Neither developed nor emerging: Dual paths for outward FDI and home country innovation in emerged market MNCs

Emerged market multinational corporations (EDMNCs) ? those based in emerged markets that have transitioned out of emerging economic status ? have received little research interest from the international business scholarship, despite their growing presence in the global market. EDMNCs face significant competitive pressure to leverage cross-border knowledge to innovate and leapfrog their middle-zone status between emerging and developed market multinational corporations. Analyzing 174 publicly listed South Korean MNCs and their outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), we find that an EDMNC’s OFDI into developed and emerging markets contributes unequally to its home-country innovation. We also elaborate on the moderating effect of industry peers’ OFDI into developed countries through crowding out and spillover effects. These findings have implications for the OFDI and innovation literature in general, and particularly for international business scholarship focusing on an under-investigated category of MNCs that are increasingly becoming successful in international competition.     

The Impact of Strategic Market Entry Considerations on the Financial Performance of Chinese Investment in the Australian Mining Industry

While anecdotal evidence exists that many Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) have failed due to a range of factors, it is also clear that some Chinese OFDI has been very successful. There is little empirical research so far on the financial performance of Chinese OFDI and its influencing factors. This study seeks to fill these research gaps. Using a sample of companies that have received major Chinese OFDI and are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, we examine the financial performance of Chinese OFDI. The study found that performance varied substantially and depended on the influences of several entry factors, including entry timing, developmental stage of the target companies, and ownership level. Using multiple theoretical frameworks, including the institutional perspective, resource‐based view, and transactional cost theory, we discuss the causes of these influencing factors and outline their consequences. Several practical implications are proposed. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Does state ownership facilitate outward FDI of Chinese SOEs? Institutional development,market competition,and the logic of interdependence between governments and SOEs

Outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) of manufacturing state-owned enterprises (SOEs) from emerging economies (EE) has emerged as a significant phenomenon in global markets. Although previous research has emphasized the bright-side of state ownership in facilitating SOEs’ OFDI, the stream of research largely overlooks its dark-side effects. Drawing on resource dependence theory (RDT), we argue that state ownership creates dependence of SOEs on their home governments, which may undermine manufacturing SOEs’ willingness to conduct OFDI, autonomy and market orientation, and legitimacy in overseas markets. Thus, substantial state ownership may counteract with manufacturing SOEs’ OFDI from EE. Our empirical results, based on a sample of 507 Chinese publicly-listed manufacturing SOEs during 2007–2013, show that a high percentage of state-owned shares exerts negative effects on SOEs’ OFDI. Relative to local SOEs, central SOEs are less likely to engage in OFDI. Further, the negative effect of the percentage of state-owned shares on SOEs’ OFDI will be alleviated by institutional development and competition intensity. The study contributes to literature by making a real theoretical case for the dark-side effects of state ownership on manufacturing SOEs’ OFDI from EE.     

Performance feedback on sales growth goal and OFDI location choices for firms in emerging economies

This study explores the influence of performance feedback relative to sales growth on emerging economy firms’ (EEFs) outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in developed and developing economies. It takes a global value chain perspective to examine whether performance feedback motivates EEFs’ location choice for OFDI. Using listed Chinese firms’ data, we find negative performance feedback relative to sales growth motivates EEFs to increase OFDI in developing economies but reduce it in developed economies. However, positive feedback relative to sales growth reduces it in both developed and developing economies. We contribute to OFDI location choice literature by including a behavioral perspective.     

Rigor and Relevance: On the Development of Entrepreneurship Research in China

This study examines the contributions of Chinese entrepreneurship research to academic knowledge and its practical implications. Specifically, we investigate how Chinese entrepreneurship research meets the standards of rigor and relevance based on a review of 64 papers published in five major scholarly journals in the Chinese mainland. Results show that Chinese entrepreneurship research has paid comparatively little attention to the “rigor” dimension, while focusing more heavily on practical relevance than on academic relevance on the “relevance” dimension. Future directions for China’s entrepreneurship research are also discussed.     

How emerging market governments promote outward FDI: Experience from China

Large scale outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) by emerging market enterprises has become common in today's business world. Nested within the political economy perspective, this article elucidates why and how emerging market governments enthusiastically stimulate OFDI. Drawing upon our detailed analysis of the Chinese context, we developed the logic that OFDI promotion policies set by emerging market governments are economically imperative and institutionally complementary to offsetting competitive disadvantages of emerging market enterprises in global competition. This study presents the governmental institutions that impact Chinese OFDI, discusses evolutionary changes of OFDI policies, and describes current policies and measures that stimulate Chinese companies to expand into the global market. This article concludes with theoretical and managerial discussions wherein we call for convergence between two seemingly paradoxical views – institutional escapism and governmental promotion – presently used as an institutional logic explicating international expansion of emerging market enterprises.     

Expanding to outward foreign direct investment or not? A multi-dimensional analysis of entry mode transformation of Chinese private exporting firms

This research examines the factors determining whether or not exporting firms expand to outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) as part of their internationalisation strategy, using a recent survey of Chinese private-owned enterprises. We carry out a multi-dimensional analysis to investigate the impact of firm productivity, internal resources and the external environment on OFDI decisions, including both the decision to undertake OFDI and the volume of OFDI flows. It is found that productivity, technology-based capability, export experience, industry entry barriers, subnational institutions and intermediary institutional support affect firms’ OFDI decisions. The findings have important policy and managerial implications.     

“后危机时代”金砖国家的投资合作——中国OFDI视角

金砖国家合作机制的形成是21世纪影响世界经济格局的一个重大事件。文章通过"后危机时代"的新、旧全球化对比,探讨了中国OFDI在金砖国家务实合作中的可能性和现实选择。在梳理有关FDI流动影响因素的文献之后,重点分析了金砖国家在吸收中国OFDI上的潜力和机遇、问题与挑战。结合中国OFDI的投资特征,文章最后提出了促进中国对外直接投资,实现金砖国家经济关系良性互动的四点结论。     

出口经验能助推对外直接投资吗?--基于中国与“一带一路”沿线国家宏观数据的实证研究

以"一带一路"沿线45国2003~2014年数据为样本,实证检验了出口经验能否提升对外直接投资。研究结果显示,出口经验显著提升中国对"一带一路"沿线国家的直接投资。在基准模型的基础上,引入公共治理、能源禀赋和地理区位与出口经验交互项的实证结果还显示,出口经验对直接投资的促进效应随着东道国治理水平提升而提高,对陆上丝绸之路国家的作用显著低于海上丝绸之路国家,而能源禀赋并未直接或间接通过出口经验对直接投资产生作用。这些研究结论说明,企业在不确定性外部环境下进行对外直接投资时,倾向于通过建立出口学习曲线并依此进行直接投资决策。     

企业对外直接投资实现盈利的一种解释——中国因素论

近年来中国对外投资迅猛发展,但现有理论无法解释中国企业对外投资实现盈利的基础。本文在综合分析现有成果的基础上,通过模型分析,创造性地提出中国企业对外直接投资实现盈利的一种理论解释即中国因素论,给出基于"中国因素论"的四种盈利模式:局部成本优势,品牌渠道扩展,技术外溢效应和销往中国策略,并分析了四种模式下实现盈利的条件。结合中国企业对外直接投资的实践,分析中国因素论在实践中的应用。     

The Growth Impact of Chinese Direct Investment on Host Developing Countries

This paper examines the growth impact of Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) on host developing countries and investigates whether it is different from that of OFDI from Western countries. The analysis covers the distinctive characteristics of Chinese OFDI, in particular, weak ownership advantages and strong state supportiveness, and how they influence the growth impact of OFDI through different transmission channels. Using a cross-country panel dataset for 52 countries over the 2004-2012 period and OFDI originating from China and the US as examples, the results attest to our argument that it is not absolute but relative ownership advantage and the gap-filling compatibilities between FDI and host economies that determine the growth impact of FDI on the host countries. It finds that both Chinese OFDI and US OFDI have a significant positive impact on capital accumulation in developing countries; however, Chinese OFDI has a stronger effect on employment and productivity growth than US OFDI. Moreover, the growth impact of Chinese OFDI is stronger in low-income countries, while US OFDI demonstrates significant effects mainly in middle-income countries.     

The OFDI patterns and firm performance of Chinese firms: The moderating effects of multinationality strategy and external factors

The purpose of this paper is to examine how multinationality strategy, home political influence, and host-country risk explain the performance consequences of OFDI patterns of firms in the most important emerging economy, China. Two main patterns of OFDI (‘born global’ natured multiple simultaneous and IP-natured gradually growing) have been dominant in China during its first OFDI as a latecomer. In contrast to the conventional IP argument, we hypothesize that the multiple simultaneous pattern of a born-global nature leads to better performance. We also hypothesize that firm multinationality strategy and home political influence play greater roles in enhancing the performance effect of the multiple simultaneous pattern than another pattern, i.e., IP-natured gradually growing pattern. Using panel data of 4619 observations from 261Chinese publicly listed firms from 1991 to 2011, we find a superior performance effect for the multiple simultaneous pattern. Further, we find a greater moderating effect of firm multinationality strategy and home political influence affecting the OFDI and performance relationship undertaken by the multiple simultaneous pattern than by the gradually growing pattern. Our study extends understanding of OFDI patterns in emerging economies and suggests that the analysis of performance consequences should focus on external and firm factors that may facilitate the performance effect.     

发达国家和发展中国家企业对外直接投资动机--基于文献综述的比较研究

在全球经济一体化背景下,企业对外直接投资行为的兴起激发了国内外学术界对其动机的研究。发展中国家和发达国家由于市场发展程度存在较大的差别,企业对外直接投资动机也大相径庭。通过对比归纳发现,发达国家企业对外直接投资动机较为集中,受东道国因素影响较多并大多有市场推动;而发展中国家企业对外直接投资动机较复杂多样,主要受母国因素影响且政府政策推动具有较大作用。这一比较研究也表明,在我国针对企业对外直接投资经济影响的研究中,应先考虑并区分不同动机企业对外直接投资产生的差异化结果。     

The Chinese outward foreign direct investment motives in ASEAN countries through export performance: The role of competitive intensity among Chinese smartphone manufacturers

This study aims to examine the impact of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) objectives on the achievement of export performance under competitive intensity. We apply the diverse theoretical perspectives of the eclectic paradigm and institutional theory. Primary data were collected from 162 Chinese manufacturer–exporter companies. Specifically, this research shows that Chinese OFDI motives increase its export performance in ASEAN markets. Furthermore, we discover that competitive intensity moderates the relationship between strategic assets-seeking foreign direct investment (FDI) motive and export performance, but not the relationship between market-seeking FDI motive and export performance. Hence, this study presents a holistic assessment of Chinese smartphone manufacturers' export performance by accounting for the overlooked effect of firms seeking FDI motive through the moderating of competitive intensity.     

Formal and informal influences of the state on OFDI of hybrid state-owned enterprises in China

This study investigates how the state influences the outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) of hybrid state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China. Previous studies have provided conflicting arguments and empirical findings on the internationalization of SOEs, with some studies proposing a positive relationship between state ownership and OFDI, while others propose a negative relationship. In this paper, we argue that the mixed effects are due to different influences of different levels of state ownership and different types of political connections. We investigate our proposed hypotheses based on a sample of publicly listed hybrid Chinese SOEs between 2009 and 2016. We find an S-shaped relationship between state ownership and OFDI such that at low levels of state ownership, OFDI increases as state ownership increases; at medium levels of state ownership, OFDI decreases as state ownership increases; at high levels of state ownership, OFDI increases again as state ownership increases. We further find that executive-branch political connections between boards and top management teams of firms and the government have a negative effect on OFDI, while legislative-branch political connections have no significant effect on OFDI.     

Portfolio characteristics of outward foreign direct investment and dynamic performance of emerging economy firms: An option portfolio perspective

In recent decades, emerging economy (EE) firms have taken an aggressive approach to international expansion. Drawing upon option portfolio theory, this study develops the characteristics of the OFDI portfolio based on two attributes of a portfolio and two dimensions of host environments. We examine how the characteristics of the OFDI portfolio dynamically influence the OFDI?performance linkage. Using a sample of 545 Chinese listed multinational firms during the period 2009–2018, we find EE firms’ OFDI contributes more to short-term performance when the OFDI portfolio features a higher overall quality of host institutions or a higher diversity of strategic factor market developments in the host countries. However, over a relatively long period, EE firms’ OFDI contributes more to long-term performance when the portfolio features a higher overall diversity of strategic factor markets and institutional environments. These findings offer further knowledge on the OFDI?performance link in emerging economies.     

Heterogeneity in OFDI by EMNEs: Drivers and trends of Chinese and Indian firms

Previous research has identified a distinction between the internationalization of emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) and their advanced-economy counterparts. However, the question as to whether EMNEs conduct outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in a uniform manner remains under-studied. Prior studies have grouped together all emerging markets but have ignored the essential heterogeneity of EMNEs that leads to their diverse OFDI patterns and behaviours. In this study, we illustrate the drivers and related phenomena of heterogeneity by exploring differences and similarities between Chinese and Indian MNEs’ OFDI activities, namely, investment destinations (i.e., advanced vs. emerging economies), the level of political relationships with host countries, industry sectors supported by institutional patronage, and the primary motivations of investment projects. We suggest that the heterogeneity in OFDI is the result of the institutional environment and the strategic priorities of the industry sector.     

融资约束、金融财税政策和中国企业对外直接投资

中国已是世界第三大对外投资国,对外直接投资发展迅速的同时结构不平衡,行业较为集中。文章从微观企业视角研究融资约束和金融财税政策如何影响对外直接投资,在梳理政策脉络、阐明理论机制的基础上,匹配中国工业企业数据库和商务部境外投资企业名录,构建logit模型进行实证研究。研究发现:(1)融资约束对中国企业对外直接投资具有显著影响,融资能力越强的企业越倾向进行对外直接投资。(2)政府出台的金融财税政策可以提高企业对外直接投资的概率,同时弱化融资能力对企业对外直接投资的积极影响,但该调节作用不适用于国有企业和外资企业,在行业层面仅适用于采矿业、金属冶炼业和纺织业。     

Leader narcissism and outward foreign direct investment: Evidence from Chinese firms

Researchers use the upper echelons theory to establish how leaders’ attributes affect firms’ outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), a proxy for foreign operations. This extant literature has largely ignored the impact of leaders’ psychological attributes, particularly, narcissism. We use a narcissism index of leaders of Chinese listed companies to examine the relationship between leader narcissism and firm-level OFDI for the period 2007-2017. We show that leader narcissism has a positive and significant impact on firm-level OFDI. In addition, we find that firms with state ownership and political connections show a greater positive effect of leader narcissism on the firm’s OFDI. Our results suggest that leader narcissism appears to be a stimulus to corporate OFDI, and thus in recruiting top corporate executives who are responsible for managing the international investments of the corporation, this psychological trait should be given special consideration in addition to other qualifications.     

Public participation,investment networks,and China's outward FDI: Evidence from 58 countries along the belt and road

We estimate the effect of public participation in host countries on Chinese outward FDI (OFDI) for a panel of 58 countries along the Belt and Road from 2004 to 2019 in a Heckman selection model. Our model captures effects along both, extensive and intensive margins. We find that public participation, and the differences between public participation in home and host countries, significantly affect Chinese OFDI. Effects are sensitive to the presence of access to local investment networks and change after the introduction of the Belt and Road Initiative.