marketing

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed the emergence of Chinese multinationals with a presence in both developed and developing countries. Yet little is known about them. The objective of this study is to review different internationalization process models so as to identify dimensions and explaining factors within them, also it addresses the internationalization process as well as strategies that made Haier successful from an institutional perspective. However, to make it distinct from previous studies, the focus of this study is not dedicated to host country institutions which influence multinationals’ international operation but rather concerns about Chinese home country specific institutions and impact on its multinationals' internationalization.

This study presents a case study of one of the leading Chinese multinationals in electronic appliance sector, the Haier Group. Single case study method is utilized due to the unique “first difficult, then easy” principle that Haier follows during its internationalization process.

Finding of this study shows that Haier challenges the traditional internationalization process models and experienced a rather fast expansion. This is to a large extent the result of Chinese home country institutions, which promote internationalization. Future research on the internationalization of Chinese multinationals should take a fully consideration of its home country specific institutional factors.