Multinational Enterprises from China: Distinctive Features, Theoretical Background, and Research Perspectives

In recent years, Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) have made significant investments in other countries, even acquiring internationally recognized Western brands. The internationalization process of Chinese MNEs presents distinctive characteristics that make it different from that followed by their counterparts from developed countries. These unique features are an accelerated internationalization process, sometimes without previous ownership advantages, and a relatively lower aversion to risk. All this has opened an epistemological debate among scholars about whether traditional theories, built upon developed country MNEs, can be applied to explain the idiosyncratic behavior of Chinese MNEs, or if it is necessary to develop new theories. This article shows the underlying reasons that may explain this less conventional behavior and addresses the theoretical frameworks used by scholars.