Global Ambitions: Chinese Companies Spread Their Wings

Abstract

Spectacular acquisitions of well-known international firms by Chinese companies have triggered both surprise and unease in the West. Looking at the headlines of some recently published articles on this rather new phenomenon, most of them reflect the “China threat“ thinking now common in the West: “The dragon tucks in“ (The Economist, 30.06.05), “China: Is the World Really Prepared?“ (Bernstein 2004), “The Chinese are coming“ (Der Spiegel, 1/2005), and “Will the World become Chinese?“ (Die Zeit, 25/2005). This article aims at providing a more balanced understanding of the importance of Chinese companies’ global expansion. The first section of this article gives an overview of the development of China’s overseas investment. Section 2 looks at the international mergers & acquisitions (M&A) activities of Chinese companies. Section 3 studies the role of the Government in the “going out“ strategy. Section 4 deals with the quest of Chinese companies to become global players, and the final section analyses the prospects of Chinese overseas investment.