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Chinese FDI strategy in Italy: the 'Marco Polo' effect

Author

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  • Carlo Pietrobelli
  • Roberta Rabellotti
  • Marco Sanfilippo

Abstract

This study investigates the motivations driving Chinese outward direct investment to Italy. The analysis is based on secondary sources and in-depth interviews with key informants and senior managers of Chinese affiliates in Italy. The evolution of the Chinese firms' pattern of entry in Italy confirms the model followed by Chinese firms in other European countries, but we obtain some additional interesting results. Chinese investments in Italy are increasingly targeting the acquisition of technological capabilities and of design skills and brands to tap local competences available in specialised manufacturing clusters in sectors such as automotives and home appliances. They try to link, leverage and learn from foreign acquisitions. The main industries of specialisation of Chinese OFDI in Italy reflect this approach and appear to be related to China's strategy to increase the sophistication of its exports and to move away from standardised commodities and intermediate manufactures and components.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlo Pietrobelli & Roberta Rabellotti & Marco Sanfilippo, 2011. "Chinese FDI strategy in Italy: the 'Marco Polo' effect," International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 4(4), pages 277-291.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijtlid:v:4:y:2011:i:4:p:277-291
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Christian Dreger & Yun Schüler-Zhou & Margot Schüller, 2017. "Determinants of Chinese direct investments in the European Union," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(42), pages 4231-4240, September.
    2. Amighini, Alessia & Cozza, Claudio & Rabellotti, Roberta & Sanfilippo, Marco, 2014. "An analysis of Chinese outward FDIs in Europe with firm-level data," Papers in Innovation Studies 2014/2, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    3. Fu, Xiaolan & Sun, Zhongjuan & Ghauri, Pervez N., 2018. "Reverse knowledge acquisition in emerging market MNEs: The experiences of Huawei and ZTE," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 202-215.
    4. Pareja-Alcaraz, Pablo, 2017. "Chinese investments in Southern Europe's energy sectors: Similarities and divergences in China's strategies in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 700-710.
    5. Filippov, Sergey, 2012. "European investment promotion agencies vis-à-vis multinational companies from emerging economies: Comparative analysis of BRIC investor targeting," MERIT Working Papers 2012-076, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    6. Alessia Amighini & Roberta Rabellotti & Marco Sanfilippo, 2013. "China's Outward FDI: An Industry-Level Analysis of Host-Country Determinants," Frontiers of Economics in China-Selected Publications from Chinese Universities, Higher Education Press, vol. 8(3), pages 309-336, September.
    7. Cozza, C. & Rabellotti, R. & Sanfilippo, M., 2015. "The impact of outward FDI on the performance of Chinese firms," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 42-57.
    8. Rania S. Miniesy & Eman Elish, 2016. "Is MENA Different? An Investigation of the Host Country Determinants of Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investment," Working Papers 1024, Economic Research Forum, revised Jul 2016.

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