Zhang Jianhong

• PhD
• Nyenrode Business University

Ethnic issues have been creating complex sociopolitical realities and grand challenges for economic activities in many countries, yet much less is known about their micro‐level effects on international business. This study explores the impact of ethnic polarization in target countries on equity ownership in cross‐border acquisitions (CBAs) by emerg...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of political instability at the local level on foreign firms in China. Building on the literature on political embeddedness and business power, the authors propose a theoretical framework to explain how political turnover can affect foreign firms’ performance and how they respond to suc...

This study contributes to the debate on whether Chinese multinational enterprises (CMNEs) are different from advanced-economy multinational enterprises (AMNEs) by applying the springboard perspective and the path dependence perspective to examine the differences between their practices of employing local workforce (namely local hiring) when they en...

Although the "parties-do-matter-hypothesis" has been recognized, we know little about the micro-level effect of the political ideology on cross-border acquisition (CBA). This study investigates the impact of the political ideology of a governing party in host countries on Chinese multinational enterprises' (CMNEs) CBAs. Drawing on the concept of or...

We seek to offer a threefold contribution to extant knowledge regarding the effect of public service motivation on the actual behavior of individual citizens. First, theoretically, we examine the role of public service motivation as a potential antecedent of in-group favoritism and out-group discrimination in an inter-country context through a conf...

Although the importance of digital technology has been recognized in the entrepreneurship literature, we know relatively little about how and to what extent it influences a nation’s entrepreneurial activities. Drawing on the concept of entrepreneurial ecosystem, this study developed a conceptual model to explain the impact of digital technology on...

Drawing on the information processing perspective from psychology, the study builds and tests a conceptual model to explain how the country-of-origin image (COI) and media coverage are associated with the organizational legitimacy of emerging multinational enterprises (EMNEs), and how the relationships are moderated by the education level of indivi...

Although negativity bias is well-documented in media and communication studies, negative news may not always be more influential than positive news. This study adds to the literature by looking at how the positive-negative asymmetry varies with the characteristics of the objects. It examines the media effect on the public perception of three large...

Entry of new organizations, including multinational enterprises from emerging markets (EMNEs), raises the ethical question of will they benefit society. The concept of legitimacy answers this question because it is the overall assessment of the appropriateness of organizational ends and means. Moreover, gaining legitimacy enables EMNEs to succeed i...

This paper contributes to the literature on emerging multinational enterprises (EMNEs) by revealing how the conditions in their home countries influence their cross-border acquisitions. The study focuses on the liability of emergingness (LOE). It develops an integrative theoretical framework based on neo-institutional theory and the concept of legi...

Based on real option theory and transaction cost theory, we hypothesize that a high level of governing party fractionalization in the host country’s government fosters FDI because high governing party fractionalization is associated with low economic policy uncertainty. By using the data of governing party fractionalization in 135 host countries an...

How do perceptions of country-of-origin image (COI) relate to willingness of Western people to work for subsidiaries in advanced countries of multinational enterprises from emerging countries (EMNEs)? We seek to shed light on this question by exploring six hypotheses based on environment-processing metatheory. Applying a PLS-SEM analysis of online...

Purpose Despite the scholarly attention for the integration of sustainability within business strategy and processes, little is known about how strategic orientations of companies influence this integration. Drawing on stewardship theory, this paper aims to analyse the influence of strategic orientation of companies on their environmental, social a...

This paper investigates the relationship between host country's political turnover and Chinese OFDI and explores how the relationship is rested on political conditions． Based on legitimacy theory，the study establishes a conceptual model and develops hypotheses. Through this new perspective，the paper provides a novel theoretical framework to analyse...

To increase our knowledge of the development of childcare services in the less developed world and to assist childcare service providers and policymakers in understanding parents’ perceptions of related newly developed organizations, this study explores the perception-based factors that influence parents’ willingness to use center-based, rather tha...

This article explores whether and how regional corruption determines private firms' survival in transition economies from a political favoritism perspective. We argue that regional corruption facilitates the likelihood of private firms' survival, but the magnitude to which private firms' survival responses to corruption is contingent on not only of...

This paper examines the antecedents of the corporate image of Chinese multinational enterprises (CMNEs) as a group in a developed economy, the Netherlands. Using insights from cognitive psychology, we developed a conceptual model to illustrate the impact of individual experiences and image transfer on the corporate image of CMNEs. The primary argum...

This study explores the effect of certification on profitability in a transition economy. Obtaining a certification is a strategic legitimacy action that positively affects a firm’s profitability, specifically for a foreign firm in a transition economy, where institutions are less developed and stable. However, we argue that certification is partic...

Multinational enterprises from emerging markets (EMNEs) face the double hurdles of liabilities of foreignness and emergingness. Gaining legitimacy is one way to overcome these hurdles, and past work has looked at a number of organizational and field-level indicators of legitimacy. Recent research on legitimacy has drawn attention to the individual...

Reviewing the internationalization theories and empirical studies of emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs), this paper points out the weakness of extant theories, and systematically compares China’s country specific advantages (CSA), in terms of advantages of market, technology, capital and institutions, relative to host countries in th...

This study investigates the negative effect of the home country’s institutional image on emerging-market multinational companies’ acquisitions, and how these companies can increase their acquisition completion by overcoming this effect. We propose that a foreign acquisition is more likely to be completed if: (1) the acquirer has an extended home ba...

Despite the international status of China and India rising dramatically in the previous decades, trade between the two countries did not grow accordingly. This paper investigates the determinants of the bilateral trade performance during the period of 2008–2012 from two perspectives: comparative advantage and trade protection. Two cases, Chinese ex...

Extending the home base perspective by considering investors’ parent countries, this study examines the effect of economic freedom on emerging-market enterprises’ (EMEs) overseas acquisition completion in developed target countries. Using a large data set of 5,174 cross-border acquisition deals from ten major emerging markets during 1990-2011, we f...

By using a two-dimensional and multi-variables approach, this study investigates the competitiveness and dynamics of Chinese industries from the perspective of the international marketplace. The paper reveals the step-by-step transformation of the degree of global competitiveness across 97 Chinese industries during the last decade. A new metric is...

Many foreign firms tend to follow the market-seeking mandate in China. This orientation alone does not guarantee superior performance. From the perspectives of strategic fit and institutional theory, this research seeks to reveal several conditions under which market-seeking MNEs can achieve superior performance in China. Using data of 5,080 foreig...

Many foreign firms tend to follow the market-seeking mandate in China. This orientation alone does not guarantee superior performance. From the perspectives of strategic fit and institutional theory, this research seeks to reveal several conditions under which market-seeking MNEs can achieve superior performance in China. Using data of 5,080 foreig...

Purpose ‐ The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of diplomatic activities on outward foreign direct investment (OFDI). Design/methodology/approach ‐ The paper first develops a set of hypotheses drawing insights from politics, international business and institutional theory. It then tests these hypotheses by estimation of Panel Corrected...

This study examines how industrial characteristics at home affect Chinese overseas acquisition activities from an industry-level resource-based view. Analyzing data on 512 Chinese overseas acquisition deals across 36 industries in 60 countries over 2003–2008, we find that: (1) firms in industries with higher levels of technology intensity are more...

Culture researchers have devoted substantial effort to identifying cultural differences between countries using different cultural dimensions. According to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, the most important characteristics of Chinese culture are its high level of collectivism and power distance, with the Chinese having a relatively low level of unc...

Using a two-dimensional multi-variable approach, this article investigates the competitiveness and dynamics of Chinese industries from the perspective of the international marketplace. The study reveals the step-by-step transformation of the degree of global competitiveness across 97 Chinese industries during the last decade. A new metric is applie...

Through the development of globalization，the role of diplomacy, political relation and institutional system has been extended. Their impact on economic activities is also changed. An in-depth analysis and better understanding of the relations between the political relations and economic activities is needed in both practical and theoretical perspec...

This study develops a two-dimension and multi-variable approach to investigate the competitiveness and dynamics of Chinese industries (products groups). The result reveals the orderly transformation of competitiveness across 97 Chinese industries. In order to determine the position of China’s industries in the world market, we also investigate the...

Extending institutional theory, we incorporate a neglected but important construct of institution, economic nationalism, into a model that specifies its influences on cross-border acquisition success. Using a data set containing 7,275 announced cross-border acquisition deals in China during 1985-2010, the study finds empirical support for our model...

This study provides an in-depth analysis of the determinants of import demand in China through a multilevel approach. Using disaggregated data over 1996–2008 and a dynamic panel model, we find that the Chinese import market is predominantly characterized by quality competition. However, the nature of the competition varies across different industri...

Globalization’s impact on the world economy has made it one of the most popular points of discussion in the past two decades. It not only causes drastic changes in trade relations, capital flows and tourist flows across the world but also creates a web of connections between national economies. No country can escape from this influence, and no coun...

This study investigates how institutional factors influence the likelihood that Chinese overseas acquisition deals are completed. We argue that a Chinese firm to succeed in a cross-border acquisition is an outcome of the multi-level institutional contingencies. Using a data set containing 1324 announced Chinese cross-border acquisition deals over t...

China's position in the world economy during the past half-century provides vital information for investigating the relation between politics and trade. Although there is a substantial number of studies in this area, the current study extends the literature in at least three ways: (1) it is one of the first studies that investigates the problem of...

China’s investments in the European Union are much lower than what you may expect given the economic size of both entities. These relatively low investments in Europe are a combination of priority and obstacles. The priority for investments is clearly in Asia, Africa and Latin America. This regional pattern is heavily influenced by the need to solv...

Overseas merger and acquisition has become a major approach that Chinese firms go global. However, compared with the world average level, success rate of Chinese firms is much lower; about half of Chinese acquisition attempts were not completed due to the various reasons. The paper aims to identify the main factors that influence the outcome of Chi...

About half of China’s overseas acquisition attempts have not been completed; the chance of success is much lower than worldwide. This study provides an overview of China’s overseas acquisition, and investigates the reasons behind the low likelihood that an acquisition deal is completed. By using a sample that consists of 1,324 overseas acquisition...

This study sets up an integrative framework to analyse the determinants of a region's international inbound tourism. Meanwhile, the competition and complimentarity between regions are also examined in the same framework. This study concludes that development level, openness, tourism resources, tourism facilities and tourism organisation are all pos...

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) play a dominant role in the international business (IB) literature. Traditionally, by far the majority of IB studies deal with issues at the micro level of the individual MNE, or at the meso level of a sample of individual MNEs in industries. This paper focuses on the impact of MNE behavior through foreign direct in...

Balanced development in regional labor income is an important aspect of building up a harmonized society. By using panel data and spatial econometric techniques , this paper investigates determinants of wage level and wage inequality across Chinese provinces since the commencement of economic reform and openness. The empirical analyses reveal a typ...

This study examines the features and determinants of Chinese intra-industry trade during the 1992–2001 transition period for 50 of China’s trade partners. We disentangle total intra-industry trade (TIIT) into vertical intra-industry trade (VIIT) vis-�-vis horizontal intra-industry trade (HIIT), using data at the four-digit SITC level. The findings...

A bilateral FDI relationship should include two dimensions, size and intensity. This study explores the factors that contribute to an explanation of both the size and the intensity of bilateral FDI relations, using the case of China. The results suggest that the countries, which are geographically, politically, ethnically, and economically close to...

Tot 1978 was de communistische volksrepubliek China een geïsoleerd land. De buitenlandse handel was een staatsmonopolie; de omvang was beperkt en het betrof voornamelijk transacties met naaste buren. Nu is China een van de belangrijkste handelsnaties in de wereld. Het aantal handelspartners – ook over grote afstand – is groot en groeiende, de samen...

In the 1980s, the Chinese regime took a number of piecemeal steps toward economic liberalization. This process accelerated impressively in the 1990s. This paper reports an empirical study into the determinants of the emerging pattern of Chinese trade (export and import) intensities in the liberalization decade by exploring international trade stati...

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) play a dominant role in the international business (IB) literature. Traditionally, by far the majority of IB studies deal with issues at the micro level of the individual MNE, or at the meso level of a sample of individual MNEs. This paper focuses on a macro-level issue: the impact of MNE behavior through foreign di...

About half of China’s overseas acquisition attempts have not been completed; the chance of success is much lower than worldwide. This study provides an overview of China’s overseas acquisition, and investigates the reasons behind the low likelihood that an acquisition deal is completed. By using a sample that consists of 1,324 overseas acquisitions...