Foreign Direct Investment in China: An Examination of the Literature

Since 1978, when China announced its ‘open-door’ policy to pursue the country's long-term national goal, the Four Modernisations, more than 220,000 foreign funded ventures have been approved. By the end of 1994 some US$300 billion of contracted investment had been agreed and US$95 billion of utilized investment, making the country the most important recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the developing world. This paper analyses the phenomenon of FDI in China. It examines the different forms and composition of FDI, reviewing its development since the early days of the ‘open-door’ policy and analysing its importance for Chinese domestic and export industries, as well as Western investor companies. Furthermore, the paper focuses on the world-wide sources of FDI in China and its distribution by both region and industry. Additionally, it reviews the existing research on FDI in China, emphasizing the investment mode of equity joint venture.     

Investment History and Market Orientation Effects in the TFP–FDI Relationship1

This paper examines the robustness of previous stochastic dominance tests that find significant total factor productivity (TFP) heterogeneity between firms that export abroad and multinational enterprises (MNEs). We extend this literature by focusing on how ‘within‐MNE’ heterogeneity affects the extent to which one can identify the TFP threshold in the exporter–MNE TFP relationship. Within‐MNE heterogeneity is established by determining both the number and location of the foreign affiliates established by each MNE. In this way, we separate single‐affiliate MNEs from those with multiple affiliates, as well as analyse the role played by vertical FDI, a topic typically ignored in previous stochastic dominance tests of the Helpman et al. (2004, American Economic Review, 94, 300–16) hypothesis. Our empirical tests employ Japanese firm‐level FDI and TFP data for the period 1975–2000. Using Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests to determine stochastic dominance, we find significant TFP heterogeneity within the MNE group based on investment history and affiliate geographic location. While our results confirm the standard HMY three‐tiered classification to exist for Japanese firms, exporter–MNE ‘between‐group’ TFP heterogeneity is sensitive to the ‘within‐MNE’ investment history heterogeneity. We note that single‐ and two‐affiliate MNEs are statistically more similar to exporting firms than to MNEs with greater foreign affiliate totals. This shows the exporter–MNE TFP threshold to be not as explicit as Helpman et al. (2004, American Economic Review, 94, 300–16) suggest. In fact, our results allow us to identify the MNE‐side width of Girma et al.’s (2005, Economic Letters, 83, 317–24) ‘uncertainty region’ surrounding this threshold. Finally, we also find a strong TFP–market orientation relationship exists where the most productive firms follow complex integration strategies, lesser TFP firms do horizontal FDI, and the least productive MNEs do vertical FDI.     

中国对外直接投资的发展及未来趋势

中国对外直接投资正处于迅速发展时期 ,这对于中国参与经济全球化具有重要的意义。中国对外直接投资表现出发展中国家对外直接投资初期的典型特征 ,然而中国的对外直接投资仍然具有比较优势。只要中国企业积极参与经济全球化 ,发挥并积累竞争优势 ,中国企业的国际化将会健康、快速的发展。     

中国企业对外直接投资及其贸易效应——基于面板引力模型的实证研究

文章利用2003～2009年中国对40个国家的投资面板数据,通过引力模型对投资与贸易的关系进行研究。结论表明,中国对外直接投资与贸易既存在互补关系,也存在替代关系,且对外直接投资对零部件贸易的影响非常明显。这体现出中国企业正在以更加积极主动的方式融入基于产品内分工的全球生产网络,并在其中发挥更大的作用。     

Outward foreign investment and export structure: a case study of Taiwan's FDI in Malaysia

As Taiwan's outward FDI was primarily motivated by the relatively lower costs of land and labour in the host countries, one tends to expect that the structure of production and exports in Taiwan would shift toward higher capital and skill intensity. The structure of Taiwan's exports to the ASEAN-4 was concentrated more in higher human and physical capital intensities than Taiwan's total exports to the world. Moreover, Taiwan's exports to the ASEAN-4 were more concentrated on intermediate goods and machinery. A case study of Taiwan's outward FDI in Malaysia indicated that three of the five leading industries that accounted for a large shares of changes on FDI stocks and corresponding export commodities were the same. Pooling estimates also show that FDI has a small but positive impact on Taiwan's exports to the host country. The study further showed that Taiwan's FDI in Malaysia includes mixed tactics of ‘defensive’ and ‘aggressive’ strategies in various industries. In terms of the influence of the presence and economic role of ethnic Chinese on Taiwan's outward FDI, the study showed that the ‘Chinese connection’ has not been a significant factor in determining the industrial distribution of Taiwan's FDI in Malaysia.     

Marketing and public relations: the relationship revisited

This paper reviews the debate within both the marketing and public relations literatures concerning the relationship between the disciplines of marketing and public relations. The paper considers the arguments advanced in the marketing literature, in particular, for a growing convergence between these two disciplines and examines the recent emergence of the concept of'marketing public relations'. Here the paper takes as one starting point an article which identified a number of possible schematic representations of the relationship between the marketing and public relations functions and argues the case for a model of increasing convergence between them.The paper goes on to consider the more recent development of ‘marketing public relations', examining the arguments advanced. The paper argues that from a public relations perspective, the concept of marketing public relations can be seen as an attempt by marketers to ‘hijack’ public relations, incorporating it as an extra element within the promotional mix in order to inform, persuade or remind existing and prospective customers of product or company benefits. It is argued that what some marketers have termed marketing public relations may be no more than the publicity element of public relations practice under a new guise — one perhaps more acceptable than publicity in the societally orientated firms of today. The paper explores two distinct schools of thought — re-examining the relationship between marketing and public relations from both perspectives. The paper suggests that the uneasy symbiosis between these two functions in practice, reflects to a large degree the ambiguity surrounding the relationship between these concepts within much of the literature.     

Making a market for alternatives: marketing devices and the qualification of a vegan milk substitute

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to describe, conceptualise and critically discuss how and with what consequences marketing is used to construct a mass market for vegan substitutes. Drawing on the concepts of the marketing device and qualification, it shows how Oatly – a Swedish company making oat-based products – enrols three sets of marketing devices, i.e. digital media, packaging and stores, to simultaneously ‘alternativise’ and ‘convenienise’ its range of vegan products. The result is the material and discursive construction of a range of vegan products that is qualified as different enough from conventional dairy products to be an attractive alternative, but similar enough to fit into existing practices of shopping for food, cooking and eating. By qualifying products along multiple registers, Oatly constructs ‘plastic’ products, which can be consumed, for various reasons, by various groups of consumers thus enacting a multi-niche market for its products.     

International Advertising Expenditure Trends

From the early 1990s, marketing literature began to feature a number of articles suggesting that integrated marketing communications (IMC) would have a major impact on advertising as we know it, and on client—advertising agency relationships. A counter-view appeared at that time in the literature suggesting that IMC was nothing more than co-ordinated promotion and that many companies had been doing ‘it’ for some considerable time. More recent articles have lamented that the concept has not been embraced by marketing communications specialists and that implementation has proven difficult. A common definition of IMC—and how it differs from traditional advertising, both in philosophy and in implementation—has not evolved despite considerable academic discussion on the subject. This paper reviews the most comprehensive definitions of IMC and the competing paradigms—‘new’ versus ‘nothing new’—and summarises the results of a recent two-part study that compares the perceptions of clients with those of senior ad agency personnel in New Zealand regarding how and in what ways IMC is developing there.     

The strategic decisions and success factors of the global integration-local responsiveness of Japanese MNCs in China

This article applies Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) theories to the strategic management analysis of the global integration-local responsiveness of multinational corporations (MNCs) in China, from the perspective of company characteristics (ownership advantages and internalization advantages) and environmental dynamics (locational factors) in order to analyze the success factors influencing the sales activities of Japanese MNCs in China. Based on the analysis of a survey conducted on 230 Japanese parent companies with investments in China, the empirical research findings include: Japanese MNCs in China favor global integration strategies; the more significant the ownership advantages and internalization advantages are, the greater the global integration is; the success factors of their operations in China due to global integration are present in manufacturing know-how, procurement of parts and supplies, financial power, previous investment experience in China as well as sales networks and technologies; locational advantages mainly lie in labor cost among other things; internalization factors do not have any significant correlation with the success and performance of the subsidiary company. Translated from Zhongguo Ruankexue 中国软科学 (China Soft Science), 2005, (3): 89–98     

论概念营销在企业中的运用

在竞争激烈的今天,每个企业都需要以先进的营销方式来求得生存和发展。概念营销是最新的,也是实践证明卓有成效的营销方式之一。如何建立概念营销的营销体系,怎样利用概念营销建立企业的营销优势,是欲图发展的企业亟待解决的问题。     

Ownership control of foreign affiliates: A property rights theory perspective

This paper applies property rights theory to explain changes in foreign affiliates’ ownership. Post-entry ownership change is driven by both firm-level characteristics and by the differences in the institutional environments in host countries. We distinguish between financial market development and the level of corruption as two different institutional dimensions, such that changes along these dimensions impact upon ownership change in different ways. Furthermore, we argue that changes in ownership are affected by the foreign affiliate’s relatedness with its parent’s sector, as well as by the affiliate’s maturity. We use firm level data across 125 host countries to test our hypotheses.     

How competent are consumers? The case of the energy sector in France

This paper discussed the notion of value co‐creation and the concept of customer competence as suggested by this notion. This led us to consider the competent customer as a social construction related to managerial representations. In order to examine this issue, a longitudinal exploratory research based on participant observation and in‐depth interviews with employees of a French energy supplier was conducted to explore whether customers are perceived as competent or incompetent market actors. The data analysis revealed four categories illustrating customers' profiles coping with the new situation of the ‘Utility X’ group in the energy sector. ‘Utility X’ employees define their customers according to four profiles: myopic, ignorant, uncreative and organizer of company resources. Even if the marketing studies that share the Service‐Dominant Logic point‐of‐view suggest that the customer would be competent at all times, our findings showed that customer competencies are in fact socially constructed and emerge partially from managerial representations. Therefore, the adoption by companies of a marketing philosophy (‘market with’ philosophy), in which the customer and supply chain partners are collaborators in the entire marketing process, seems only possible if they recognize customers' competencies and identify situations when customers do not activate their competencies or do not have the resources that enable them to develop their competencies.     

从FDI看世界经济波动对我国经济增长的影响

随着我国对外开放的不断发展,外国直接投资已成为世界经济波动影响我国经济增长的一个重要经济变量。世界经济增长率下滑,我国外国直接投资流入增长率上升,推动我国经济高速增长;世界经济增长率上升,我国外国直接投资流入增长率下降,阻碍我国经济高速增长。本文对近20年来世界经济增长率与我国外国直接投资增长率以及国民生产总值增长率的相关性进行分析,充分验证了上述论点。     

我国服务业外国直接投资的特征和趋势分析

服务业对外开放是我国对外开放政策的重要组成部分,我国加入世贸组织后,服务业逐渐成为利用外资的重点领域。本文分析了我国服务业外国直接投资的历程和行业特征,并结合加入世贸组织后我国服务市场日益扩大开放的背景,对服务业外国直接投资的发展趋势进行了分析和预测。     

On the Intangibility of Services

Whenever marketing researchers and practitioners apply the specifics of their discipline to the service sector, one concept always crops up like a leitmotif: intangibility. The realities it designates, however, are seldom specified. As a result, this concept has many different meanings in the specialised literature on services. Not only does this vagueness have semantic drawbacks, it also obscures the marketing analysis of the supplier/customer relationship. This article's objective is to contribute to removing these ambiguities. In the first part it seeks to define the concept of the term ‘intangibility’, and to show its importance in the general theory and practice of marketing. In the second part, the marketing analysis of a service shows the role of intangible elements in the relationship between service supply and demand, before broadening. In the third part, their impact on strategic implications and further theoretical problems is shown.     

Emerging Asian MNCs

Developed countries traditionally account for the lion's share of outward foreign direct investment (FDI) and multinational corporations (MNCs). More recently, however, developing countries are emerging as a significant source of outward FDI and globally influential MNCs. The central objective here is to analyze and compare the main issues facing emerging Asian MNCs today with the main issues which faced developed-country MNCs 30 years ago. Our basic hypothesis is that the two groups of MNCs significantly differ due to both exogenous and endogenous factors. Particularly important are differences in motivation and behaviour, ownership patterns, ownership-specific advantages and the institutional infrastructures of their home countries.     

国际双边发展援助对FDI的影响研究——基于17个OECD国家对华发展援助的实证

本文运用扩展的Solow模型阐述了援助影响FDI的理论机制,并以中国为研究主体,以17个OECD国家的数据为样本,实证分析了双边发展援助对FDI的短期、中期和长期效应。实证结果显示:在短期,17个OECD国家的对华发展援助挤出了这些国家对中国的FDI,但在中长期促进了这些国家对中国的FDI,并且时间越长,促进效应越强。因此,发达国家向中国投入发展援助是有效的。双方应充分利用这种有效性,发达国家现期不适宜取消对华发展援助,中国应积极寻求双边发展援助来促进新兴产业和中西部地区的发展。     

Relationship Marketing and the Challenge of Dialogical Interaction

SUMMARY

Our aim in this article is to challenge relationship marketing's hidden monological assumptions, and as a redress, position dialogical interaction at its core. First, we reflect on the common sense of ‘marketing communication’. Next, we clarify the concept of ‘dialogue’. We then comment on the concept of dialogue in markets, building on Karl Popper's idea of an open society, followed by scrutiny of general marketing practice to show that such dialogue is absent. We then consider the potential for marketing to be dialogical in nature. To do this we will make a necessary distinction between informational interaction, communicational interaction, and dialogical interaction. Finally, we draw the conclusion that dialogue is not so much a method of communication but an orientation to it, and consider some implications for marketing theory and practice.     

The impact of outward FDI on the home country's labour demand and skill composition

The present paper adds to the literature investigating the effects of outward FDI on the home country employment and skill composition. Considering the “industrial region” as the unit of the analysis, we capture both direct and indirect effects of foreign production on the parent company and its environment. The empirical evidence refers to the internationalisation of production by Italian firms throughout the period 1996–2002, and it shows that foreign activities have a negative impact upon the demand for low skilled workers in the parent company's “industrial region”, but also on the demand for high skilled workers when FDI are addressed to high income countries.     

Corporate branding: Where are we? A systematic communication-based inquiry

Despite the widely recognized relevance of corporate branding (CB) to gain competitive advantage, CB studies suffer from highly fragmented perspectives that make it difficult to discern the value of CB and orient its practices. Our study is aimed at clarifying how CB has been approached in the academic and practitioners' literature so far to identify the contribution of these different perspectives. To investigate the debate on CB, we adopted a systematic software-assisted content analysis, appropriate when the research aims are to disentangle multiple perspectives on a phenomenon. Software-aided content analysis allows a rigorous treatment of a text highlighting recurrent themes, their semantic links, co-occurrences and correspondences among lexical units. Our findings suggest that CB is a crucial crossroad between ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ of a company acting as a ‘bridge’ among key intangibles and as an ‘inside–outside’ interface between company and stakeholders. The Thematic Analysis of Elementary Contexts highlights four clusters related to how CB and communication have been conceived. In discussing the findings, we propose integrated marketing communications (IMC) as a conceptual and managerial framework capable of making sense out of CB complexity and casting light on the complementarities between the often conflicting academic and practitioners' views on CB.