IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/abaman/v18y2019i5d10.1057_s41291-019-00058-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How does the routing of FDI to and via tax havens confound our understanding of Chinese MNE identity? A critical review of the empirical literature on Chinese MNEs

Author

Listed:
  • Dylan Sutherland

    (University of Durham)

  • Jean-Francois Hennart

    (University of Tilburg
    Vienna University of Business and Economics)

  • John R. Anderson

    (University of Northern Iowa)

Abstract

An extensive empirical literature tests the motivations and characteristics of the outward foreign direct investments of Chinese MNEs. Much of it, however, suffers from serious shortcomings in its treatment and use of foreign direct investment data. In particular, most research fails to properly account for the ways in which Chinese MNEs route their foreign direct investments both to and via tax havens and financial centers. As a result, our understanding of the identity of Chinese MNEs still remains embryonic. We outline the nature of the most commonly found problems so as to inform future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Dylan Sutherland & Jean-Francois Hennart & John R. Anderson, 2019. "How does the routing of FDI to and via tax havens confound our understanding of Chinese MNE identity? A critical review of the empirical literature on Chinese MNEs," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(5), pages 337-359, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:abaman:v:18:y:2019:i:5:d:10.1057_s41291-019-00058-2
    DOI: 10.1057/s41291-019-00058-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41291-019-00058-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41291-019-00058-2?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. Ajai S Gaur & Xufei Ma & Zhujun Ding, 2018. "Home country supportiveness/unfavorableness and outward foreign direct investment from China," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(3), pages 324-345, April.
    2. Chengqi Wang & Junjie Hong & Mario Kafouros & Mike Wright, 2012. "Exploring the role of government involvement in outward FDI from emerging economies," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(7), pages 655-676, September.
    3. Jones, Chris & Temouri, Yama, 2016. "The determinants of tax haven FDI," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 237-250.
    4. Jing-Lin Duanmu, 2014. "State-owned MNCs and host country expropriation risk: The role of home state soft power and economic gunboat diplomacy," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 45(8), pages 1044-1060, October.
    5. Max Boisot & Marshall W. Meyer, 2008. "Which Way through the Open Door? Reflections on the Internationalization of Chinese Firms," Management and Organization Review, The International Association for Chinese Management Research, vol. 4(3), pages 349-365, November.
    6. Peter J. Buckley & Dylan Sutherland & Hinrich Voss & Ahmad El-Gohari, 2015. "The economic geography of offshore incorporation in tax havens and offshore financial centres: the case of Chinese MNEs," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 103-128.
    7. Alain Verbeke, 2018. "The JIBS 2017 Decade Award: The determinants of Chinese outward foreign direct investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(1), pages 1-3, January.
    8. Hennart, J.M.A., 2012. "Emerging market multinationals and the theory of the multinational enterprise," Other publications TiSEM 23818daa-f6ed-4fd6-bca4-3, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    9. Boisot, Max & Meyer, Marshall W., 2008. "Which Way through the Open Door? Reflections on the Internationalization of Chinese Firms," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(3), pages 349-365, November.
    10. Yigang Pan & Lefa Teng & Atipol Bhanich Supapol & Xiongwen Lu & Dan Huang & Zhennan Wang, 2014. "Firms’ FDI ownership: The influence of government ownership and legislative connections," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 45(8), pages 1029-1043, October.
    11. Dylan Sutherland & Lutao Ning, 2011. "Exploring 'onward-journey' ODI strategies in China's private sector businesses," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 43-65.
    12. John A. Mathews, 2017. "Dragon multinationals powered by linkage, leverage and learning: A review and development," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 769-775, December.
    13. Robert E. Hoskisson & Mike Wright & Igor Filatotchev & Mike W. Peng, 2013. "Emerging Multinationals from Mid-Range Economies: The Influence of Institutions and Factor Markets," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(7), pages 1295-1321, November.
    14. Robert E. Lipsey, 2007. "Defining and Measuring the Location of FDI Output," NBER Working Papers 12996, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. 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.
    16. Weilei (Stone) Shi & Sunny Li Sun & Daying Yan & Zhu Zhu, 2017. "Institutional fragility and outward foreign direct investment from China," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(4), pages 452-476, May.
    17. Sjoerd Beugelsdijk & Jean-François Hennart & Arjen Slangen & Roger Smeets, 2010. "Why and how FDI stocks are a biased measure of MNE affiliate activity," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(9), pages 1444-1459, December.
    18. Lin Cui & Fuming Jiang, 2012. "State ownership effect on firms' FDI ownership decisions under institutional pressure: a study of Chinese outward-investing firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(3), pages 264-284, April.
    19. Jiangyong Lu & Xiaohui Liu & Mike Wright & Igor Filatotchev, 2014. "International experience and FDI location choices of Chinese firms: The moderating effects of home country government support and host country institutions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 45(4), pages 428-449, May.
    20. 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.
    21. Hung-Gay Fung & Jot Yau & Gaiyan Zhang, 2011. "Reported trade figure discrepancy, regulatory arbitrage, and round-tripping: Evidence from the China–Hong Kong trade data," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 42(1), pages 152-176, January.
    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. Jones, Chris & Temouri, Yama & Kirollos, Karim & Du, Jun, 2023. "Tax havens and emerging market multinationals: The role of property rights protection and economic freedom," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PB).
    2. Anderson, John & Sutherland, Dylan & Hurst, Jamie, 2024. "Measuring Chinese MNE activity: The challenge of corporate inversions and capital in transit related FDI," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PA).
    3. Wang, Chengqi & Piperopoulos, Panagiotis & Chen, Shihua & Ming, Alan Au Kai & Herbert, Kendall, 2022. "Outward FDI and Innovation Performance of Chinese Firms: Why Can Home-Grown Political Ties Be A Liability?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(3).
    4. Dylan Sutherland & John Anderson & Ludan Wu & Sean Severe, 2024. "Exploring the impact of establishment mode on intangible strategic asset creation in Chinese MNEs: springboard cross-border strategic asset-seeking M&As versus greenfield R&D-related FDI projects," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(4), pages 519-543, September.
    5. Knoerich, Jan & Vitting, Simon, 2021. "The distinct contribution of investment promotion agencies’ branch offices in bringing Chinese multinationals to Europe," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(3).
    6. Dylan Sutherland & John Anderson & Nicholas Bailey & Ilan Alon, 2020. "Policy, institutional fragility, and Chinese outward foreign direct investment: An empirical examination of the Belt and Road Initiative," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(3), pages 249-272, September.
    7. Ascani, Andrea & Nair, Lakshmi Balachandran & Iammarino, Simona, 2023. "Racing to the bottom or seeking legitimacy? National environmental performance and the location strategies of Chinese MNEs," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(2).
    8. Christensen, Rasmus Corlin & Hearson, Martin, 2021. "The Rise of China and Contestation in Global Tax Governance," SocArXiv pzvy3, Center for Open Science.
    9. Fei Ge & Peipei Wu & Yun Feng & Lu Gao, 2023. "Do enterprises with foreign direct investments in tax havens prefer charitable donations? Evidence from China," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(5), pages 2056-2076, November.
    10. repec:idq:ictduk:17075 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Malik, Ashish & Froese, Fabian Jintae, 2022. "Corruption as a perverse Innovation: The dark side of digitalization and corruption in international business," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 682-693.
    12. Vijay Pereira & Yama Temouri & Chris Jones & Ashish Malik, 2019. "Identity of Asian Multinational Corporations: influence of tax havens," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(5), pages 325-336, November.
    13. Aleksi Eerola & Arjen H. L. Slangen, 2022. "A Review of International Management Research on Corporate Taxation," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 62(5), pages 643-680, October.
    14. Valacchi, Giulia & Doytch, Nadia & Yonzan, Nishant, 2021. "Impact of outward foreign direct investments on patent activity of Greenfield multinationals," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    15. Wu, Yan & Strange, Roger & Shirodkar, Vikrant, 2021. "MNE divestments of foreign affiliates: Does the strategic role of the affiliate have an impact?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 266-278.
    16. Yi-Chi Hsiao & Hsueh-Liang Wu & Chun-Ping Yeh, 2023. "An investigation of the bridging interface strategies used by Chinese MNE when undertaking FDI to Taiwan," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(4), pages 1485-1512, September.
    17. Dylan Sutherland & John Anderson & Nicholas Bailey & Ilan Alon, 0. "Policy, institutional fragility, and Chinese outward foreign direct investment: An empirical examination of the Belt and Road Initiative," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 0, pages 1-24.
    18. M. John Foster, 2023. "A fresh view of China’s OFDI, its motivations and risks thereto," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-19, January.

    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. Anderson, John & Sutherland, Dylan & Hurst, Jamie, 2024. "Measuring Chinese MNE activity: The challenge of corporate inversions and capital in transit related FDI," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PA).
    2. Wei, Ziyi & Nguyen, Quyen T.K., 2017. "Subsidiary strategy of emerging market multinationals: A home country institutional perspective," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 1009-1021.
    3. Ziliang Deng & Jiayan Yan & Pei Sun, 2020. "Political Status and Tax Haven Investment of Emerging Market Firms: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(3), pages 469-488, September.
    4. Vukicevic, Jelena & Fallon, Grahame & Ott, Ursula F., 2021. "A theoretical and empirical investigation into investment activities of technologically-intensive Chinese state-owned enterprises in the UK," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(1).
    5. Weilei (Stone) Shi & Sunny Li Sun & Daying Yan & Zhu Zhu, 2017. "Institutional fragility and outward foreign direct investment from China," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(4), pages 452-476, May.
    6. Peter J Buckley & L Jeremy Clegg & Hinrich Voss & Adam R Cross & Xin Liu & Ping Zheng, 2018. "A retrospective and agenda for future research on Chinese outward foreign direct investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(1), pages 4-23, January.
    7. Birgitte Grøgaard & Asmund Rygh & Gabriel R. G. Benito, 2019. "Bringing corporate governance into internalization theory: State ownership and foreign entry strategies," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(8), pages 1310-1337, October.
    8. Päivi Karhunen & Svetlana Ledyaeva & Keith D. Brouthers, 2022. "Capital Round-Tripping: Determinants of Emerging Market Firm Investments into Offshore Financial Centers and Their Ethical Implications," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(1), pages 117-137, November.
    9. Ilan Alon & John Anderson & Ziaul Haque Munim & Alice Ho, 2018. "A review of the internationalization of Chinese enterprises," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 573-605, September.
    10. Su, Cong & Kong, Lingshuang & Ciabuschi, Francesco & Holm, Ulf, 2020. "Demand and willingness for knowledge transfer in springboard subsidiaries of Chinese multinationals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 297-309.
    11. Buckley, Peter J & Cui, Lin & Chen, Liang & Li, Yi & Choi, Yoona, 2023. "Following their predecessors’ journey? A review of EMNE studies and avenues for interdisciplinary inquiry," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(2).
    12. Yuanyuan Huang & Lu Shen & Chuang Zhang, 2022. "Home-country government support, the belt and road initiative, and the foreign performance of Chinese state-owned subsidiaries," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 1023-1049, September.
    13. Hu, Tianyou & Yu, Shu & Delios, Andrew, 2024. "Extradition treaties and emerging market firms’ host country location choice✰," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 59(4).
    14. Sergio Mariotti & Riccardo Marzano, 2019. "Varieties of capitalism and the internationalization of state-owned enterprises," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(5), pages 669-691, July.
    15. Shi, Xing & Zeng, Yujie & Wu, Yanrui & Wang, Shuai, 2023. "Outward foreign direct investment and green innovation in Chinese multinational companies," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(5).
    16. Rodrigues, Suzana B. & Dieleman, Marleen, 2018. "The internationalization paradox: Untangling dependence in multinational state hybrids," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 39-51.
    17. Li, Wen Helena & Guo, Bin & De Sisto, Marco, 2021. "Untangling the commonalities and differences between domestic cross-regional experience and international experience in shaping speed of internationalization," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(2).
    18. 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.
    19. Bin Guo & Gangxiang Xu & Wen Li, 2017. "Seeking legitimacy: Chinese OFDI and domestic isomorphic pressures," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 16(1), pages 1-24, April.
    20. Jones, Chris & Temouri, Yama & Kirollos, Karim & Du, Jun, 2023. "Tax havens and emerging market multinationals: The role of property rights protection and economic freedom," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PB).

    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:pal:abaman:v:18:y:2019:i:5:d:10.1057_s41291-019-00058-2. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave.com .

    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.