The Characteristics of Internationalizing Chinese Companies in the UK and Sweden

Abstract

The internationalization of Chinese companies is an interesting phenomenon in the field of international business. China’s economy featured inward foreign direct investment (FDI) in the past, but more recently, China has entered foreign markets with outward FDI. By introducing its “go abroad” policy in 2001, the socialist Chinese government has been providing formal support and encouragement to Chinese companies to embrace internationalization in many countries that significantly include European countries too. Literatures on generic characteristics of Chinese internationalization worldwide have been found developed and well acclaimed. However, literature on the Chinese internationalization specifically in the European market have been found insufficient which induced this research to depict the characteristics and classification of Chinese internationalization in the European market and also to identify their current stage of internationalization in the scale of ethnocentric, geocentric, and polycentric internationalization to learn whether the generic literatures of Chinese internationalization resemble the characteristics of Chinese multinationals that have been internationalising in the European market. The study has moved from a broader view of Chinese internationalization in Europe to specific issues of internationalization of a leading Chinese company in the European market applying deductive research approach on archival data that were collected through a longitudinal study. The paper principally has found that the majority of Chinese investment in Europe seeks resource and market in diversified industry with having long-term aim. However, Chinese multinationals which are more established have been seeking strategic assets and efficiency and progressing from ethnocentric to polycentric in internationalization in European market. The research would provide a clearer view of the degree of alignment of Chinese internationalization in Europe compared with generic theories of Chinese internationalization. Limitations in this study were generally related to the research generalization based on a few sources of data to represent all the Chinese companies invested in the UK and Sweden.

Keywords: Internationalization Stages; Entry Modes and Motives; China; Europe

Australian Academy of Accounting and Finance Review, vol 4, issue 4, October 2018, pp 153-165