Andreas Breinbauer, Louis Brennan, Johannes Jager, Andreas Nachbagauer, and Andreas Nölke
The expansion of emerging market multinationals, exemplified by the expansion of Chinese multinationals to Europe and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has created public concerns about its long-term implication. This book aims to address these concerns and offer fresh insights into this controversial topic. It analyzes the special features of emerging market multinational corporations (MNCs), decision making in emerging market MNCs (EMMNCs), cross-border acquisitions of EMMNCs, Chinese investments in Europe and along the BRI, and EMMNCs from Latin America, Russia, and Turkey.
This article gives primacy to the effect of sociohistorical factors on foreign direct investment (FDI). A case study examining links between Chinese foreign aid to Africa from 1956 to 1999 and contemporary Chinese FDI there reveals a significant and positive connection between past foreign aid and contemporary FDI. The logic behind this pattern is that past foreign aid created social capital in host countries that generates specific resources for contemporary foreign investors, increasing their interest in host countries where social capital has accumulated.
Xiaolan Fu, Peter J. Buckley, and Xiaoqing Maggie Fu
The growth impact of Chinese outward foreign direct investment (FDI) on host countries and how it differs from Western outward FDI (OFDI) are focus of this article. Using a cross-country dataset for 52 countries and comparing United States (US) and Chinese OFDI (COFDI), the article contemplates the unique features of COFDI—e.g., weak ownership advantages and strong state support—and their impact on host country growth through various transmission channels.
Regarding the wellspring of intellectual property rights (IPR) violations in China, there are two competing perspectives, natural evolution and the rule of law. Both perspectives fail to take into account the impact that China’s party-state has on IPR protection. Adopting a political economy perspective, this article emphasizes the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s desire to preserve its monopoly of power and contends China has benefited from a rule through law mechanism, which creates unfair advantages for its companies, which are often government controlled.
The overseas economic interests of Chinese firms have grown exponentially since 2000. Their interests are often threatened by poorly regulated investment practices and political risks in unstable host countries. This article aims to explore these risks to Chinese outward foreign direct investment (FDI) and how China is adapting to respond to them. A case study of Myanmar shows China has employed a dual strategy to deal with risks to its outward FDI (OFDI). On the one hand, it has softened its non-interference principle.
In a piece published before the explosion of Covid-19 around the world (“Economics and Security,” Japan SPOTLIGHT, March/April 2020, pp. 4-5), Mr. Naoyuki Haraoka, Executive Managing Director of the Japan Economic Foundation and long-time Advisory Board member of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations, noted international political challenges and political tensions inside countries (e.g., anti-globalization movements) already presented serious challenges to future global economic growth.
The raging debate about China’s mega Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI) falls into two extreme camps, those that forecast earthshattering effects and those, focused on the MSRI’s numerous contemporary challenges, that see China’s scheme as stagnating or failing. This study plunges into the debate by conducting a macro- and micro-level analysis of the MSRI. The macro-level analysis indicates that the MSRI is not having transformative economic effects.
This publication is part II of a three-part series examining the United States (US) investment war against China. It focuses on the US war against Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), particularly US actions to limit Chinese OFDI in the US, US measures to undercut COFDI in other countries, and Washington’s efforts to undermine China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It provides background on US legal, regulatory, policy, and rhetorical measures, among others, in these areas, and describes the factors motivating US policy.
This piece is part I of a three-piece series examining the United States (US) investment war against China, which consists of three aspects: constraining American foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into China, hindering Chinese outward FDI (OFDI), and action against Chinese companies listed or contemplating listings on US stock markets. This Op-Ed considers the political and economic benefits as well as costs of taking action to delist Chinese stocks.
This piece focuses on the global acquisition patterns of Chinese companies, examining its geographic and sectoral orientations. It also delves into the drivers of Chinese outward foreign direct investment (FDI) before and after the 2008 Great Financial Crisis. Using data from various sources such as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and Financial Times fDi Markets, the analyze finds that mergers and acquisitions (M&A) play a critical role in the internationalization of Chinese companies.
