The International Expansion of Chinese MNEs in Developed Markets: A Surfboard Perspective

The international landscape has changed remarkably in the last decade. This fast-changing business context necessitates the re-examination of the IB theories for Chinese MNEs’ internationalization in developed markets within the current volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) setting. In this paper, we firstly propose a novel term of ‘Western Shock’ to elucidate the unpleasant encounters and barriers Chinese MNEs are experiencing in developed markets. Furthermore, drawing on the springboard perspective and dynamic capabilities theory, we introduce a ‘surfboard perspective’ to help researchers and practitioners better understand the motives and behaviours of Chinese MNEs’ internationalization during the ‘post-springboard’ phase.