Suchergebnisse

This PhD project focuses on an important aspect of China's embrace of globalization – the fast-growing area of Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) – and examines its effects on labor protections in China over the last two decades. Much Chinese OFDI during this period has been concentrated in advanced economies where labor protection regulations and practices are stronger, and this novel economic phenomenon of Chinese OFDI may diffuse Western labor protection regulations and working conditions from Chinese OFDI destinations back to China. This thesis comprises four main chapters. Chapter I provides background and introduces the general research questions at the heart of the PhD thesis. It reviews the historical path taken by the Chinese economy since Reform and Opening Up in the 1980s and discusses the existing literature on labor protections on China. It also defines key terms used throughout the dissertation. Chapter II focuses on China's development over the past 20 years, particularly the rapid growth of OFDI and the effects of this new economic phenomenon on labor protections. It presents four hypotheses about the effects of OFDI on labor conditions in China, and then tests them with data from 31 provinces of China. The empirical analysis demonstrates that the association between Chinese OFDI and labor protections is not straightforward, though workplace occupational safety and health conditions have improved. Other types of labor diffusions may encounter political resistance from the Communist Party of China and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU). Chapter III explores the effects of Chinese OFDI on labor protections by analyzing one form of China's OFDI investing in Western Europe: Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As). It tests the hypothesis that as the amount of Chinese M&A-type OFDI enters European economies that have higher labor protection standards and practices than China, labor protections in China may increase and start to close the gap between China and Western European countries. Based on regressions with bilateral data generated from Thomson Reuters' SDC Platinum Dataset on M&As and labor protection outcome variables, there is some support for the hypothesis that labor regulations are improving in China. But there are no clear evidence to indicate changes in practical working conditions like wages and working hours. Chapter IV presents more detailed, firm-level case evidence on the linkage between Chinese OFDI and diffusions of labor protections. Five Chinese firms with different conditions of OFDI (the type of ownership, investment destinations, M&As) were investigated. Results show that labor diffusions are more likely for private firms that pursue M&A-type investment in advanced economies. Mandatory compliance pressure, economic incentives for improving competitiveness, and learning effects are the main diffusion mechanisms. Labor diffusions are particularly visible in areas such as occupational safety and health conditions. Evidence on the impact on industrial relations, e.g., Western-type trade unions emerging in China, is limited. The case studies also suggest that the Chinese authorities and state-owned enterprises are actively pushing back to reduce potential labor diffusions through the OFDI channel.

Gravity models utilize the attractive force concept as an analogy to explain volume of trade or capital flows. This paper aims at proving that direct investment flows between China and a group of South-East Asian countries are determined by standard variables included in gravity models such as: Gross domestic products of home and host economy and distance between them. In our gravity model on foreign direct investment (FDI) we include not only gravity variables but also other variables that may explain what factors affecting Chinese outward FDI (OFDI): Political risk, cultural proximity, the degree of openness to international trade and a proxy for natural resources. This paper, after having defined the variables that are capable of influencing Chinese OFDI, will suggest a method of econometric calculation of the gravitational model based on Prais-Winsten regression; correlated panels corrected standard errors.

In 2013, Russia's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) soared and the OFDI stock exceeded $ 500 billion. However, a year later, Russia's OFDI dropped by nearly 15 per cent. Rapid upward and downward swings make it necessary to analyze the motivation of Russian firms to invest abroad as well as to assess the impact of sanctions on Russian OFDI. The author points out that a significant part of Russia's outward FDI stock is accounted for by the operations of Russian corporations in their home market. It is concluded that although Western sanctions target a relatively small number of Russian citizens and companies, they nevertheless affect some of Russia's key people, largest banks, and hydrocarbon producers. Therefore, their direct impact could be substantial. Alongside the direct impact, one should consider their indirect impact, such as the tumbling rouble exchange rate and Russian banks' increasing interest rates, which decrease Russian firms' capability to invest abroad. Moreover, a less amicable political atmosphere in the West may push some Russian corporations out of the Western markets and diminish the enthusiasm of new ones to enter them. Today, Russia's counter-sanctions do not directly restrict the country's OFDI, but Russian state-owned enterprises may reach a decision to hold foreign investments to support Russia's sanction policy.

International audience ; The purpose of this paper is to complete an overall comparative study of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from BRIC countries and strategies conducted by multinational corporations (MNCs) whose parent companies are based in the BRICs 2. In a sense, it is a follow-up to three previous companion papers (Andreff, 2013a, 2013b & 2014) which already compared OFDI and strategies of those MNCs based in the two post-communist transition economies, China and Russia, which are classified with Brazil and India into the BRICs group. Here the focus is on Brazilian and Indian MNCs and their OFDI using as a benchmark major outcomes derived from the study of Chinese and Russian multinationals (Table 1). Such a benchmark does not mean that we were expecting at the starting point of this research to find the same OFDI features and MNC strategies for firms based in Brazil and India as those identified for Chinese and Russian companies that have extended their investments abroad. To the contrary the intent is to check, against a benchmark of MNCs emerging from former centrally planned economies with a single (communist) party regime, how much the differences in Brazilian and Indian market economies with a democratic political regime over the past decades 3 countervail (or not) the assumed similarities across all the BRICs. The study by Holtbrügge & Kreppel (2012) indeed covers all the four BRICs " OFDI though only with case studies of eight companies. 3 Even though India has had a system of central planning from the 1950s on (but not a centralised mandatory quantitative planning as in former Soviet countries) until 1991 and Brazil has endeavoured some decades of authoritarian political regime before the 1990s.

International audience ; The purpose of this paper is to complete an overall comparative study of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from BRIC countries and strategies conducted by multinational corporations (MNCs) whose parent companies are based in the BRICs 2. In a sense, it is a follow-up to three previous companion papers (Andreff, 2013a, 2013b & 2014) which already compared OFDI and strategies of those MNCs based in the two post-communist transition economies, China and Russia, which are classified with Brazil and India into the BRICs group. Here the focus is on Brazilian and Indian MNCs and their OFDI using as a benchmark major outcomes derived from the study of Chinese and Russian multinationals (Table 1). Such a benchmark does not mean that we were expecting at the starting point of this research to find the same OFDI features and MNC strategies for firms based in Brazil and India as those identified for Chinese and Russian companies that have extended their investments abroad. To the contrary the intent is to check, against a benchmark of MNCs emerging from former centrally planned economies with a single (communist) party regime, how much the differences in Brazilian and Indian market economies with a democratic political regime over the past decades 3 countervail (or not) the assumed similarities across all the BRICs. The study by Holtbrügge & Kreppel (2012) indeed covers all the four BRICs " OFDI though only with case studies of eight companies. 3 Even though India has had a system of central planning from the 1950s on (but not a centralised mandatory quantitative planning as in former Soviet countries) until 1991 and Brazil has endeavoured some decades of authoritarian political regime before the 1990s.

China's increased trade with and investment in Africa have boosted the continent's economic growth but have also generated considerable controversy. In this paper we investigate China's outward direct investment ODI in Africa using macro and micro data. The aggregate data on China's ODI in African countries reveal that China's share of the stock of foreign investment is small, though growing rapidly. China's attraction to resource-rich countries is no different from Western investment. China's overall ODI is uncorrelated with a measure of rule of law, whereas Western investment favors the better governance environments. As a result, Chinese investment in strong and weak governance environments is about the same, but its share of foreign investment is higher in the weak governance states. The micro data that we use is MOFCOM's database on all registered Chinese firms investing in Africa between 1998 and 2012. We use key words in project descriptions to code the investments into 25 sectors. This database captures the small and medium private firms investing in Africa. Contrary to common perceptions, there are few projects in natural resource sectors. Most projects are in services, with a significant number in manufacturing as well. In our country-sector-level regressions based on firms' transaction-level data, we find that Chinese ODI, both horizontal and vertical, is profit-driven, just like investors from other countries. In particular, our regressions show that Chinese ODI is relatively more concentrated in skill-intensive sectors in skill-abundant countries, but in capital-intensive sectors in capital-scarce countries. These patterns are mostly observed in politically unstable countries, suggesting stronger incentives to seek profits in tougher environments. The predominance of Chinese ODI in services appears to be widespread across host countries, independent of host countries' market size and trade costs, but is negatively correlated with their skill abundance.

Based on 2010 to 2019 Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) panel data from 39 host countries, this paper studies the relationships between host country cultural characteristics and Chinese OFDI. The OLS regression results show that the cultural tolerance and trust in the host countries are significantly positively correlated with Chinese OFDI, which are robust according to the system GMM tests. Further analysis reveals that cultural tolerance is more positively related to Chinese OFDI in host countries with higher legislation and economic freedom, while cultural trust is positively associated with Chinese OFDI in host countries with lower legislation and economic freedom. In addition, higher cultural tolerance and trust promote Chinese OFDI in countries with greater cultural distance. Unlike traditional studies based on cultural distance in international trade, using more representative cultural characteristics, this paper provides references to Chinese OFDI decision-making based on the root characteristics associated with heterogeneous cultural influences.

As more nations continue to embrace foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow to enhance economic development, China has increased its outward foreign direct investment on the African continent of which most countries have benefited from it with Ghana not an exemption. To investigate whether China is contributing significantly to the number of projects by foreign investors over the years, the total number of FDI registered projects by the top investing countries within the Ghanaian economy were considered. This paper makes use of quantitative analysis through a descriptive statistical approach based on the data generated from the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) between 2013 and 2018. It was revealed that, China's contribution to the total number of FDI registered projects is very significant, but the estimated cost of these Chinese projects is lower. However, Chinese investment is mostly found in the manufacturing sector of the Ghana's economy. It is suggested that, as the government prepares to roll out on the one-direct-one factory initiative, sound investment policies should be established to protect these infant industries and promote outward FDI.

Law Wing Fai. ; Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves [151]-156). ; Abstracts in English and Chinese. ; ABSTRACT --- p.I ; 摘要 --- p.II ; ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.III ; TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.IV ; Chapter CHAPTER ONE --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 ; Background --- p.1 ; Purpose --- p.3 ; Organization --- p.4 ; Chapter CHAPTER TWO --- REVIEW OF THEORIES AND LITERATURE --- p.5 ; The Literature on Foreign Direct Investment --- p.5 ; The Literature on Legal Issues --- p.10 ; Chapter CHAPTER THREE --- METHODOLOGY --- p.17 ; Data Collection --- p.17 ; Control Variables in Detail --- p.20 ; Design of Regression Models --- p.26 ; Methodology --- p.28 ; Chapter CHAPTER FOUR --- THE EFFECTS OF LEGAL FACTORS ON INVESTMENT MODE SELECTION --- p.29 ; Rationale for the Study --- p.29 ; Fundamental Differences between Partial Acquisition and JV --- p.30 ; Importance of Legal Institutions in the Choice of M&A and JV --- p.33 ; Hypothesis on the Effects of Legal Factors on Investment Mode Selection --- p.34 ; Hypothesis on Legal Origin --- p.34 ; Hypothesis on Shareholder Protection --- p.36 ; Hypothesis on the Government Enforcement Efficiency --- p.39 ; Hypothesis on Securities Regulation --- p.42 ; Hypothesis on Accounting Standard and Corporate Transparency --- p.42 ; Hypothesis on Other Legal Issues --- p.43 ; Empirical Evidence for the Effects of Legal Factors on Investment Mode Selection --- p.45 ; Legal Origin --- p.45 ; Shareholder Protection --- p.48 ; Government Enforcement Efficiency --- p.50 ; "Securities Regulation, Accounting Standard and Corporate Transparency" --- p.52 ; Other Legal Issues --- p.54 ; Chapter CHAPTER FIVE --- THE EFFECTS OF LEGAL FACTORS ON OWNERSHIP PROPORTION DECISION --- p.57 ; Rationale for the Study --- p.57 ; Hypothesis on the Effects of Legal Factors on Ownership Proportion Decision --- p.57 ; Hypothesis on Legal Origin --- p.59 ; Hypothesis on Shareholder Protection --- p.59 ; Hypothesis on Government Enforcement Efficiency --- ...

China's increased trade with, and investment in, Africa have boosted the continent's economic growth but have also generated considerable controversy. The aggregate data on China's overseas direct investment (ODI) in African countries reveal that China's share of the stock of foreign investment is small, though growing rapidly. China's attraction to resource-rich countries is no different from Western investment. China's overall ODI is uncorrelated with a measure of rule of law, whereas Western investment favors the better governance environments. As a result, Chinese investment in strong and weak governance environments is about the same, but its share of foreign investment is higher in the weak governance states. Micro data from MOFCOM's database on registered Chinese firms investing in Africa between 1998 and 2012 provide a different perspective. Key words in project descriptions are used to code the investments into 25 sectors. This database captures the small and medium private firms investing in Africa. Contrary to common perceptions, there are few projects in natural resource sectors. Most projects are in services, with a significant number in manufacturing as well. Country-sector-level regressions based on firms' transaction-level data find that Chinese ODI, both horizontal and vertical, is profit-driven, like investment from other countries. In particular, regressions show that Chinese ODI is relatively more concentrated in skill-intensive sectors in skill-abundant countries but in capital-intensive sectors in capital-scarce countries. These patterns are mostly observed in politically unstable countries, suggesting stronger incentives to seek profits in tougher environments.

International audience ; An overall comparative study of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from BRIC countries and strategies conducted by multinational companies (MNCs) based in the BRICs is elaborated on with a same methodology for Brazil, Russia, India and China. The comparison pertains to the historical emergence of firms' internationalisation, their booming expansion in the 2000s then their muddling through the current crisis, the specificities of OFDI from each home country, OFDI geographical distribution and industrial structure, econometric testing of the respective determinants of Brazilian, Russian, Indian and Chinese OFDI, and the role of home countries' governments vis-à-vis home-based MNCs. Beyond some common characteristics, BRICs' MNCs exhibit a number of major country-specific features.

International audience ; An overall comparative study of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from BRIC countries and strategies conducted by multinational companies (MNCs) based in the BRICs is elaborated on with a same methodology for Brazil, Russia, India and China. The comparison pertains to the historical emergence of firms' internationalisation, their booming expansion in the 2000s then their muddling through the current crisis, the specificities of OFDI from each home country, OFDI geographical distribution and industrial structure, econometric testing of the respective determinants of Brazilian, Russian, Indian and Chinese OFDI, and the role of home countries' governments vis-à-vis home-based MNCs. Beyond some common characteristics, BRICs' MNCs exhibit a number of major country-specific features.

Doutoramento em Economia ; This thesis addresses the impacts of public policies on outward foreign direct investment, seeking to contribute to a better understanding of the interplay between pro-internationalisation policies and firm behaviour. Home country measures associated with these policies are explored in terms of use and awareness, as determinants of foreign direct investment, as drivers of policy objectives, in terms of perceived importance and impact in different scenarios of internationalisation. Using a comprehensive database of 441 Portuguese firms, being those that had participated at least in one of the 11 types of public support between 1994 and 2009. The empirical papers presented here reveal a moderating effect of firm capabilities and internationalisation conditions on policy objectives. In fact, firms' resources and capabilities frame the awareness and use of home country support measures, the existence of public policy determinants of foreign direct investment, the decision to carry out more aggressive modes of entry and the choice of more demanding environments, the impact of policy objectives, and the perceived importance of incentives. In practical terms, the findings of this thesis points that firms' resources and capabilities are negatively associated with the use of public support, contrasting with awareness, which is found to increase with firms' resources and capabilities. This insight sheds light on a potential problem of incentives allocation. Our results support the established theorizing about the co-evolution of government and firms' policies, home country measures being found as determinants of foreign direct investment. It is also shown that prointernationalization policies reinforce the firms' resources and capabilities, which seems to have a positive impact on international growth. An evaluation of public policy, from the foreign direct investor's lens, supports the argument that firms involved in more demanding projects tend to attribute more importance to public supports. ...

An interesting debate is now taking place among scholars and policy makers about the value of public support for internationalization activities. These incentives have been applied in many countries to stimulate not only the exports but also foreign direct investments, but the results are not clear. Governments must ensure that beyond the increase of a country's competitiveness, public support also will promote equity between rms. Assuming that the perceived importance of public support is a proxy of equity between rms, we have a scenario where the promotion of equity can be obtained if the less skilled rms place more value on support than rms with more competencies. In the same line of reasoning and extending the analysis to the rm's external environment, the equity increases if rms involved in more demanding environments place more value on support than rms whose investments are in less demanding environments. We propose an ordered probit model that considers the rms' competencies and the requirements of foreign direct investments as sources of variation for the evaluation of the perceived importance of public support. This model is tested on four policy measures of a recent survey that includes 104 Portuguese rms with foreign direct investment. The overall results reveal that public support may promote equity since rms' competencies have a negative e ect on the perceived importance of public support, and the requirements of foreign direct investment positively moderate the value assigned to public support. We conclude that a non-uniform evaluation of public support may roughly predict the promotion of equity through a positive discrimination in favor of rms with less competencies and involved in more demanding projects of foreign direct investments. Despite the use of representative sample, this study is exploratory and has at least two limitations that prevent a generalization of the ndings. The rst limitation is from the nature of the sample, which was built with rms from a small country. We do not consider ...