Post-merger integration and subsidiary roles in Chinese MNCs – the case of Chinese M&As in Germany
Critical Perspectives on International Business
ISSN: 1742-2043
Article publication date: 19 August 2021
Issue publication date: 7 April 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This paper adds to the literature on outward Foreign Direct Investments by Chinese Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in advanced economies. Its objective is threefold: to characterize the subsidiary roles that advanced economy targets of Chinese Multinational Corporations (CMNC) takeovers typically adopt, to assess the position that these subsidiary roles grant them within the CMNCs as a whole and to flesh out how subsidiary actors perceive and make sense of the particular constellation as a subsidiary of a CMNC. Furthermore, this paper aims to contribute to theory development on headquarters‐subsidiary relations by suggesting an additional theoretical lens.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on in-depth qualitative case studies from the automotive, mechanical engineering and solar industries and focuses on German firms that have been acquired by Chinese MNCs. Theoretically, the present paper draws on extant post-merger integration (PMI) and subsidiary role research, particularly from a micro-political and sensemaking perspective, refined by adding a neo-imperial dominance – lens.
Findings
The paper reveals the subsidiary roles that German subsidiaries of Chinese MNCs typically adopt and discovers the PMI pattern of “reverse integration” delineating quite a particular form of reverse knowledge transfer. Regarding human integration, it emphasizes the importance of neo-imperial attitudes surfacing in the German subsidiaries.
Originality/value
The value of the paper is in contributing to fill the pending research gap on the subsidiary roles that advanced economy subsidiaries of Chinese MNCs adopt, on the resulting positions of these subsidiaries within the overall Chinese groups and the sense that subsidiary actors make of being acquired by a Chinese MNC. The paper also reveals the importance of neo-imperial dominance patterns and attitudes in PMI in the constellation scrutinized.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to Anna Spiegel, Junchen Yan and Alexander Funke as well as to two anonymous reviewers and to the editor for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.
Funding: This paper builds on research carried out in the project “Chinesische Direktinvestitionen in Deutschland – Strategische Ziele, Umsetzung und Folgen der Übernahme deutscher Unternehmen durch chinesische Investoren” (Chinese FDI in Germany – strategic goals, PMI and consequences for acquired German firms) that was funded by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft/German Research Foundation; Grant Number: ME 2008/7–1) and hosted by the Institute for World Society Studies at the Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, for the duration of March 2016 to December 2020. The research team consisted of Ursula Mense-Petermann (Principal Investigator), Christoph Seidel (Doctoral Researcher) and Junchen Yan (Doctoral Researcher).
Citation
Mense-Petermann, U. (2022), "Post-merger integration and subsidiary roles in Chinese MNCs – the case of Chinese M&As in Germany", Critical Perspectives on International Business, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 380-410. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-02-2020-0010
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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