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The purpose of this paper is to identify whether the new Chinese phenomenon of going global in groups represents a more advantageous market entry mode than the phenomena considered in previous studies.

In this empirical research paper, the authors draw upon the literature in academic journals and books regarding the Chinese special economic zones overseas to analyze and compare collective internationalization (i.e. going global in groups) with traditional market entry modes as per the ownership, location and internalization paradigm (OLI) and transaction cost approach (TCA).

The authors identified that financial and diplomatic support provided by the Chinese Government has reinforced internationalization in groups, thereby minimizing some structural risks in host countries. Pre-operational and operating costs have been lowered or shared among group members, and weighted average cost of capital has dropped due to the availability of specific funding lines with subsidized interest rates.

Given the lack of available literature on the topic, the authors based their study of the collective internationalization of Chinese firms on very few cases, most of which represent market entry in African countries.

The study calls attention to a new, more efficient and less risky characteristic of international entry modes, which implies that companies can reap multiple benefits by entering markets in global groups.

As literature addressing market entry modes focuses mostly on individual enterprises, this paper contributes to the identification of advantages in collective internationalization.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

How do firms venture into overseas markets? This is a question that has vexed executives and academics alike since the days of the East India Company, and despite the wealth of research and experience that has been built up over the years, many executives would probably struggle not to say what they thought their firm should do, but why they think they know the answer. Did they learn it at business school? Did they ask similar firms for their experience? Or did they just go on gut feel? When the final decision is made in the boardroom, you can bet many directors just went on pure feeling of “what was right”.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

This study aims to investigate the entrance of Chinese-based Alipay’s mobile-payment (m-payment) technology into Malaysia. Malaysia allowed this entry of the first foreign m-payment company because it would allow Chinese tourists spending while they are visiting Malaysia. It will view this entrance from a Malaysian perspective.

The views of Malaysian players (Bank Negara Malaysia officers, three Malaysian banks’ officers, Alipay-Malaysia officers, airport section manager, convenience store manager and airport store sales executive) were sought via qualitative interview concerning Alipay’s entry into the Malaysian market. Respondents who had relevant knowledge and/or were involved in Alipay m-payment technology development in Malaysia were contacted, while there remainder were obtained by snowballing. Secondary data was collected from Bank Negara Malaysia’s policy, three Malaysian banks’ reports, the Alipay-Malaysia public statements and the Airport and Convenience Store reports. Triangulation using primary and secondary data was used to safeguard the validity and reliability of the outcomes.

The entry strategy used by Alipay was different from those reported in previous studies. The establishment of Alipay-Malaysia was the first element of the “mode of entry” gaining pioneer status in Malaysia. The next stage was gaining support from Bank Negara Malaysia-Malaysian Central Bank and three Malaysian banks (Maybank, Public Bank and CIMB) through collaborative ventures with Alipay-Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., leading to acceptance nationwide by local merchants. The key driver of acceptance being Chinese outbound tourists in Malaysia.

This case study was conducted during the early implementation of Alipay in Malaysia from 2015 until April 2019. During this period, there were challenges due to the lack of primary data. These were overcome by the support from the respondents and the secondary data.

This study contributes to insights from a different entry strategy that used tourism as a leading force. This can give guidance to other m-payment service providers or other countries as m-payment technology recipient about “market entry strategy” and “modes of entry” following Alipay’s approach.

To date, no study has been conducted to investigate the nature of Alipay m-payment in Malaysia. This qualitative study has examined the new phenomenon regarding how Alipay entered the Malaysian market. Moreover, this study can also contribute new insights into the existing theory of “market entry strategy” in terms of Alipay’s tourist-based approach.

This study introduces a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the foreign direct investment (FDI) literature by multinational corporations (MNCs) focusing on emerging economies to identify the most influential authors, journals and articles in FDI research and reveals the fields' conceptual and intellectual structures. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.

The study analyzed 533 articles published between 1974 and 2020 in 226 academic journals indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases. We used the R language for statistical computing to map author collaboration, co-word and develop a conceptual and intellectual map of the field.

The results show that, although the FDI literature has many authors, few dominate the field. The International Business Review (IBR) and International Journal of Emerging Markets (IJoEM) are the main sources of the publications. Moreover, bibliometric laws show that our dataset follows the Lotka law of scientific productivity and Bradford law of scattering, identifying the core journals. Finally, FDI by MNCs in emerging economies research is divided into four sub-research themes related to (1) FDI determinants, (2) entry mode, (3) MNCs and FDI performance and (4) the internationalization process.

The current article provides several starting points for practitioners and researchers investigating FDI. It contributes to broadening the vision of the field and offers recommendations for future studies.

Supplementing a previous review article on the internationalization of Chinese firms (ICF) by Deng (2012) that covers the period 1991–2010, the purpose of this paper is to examine how research on this subject has thematically expanded in recent years, systematically investigating the literature concerning the ICF between 2011 and June 2017 and highlighting the research advancements. Furthermore, it provides impulses for future research and outlines potential avenues for the overall future development of the entire ICF field.

Based on a systematic literature review, this paper categorizes the surveys reviewed according to the organizational framework of the research on the ICF provided by Deng (2012).

The results indicate that the research on the ICF has become more widespread and mature during the time period investigated. First, there are more articles examining functional management processes of Chinese firms. Consequently, new knowledge exists regarding the role, control and organization of foreign subsidiaries of Chinese enterprises and their host country institutional integration. Second, the state of knowledge regarding the implications of the ICF has increased. It is argued that the future convergence or divergence of the Chinese economic system determines the overall future development of research on the ICF.

This is the first review paper in the emerging ICF field that consciously continues the work of a previous review article, enabling the tracing of the thematic expansion of research on the ICF.

This study aims to analyse the efficiency effects of institutional distance on Chinese outward foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa.

The study utilised the true fixed-effect stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) model. Data from 2003 to 2016 (14 years) were acquired from 42 targeted African countries, which are included in the analysis.

The results reveal that FDI flow efficiency can be maximised with a high institutional distance between China and African countries. Contrariwise, comparable institutional distance, measured by the rule of law, regulatory quality and government effectiveness between the host and home countries, reflected a significant positive impact for Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDIs), indicating Chinese MNEs can invest directly in a country with comparable institutional characteristics.

There have been limited exceptional studies that assessed the effect of institutional distance between emerging countries. However, none of these studies investigated the effect of institutional distance between China and Africa at a national level. Using the advantage of the SFA model, this study assesses the efficiency effects of institutional distance between the host and home country.

The purpose of this paper is to study the operational process factors that affect successful strategy implementation in the Middle East.

Five operational process factors were studied (resource availability, communication, operational planning, people, control and feedback). Data were collected using a self-administrated questionnaire from employees who implement and/or are responsible for strategy implementation in 17 pharmaceutical companies. In total, 330 questionnaires were distributed, and a total of 259 were responded with a response rate of 78 per cent.

Findings revealed that four of the operational process factors, namely, resource availability, communication, operational planning in addition to control and feedback, strongly affect the success of strategy implementation. Further, resource availability was ascertained to be the most influential factor, followed by control and feedback, then by communication, while people factor showed no effect on the implementation process.

It is advised that, during the implementation phase, company management should provide staff employees with the necessary training and instructions to link employee performance with the overall reward and compensation system in the organization and to strengthen effective communication and coordination.

This is one of the few studies that cover operational process factors and successful strategy implementation and is the first study to test the model on companies in the pharmaceutical sector in the Middle East.

The main purpose of the paper is to examine the truth behind allegations of neo-colonialism performed by China toward Africa, which was raised due to the growing relationship between China and Africa that enhanced the debate between supporters of the notion of neo-colonialism or mutual beneficial relationship. In addition to the growing number of arguments are on the dominance of PRC in Africa over the western powers as European Union or United States in the Continent.

The paper investigates the claims of neo-colonialism practiced by China toward Africa through the lenses of international political economy using the Interdependence theory of neoliberalists. Egypt was selected as a case study due to the emphases that Egypt gives to China as a strategic partner and as rising economic power as well as representing a way of diversifying Egypt's foreign policy and an additional economic partner beside the western ones. The research relied on two interwoven indicators to investigate the main argument: Trade and Development Aid.

The two pillars of analysis indicate that the growing relationship between Egypt and China is a form of interdependent relationship that is expected to get further complex in the future, which is relatively indicated among other things in the synergy Egypt has made between its Vision 2030 and China's Belt and Road Initiative. In reference to development aid, China uses different techniques that is not commonly used by the donors of Official Development Assistance (“ODA”), and due to unpublished actual data on China's aid figures, any indication of dominance is hard to attain regardless a solo incident of debt trap in Africa, the model of China's aid is provided through low-interest loans for development projects that is highly important for developing countries.

The paper tried to engage in the ongoing debate and examine the truth behind the neo-colonial allegations from the perspective of international political economy, which is an added value to the literature in this regard as the data provided are prepared for the present research purpose.

Inter-organizational trust has a vital role in any external trade relationship. However, there are not many studies relating to growth strategies and inter-organizational trust in firms in emerging markets. The purpose of this paper is to identify and compare the effect of external growth strategies on the organizational performance of companies and to examine the mediating role of inter-organizational trust between growth strategies and organizational performance.

Data were collected from 240 senior managers from public listed companies (PLCs) in Malaysia and were analyzed using analysis of a moment structures.

The findings indicate that growth strategies have a significant effect on organizational performance. Strategic alliances and acquisitions also have significant effects on organizational performance. Moreover, inter-organizational trust fully mediates the effect of growth strategies on organizational performance.

As purposive sampling was used, selecting only managers with experience of the issues concerned, any common findings are likely to be generalizable to managers in similar situations.

Building inter-organizational trust among companies and relying on strategic alliance and acquisition, rather than merger, will sharpen their competitiveness and enable them to survive and thrive.

The increase in organizational performance of PLCs will have a significant effect on employment and on gross domestic product (GDP), which will have a beneficial effect on citizens.

Studies that are related to these variables in emerging economies are still in their infancy. This study compared the effect of external growth strategies and contributed to the literature in the area of trust and external growth strategies.