IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/rdevec/v26y2022i3p1411-1437.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Distance of doing business and outward foreign direct investment: An empirical study of China

Author

Listed:
  • Xinbei Qian
  • Dexue Liu
  • Liangxiong Huang
  • Hanchao Li

Abstract

Differences between the business environment in the home country and the host country are an important factor when enterprises consider their location choice with regard to outward foreign direct investment (OFDI). However, this is ignored by much existing literature. Based on the trade‐off framework of international firms between exporting and participation in OFDI under the condition of heterogeneous enterprises, this paper constructs a theoretical model of the impact of distance of doing business (DDB) on OFDI. We take China's OFDI as an example and use the World Bank Group's Ease of Doing Business Index to construct the DDB indicator, as well as test the impact of the DDB on China's OFDI by combining the macro‐location panel data of China's OFDI between 2004 and 2017. The results showed that increasing DDB significantly reduces the scale of China's OFDI. The effect is robust. The mechanism is that DDB significantly decreases the success rate of OFDI and increases the cost of OFDI, thereby decreasing the scale of OFDI. Further analysis then finds that official acts, such as building partnerships, and folk acts, such as increasing cultural identity, can significantly reduce the negative effect of DDB on OFDI.

Suggested Citation

  • Xinbei Qian & Dexue Liu & Liangxiong Huang & Hanchao Li, 2022. "Distance of doing business and outward foreign direct investment: An empirical study of China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 1411-1437, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:rdevec:v:26:y:2022:i:3:p:1411-1437
    DOI: 10.1111/rode.12890
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12890
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/rode.12890?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steven Globerman & Daniel Shapiro, 2003. "Governance infrastructure and US foreign direct investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 34(1), pages 19-39, January.
    2. Bruce Kogut & Harbir Singh, 1988. "The Effect of National Culture on the Choice of Entry Mode," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 19(3), pages 411-432, September.
    3. Christian Daude & Ernesto Stein, 2007. "The Quality Of Institutions And Foreign Direct Investment," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 317-344, November.
    4. 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.
    5. Rafael Cezar & Octavio Escobar, 2015. "Institutional distance and foreign direct investment," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 151(4), pages 713-733, November.
    6. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2009. "Cultural Biases in Economic Exchange?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(3), pages 1095-1131.
    7. 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.
    8. Bruce Blonigen, 2005. "A Review of the Empirical Literature on FDI Determinants," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 33(4), pages 383-403, December.
    9. Desislava Dikova & Padma Rao Sahib & Arjen van Witteloostuijn, 2010. "Cross-border acquisition abandonment and completion: The effect of institutional differences and organizational learning in the international business service industry, 1981–2001," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(2), pages 223-245, February.
    10. Mariya Aleksynska & Olena Havrylchyk, 2013. "•FDI from the South: The role of institutional distance and natural resources," Post-Print hal-01410591, HAL.
    11. Agnès Bénassy‐Quéré & Maylis Coupet & Thierry Mayer, 2007. "Institutional Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 764-782, May.
    12. Shige Makino & Eric W K Tsang, 2011. "Historical ties and foreign direct investment: An exploratory study," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 42(4), pages 545-557, May.
    13. Qian, Xinbei & Huang, Liangxiong & Wang, Xianbin & Wang, Shuqi, 2022. "Detecting pivotal countries of China's OFDI in the “Belt and Road” initiative: The perspective of similarity of doing business," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 296-311.
    14. Gokmen, Gunes, 2017. "Clash of civilizations and the impact of cultural differences on trade," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 449-458.
    15. Jayasuriya, Dinuk, 2011. "Improvements in the World Bank's ease of doing business rankings : do they translate into greater foreign direct investment inflows ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5787, The World Bank.
    16. Wenjie Chen & David Dollar & Heiwai Tang, 2018. "Why Is China Investing in Africa? Evidence from the Firm Level," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 32(3), pages 610-632.
    17. Mohsin Habib & Leon Zurawicki, 2002. "Corruption and Foreign Direct Investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(2), pages 291-307, June.
    18. Peter J Buckley & Timothy M Devinney & Jordan J Louviere, 2007. "Do managers behave the way theory suggests? A choice-theoretic examination of foreign direct investment location decision-making," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(7), pages 1069-1094, December.
    19. Saul Estrin & Jan Hanousek & Evzen Kocenda & Jan Svejnar, 2009. "The Effects of Privatization and Ownership in Transition Economies," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(3), pages 699-728, September.
    20. Novy, Dennis, 2006. "Is the Iceberg Melting Less Quickly? International Trade Costs after World War II," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 764, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    21. Mudambi, Ram & Navarra, Pietro, 2002. "Institutions and internation business: a theoretical overview," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(6), pages 635-646, December.
    22. Daniel H. Rosen & Thilo Hanemann, 2009. "China's Changing Outbound Foreign Direct Investment Profile: Drivers and Policy Implications," Policy Briefs PB09-14, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    23. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, April.
    24. Elhanan Helpman & Marc J. Melitz & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2004. "Export Versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 300-316, March.
    25. 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.
    26. Branimir Jovanovic & Biljana Jovanovic, 2018. "Ease of doing business and FDI in the ex-socialist countries," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 587-627, July.
    27. Dinuk Jayasuriya, 2011. "Improvements in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Rankings: Do they translate into greater foreign direct investment inflows?," Development Policy Centre Discussion Papers 1108, Development Policy Centre, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    28. Kaufmann, Daniel & Kraay, Aart & Mastruzzi, Massimo, 2010. "The worldwide governance indicators : methodology and analytical issues," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5430, The World Bank.
    29. Hyung-Gon Jeong, 2014. "The Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in the Business Services Industry," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 475-495, September.
    30. Adrian Corcoran & Robert Gillanders, 2015. "Foreign direct investment and the ease of doing business," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 151(1), pages 103-126, February.
    31. Hein Roelfsema & Yi Zhang, 2012. "The causal effect of institutional quality on outsourcing," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(6), pages 895-920, January.
    32. Papageorgiadis, Nikolaos & McDonald, Frank & Wang, Chengang & Konara, Palitha, 2020. "The characteristics of intellectual property rights regimes: How formal and informal institutions affect outward FDI location," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(1).
    33. Larimo, Jorma, 2003. "Form of investment by Nordic firms in world markets," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 56(10), pages 791-803, October.
    34. Kelley, Dennis & Coner, Joshua Klatte & Lyles, Marjorie A., 2013. "Chinese foreign direct investment in the United States: Location choice determinants and strategic implications for the State of Indiana," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 443-451.
    35. Yeaple, Stephen Ross, 2009. "Firm heterogeneity and the structure of U.S. multinational activity," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 206-215, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. 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.
    2. Maria Borga & Perla Ibarlucea Flores & Monika Sztajerowska, 2020. "Drivers of divestment decisions of multinational enterprises - A cross-country firm-level perspective," OECD Working Papers on International Investment 2019/03, OECD Publishing.
    3. Nielsen, Bo Bernhard & Asmussen, Christian Geisler & Weatherall, Cecilie Dohlmann, 2017. "The location choice of foreign direct investments: Empirical evidence and methodological challenges," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 62-82.
    4. Qian, Xinbei & Huang, Liangxiong & Wang, Xianbin & Wang, Shuqi, 2022. "Detecting pivotal countries of China's OFDI in the “Belt and Road” initiative: The perspective of similarity of doing business," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 296-311.
    5. 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.
    6. Rafael Cezar & Octavio Escobar, 2015. "Institutional distance and foreign direct investment," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 151(4), pages 713-733, November.
    7. 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.
    8. Heavilin, Jason & Songur, Hilmi, 2020. "Institutional distance and Turkey’s outward foreign direct investment," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    9. 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.
    10. Gonchar, Ksenia & Greve, Maria, 2022. "The impact of political risk on FDI exit decisions," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(2).
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. Samira Ben Belgacem & Moheddine Younsi & Marwa Bechtini & Abad Alzuman & Rabeh Khalfaoui, 2024. "Do Financial Development, Institutional Quality and Natural Resources Matter the Outward FDI of G7 Countries? A Panel Gravity Model Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-24, March.
    15. Contractor, Farok J. & Dangol, Ramesh & Nuruzzaman, N. & Raghunath, S., 2020. "How do country regulations and business environment impact foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2).
    16. Maureen Lankhuizen & Henri L. F. de Groot & Gert‐Jan M. Linders, 2011. "The Trade‐Off between Foreign Direct Investments and Exports: The Role of Multiple Dimensions of Distance," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(8), pages 1395-1416, August.
    17. Sophie Therese Schneider & Konstantin M. Wacker, 2022. "Explaining the global landscape of foreign direct investment: Knowledge capital, gravity, and the role of culture and institutions," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(10), pages 3080-3108, October.
    18. Chunyang Pan & William X. Wei & Etayankara Muralidharan & Jia Liao & Bernadette Andreosso-O’Callaghan, 2020. "Does China’s Outward Direct Investment Improve the Institutional Quality of the Belt and Road Countries?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-21, January.
    19. Wasseem Mina, 2018. "Labor Market Policies and FDI Flows to GCC Countries," Working Papers 1201, Economic Research Forum, revised 27 May 2018.
    20. Xie, Qing & Yin, Hua, 2024. "Business environment and the choice of entry mode of OFDI: Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bla:rdevec:v:26:y:2022:i:3:p:1411-1437. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1363-6669 .

    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.