SS25:China`s Firms in Global Markets
Perfilado de sección
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Welcome to Chinese Firms in Global Markets; a seminar that will guide you through the successes and pitfalls of some of China's best known companies and their internationalization strategies. In the coming weeks and months, we will uncover why some companies decide to invest abroad, what methods they deploy and which strategies have proven most conducive in different industries. You will come to recognize household names such as Huawei in telecommunications, ByteDance in social media or Suning's investments in global sports, but also less known brands in the global fashion, automotive and electricity industries. At the end of the semester you will be able to differentiate between different strategies for Foreign Direct Investment, the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing or building a company from scratch.
IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!
WueCampus will be at the core of this semester's learning process. As always you have to read and prepare texts for the different topics. From time to time, you will be asked to complete additional tasks, such as exercises and quizzes, that you will need to complete over the course of the semester.
Overall, you should be able to plan your studies a bit more freely than usual. We will have live sessions, but besides that you can choose independently when to work on the materials. Just make sure you meet the deadlines for the respective tasks!
Please also make sure to regularly check this site over the course of the week. I will try and be as quick as possible in my preparations, so that all the material necessary for the next class is available immediately after the previous lectures.
You can always contact me via e-mail, if you have any questions.
I wish you all a fruitful, productive, informative and above all enjoyable semester!
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Today, we will take a look at the schedule for the upcoming semester and briefly discuss the overaching topics. Nothing to prepare for this session of cause.
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This week, we will be talking about the State Grid Corporation of China. It is the world's third largest company by revenue on the Fortune Global 500 List and the world's largest utility provider. We will be looking at the company's internationalization strategy under the lens of three theoretical frameworks: Push and Pull, OLI and International Investment Strategy. Please read the text below in preparation for this class.
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This week, we will be looking at the six phases of China's Overseas Foreign Direct Investment and placing these eras in juxtaposition with the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei. In doing so, we will uncover the first origins of Chinese investment abroad, evaluate its development and establish challenges for future investments, particularly in the EU and the US. At the same time, we will track Huawei's own rise as one of the world's largest providers of telecommunications equipment, as well as recent controversy over the company's involvement in future networks.
Please read the text ("Read this text for today's lesson") in preperation for the class. All other materials are supplementary.
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Today's a really flashy, extravagant lesson as we will be looking at jewelry, yachts, wine and all things bling. As requested we will be looking at the challenges China faces in overcoming country of origin effects to invest in high-end luxury industries. The two frameworks we will use in our examination are the aforementioned country of origin effects and the liabilities of foreignness; two theoretical concepts that help uncover hazards companies face when they invest in foreign markets. The firms we will be discussing are TTF (a high-end jewelry company from Shenzhen), Wanda's acquisition of the British yacht maker Sunseeker and examples of Chinese billionaires investing in French vineyards.
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This week, we will first learn two new models of internationalization: the Uppsala (or Stages) model and the New International Venture model. You will discover that these two models can be placed on opposite ends of a spectrum, a consideration we will use to evaluate the models' fit with our case study of today: Suning's investments in global sports.
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Today, we will be looking into COMAC and Chinese investments in global aviation. Specifically, we will investigate to what extent COMAC is able to affect, or even penetrate, the duopoly that has governed global aviation manufacturing for the last 50 years. To do so, we will evaluate the case of COMAC under the investigative gaze of transaction cost theory; a widely applied concept, that helps us understand why some companies produce certain steps in the production chain in-house rather than outsource activities to other companies.
Also, please remember the short essay about Bytedance's internationalization startegy you are supposed to write. The deadline is the 1st of June at 11:59 p.m. Please upload your PDF file in the 'Homework' tab, which you can find in the Bytedance session slot (next week).
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IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON HOMEWORK
For this class, please prepare a written case study of Bytedance's internationalization strategy consisting of ~ one page (not including the bibliography). You should research the company, select one of the internationalization theories you have learned and evaluate its suitability in explaining the rise of TikTok. Pleae make sure the paper is properly referenced and cited (in whatever style you prefer). The purposes of this homework is to give you feedback on your writing style and standard of academic writing. In exchange for this slightly more demanding piece of homework, you have had no texts to read for this lesson. Do not spend more than one afternoon on this task!
For the class, we will look at two theories: international entrepreneurial networks and institutional theory. As usual, we will then apply the two frameworks to Bytedance and look at what challenges the company faces in its expansion in other countries.
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Please hand in your short essay on the internationalization of ByteDance as a pdf. Thank you.
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This week, we will be studying a slightly unexpected and unusual theory for a class about firms: soft power. Usually, this term is closer associated with diplomatic and cultural relations between countries, but as we will see in today's case of Chinese firms in global film, garnering and deploying soft power can also be a potent tool that can benefit companies seeking investments abroad.
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Today's class will be a legal examination of the EU-China relationship and its consequences for Chinese firms investing in European mobility. Specifically, we will be looking at how the EU screens FDI, as well as the recent efforts to push through a Sino-European investment treaty (Comprehensive Agreement on Investment). As a case in point we will look at Geely's investments in European automobile companies, in particular its stealthy acquisition of nearly ten percent of shares in German giant Daimler.
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Today, we will be delving into the world of fashion, in particular fast fashion and the effects it has had on the global garment industry. For the theoretical section, we will be analysing global value chains and how the framework can be used to analyse market coordination and power structures between buyers and sellers. In the final section of our class, we will look at the Chinese company SheIn; a born global e-commerce platform that is revolutionising the world of fast fashion.
For the text today, please only read chapter four and the conclusion. The PDF has been shortened to include the correct sections and added the full book for anyone that is interested.
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Select a Chinese company that has not been covered in class and analyse its outwards FDI activities. Please introduce the firm and some relevant insights to the class and explain which internationalisation theory (or theories) fits best.
You will have 15min to present your case. Please create some slides and be creative!
Companies covered today:
Miniso
CATL
Mixue
Lenovo
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Select a Chinese company that has not been covered in class and analyse its outwards FDI activities. Please introduce the firm and some relevant insights to the class and explain which internationalisation theory (or theories) fits best.
You will have 15min to present your case. Please create some slides and be creative!
Companies covered today:
Temu
DJI
Xiaomi