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Location Choices of Chinese Multinationals in Europe: The Role of Overseas Communities

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  • Bas Karreman
  • Martijn J. Burger
  • Frank G. van Oort

Abstract

Overseas Chinese communities are an important determinant in the location choice of greenfield investments made by mainland Chinese multinational enterprises across European regions. Conceptually embedded in a relational approach, this effect is shown through an empirical analysis of an exhaustive set of investment projects across NUTS-1 regions in twenty-six European countries for the period 2003–2010. When controlling for endogeneity bias and the embeddedness of existing Chinese economic activity, we find that the importance of overseas communities in the location choices of Chinese firms is based on increased access to strategic information. Our results confirm that the relationship between the size of an overseas Chinese community and the probability of Chinese investment is stronger for communities hosting newer generations of Chinese migrants; in addition, they partially corroborate that this relationship is stronger when the education level of the community’s Chinese migrants is higher. Our findings are particularly robust in the context of knowledge-intensive sectors and high value-added functions.

Suggested Citation

  • Bas Karreman & Martijn J. Burger & Frank G. van Oort, 2017. "Location Choices of Chinese Multinationals in Europe: The Role of Overseas Communities," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 93(2), pages 131-161, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:recgxx:v:93:y:2017:i:2:p:131-161
    DOI: 10.1080/00130095.2016.1248939
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    1. Hutzschenreuter, Thomas & Matt, Tanja & Kleindienst, Ingo, 2020. "Going subnational: A literature review and research agenda," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(4).
    2. Xinyi Liang & Junsong Wang & Bingquan Lin & Xianzhong Cao & Yuefang Si, 2022. "China’s Outward Direct Investment in the United States: From the perspective of agglomeration economies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(6), pages 1-15, June.
    3. Le Chang & Jing Li & Kee-Cheok Cheong & Lim-Thye Goh, 2021. "Can Existing Theories Explain China’s Outward Foreign Direct Investment in Belt and Road Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-17, January.
    4. Ruilin Yang & Harald Bathelt, 2022. "China's outward investment activity: Ambiguous findings in the literature and empirical trends in greenfield investments," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 313-341, March.
    5. Junsong Wang & Yehua Dennis Wei & Bingquan Lin, 2021. "Functional division and location choices of Chinese outward FDI: The case of ICT firms," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(5), pages 937-957, August.
    6. Bagci Utku Eren & Franz Martin & Yavan Nuri, 2022. "Ethnic networks in the internationalization of Turkish food producers," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 66(4), pages 201-210, November.
    7. Nicola Cortinovis & Riccardo Crescenzi & Frank van Oort, 2020. "Multinational enterprises, industrial relatedness and employment in European regions [Innovation: mapping the winds of creative destruction]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(5), pages 1165-1205.
    8. Ping Deng & Andrew Delios & Mike W. Peng, 2020. "A geographic relational perspective on the internationalization of emerging market firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(1), pages 50-71, February.
    9. Fascia, Michael, 2019. "Working Paper Series," OSF Preprints s7fg9, Center for Open Science.
    10. Rongjun Long & Wei Lang & Xun Li, 2020. "Does Institutional Embeddedness Promote Regional Enterprises’ Migration? An Empirical Analysis Based on the “Double Transfer” Strategy in Guangdong, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-21, April.
    11. Jorn Koelemaij, 2022. "The world’s number 1 real estate development exporter? Assessing announced transnational projects from the United Arab Emirates between 2003–2014," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 54(2), pages 226-246, March.
    12. Elia, Stefano & Kafouros, Mario & Buckley, Peter J., 2020. "The role of internationalization in enhancing the innovation performance of Chinese EMNEs: A geographic relational approach," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(4).
    13. Su, Zhongfeng & Li, Jiatao & Ye, Wenping & Shi, Yaya & Zhu, Bangzhu, 2025. "Co-ethnic immigrant communities, cross-national distance, and foreign location choice of family firms from emerging economies," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 60(4).
    14. Weiyang Zhang & Thomas Sigler, 2024. "Which ‘globalisations’ explain the overseas expansion of Chinese multinational enterprises through city-networks?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(6), pages 1614-1631, September.
    15. Lisha He, 2022. "Spatial Linkages in Chinese Service and Manufacturing Outward Fdi: Empirical Evidence From the United States," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 113(5), pages 450-468, December.
    16. Yifei Wang & Andrea Ascani & Carolina Castaldi, 2023. "Location choices of Chinese greenfield investments across EU regions: the role of industry and country-of-origin agglomerations," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(9), pages 1714-1730, September.
    17. Nicola Cortinovis & Riccardo Crescenzi & Frank van Oort, 0. "Multinational enterprises, industrial relatedness and employment in European regions," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(5), pages 1165-1205.
    18. repec:osf:osfxxx:s7fg9_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Lisha He & Mia M Bennett & Ronghao Jiang, 2022. "The uneven geography of real estate investment by Mainland Chinese state-owned and private enterprises in the U.S.: Local market conditions, migration, and ethnic networks," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 54(4), pages 653-675, June.
    20. Kim, Daekwan & Choi, Kyuyeong & Jean, Ruey-Jer “Bryan” & Cadogan, John, 2020. "Ethno-national ties and international business opportunity exploitation: The role of environmental factors," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4).
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    22. 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).
    23. Diego Useche & Ernest Miguelez & Francesco Lissoni, 2019. "Highly skilled and well connected: Migrant inventors in cross-border M&As," Post-Print halshs-02024499, HAL.
    24. Witte, Caroline T. & Burger, Martijn J. & Pennings, Enrico, 2020. "When political instability devaluates home-host ties," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(4).
    25. Diego Useche & Ernest Miguelez & Francesco Lissoni, 2020. "Highly skilled and well connected: Migrant inventors in cross-border M&As," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(5), pages 737-763, July.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F20 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - General
    • L20 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - General
    • R30 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - General

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