Evolution of MNE strategies amid China's changing institutions: a thematic review

• 成果类型: Review
• 署名作者: Tse, Caleb H.; Meyer, Klaus E.; Pan, Yigang; Chi, Tailan
• 署名单位: Nanyang Technological University; Western University (University of Western Ontario); York University - Canada; University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2506
• DOI: 10.1057/s41267-024-00715-5
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 657-675
• 关键词: china; INSTITUTIONAL THEORY; institutional change; Multinational corporations (MNCs); multinational enterprises (MNEs); Qualitative review

摘要

As China's economy rose to become the second largest in the world, its institutions did not converge with those of other advanced economies as predicted by many Western observers; instead, China developed a distinct form of state-led capitalism. As a result, how multinational enterprises (MNEs) engage with China's changing institutional context needs to be revisited. To this end, we review 331 papers on MNE strategies and operations in China published in top international business and management journals between 2001 and 2022. We first introduce the path of institutional change and the opportunities and challenges it created for MNEs in China. We focus on six aspects of MNE strategies and operations: market entry, strategic alliances, innovation and knowledge sharing, global value chain strategies, guanxi and relationship management, and non-market strategies. Our analysis of China's institutional trajectory and of MNE strategies and operations points to three persistent institutional mechanisms of concern for MNEs: challenges to organizational legitimacy, protection of property rights, and the enabling and directing aspect of institutions created by industrial policies. Insights from this analysis point to future research needs on institutional nonlinearities and discontinuities, linkages between inward and outward investments, and geopolitical influences on national institutions.