well as to the antecedents (familiarity and individual differences) of the perceived environment.

Heterogeneity of CEO Managerial Cognition and Location Preference for OFDI Political Risk in Multinational Enterprises:Based on the Micro Data of Chinese Multinational Enterprises

Heterogeneity of CEO Managerial Cognition and Location Preference for OFDI Political Risk in Multinational Enterprises:Based on the Micro Data of Chinese Multinational Enterprises

A South-South perspective on emerging economy companies and institutional coevolution: An empirical study of Chinese multinationals in Africa

In this paper, we show how international tenders act as defining moments in building asymmetric coevolution-based mechanisms between Chinese multinational enterprises and local institutions in developing African countries. We used a case study methodology to explore how three Chinese multinationals – Citic, Sinopec, and Chinalco – developed non-market relations with the institutions of three African countries, namely, Algeria, Gabon and the Republic of Guinea, both during and after the submission of international tenders, to win strategic contracts and securely embed the company in question within the target host country. We found that Chinese companies not only submit tenders, but also develop multiple kinds of alliances in order to influence local institutions over the long term, transplant new business practices and standards, and expand in an unparalleled way, with host-country institutions and Chinese MNEs acting as partners in the new ecosystem. Based on our findings, we propose a model which highlights the specific mechanisms through which successful coevolution processes emerge and prosper between Chinese multinationals and developing country institutions. This study contributes to the international management literature by extending the field of institutional theory to co-evolutionism in international business.

Local integration and co‐evolution of internationalizing Chinese firms

AbstractThis study investigates the integration of internationalizing Chinese firms into local host markets. We explore the market‐driven investment of a new wave of Chinese private and local state‐owned firms in Australia since 2012, which has replaced the initial large‐scale investment in resources by central state‐owned enterprises. Using an in‐depth analysis of nine Chinese firms operating in various sectors of the Australian market, we argue that market integration, adaptation, and bilateral institution‐building through co‐evolution and empowerment of local subsidiaries of Chinese multinational enterprises results in entrepreneurial autonomy and characterizes a new generation of Chinese investors. We propose that Chinese multinational subsidiaries have transferred domestic practices to the Australian market and have reconfigured domestic and host market resources to gain a competitive advantage in their original investment industry and new industries. Our study advances middle‐range theory building and provides a practical understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of Chinese investors, their potential to disrupt local markets, and their responsiveness to market‐oriented institutional guidance. The results of this study suggest that the bilateral institution‐building and resource reconfiguration capabilities of Chinese enterprises can be transferred to other developed and developing markets, including Belt and Road Initiative countries.

Assets of origin? Chinese multinational enterprises amidst the Belt and Road Initiative

AbstractThis article reviews the current literature on the implications of the Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative for Chinese multinational enterprises (CMNEs) and calls for further empirical investigations of the motivations, processes, and consequences of the expansion of CMNEs into B&R countries. We posit that the rapid expansion of CMNEs in these countries indicates assets, rather than liabilities, for the county of origin. Empirical studies in this special issue provide new insights into what is “Chinese” about Chinese foreign direct investment in B&R countries and how the “assets of origin” may play a role in CMNEs' expansion in B&R countries.

Chinese multinationals on the New Silk Route: Managing political risk by branding the nation

AbstractThough Chinese multinational enterprises (CMNEs) have brought investment and opportunities to countries along the Belt and Road Initiative, there has been scepticism regarding the content and context of their investment. On the one hand, infrastructural development contributes to GDP formation and enhances the efficiency of productive inputs where international trade enhances technology and export development, which jointly provides a path to economic growth. On the other hand, critical issues such as debt sustainability and national sovereignty among countries that have gone through the decolonization process mean that CMNEs need to grasp the implication of political risk when investing. This article focuses on South and Southeast Asia, where China has historical socio‐economic relationship, and proposes a nation branding model combining tradition and modernity which can be the way forward for CMNEs to mitigate political risk in relation to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) investment. Nation branding of BRI could be seen as a continuity of China's unfinished business in globalization that has preceded the modern polity; nevertheless, there is a need to communicate a coherent and authentic message that reflects the reality of business operations.

Study Technological Innovation based on Cultural Dimension

Taking the technological innovative ability of Chinese multinational enterprises as the research subject, discusses the cultural dimensions of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, long-term orientation, collectivism, time concept, hierarchy and the influence of cultural distance on technological innovative ability. The results show that power distance, long-term orientation, collectivism and masculinity positively affect the technological innovation of Chinese transnational enterprises and cultural distance negatively affects technological innovation of Chinese transnational enterprises and has a greater impact.

Catching up by hiring: The case of Huawei

Hiring experts in centers of state-of-the-art technology is an important way in which a multinational enterprise (MNE) can gain competitive advantage, and yet use of this mechanism remains under-researched. This study uses the case of a Chinese MNE that recently achieved a leading position in the telecommunications market: Huawei Technologies. Taking the perspective of Huawei’s offshore hires, I find that greenfield investments contributed to overcoming liabilities of origin and outsidership in the global telecommunications industry. Nevertheless, even now that Huawei has caught up with industry incumbents, its output capabilities remain dependent on the innovation capabilities of its offshore experts.

Assessing the Competitiveness of Chinese Multinational Enterprises Development: Evidence From Electronics Sector

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are key drivers of globalization. The study investigated the performance of leading Chinese electronics MNEs, Huawei, Lenovo, and Haier, and made a comparison between Chinese electronics MNEs and American electronics MNEs along with their specifications in terms of globalization by using Asmussen’s model, Petersen’s model, Rugman’s firm-specific and country-specific advantage (FSA-CSA) matrix, and the Porter’s diamond model. Findings revealed that only Huawei is the truly global company at present; nevertheless, Lenovo and Haier are both on the right track, reaching the same status as Huawei. These firms can successfully utilize their country-specific advantages by capitalizing on China’s external partnerships and existing trade agreements. Chinese projects seem to be able to provide Chinese MNEs with the ability to maximize their opportunity to seek growth externally and enter the global market. An examination of MNE practices facilitated by American and Chinese firms imparts relevant commonalities but differences in operational practices. Small enterprises can follow the process and strategy, while policymakers will receive a suggestion to implicate an industrial-friendly policy.

Strategic ambidexterity and innovation in Chinese multinational vs. indigenous firms: The role of managerial capability

In this study, we challenge the conventional understanding of ambidexterity as an unquestionable contribution to better performance. We combine the concept of ambidexterity and the notion of managerial capability to explore different effects of ambidexterity on innovation performance in the context of emerging markets. We investigate this ambidexterity-innovation effect, and how this effect is moderated by managerial capability, on a sample of 74 Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) vs. 60 indigenous firms that are both in high technology industries. We find that, surprisingly, ambidexterity has a negative effect on the innovation performance of indigenous firms, although this effect is less so in the case of Chinese MNEs. More importantly, strong managerial capability increases the positive effect of ambidexterity on the innovation performance of Chinese MNEs, but not so for indigenous firms. We discuss the implications of these findings on research on ambidexterity and product innovation.

Mirror or no mirror? Architectural design of cross-border integration of Chinese multinational enterprises

With the increase in overseas acquisitions by Chinese multinational enterprises (CMNEs), corporations face the challenge of designing and building global architecture to enhance their performance in post-acquisition integration. A well-known design rule that CMNEs could follow is the mirroring hypothesis. However, the effectiveness of this hypothesis in aligning a CMNE’s organizational structure with the underlying technical system after acquiring a new subsidiary remains unclear. Using a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis to analyze 34 cross-border acquisitions by CMNEs, we clarify the boundary conditions of the mirroring hypothesis and identify four archetypes of design patterns, namely, modularized mirroring, integral mirroring, mirror breaking, and mirror misted-up. We also identify the respective performance implications of these archetypes on the post-acquisition integration of CMNEs. This study presents a comprehensive assessment of the mirroring hypothesis and contributes to the discussion on global architecture design by emerging multinational enterprises in general.

Dynamic integration paths of emerging multinational enterprises in advanced markets

Purpose This paper aims to examine dynamic multi-stage post-merger integration (PMI) evolutions by Chinese multinational enterprises (CMNEs) in the German market and their potential influencing factors. Design/methodology/approach A data set was collected from 25 interviews with 21 respondents from six Chinese acquisition cases in Germany, and a comparative multi-case study and content analysis were applied. Findings The results reveal that Chinese acquirers take segmented linear integration path in Germany from nearly no integration to organisational integration and then to production integration. It contains three sub-paths: the P-O-O path (partnering–organisational optimisation–production optimisation), the P-P-P path (preservation–organisational preservation–production preservation) and the P-C-C path (preservation–organisational centralisation–production confusion). The initial nearly no integration condition is mainly impacted by asymmetric information and the targets’ strategic positions, whereas different organisational and production integration degrees in mid- and long-term stages are primarily influenced by Chinese acquirers' different dynamic capabilities. Moreover, Chinese acquirers' corporate ownership is not found to be a significant factor that influences CMNEs to take different integration strategies in different PMI stages. Research limitations/implications This paper contributes to broaden emerging multinational enterprises’ (EMNEs) PMI theory by adding dynamic perspective and provides suggestions for mergers and acquisitions (M&As) practitioners to identify integration options and avoid integration pitfalls in different integration stages. Originality/value Existing works identified that EMNEs prefer to partner with the targets in advanced markets, but lacked a dynamic perspective to disclose whether the partnering strategy would be adjusted or not over time. This study is the first to explore multi-stage integration changes and is one of the few studies that recognise the interaction of the integration strategy with the dynamic capability of the acquiring enterprises.