Chinese firms' internationalization paths by strategic asset-seeking outward foreign direct investment

FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) outflows from People's Republic of China increased dramatically since increasing firms' accelerated internationalization. But the conditions of Chinese firms' outward FDI are quite different from that of most firms from developed countries. FDI from developed countries to China is usually exploitation of advantages the investors already possessed like cutting-edge technology and global brand reputation. But FDI from China to developed countries is exploration of such advantages. In other word, outward FDI becomes an effective way for Chinese firms to gain strategic assets for internationalization. This paper adopts strategic asset-seeking as the motivation of Chinese firms' outward FDI and identified different internationalization paths through case studies. Based on interviews and complementary secondary materials we found out, 1) the most important two strategic assets for Chinese firms' internationalization are technology and brand, 2) the three different internationalization paths are path by technology sourcing outward FDI, path by brand acquiring outward FDI, and path by both technology and brand seeking outward FDI.