Title: Chinese outward foreign direct investments in Europe

Authors: Katarina Blomkvist; Rian Drogendijk

Addresses: Department of Business Studies, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden ' Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands; Department of Business Studies, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

Abstract: This paper addresses Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investments (OFDI) in Europe. We aim to provide more knowledge on the ongoing research discussion about Chinese OFDI; more specifically, we answer questions about what is driving Chinese firms to invest in Europe, and whether Chinese investment behaviour in Europe differs compared with their investments in other parts of the world. For our empirical study, we use data from the 2012 statistical bulletin of Chinese OFDI, 2003-2012. Our results indicate that European countries generally receive lower levels of investment from Chinese firms compared with other regions of the world. We find, furthermore, that the main motives for Chinese investment in Europe are market seeking and strategic asset seeking, and that there are large differences among European countries in attracting Chinese investments.

Keywords: OFDI; outward FDI; foreign direct investment; China; Europe; EU; market seeking FDI; resource seeking FDI; strategic asset seeking FDI; European Union; investment behaviour; Chinese investments.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2016.076242

European Journal of International Management, 2016 Vol.10 No.3, pp.343 - 358

Accepted: 30 Oct 2014
Published online: 30 Apr 2016 *

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