Chinese Overseas Foreign Direct Investment and the Sino-Serbian Strategic Partnership

Graham Hollinshead, null

doi:10.13169/workorgalaboglob.8.1.0037

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Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Volume 8, Issue 1

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Chinese Overseas Foreign Direct Investment and the Sino-Serbian Strategic Partnership

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Author(s): Graham Hollinshead

Publication date (Print): Summer 2014

Journal: Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

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Abstract

While considerable scholarly attention has been devoted to foreign direct investment into China, the emergent status of the People's Republic as an outward investor of growing international significance has, arguably, been subject to neglect. Yet ‘going overseas’ has been a fundamental element in the reform and modernisation of the Chinese economy, this policy having been formally ratified by the Chinese Communist Party in the late 1990s, with China having now ascended to the position of third most important investor abroad, after the USA and Japan. Scrutiny of the particular nature of Chinese overseas foreign direct investment (OFDI) is instructive because it reveals that, while its determinants may be familiar from a Western perspective, peculiarities are also evident, notably an integral involvement of the state in its inception. As the global spread of Chinese OFDI has now extended to Europe, this paper examines the particular case of the Sino-Serbian strategic partnership, a major element of which relates to Chinese assistance in the reconstruction of the Serbian infrastructure. This paper focuses on a Chinese-sponsored construction project on the edge of Europe. It first considers the flows and specific determinants of Chinese OFDI. The geopolitical connotations of China's economic interventions overseas are then highlighted. Finally, it offers an exposition of the Sino-Serbian strategic partnership and the Chinese-sponsored ‘Bridge of Friendship’ currently being constructed over the River Danube near Belgrade. The paper concludes that aspects of Chinese OFDI are powerfully conditioned by underlying geo-political and foreign policy objectives prevalent in the home country as well as economic considerations.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): workorgalaboglob

Title: Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 1745641X

ISSN (Electronic): 17456428

Publication date (Print): Summer 2014

Volume: 8

Issue: 1

Pages: 37-48

Article

Publisher ID: workorgalaboglob.8.1.0037

DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.8.1.0037

SO-VID: 04f48fad-99bc-4f36-adfc-d619addaecda

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Sociology,Labor law,Political science,Labor & Demographic economics,Political economics

References

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Antkiewicz, A. & J. Whalley (2006) ‘Recent Chinese buyout activities and the implications for global architecture’, Working Paper 12072, Cambridge MA: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
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Van Apeldoorn, B., N. de Graaf & H. Overbeek (2012) (eds) ‘The rebound of the capitalist state: the re-articulation of the state-capital nexus in the global crisis', special issue, Globalizations , 9 (4).
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Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Alden, C. (2007) China in Africa , London: Zed Books.

[2] Amaghini, A., R. Rabellotti, R. & M. Sanfilippo (2011) ‘China's outward FDI: An Industry – level Analysis of Host Country Determinants’, unpublished paper presented at the CESifo Venice Summer Institute China and the Global Economy Post Crisis conference (18–18^th July).

[3] Antkiewicz, A. & J. Whalley (2006) ‘Recent Chinese buyout activities and the implications for global architecture’, Working Paper 12072, Cambridge MA: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

[4] Antwerp Forum (2014) The Euro- China Investment Report 2013/2014 , Antwerp: Autonomous Management School, University of Antwerp.

[5] Buckley, P., J. Clegg, A.R. Cross, X. Liu, H. Voss & P. Zheng (2007) ‘The determinants of Chinese outward foreign investment’, Journal of International Business Studies , 38:499–518.

[6] Child, J & S.B. Rodrigues (2002) ‘The internationalization of Chinese firms: a case for theoretical extension?’ Management and Organization Review , 1 (3):381–410.

[7] Collin, M. (2001) This is Serbia Calling: Rock'n roll radio and Belgrade's underground resistance , London: Serpent's Tail.

[8] Davies, K. (2012) ‘Outward FDI from China and its policy context’, Columbia FDI Profiles: Country profiles of inward and outward foreign direct investment, the Vale Columbia Centre on Sustainable International Investment.

[9] Democratic Party of Serbia Website (2011) Most prijateljstva- novi model infrastrukturninradiva in Srbiji . Accessed on 24^th April 2014 from: http://www.ds.org.rs/index.php?option=comcontent&view=article&id=9574:2010-07-14-16-22-17&catid=16&Itemid=431.

[10] Deng, P. (2003) ‘Foreign direct investment by transnationals from emerging economies, the case of China’, Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies , 10 (2):113–124.

[11] Dobson, W. (2014) ‘China's state-Owned Enterprises and Canada's FDI Policy’, SPP Research Paper no- 7-10 . Working Paper No. 2416422, Rotman School of Management .

[12] Dunning, J.H. (1977) ‘Trade, Location of Economic Activity And the MNE: A Search for an Eclectic Approach’, B. Ohlin, P.O. Hesselbom & P.M. Wijkmon (eds.) The International Location of Economic Activity , London: Macmillan:395–418.

[13] Dunning, J.H. (1993) Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy , Wokingham, Addison-Wesley.

[14] Dunning, J.H. (2001) ‘The eclectic (OLI) paradigm of international production: past, present and future’, International Journal of the Economics of Business , 8(2):173–190.

[15] Dunning, J.H. & S.M. Lundan (2008) Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy , Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, second edition.

[16] The Economist (2012) ‘The Visible Hand’, special report by Wooldridge, A., Economist , January 21^st.

[17] Gerschenkron, A. (1962) Economic backwardness in historical perspective; a book of essays , Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

[18] Gordy, E. (2004) ‘Serbia after Djindić: War crimes, organized crime and trust in institutions’, Problems of Postcommunism , 51:10–17.

[19] Hollinshead, G. & M. Maclean (2013) ‘Reaching Distant Parts; The Internationalization of Brewing and local organizational embeddedness’, J. Gammelgaard & C. Doerrenbaecher (eds.) The Global Brewing Industry: Markets, Strategies and Rivalries , Cheltenham: Edward Elgar:79–106.

[20] Hong, E. & L. Sun (2006) ‘Dynamics of Internationalization and Outward Investment: Chinese Corporations' Strategies’, The China Quarterly , 187:610–634.

[21] Judah, T. (2011) Yugoslavia: 1918–2003 , London: BBC History.

[22] Lardy, N.R. (1998) China's Unfinished Economic Revolution , Washington DC: Bookings Institution.

[23] Lawrence, S.V. (2002) ‘Going Global’, Far Eastern Economic Review , 165 (12):32.

[24] Li, L. & X. Ding (1999) ‘Target Selection Strategy for China's Overseas Direct Investment’, Contemporary Economics Research , 101:46–63.

[25] Mbaye, S. (2010) ‘Matching China's Activities with Africa's Needs’, A, Harriet- Sievers, S. Marks & S, Naidu (eds.) Chinese and African Perspectives on China in Africa , Oxford: Pambazuka:1–15.

[26] McDermott, M. & C.H. Huang (1996) ‘Industrial state Owned Multinationals from China’ Asia-Pacific Business Review , 3 (1)1–15.

[27] Møller, K. (2012) ‘The role Kenya's civil society can play in ensuring mutually beneficial Sino-Kenya engagement’, POLIS Journal , 7:242–282.

[28] Nölke, A. (ed) Multinational Corporations from Emerging Markets , London: Palgrave MacMillan.

[29] Nölke, A. & A. Vliegenthart (2009) ‘Enlarging the varieties of Capitalism; The emergence of Dependent Market Economies in East Central Europe’, World Politics , 61 (4):670–702.

[30] Onjala, J. (2008) ‘A Scoping Study on China-Africa Economic Relations: The Case of Kenya’. Institute for Development Studies. Accessed on 20th April 2014 from: http://www.aercafrica.org/documents/china_africa_relations/Kenya.pdf.

[31] Pavlićević, D. (2011) ‘The Sino-Serbian Strategic Partnership in a Sino-EU Relationship Context’, Briefing Series , China Policy Institute, University of Nottingham:68.

[32] Pejovich, S. (2004) ‘The uneven results of institutional change in Central and Eastern Europe: The role of culture’, Justice and Global Politics, October 21–24.

[33] Prasad, E. & J-S Wei (2005) ‘The Chinese Approach to Capital Inflows: Patterns and Possible Explanations’, NBER Working Paper No. 11306 , NBER.

[34] Reuters (2013) ‘Chinese firms invest in emerging markets energy for EU toehold’, Top News , June 11^th. Accessed on 24^th April 2014 from: http//www.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL5N0EN1CF20130611?irpc=932.

[35] Rodrik, D. (2013) ‘The New Mercantilist Challenge’, Social Europe . Accessed on 24^th April from http://www.social-europe.eu/2013/01/the-new-mercantilist-challenge/.

[36] Sauvant, K.P. (2013) ‘Three challenges for China's outward FDI policy’, Columbia FDI Perspectives , Perspectives on topical foreign direct investment by the Vale Columbia Centre on Sustainable International Investment, 106.

[37] Scott, W.R. (2002) ‘The Changing World of Chinese Enterprises: An Institutional Perspective’, A.S. Tsui & C.M. Lau (eds) Management of Enterprises in the People's Republic of China , Boston: Kluwer Academic Press:59–78.

[38] Taylor, I. (2011) The forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) , Oxford: Routledge.

[39] Taylor I. (2009) China's New Role in Africa , London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

[40] Taylor, R. (2002) ‘Globalization strategies of Chinese companies: current developments and future prospects’, Asian Business and Management , 1 (2):209–225.

[41] UNCTAD (2013) FDI/TNC database . Accessed on 20^th April from: http://stats.unctad.org/fri/.

[42] Upchurch, M. & S. Cicmil (2004) ‘The political economy of management knowledge transfer: Some insights from experience in Serbia and Montenegro’, South East Europe Review , 7:101–120.

[43] Upchurch, M. & D. Marinkovic (2013) Workers and Revolution in Serbia: From Tito to Milosevic and beyond , Manchester: Manchester University Press.

[44] Van Apeldoorn, B., N. de Graaf & H. Overbeek (2012) (eds) ‘The rebound of the capitalist state: the re-articulation of the state-capital nexus in the global crisis', special issue, Globalizations , 9 (4).

[45] Van de Pijl, K. (1998) Transnational Classes and International Relations , London: Routledge.

[46] Warner, M., N.S. Hong. & X. Xu (2004) ‘Late development experience and the evolution of transnational firms in the People's Republic of China’, Asia Pacific Business Review , 10 (3–4):324–345.

[47] Yaolin Wang, M. (2002) ‘The Motivations behind China's government initiated Industrial Investments Overseas’, Pacific Affairs , 75 (2):187–206.

[48] Young, N. (2012) ‘You can't stay aloof forever; The political economy of Chinese investment in Africa’ The East African , 13^th February.

[49] Zhan J. (1995) ‘Transnationalization of Outward Investment: The Case of Chinese Firms’, Transnational Corporations , 3 (4):67–100.

[50] Zhang, Y. (2003) China's Emerging Global Businesses: Political Economy and Institutional Investigations , Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.