Investment strategies by foreign automobile firms in China: A comparative study of Volkswagen, Honda, and Hyundai

Hwy-Chang Moon

Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, 2005, vol. 3, issue 2, 151-171

Abstract: The main question motivating this research is: why did foreign automakers (i.e. Volkswagen, Honda, and Hyundai) decide to enter different markets within China (Shanghai, Guangdong and Beijing respectively)? We analyze this situation in three steps. First, by applying Dunning's Eclectic (OLI) Paradigm, we show Volkswagen, Honda and Hyundai entered China to exploit their technological firm specific assets. Instead of traditional market instruments, these firms engaged in FDI to access China's large market because of the high regulations on its automobile industry. The second section incorporates the Diamond Model analysis and concludes that Shanghai is the most attractive automobile cluster. Although the OLI predicts all firms to enter the most attractive location, Shanghai, the firms actually entered three separate regions. In the following section, we adopt the Imbalance Theory to clarify the rationale behind choosing alternate locations. The Imbalance Theory conclusively demonstrates that geographical diversification occurred as a direct result of the strategic goals of the individual firms.

Keywords: Automobile industry in China; FDI; Eclectic (OLI) Paradigm; Diamond Model; Imbalance Theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14765280500120096 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:taf:jocebs:v:3:y:2005:i:2:p:151-171

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RCEA20

DOI: 10.1080/14765280500120096

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies is currently edited by Professor Xiaming Liu

More articles in Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().