Expatriates in China: A Review of the Literature

This paper reviews the literature on expatriate managers and expatriate management in China that has been published since 1990, examining the major findings. The literature is divided into three categories: first, papers which generally describe issues related to the deployment of expatriates in China, their circumstances there and the challenges they face; second, research which has examined the adaptation of individual managers and their families to living and working in China; and, third, studies which focus on strategic human resource management matters, such as localization. The paper critically assesses the contributions made by these studies, both to theory and to management practice. Several gaps are identified which might be addressed by future research

Choice of FDI Entry Mode by Chinese MNCs: An Integrated Framework and Empirical Evidence

Based on an integrated theoretical framework of the determinants of foreign direct investment entry mode decisions, comprising the perspectives of strategic behavior, transaction costs, organizational capabilities, and institutional influence, we first conducted a pilot investigation of ten Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs) with the aim of validating the framework. This was followed by a survey of 138 Chinese MNCs which examined the factors that affected those firms’ FDI entry mode choice between wholly owned subsidiary and joint venture. The results suggest that the FDI entry mode choices of Chinese MNCs do not differ from those of Western or developed country MNCs from either an institutional or transaction cost perspective. However, there are major differences between Chinese and Western MNCs from an organizational capability and a strategic behavior perspective. The implications of these findings are discussed, focusing on the decision-making process used by Chinese MNCs in their FDI entry mode choices

Do indigenous firms incur a liability of localness when operating in their home market? The case of China

Liability of foreignness has been one of the building blocks of theories of multinational enterprises. This paper looks at a parallel issue - the liability of localness that local firms may face as a result of foreign firms' presence in their country. The results show that local Chinese firms enjoy location-based advantages over their foreign counterparts and these, together with their firm-specific advantages, have significant positive effects on their performance. The superior firm-specific advantages of foreign firms appear to erase the magnitude of such effects and create a significant negative impact on local Chinese firms' performance, and this effect is heightened by foreign firms' multinationality advantages. The research suggests that local Chinese firms incur a liability of localness, and the extent of the negative impact of such liability on local firm performance is largely dependent on the relative strength of various advantages that the local and foreign firms possess. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.BusinessSSCI1ARTICLE4478-4894

The Entry-Mode Decision of Chinese Outward FDI: Firm Resources, Industry Conditions, and Institutional Forces

How do Chinese firms make their entry-mode decision for their outward investments? Based on the three theoretical perspectives that balance the "strategy tripod," our study conducted empirical tests using survey data collected from outward-investing Chinese firms. We found that the cost advantage of the investing firm and learning opportunities in the host industry have positive effects on the likelihood of a Chinese firm opting for wholly owned subsidiary against joint-venture entry mode, while the market attractiveness of the host industry, host-country restrictions, cultural barriers, and cognitive pressures have negative effects