Abstract: China has been a main source country of FDI, and the performance of Chinese multinationals’ outward investments has become a hot research topic. This study aims to discuss how Chinese enterprises’ outward internationalization performances (OIP) are influenced by their inward internationalization modes (IIM) through a survey of 338 Chinese multinationals. The results show that: (1) Equity inward internationalization modes (EIIM) have positive direct effect on OIP of Chinese multinationals. (2)Non-equity inward internationalization modes (NEIIM) have negative direct effect on OIP, but NEIIM have positive indirect effect on OIP through absorptive capacity. The result implies that, in order to enhance their performances on overseas markets, Chinese multinationals should improve their absorptive capabilities and innovative capabilities through NEIIM. By the path of EIIM, Chinese multinationals could improve their overseas’ performances by leveraging the equities, while their absorptive capabilities could not be improved easily.
Keywords: Inward Internationalization, Absorptive Capacity, Performance of Outward Internationalization
source:Finance & Trade Economics ,No4,2013