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  2014, Vol. 44 Issue (1): 184-196    DOI: 10.3785/j.issn.1008-942X.2013.05.151
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Chinese OFDI Location Preferences with Country-specific Advantages: An Empirical Analysis Based on Firms' Investment Motivation and Capability
Xiao Wen Zhou Junzhi

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Abstract  

Since 2003, Chinese outward foreign direct investment(OFDI) location choice has focused on three groups of host countries or regions, namely: countries or regions rich in natural resources but with high risk, developing countries or regions with abundant cheap labor, and highly developed countries or regions with plentiful sophisticated technologies. In order to realize the two national strategic goals-resource security and industrial structure adjustment, the Chinese government resorts to the twisted domestic financing system to grant preferential loan to the OFDI industries seeking SOEs(state-owned enterprises) to increase their investment capability in those countries or regions where economic risk is relatively high. Also, the Chinese government has actively promoted the establishment of foreign economic and trade cooperation zones in both Asian and African developing countries, improved the local supporting industries, and facilitated traditional Chinese manufacturing enterprises in their search of cheap labor in Asian-African countries to exert their industrial agglomeration advantages. Furthermore, the Chinese government has issued export-oriented policies and the foreign investment policies to increase the internationalization experience of Chinese firms and to promote their investment capability in the host countries or regions. The above-mentioned are the mechanism of how ″country-specific advantage″ influences Chinese OFDI location choice.  This paper examines Chinese OFDI location choice from 2003 to 2010, and finds that Chinese OFDI does prefer countries or regions which have plenty of natural resources, cheap labor and/or strategic resources. In addition, with country-specific advantages, Chinese OFDI which seeks natural resources has stronger preference for countries or regions with high economic risk|for the OFDI which seeks cheap labor has less preference for host countries or regions of close geographic distance|and the internationalization experience becomes the key attraction for Chinese OFDI seeking strategic capital. The highlights of this paper lie in three aspects. Firstly, for the empirical model, this paper turns Buckley's generalized FDI model into one that can explain different OFDI location choices by integrating the factors affecting investment motivation with the factors affecting investment capability. Secondly, to explain where the ownership advantage of Chinese OFDI firms comes from, this paper embeds Chinese OFDI into China's macro-economic development background, relying on country-specific advantages to distinguish three different types of ownership advantage. Thirdly, to discover the unique Chinese OFDI location preferences, this paper finds that Chinese OFDIs prefer to invest in high-risk countries such as Iran or Iraq, that driven by the search for both natural resources and cheap labor, Chinese OFDI to Africa has surged, and that Chinese OFDI which seeks strategic resources tends to invest in countries or regions where China has had internationalization experience before, such as Japan and South Korea.

Key wordsOFDI      country-specific advantage      location choice      investment motivation      investment capability      strategic assets     
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Xiao Wen Zhou Junzhi
Cite this article:   
Xiao Wen Zhou Junzhi. Chinese OFDI Location Preferences with Country-specific Advantages: An Empirical Analysis Based on Firms' Investment Motivation and Capability[J]. , 2014, 44(1): 184-196.
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https://www.zjujournals.com/soc/EN/10.3785/j.issn.1008-942X.2013.05.151     OR     https://www.zjujournals.com/soc/EN/Y2014/V44/I1/184
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