Abstract

Dr Huaichun Rui from Royal Holloway, University of London, is going to introduce her research work about emerging Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs). “We study the process by which developing country firms are able to upgrade their technological capabilities to international levels despite the weak system of innovation of their home countries. Building on the case study of the Chinese telecommunication equipment manufacturer Huawei, we identify and explain four stages of increasingly sophisticated technological capabilities (reengineering, replacing, refining, and recreating), identify the transition across stage, and explore the in-depth determinates of the technology upgrading.”

Huaichuan Rui received her PhD from the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, and is currently a Senior Lecturer in Strategy & International Business at School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London. Huaichuan is a pioneering researcher on China’s outward investment and the Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs), and has been visiting over 100 Chinese MNEs and interviewed over 300 managers and officials around the world. She was invited by various prestigious institutions including the United Nations and European Commission to speak on China’s outward investment, particularly in Africa. She has published a dozen of books and papers, including “Tales of Rivals: Attacks in Chinese International Competition” (with Yadong Luo, Organizational Dynamics, 2013), “An ambidexterity perspective toward multinational enterprises from emerging economies” (with Yadong Luo, Academy of Management Perspective, 2009), “Foreign acquisitions by Chinese firms: a strategic intent perspective” (with George Yip, Journal of World Business, 2008. It is the most cited paper of the JWB ), and “Developing country FDI and development: the case of the Chinese FDI in the Sudan” (Transnational Corporations, 2010). Her forthcoming book Chinese multinationals (Routledge, forthcoming) will analyse the strategy and behavior of ten most important Chinese multinationals across various industries. This book is based on her extensive fieldworks in host countries of Chinese outward investment over the period of 2005-2014.