We empirically analyse the host country determinants of Chinese outward foreign direct investments (FDI) for the years 2003 to 2011, using disaggregated data by country and industry. Our aim is to assess the relevance of market seeking, resource seeking and strategic asset-seeking motivations as suggested by the theory on host country determinants of FDI.
On the 11th of April at Queen Mary University of London I gave a keynote speech at the Conference on Local Context and Challenges of Innovation in China.
We study Chinese and Indian multinationals investing in Europe investigating their identity, their characteristics and the association between their features and their international strategies. In relation to the mode of entry, we find that greenfield investments are a more likely option for large-sized companies. Moreover a high propensity for innovation is associated with a high probability to enter with an acquisition and with technological asset-seeking investments.
On 22h October 2015 I presented a paper at the IB Research Seminar Series
Growing internationalization constitutes an opportunity for technological catch up. In this paper we analyze Brazilian, Indian, and Chinese cross-border inventions with EU-27 inventors. Our results suggest that these inventions represent an opportunity for emerging country firms to accumulate technological capabilities, access frontier knowledge, and appropriate the property rights of co-inventions.
The article on The impact of outward FDI on the performance of Chinese Firms co-authored with Claudio Cozza and Marco Sanfilippo has been featured in The Economist, September 12th 2015.
This paper investigates the effects on Chinese firms of Outward FDI into advanced European countries. The results provide robust evidence supporting the view that China‟s OFDI so far have had a positive impact on domestic activities in enhancing firms‟ productivity and scales of operation, measured by sales and employment. Featured in The Economist, September 12th 2015.
This paper looks at the location choices of MNEs in the European Union (EU-25) regions and unveils that EMNEs follow distinctive location strategies. Their attraction into large regional markets is similar to AMNEs as well as their irresponsiveness to efficiency seeking motives. Conversely, the most knowledge-intensive investments respond mainly to strategic assets and the agglomeration of foreign investments in the same business functions.
In this paper we undertake an empirical analysis of Chinese and Indian FDIs in Europe to investigate their identity and characteristics and the association between these features and their international business strategies. We exploit a dataset at the level of the investing firms. In relation to mode of entry, we find that the greenfield is a more likely option for large-sized companies, and that weak propensity for innovation is associated with a low probability to enter through a merger or acquisition. A high propensity for innovation is related to asset-seeking FDI, while high profitability is needed to invest in the core EU countries.
Using a new firm-level database, EMENDATA, this paper investigates the effects on Chinese multinational enterprises of Outward FDI (OFDI) into advanced European countries. Propensity score matching is combined with a difference-in-difference estimator to reduce the problems of self-selection of treated firms in foreign markets. The results provide robust evidence in support of the view that China’s OFDI had so far a positive impact on domestic activities in enhancing firms’ productivity and scales of operation.
The empirical literature on China’s outward foreign direct investment mainly relies on aggregate data from official statistics, but the reliability of such data is currently a matter of concern because it does not take account of relevant features such as industry breakdown, ownership structure and entry mode. A novel firm-level database, EMENDATA, compiled by matching data from several available sources on various types of cross-border deals and including information on group structure, provides a more accurate picture and enables new empirical analyses of the rapidly increasing presence of Chinese companies abroad.