Host Country Political Risk and Chinese Firms’ Cross-border M&A Performance

Author(s):  
Haiyue Liu ◽  
Qiao Guo ◽  
Yufan Bai ◽  
Fei Wang
2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiatao Li ◽  
Guoguang Wan

Outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) by Chinese firms has received considerable research attention recently (Li, Cui, & Lu, 2014; Lu, Liu, Wright, & Filatotchev, 2014; Xia, Ma, Lu, & Yiu, 2014). In particular, a number of studies have focused on cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) involving Chinese firms (Li, Li, & Wang, 2016; Li & Xie, 2013; Xie & Li, 2016; Zhang, Zhou, & Ebbers, 2011). Following Child and Marinova's (2014) suggestion that both the home and host country institutional contexts play important roles in determining M&A activity, Buckley and his colleagues have examined how China's ‘Go Global’ policy influences the location choices in Chinese acquisitions and also how host country political risks affect such activities (Buckley et al., 2016). They looked into national political and legal conditions (see also Meyer, Estrin, Bhaumik, & Peng, 2009), and also examined a large dataset on China's cross-border M&As. Much of the previous work in this area has focused on greenfield investments (Duanmu, 2012; Kang & Jiang, 2012), so the work of Buckley et al. (2016) has broken new ground.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 518-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Quer ◽  
Enrique Claver ◽  
Laura Rienda

Purpose Drawing on the institutional perspective, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how state ownership moderates the relationships between political risk, inertia and mimetic behavior, and the location choice of Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs). Design/methodology/approach The authors argue that state ownership leads Chinese firms to behave toward political risk in an unconventional way, and that government support makes them less dependent on their own and other Chinese firms’ prior host country experience. The authors tested the hypotheses using data on outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) decisions made by 186 Chinese firms in 93 countries. Findings The authors found that Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs), compared to non-SOEs, are more likely to move into countries with high political risk, and that they are less likely to be inertial and mimetic. Originality/value Building on the distinction between macro- and micro-political risk, The authors contribute to the political risk literature by developing several arguments that explains why political risk varies across investing firms in a given host country. Moreover, this is one of the first studies of its kind to investigate the moderating effect of state ownership on the relationship between inertial and mimetic behavior, and the location choice of Chinese MNEs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-458
Author(s):  
Zelin Tong ◽  
Tingting Li ◽  
Wenting Feng ◽  
Yuanyuan Zhou ◽  
Ling Zhou

Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of cross-border charitable activities on host- and home-country consumers based on the social identity theory. Design/methodology/approach Through an extensive literature review and two experimental designs, this study establishes the research framework and hypothesises the relationships between the constructs. Findings National power moderates the impact of cross-border charitable activities on host- and home-country consumers. In particular, compared to countries with high national power, countries with low national power undertaking cross-border charitable activities will receive more positive reactions from the host-country consumers, and, conversely, more negative reactions from the home-country consumers. Research limitations/implications From the consumer perspective, this study finds that brand cross-border charitable activities have different influences on consumers in different countries because of an identity transformation mechanism that exists between the “insiders” and the “outsiders”, which is different from the assumptions of western theories. Practical implications The findings provide insights for undertaking brand cross-border charitable activities. Originality/value Previous studies, which are based on social identity categorisation, assume that cross-border charitable activities have a more positive impact on home-country consumers than host-country consumers. However, this study adopts the research paradigm of social identity relationisation and draws an opposite conclusion, which not only expands the theory of local intergroup interaction, but also clarifies how brand cross-border charitable activities influence Chinese consumers.


2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Jones ◽  
Christina Lubinski

This article is concerned with business strategies of political risk management during the twentieth century. It focuses especially on Beiersdorf, a pharmaceutical and skin care company in Germany. During World War I, the expropriation of its brands and trademarks revealed its vulnerability to political risk. Following the advent of the Nazi regime in 1933, the largely Jewish owned and managed company faced a uniquely challenging combination of home and host country political risk. This article reviews the company's responses to these adverse circumstances, challenging the prevailing literature that interprets so-called “cloaking” activities as one element of businesses' cooperation with the Nazis. We also depart from the previous literature in assessing the outcomes of the company's strategies after 1945 and examine the challenges and costs faced by the company in recovering the ownership of its brands. While the management of distance became much easier over the course of the twentieth century because of communications improvements, this article shows that the management of governments and political risk grew sharply.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-440
Author(s):  
Kashif Ahmed ◽  
Ralf Bebenroth ◽  
Jean-François Hennart

Purpose This study aims to examine how the effect of host country formal institutional uncertainty on the percentage of equity sought in cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) is moderated by the host country industry (i.e. targets from the technology versus those from the non-technology industry). Design/methodology/approach This study is based upon the legitimacy perspective of institutional theory and uses Tobit regression analysis on a sample of 1,340 CBAs. Findings Results show that cross-border acquirers prefer a lower equity level for targets in institutionally less developed countries and that this negative effect of the host country institutional risk on the equity percentage sought is more pronounced for technology-based targets. Research limitations/implications Three major limitations of the study are as follows: The data were collected from only Japanese acquirers. The study measured formal institutional uncertainty by applying only secondary data. The study used the Bloomberg Industry Classification Systems, instead of the Standard Industry Classification that has been used widely in prior studies. Practical implications This study shows that the industry selected has a bearing on equity sought in CBAs. Investing in institutionally less developed countries is particularly challenging when the targets of acquisition are in the technology industry. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the moderating effects of an industry on the relationship between host country formal institutional uncertainty and the percentage of equity sought in CBAs.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document