IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v101y2021icp119-132.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Make friends, not money: How Chinese enterprises select transport infrastructure investment locations along the Belt and Road

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Yang
  • Chao, Yiying
  • Liu, Wei
  • Tao, Kan
  • Lian, Peng

Abstract

Since the 2013 launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has long been recognized as one of the most complex international cooperation activities, a large proportion of the 90 billion in Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in the regions constituting the BRI, has flowed into the transport infrastructure sector. Chinese enterprises select transport infrastructure locations as an effective way to mitigate the uncertainties associated with institutional voids in host countries that undermine the functioning of market institutions and expose investors to additional risks. Theoretically, drawing on institutional theory, we propose that bilateral diplomatic activities between host countries and China can serve as an effective risk-reduction mechanism, while institutional distance and common land borders have significant moderating effects on this process. Empirically, based on a unique set of data manually collected from the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, our Poisson count regression and negative binomial regression analysis results generally confirm our hypotheses. Implications for both researchers and practitioners are discussed at the end of the paper.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Yang & Chao, Yiying & Liu, Wei & Tao, Kan & Lian, Peng, 2021. "Make friends, not money: How Chinese enterprises select transport infrastructure investment locations along the Belt and Road," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 119-132.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:101:y:2021:i:c:p:119-132
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2020.12.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X20309422
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2020.12.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gerald Yong Gao & Yigang Pan, 2010. "The pace of MNEs’ sequential entries: Cumulative entry experience and the dynamic process," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(9), pages 1572-1580, December.
    2. Elizabeth Asiedu, 2006. "Foreign Direct Investment in Africa: The Role of Natural Resources, Market Size, Government Policy, Institutions and Political Instability," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 63-77, January.
    3. Aleksynska, Mariya & Havrylchyk, Olena, 2013. "FDI from the south: The role of institutional distance and natural resources," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 38-53.
    4. Desbordes, Rodolphe & Vicard, Vincent, 2009. "Foreign direct investment and bilateral investment treaties: An international political perspective," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 372-386, September.
    5. Mariya Aleksynska & Olena Havrylchyk, 2013. "•FDI from the South: The role of institutional distance and natural resources," Post-Print hal-01410591, HAL.
    6. Jean-François Brun & Céline Carrère & Patrick Guillaumont & Jaime de Melo, 2015. "Has Distance Died? Evidence from a Panel Gravity Model," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Developing Countries in the World Economy, chapter 13, pages 299-320, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. John Child & Suzana B. Rodrigues & Kenneth K-T. Tse, 2012. "The Dynamics of Influence in Corporate Co-Evolution," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(7), pages 1246-1273, November.
    8. Jonathan Doh & Suzana Rodrigues & Ayse Saka-Helmhout & Mona Makhija, 2017. "International business responses to institutional voids," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(3), pages 293-307, April.
    9. Jianhong Zhang, 2005. "An explanatory study of bilateral FDI relations: The case of China," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 133-150.
    10. Cameron, A. Colin & Trivedi, Pravin K., 1990. "Regression-based tests for overdispersion in the Poisson model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 347-364, December.
    11. D. Eleanor Westney, 1993. "Institutionalization Theory and the Multinational Corporation," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Sumantra Ghoshal & D. Eleanor Westney (ed.), Organization Theory and the Multinational Corporation, chapter 3, pages 53-76, Palgrave Macmillan.
    12. Kirkpatrick, Colin & Parker, David & Zhang, Yin-Fang, 2004. "Foreign Direct Investment in Infrastructure in Developing Countries: Does Regulation Make a Difference?," Centre on Regulation and Competition (CRC) Working papers 30703, University of Manchester, Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM).
    13. John H Dunning, 1980. "Towards an Eclectic Theory of International Production: Some Empirical Tests," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 11(1), pages 9-31, March.
    14. Bruce A. Blonigen & Miao Wang, 2004. "Inappropriate Pooling of Wealthy and Poor Countries in Empirical FDI Studies," NBER Working Papers 10378, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. WANG, James Jixian & YAU, Selina, 2018. "Case studies on transport infrastructure projects in belt and road initiative: An actor network theory perspective," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 213-223.
    16. Ying Zheng & Daying Yan & Bing Ren, 2016. "Institutional distance, firm heterogeneities, and FDI location choice of EMNEs," Nankai Business Review International, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 7(2), pages 192-215, June.
    17. Bao, Shuming & Chang, Gene Hsin & Sachs, Jeffrey D. & Woo, Wing Thye, 2002. "Geographic factors and China's regional development under market reforms, 1978-1998," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 89-111.
    18. Du, Julan & Zhang, Yifei, 2018. "Does One Belt One Road initiative promote Chinese overseas direct investment?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 189-205.
    19. Choi, Jongmoo Jay & Lee, Sang Mook & Shoham, Amir, 2016. "The effects of institutional distance on FDI inflow: General environmental institutions (GEI) versus minority investor protection institutions (MIP)," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 114-123.
    20. David W Loree & Stephen E Guisinger, 1995. "Policy and Non-Policy Determinants of U.S. Equity Foreign Direct Investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 26(2), pages 281-299, June.
    21. Klaus E Meyer & Yuan Ding & Jing Li & Hua Zhang, 2014. "Overcoming distrust: How state-owned enterprises adapt their foreign entries to institutional pressures abroad," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 45(8), pages 1005-1028, October.
    22. Carmela Martin & Francisco J. Velazquez, 2000. "Determinants of bilateral foreing direct investment flows in the OECD, with a closer look at the former coummunist countries," European Economy Group Working Papers 2, European Economy Group.
    23. Hernández, Virginia & Nieto, María Jesús, 2015. "The effect of the magnitude and direction of institutional distance on the choice of international entry modes," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 122-132.
    24. Yang, Dong & Pan, Kai & Wang, Shuaian, 2018. "On service network improvement for shipping lines under the one belt one road initiative of China," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 82-95.
    25. Gowa, Joanne & Mansfield, Edward D., 1993. "Power Politics and International Trade," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 87(2), pages 408-420, June.
    26. Carmela Martín, 2000. "Direct Investment Flows," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Spanish Economy in the New Europe, chapter 9, pages 173-190, Palgrave Macmillan.
    27. Sheila M. Puffer & Daniel J. McCarthy & Max Boisot, 2010. "Entrepreneurship in Russia and China: The Impact of Formal Institutional Voids," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 34(3), pages 441-467, May.
    28. James E. Rauch & Vitor Trindade, 2002. "Ethnic Chinese Networks In International Trade," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(1), pages 116-130, February.
    29. Zeng, Qingcheng & Wang, Grace W.Y. & Qu, Chenrui & Li, Kevin X., 2018. "Impact of the Carat Canal on the evolution of hub ports under China’s Belt and Road initiative," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 96-107.
    30. Peter J Buckley & L Jeremy Clegg & Adam R Cross & Xin Liu & Hinrich Voss & Ping Zheng, 2007. "The determinants of Chinese outward foreign direct investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(4), pages 499-518, July.
    31. Limao, Nuno & Venables, Anthony J., 1999. "Infrastructure, geographical disadvantage, and transport costs," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2257, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lee, Paul Tae-Woo & Hu, Zhi-Hua & Lee, Sangjeong & Feng, Xuehao & Notteboom, Theo, 2022. "Strategic locations for logistics distribution centers along the Belt and Road: Explorative analysis and research agenda," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 24-47.
    2. Yang, Dong & Li, Lu & Notteboom, Theo, 2022. "Chinese investment in overseas container terminals: The role of investor attributes in achieving a higher port competitiveness," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 112-122.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Raphael Chiappini & François Viaud, 2021. "Macroeconomic, institutional, and sectoral determinants of outward foreign direct investment: Evidence from Japan," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 404-433, August.
    2. Cong Minh Huynh & Vu Hong Thai Nguyen & Hoang Bao Nguyen & Phuc Canh Nguyen, 2020. "One-way effect or multiple-way causality: foreign direct investment, institutional quality and shadow economy?," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 219-239, February.
    3. Federico Carril-Caccia & Juliette Milgram Baleix & Jordi Paniagua, 2019. "The foreign direct investment-institution nexus in oil-abundant countries," Working Papers 1903, Department of Applied Economics II, Universidad de Valencia.
    4. Fon, Roger & Alon, Ilan, 2022. "Governance, foreign aid, and Chinese foreign direct investment," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113678, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Federico Carril-Caccia & Juliette Milgram-Baleix & Jordi Paniagua, 2019. "Foreign Direct Investment in oil-abundant countries: The role of institutions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-23, April.
    6. Federico Carril‐Caccia & Elena Pavlova, 2020. "Mergers and acquisitions & trade: A global value chain analysis," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 586-614, March.
    7. Xie, En & Reddy, K.S. & Liang, Jie, 2017. "Country-specific determinants of cross-border mergers and acquisitions: A comprehensive review and future research directions," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 127-183.
    8. Qun Bao & Yanling Wang & Hongjun Xie, 2019. "From Honeymoon To Divorce: Institution Quality And Foreign Investors' Ownership Consolidation In China," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(1), pages 372-390, January.
    9. Qiuping Chen & Bo Ning & Yue Pan & Jinli Xiao, 2022. "Green finance and outward foreign direct investment: evidence from a quasi-natural experiment of green insurance in China," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 899-924, September.
    10. Zhang Lin & Xu Zheqian, 2017. "How Do Cultural and Institutional Distance Affect China’s OFDI towards the OBOR Countries?," TalTech Journal of European Studies, Sciendo, vol. 7(1), pages 24-42, June.
    11. Michael A Sartor & Paul W Beamish, 2018. "Host market government corruption and the equity-based foreign entry strategies of multinational enterprises," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(3), pages 346-370, April.
    12. Heavilin, Jason & Songur, Hilmi, 2020. "Institutional distance and Turkey’s outward foreign direct investment," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    13. Wasseem Mina, 2017. "The Race to the Top: Institutional Clusters and World FDI Shares," Working Papers 1136, Economic Research Forum, revised 09 2003.
    14. Lili Kang & Fei Peng & Yu Zhu & An Pan, 2018. "Harmony in Diversity: Can the One Belt One Road Initiative Promote China’s Outward Foreign Direct Investment?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-28, September.
    15. Yibo Bi & Zhiyi Ren & Kun Bao, 2020. "Does distance matter in foreign direct investment sub-national location choice? Evidence from China," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-19, December.
    16. Amighini, Alessia A. & Franco, Chiara, 2013. "A sector perspective on Chinese outward FDI: The automotive case," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 148-161.
    17. Mike W. Peng & Sergey Lebedev & Cristina O. Vlas & Joyce C. Wang & Jason S. Shay, 2018. "The growth of the firm in (and out of) emerging economies," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 829-857, December.
    18. Zhang, Hongjuan & Young, Michael N. & Tan, Justin & Sun, Weizheng, 2018. "How Chinese companies deal with a legitimacy imbalance when acquiring firms from developed economies," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(5), pages 752-767.
    19. Simplice Asongu & Enowbi Batuo & Vanessa Tchamyou, 2015. "Bundling Governance: Finance versus Institutions in Private Investment Promotion," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 15/051, African Governance and Development Institute..
    20. Wang, Xiaoying & Anwar, Sajid, 2022. "Institutional distance and China's horizontal outward foreign direct investment," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1-22.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:101:y:2021:i:c:p:119-132. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30473/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.