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Internationalization of China's private‐sector MNEs: An analysis of the motivations for foreign affiliate formation
Author(s) -
Ning Lutao,
Sutherland Dylan
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
thunderbird international business review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.553
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1520-6874
pISSN - 1096-4762
DOI - 10.1002/tie.21449
Subject(s) - multinational corporation , internationalization , china , foreign direct investment , business , international trade , private sector , international economics , economics , finance , economic growth , political science , law , macroeconomics
China's private‐sector multinational enterprises (MNEs) are often owned and controlled via offshore holding companies in tax havens. As such, their foreign affiliates are often difficult to identify, and their activities are also not captured in official Chinese outward foreign direct investment data. To date, therefore, there has been comparatively little systematic analysis of these affiliates as they internationalize. Here we address this gap by developing a method that allows us to identify 104 privately owned Chinese MNEs owned via offshore holding companies, as well as their 227 foreign affiliates. We analyze and discuss the motivations for the formation of their foreign affiliates in light of current theory. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.