Chinese Multinational Enterprises in a New Reality: Advancing International Business Theory

Fang Lee Cooke (), Maoliang Bu, Jeoung Yul Lee (), Byung Il Park () and Andrew Delios
Additional contact information
Fang Lee Cooke: Monash university
Maoliang Bu: NJU - Nanjing University
Jeoung Yul Lee: EM - EMLyon Business School
Byung Il Park: Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (South Korea, Seoul) - HUFS
Andrew Delios: NUS - National University of Singapore

Working Papers from HAL

Abstract: This introduction paper for our special issue on Chinese multinational enterprises (CMNEs) situates the important theme of CMNE growth within the context of rapid technological innovation, intensified geopolitical tensions, and trade wars in the global business environment of the mid-2020s. Using this context as a backdrop, we discuss the growth of CMNEs to derive implications for international business (IB) theory. We review key theoretical perspectives that inform prior research on CMNEs and outline the key challenges confronting CMNEs' international expansion, as gauged against prior research. We summarize key theoretical insights from the eight papers included in this special issue. We then illustrate how future research can be informed by an explicit consideration of the international sanctions and geopolitical tensions in which CMNEs operate, as well as by the growing technological, linguistic, and ideological distance between China and European and North American countries, which influences CMNEs' international strategies. We conclude by noting that at this critical juncture in CMNEs' development, there are substantial opportunities for the IB community to broaden research and challenge existing theories by capturing the latest trends in the international expansion of CMNEs.

Keywords: Chinese multinational enterprise; geopolitics; ideological distance; international sanctions; language distance; technological distance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-02-22
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

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:hal:wpaper:hal-05522681

DOI: 10.1017/mor.2026.10125

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().