Chinese investment in Central and Eastern Europe: Studying the evolution of industrial relations after the takeover of a Slovenian company

Branko BembiÄ

European Journal of Industrial Relations, 2025, vol. 31, issue 2, z253-277

Abstract: The article studies the approach Chinese investors apply to industrial relations at the company level in Central and Eastern Europe. The takeover of a home appliances producer in Slovenia by a Chinese state-owned enterprise and the trajectory of company-level industrial relations are analysed. Adopting a political economy approach, we examine the role played by market-related factors (especially FDI motivation), institutional context, trade union power resources and the Chinese state as an investor. The study contributes in two ways. First, it shows the inadequacy of market-based explanations as host institutions and actors modify transfer outcomes, blurring the ideal types, such as the ‘latecomer’ model and its apparent CEE counterpart. Second, the strategic interests of Chinese SOEs may unwillingly empower local actors struggling to influence transfer outcomes.

Keywords: Industrial relations; Slovenia; Central and Eastern Europe; power resources; latecomer model; Chinese foreign direct investment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09596801241284897 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:eurjou:v:31:y:2025:i:2:p:z253-277

DOI: 10.1177/09596801241284897

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in European Journal of Industrial Relations
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().