Title: Danish multinational corporations in China: an evolutionary approach to internationalisation

Authors: Stine Jessen Haakonsson

Addresses: Department of Business and Politics, Porcelænshaven 24A, Ground floor, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark

Abstract: Multinational corporations (MNCs) strategise in a dynamic multi-polar world consisting of changing environments at home and abroad. They continuously face a new set of push- and pull-factors for internationalising activities. In recent decades, internationalisation has been reaching into emerging markets, which are significantly different from MNCs' traditional locations. As globalisation progresses, internationalisation increasingly involves exploitation strategies, i.e., offshoring of production; market access; and exploration strategies such as internationalisation of innovation. This article looks into how Danish MNCs have evolved into the Chinese economy, investigating the trajectories of how and when four Danish MNCs entered the Chinese economy and how the strategy patterns have emerged from cost reduction, to market access, and recently to innovation. Over 30 years, China has developed into an important hub for MNC offshoring of innovation. The four MNCs have changed the mandate of the Chinese innovation sites into global centres of excellence.

Keywords: multinational corporations; MNCs; internationalisation; push- and pull-factors; Danish MNCs; Chinese economy; institutions; MNC trajectory; evolutionary approach; China.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMCS.2017.085159

International Journal of Multinational Corporation Strategy, 2017 Vol.2 No.1, pp.51 - 75

Received: 14 Nov 2016
Accepted: 19 Dec 2016
Published online: 13 Jul 2017 *