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Exploring the Use of Offshore Intermediary Jurisdictions by Chinese MNEs for the Purposes of ‘Onward-Journey’ Transit FDI: Implications for Measuring and Understanding Chinese MNE Activity

Sutherland, D.; Hurst, J.; Peng, X.; Wu, L.

Exploring the Use of Offshore Intermediary Jurisdictions by Chinese MNEs for the Purposes of ‘Onward-Journey’ Transit FDI: Implications for Measuring and Understanding Chinese MNE Activity Thumbnail


Authors

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Jamie Hurst jamie.l.hurst@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Doctor of Philosophy

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Xinghao Peng xinghao.peng@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Doctor of Philosophy

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Ludan Wu ludan.wu@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Doctor of Philosophy



Abstract

This paper explores (i) the extent to which Chinese multinational enterprises (CMNEs) undertake FDI via intermediary jurisdictions (also termed capital in transit (CIT)) and (ii) identifies the specific offshore locations are used by CMNEs to conduct CIT. We use newly available OECD/IMF bilateral FDI stock data reporting both immediate and ultimate FDI between nations, which allows us to construct a CIT index and empirically test whether Chinese MNEs have a higher propensity for CIT than other countries. We demonstrate that CMNEs are indeed outliers with regards to CIT and identify the specific hubs they use drawing from the Orbis database. Our findings imply, among other things, that nationally aggregated Chinese FDI data is systematically biased when used for the purposes of measuring CMNE activity. We then discuss the problems this has created for many studies analyzing CMNE activity that have used data collected at the firm-level. In conjunction, our empirical findings provide further insights into the extent, reasons and ways in which CMNEs exploit the offshore world and how this potentially confounds our understanding of their activities.

Citation

Sutherland, D., Hurst, J., Peng, X., & Wu, L. (2022). Exploring the Use of Offshore Intermediary Jurisdictions by Chinese MNEs for the Purposes of ‘Onward-Journey’ Transit FDI: Implications for Measuring and Understanding Chinese MNE Activity. Asia Pacific Business Review, 28(2), 214-234. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602381.2022.2013605

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 12, 2021
Online Publication Date Jan 14, 2022
Publication Date 2022
Deposit Date Nov 30, 2021
Publicly Available Date Jul 14, 2023
Journal Asia Pacific Business Review
Print ISSN 1360-2381
Electronic ISSN 1743-792X
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 28
Issue 2
Pages 214-234
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/13602381.2022.2013605
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1220282

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Copyright Statement
This is an Accepted Manuscript version of the following article, accepted for publication in Asia Pacific Business Review. Sutherland, D., Hurst, J., Peng, X. & Wu, L. (2022). Exploring the Use of Offshore Intermediary Jurisdictions by Chinese MNEs for the Purposes of ‘Onward-Journey’ Transit FDI: Implications for Measuring and Understanding Chinese MNE Activity. Asia Pacific Business Review 28(2): 214-234. It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.




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