Drivers of Brazilian foreign investments – technology seeking and technology exploiting as determinants of emerging FDI

The paper uses data from a recent survey on Brazilian firms to investigate the role of technology in the internationalization of firms, and whether if affects the destination of foreign investments. Emerging markets FDI is a much-debated topic these days, and their technology-seeking purpose is a strong driver for the internationalization, as firms are searching for assets in order to compete. We apply a logit model to seek for the influence of determinants and some firms’ competitive advantages on the choice for developed countries as a destination for Brazilian FDI. We also test which modes of entry are preferred when investing in a developed destination. Our results point out the importance of a skilled labor force on the decisions to invest in developed destinations. We found out that technology is an asset used as a competitive resource, and that Brazilian firms do not undertake technology-seeking investments in developed countries, and that acquisitions and Greenfield investments are the main modes of entry.foreign direct investments, emerging markets, technology, innovation, competitive advantages, multinational corporations

Internationalization of Chinese firms in Europe

Since end of the 1990s, the world has been witnessing a phenomenon of internationalisation of Chinese companies. This internationalisation is often understood through FDI inflows, whereby multinational companies establish their presence in a form of subsidiaries overseas. However, lately many companies (and Chinese firms in particular) started to use strategic alliances and M&As as a pair of tools of internationalisation. Despite the growing body of literature on this topic in the context of advanced western economies, use of strategic alliances in the internationalisation of Chinese firms remains an under-researched topic. In the paper we investigate the potential benefits for Chinese companies to internationalise through strategic alliances and M&As, and specifically in comparison to the traditional forms of outward FDI. By using the data from Thomson SDC database, we specifically focus on the Single European market as a new prospective location for Chinese companies and provide a quantitative overview of Chinese firms' alliances as well as M&As in Europe. To illustrate the optimal pattern of internalisation of Chinese firms in Europe, we additionally use a case study of Chinese automotive manufacturer Chery Automobile Co. Ltd.strategic alliances, emerging economies, China, Europe, internationalisation

Group Affiliation and Location of Indian Firms’ Foreign Acquisitions

Notwithstanding the extensive literature on emerging markets OFDI, generally led by Business Groups (BG), there is scant evidence on the differential patterns of OFDI by BG-affiliated and standalone firms. Employing data on the Indian overseas acquisitions during 2000–2008, this study examines their host-country related locational determinants, also separately for the BG-affiliated and other firms. The BG-affiliates have a relatively wider spread of international acquisitions and greater preference for Europe over North America. The censored Poisson estimates indicate the general attraction of host country market size and double-taxation-avoidance treaty. However, unlike the standalone firms, the overseas acquisitions location for BG-affiliates is significantly favourably influenced also by the host country growth rate, liberal inward-FDI regime and bilateral investment treaty, and is getting attracted to geographically distant nations. Again, only the standalone firms’ foreign acquisitions are significantly impacted by the cultural proximity and the quantitative relative importance, to the host nation, of imports from India. Thus, given their derived resources and parental networks, the BG-affiliated EMNEs (can) decide the OFDI host location in a broader and less restrained framework.Cross-border M&As; OFDI Location; Business Groups; Standalone Firms; Emerging Multinationals.

Russia's emerging multinationals: trends and issues

The paper focuses on the emergence of Russia's multinational companies. It aims to analyse their motives to internationalise as well as the approaches to internationalisation. While relevance of the theoretical perspectives is highlighted, the intention of the paper is to contribute to the understanding of the present-day phenomenon of emerging Russian multinationals; a phenomenon that has been largely overshadowed by the remarkable rise of Chinese and Indian companies. A special attention is devoted to the R&D activities of Russian multinational companies, and access to foreign technology as a driver of corporate restructuring. A discussion of the challenges and opportunities for host countries and policy implications is provided.Russia, multinational companies, emerging economies, foreign investment, technology transfer, MNEs

Chinese multinational enterprises' firm-specific advantages and a critic on the international business theory

We argue that the extant literature tends to view that EMNEs do not have FSAs and in particular, innovation-based ownership advantages. This, however, is not a fact but a myth that deserves detailed examination. Drawing on a case study of four Chinese multinationals, we argue that some Chinese multinationals have brilliant innovation capabilities particularly in areas such as services-based innovation, architectural innovation and grafting innovation. This helps to explain their rapid rise and internationalisation. We therefore argue that Dunning’s OLI paradigm is still relevant in the context of EMNEs. However we also accept that the OLI paradigm needs to be taken with a complementary view that EMNEs also internationalise to augment their assets/capabilities. We call for further studies on EMNEs’ FSAs with a broader view of innovatio

New frontiers in international strategy

This paper is based on a panel we organized at the "First Annual Conference on Emerging Research Frontiers in International Business Studies", organized by the Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS), to discuss several new lines of research in international strategy. Four lines of research are developed: The strategic implications of semiglobalization, the impact of institutional voids in international strategy, primitives and levels of analysis in international business, and strategies for the base of the pyramid. Taken together, these studies aim to open a new frontier in our understanding of International Strategy, based on the co-location of firms as places and a key element in international business.international business; semiglobalization; internal strategy; base pyramid; institutions; competitiveness;

The Innovativeness of Foreign Firms in China

This paper studies the relationship between foreign ownership and innovations of high novelty in context of advanced developing countries. We develop hypotheses about a direct relationship in terms of two dimensions, propensity and intensity of innovations of high novelty, and a contingency hypothesis about the moderating impact of R&D internationalisation on the relationship with propensity. The analysis is based on innovation survey data on manufacturing firms from Jiangsu province of China. Hypotheses are tested using non-parametric methods. We find that foreign firms do not have a higher propensity of innovations of high novelty, not even when they engage in formal R&D. However, the evidence suggests that foreign firms have a higher intensity of innovations of high novelty than domestic firms.multinational enterprises, foreign firms, innovation, manufacturing, China