Essays on the Internationalization of Emerging Market Multinational Enterprises

This thesis studies the internationalization of emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs). Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5 focus on the case of Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs). Chapter 2 reviews extant literature about the internationalization of Chinese MNEs published from 1985 to 2021, proposes research frameworks, and finally provides suggestions for future research attention. Chapter 3 introduces four main international business theories and analyzes how the theories are developed in explaining the internationalization process of Chinese MNEs. The four theories are the OLI (Ownership, Location, and Internalization advantages) paradigm, the Uppsala model, the LLL (Linkage-Leverage-Learning) framework, and the Springboard perspective. Chapter 4 investigates the effect of post-cross-border mergers and acquisitions (CBMAs) of short and long terms on the innovation performance of Chinese MNEs. Using a sample of CBMAs between 1997 and 2017, empirical results show that CBMAs foster the innovation performance of Chinese MNEs in the short and long terms. The significant effects keep persistent when Chinese MNEs invest in targets from different industries or located in innovative countries. Moreover, comparing the innovation level of the host country and targets, the results suggest that Chinese MNEs are mainly interested in exploiting the benefits related to the innovative environment rather than in the specific knowledge of the target. Chapter 5 adopts a case-study approach to specifically explore the advantages and disadvantages of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) firms when they expand to European markets, and then suggests solutions to mitigate the disadvantages. Chinese EV firms’ competitiveness over rivals in Europe comes from maintaining the advantages accumulated in the Chinese market and overcoming potential challenges encountered in Europe. Chapter 6 extends the scope of EMNEs by involving MNEs from different emerging countries. It compares the effect of inward European foreign direct investments (FDIs) from Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) on technological collaboration between Europe and individual BRIC countries and explores whether such impact varies with the innovation performance of European regions. The results are different across BRIC countries. Inward FDI from India and China is the most critical trigger to stimulate technological collaboration. Interestingly, India and Brazil are willing to collaborate with non-innovative European regions, but China is more interested in collaborating with innovative European regions. However, Russia does not contribute to technological collaboration with Europe.