Chinese Private Firms’ Outward Foreign Direct Investment: Does Firm Ownership and Size Matter?

Abstract

This article investigates and explains the behaviors, motives, and characteristics of Chinese privately owned enterprises’ (POEs’) outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), and compares this with the behaviors, motives, and characteristics of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs), using the institutional perspective and resources-based view. Through in-depth interviews with senior managers and an extensive secondary data analysis of Chinese POEs’ OFDI, we found that Chinese POEs are increasingly active in committing both market- and strategic asset–seeking OFDI due to the unfavorable institutional environment they face in China and the different types of resources possessed. POEs cluster with their business partners or domestic peers for international market expansion and adopt several approaches to acquire strategic assets. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.