| With the in-depth advancement of the two key national strategies of"Going Global" and "Belt and Road",China's foreign investment has entered a new stage of acceleration and quality improvement.According to the "China Foreign Direct Investment Statistics Bulletin 2018”released by the Ministry of Commerce,as of the end of 2018,China's foreign direct investment stock reached US $1.98 trillion,accounting for 6.4%of the global total,second only to the United States and the Netherlands.In the context of a 29%year-on-year decrease in global total foreign direct investment and three consecutive years of decline,China's growth rate of foreign direct investment has slowed down,but the flow of foreign investment still reaches US $143.04 billion,ranking second in the world.The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China further clearly pointed out that China will adhere to the principle of "bringing in" and "going out",innovating foreign investment methods,continuing to promote international capacity cooperation,and promoting the formation of a new comprehensive opening pattern.At the same time,the booming development of informatization and digitalization has made more and more foreign subsidiaries gradually develop into global innovators and become a new engine in the international expansion process of multinational enterprises.According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce,in 2018,more than 27,000 Chinese multinational enterprises have established 43000 foreign subsidiaries,covering 188 countries and regions around the world.However,by blindly "growing bigger and stronger" through foreign investment and ignoring market rules and competition rules,the survival risks facing our foreign subsidiaries are shocking.A large number of foreign subsidiaries have not been able to "go on" or even "go up".Therefore,the survival of foreign subsidiaries has become a key issue urgently to be solved in China.Based on the LLL theory of multinational enterprises in emerging markets,enterprises connect with external networks to open up new sources of knowledge and obtain external resources,ultimately gaining dynamic capabilities and increasing returns.Hence,access to internal and external strategic resources and advanced knowledge through network embeddness is an important way to solve the survival problems of China's foreign subsidiaries and improve their viability.Existing studies mostly consider the impact of internal resources and external environment on the viability of foreign subsidiaries from the aspects of enterprise characteristics,industry level or host country system,etc.but there is no study to explain the survival of foreign subsidiaries of emerging market multinational enterprises lacking ownership advantage from the perspective of multiple network embeddness.Although some literatures consider the role of single-dimensional network embeddness(local network or foreign network)from the perspective of the competitive advantages of multinational enperprises,they lack the consideration of the influence on the survival of foreign subsidiaries from the perspective of alternative and complementary relationship between different levels of networks,optimizing the global network configuration,and neglects the dynamic evolution mechanism between the survival ability of foreign subsidiaries and the global network under the background of environmental uncertainty.Therefore,it is necessary for us to extend our research perspective to the networks of different geographic networks(home country,host country,and global network)embedded by foreign subsidiaries,consider network embeddedness as an important factor determining the viability of foreign subsidiaries,explain the different levels of network embeddness behaviors that have a differentiated effect on the survival of foreign subsidiaries,characterize the impact of the dynamic interaction mechanism of multiple network embeddness on the survival of foreign subsidiaries,and explore the influencing factors and behavioral characteristics of the survival of foreign subsidiaries in the network context,which helps to supplement the theoretical gap created by the combination of social network theory and international business theory.Secondly,emerging economy multinational enterprises,as early adaptors under the new global network economy,have made full use of the new opportunities of leverage,leverage and arbitrage formed with the global economic network,and gradually become important players in the global market.Looking at the development practices of China's foreign subsidiaries,more and more foreign subsidiaries rely on the home country network to obtain potential strategic advantages,gradually integrate into the global network to obtain foreign resources and core knowledge,and successfully establish themselves in international markets,such as Haier and Shanghai Construction Group.However,there are still a large number of foreign subsidiaries that failed to survive,such as the frequent strikes caused by the failure of Shougang's Peruvian iron ore subsidiary to integrate into the host country's network,SAIC's acquisition of South Korea's Ssangyong with the advantage of its home network,and then declared bankruptcy five years later.So,why are the results of foreign investment through network embeddness different?What role do different networks embeddness in the survival of our foreign subsidiaries?How to configure different network resources to obtain the best survival performance?In order to answer the above questions,this paper will create and empirically test the theoretical framework of "Foreign Subsidiary's Survival Determinism" from the two aspects of network embeddness geographical attributes and transferability.In terms of the geographical attributes of network embeddness,this paper proposes the concept of multiple network embeddness,which is home country network embeddness,host country network embeddness and global network embeddness,combined with the expansion of the geographical boundary of the network embedded by foreign subsidiaries and the uncertainty of the environment,and analyzes and tests its influence mechanism in the survival of foreign subsidiaries.In terms of the transferability of network embeddedness,this paper investigates the dynamic interaction mechanism between different network embeddedness and its effect on the survival of foreign subsidiaries in combination with the unique foreign investment situation in China.Meanwhile,this paper puts the micro elements of enterprises-government participation and industry meso elements-industry clockspeed into a unified research framework,discusses the mechanism of industry and enterprise heterogeneity between the multi network embeddness and the survival of foreign subsidiaries,and also reflects the characteristics of the multi network embeddness advantages formed in the context of China.Therefore,this paper conducts three systematic sub-researches based on the theory of network embeddness:First,it analyzes and tests the impact of home network embeddness,host country network embeddness,and global network embeddness on the survival of Chinese foreign subsidiaries.The difference in the survival of China's foreign subsidiaries focuses on solving two problems.First,what is the relationship between the multiple networks embeddness in China's foreign subsidiaries and their survival?Second,what are the differences in the degree of different network embeddness affecting the viability of our foreign subsidiaries?Second,it examines the effect of the dynamic interaction mechanism between home network embeddness,host country network embeddness,and global network embeddness on the survival of China's foreign subsidiaries,focusing on how to solve the relationship between multiple network embeddness(substitution,complementarity,or non-reliability),and how this relationship affects the survival of our foreign subsidiaries?Third,it tests the regulation effect of industry heterogeneity and enterprise heterogeneity on multi-network embeddness and the survival of foreign subsidiaries,and focuses on answering whether industry and enterprise heterogeneity can have a positive impact on the survival of foreign subsidiaries and whether they can become a strong guarantee to support Chinese foreign subsidiaries going up and going steadily.The main research findings of this paper are as follows:1.Empirical analysis of the impact of home country network embeddness,host country network embeddness and global network embeddness on the survival of foreign subsidiaries in China.The research in this paper finds that home country,host country,and global network embeddedness can all improve the survivability of foreign subsidiaries,and the survival conditions of the subsidiaries that the host country depends on are obviously optimal.Geographical proximity and cultural homology strengthen the trust and resource commitment of members of the home country network,and promote knowledge reorganization,integration and optimization.Host network embeddness can effectively explore and develop strategic resources and knowledge,capture competitive information and opportunities,gain market legitimacy,and improve the status and voice of the international market.Foreign subsidiaries seek the latest technological knowledge and market opportunities by embedding global networks,and use strategic organizational resources and knowledge inside and outside the national borders to overcome the disadvantages of outsiders and provide them with a wider space for their survival.In addition,foreign subsidiaries are located in the front line of the host country's market,and the creation of many resources,knowledge and capabilities required for their survival depends largely on the host country network.However,the over-reliance on the home country network has promoted the development of specific advantages of regionally bound enterprises,and it is difficult for partners to continue to provide heterogeneous knowledge,forming low-end lock-in and path dependence,and the complexity and scale of the global network make it more difficult and riskier to manage,especially as foreign subsidiaries of China's international expansion enterprises generally lack the foundation of the global network and the ability to govern the network,which is also the main reason that restricts their survival and growth.2.Empirical analysis of the impact of interaction mechanism among home country network embeddness,host country network embeddness and global network embeddness on the survival of foreign subsidiariesThe research in this paper finds that the interaction of home country and host network embeddedness,and the interaction of host country and global network embeddedness have a substitution effect on the survival of China's foreign subsidiaries,but the interaction of home country and global network embeddedness has no significant impact on survival.The proximity of geography and cognition helps the development of home country network embeddness,but its unique network resources provided by the foreign survival experience,low-cost value creation method,group-following investment ability,and adaptation to complex institutional environments are vulnerable to strict scrutiny and exclusion by the host country,coupled with protectionist and anti-globalization trends,have severely hindered their embedding in host country network.This imbalanced network embeddness relationship is easy to form a locked-in network interaction,which leads to path-dependent inertia and dynamic conservatism,forming an embeddness paradox in the survival process of foreign subsidiaries,showing a substitution effect.The rich local connections within the host country network have promoted the use of interactive learning,and this cohesiveness limits the global network that relies on exploratory learning.In addition,the sparse bridge connection of the global network maintains a moderate exchange of information resources among network members.However,this weak external connection is not enough to integrate the paradoxical relationship between the two network embeddness mechanisms in the survival process of foreign subsidiaries,showing a substitution effect.3.Empirical analysis of the regulatory mechanism of industry heterogeneity and enterprise heterogeneity to the multiple network embeddedness and the survival of foreign subsidiariesThe research in this paper finds that,firstly,the industry clockspeed is positively regulating the relationship between the multiple network embeddedness and the survival of China's foreign subsidiaries,and the regulatory effect of the industry clockspeed plays the best role in the survival of China's foreign subsidiaries which are dependent on the host country network.For Chinese foreign subsidiaries that lack ownership advantages,the expected goal of international investment is more to acquire foreign strategic assets,so they are more inclined to enter the fast clock industry' that needs to be constantly promoted,which not only represents an opportunity for foreign subsidiaries to expand internationally,but also emphasizes the importance of effectively improving the viability of foreign subsidiaries through host country network embeddness.Second,the government's participation is positively regulating relationship between the home and host country network embeddness and the survival of China's foreign subsidiaries,but the regulating effect on the global network embeddness and the survival of China's foreign subsidiaries is not significant.Moreover,the regulatory effects of government participation play the best role in the survival of China's foreign subsidiaries in the host country network dependence.A higher degree of government participation means having the right to prioritize the use of resources provided by the government and financing platforms and the support of policies and institutions,thereby forming a strong connection in the home country network embeddness advantage and weak and sparse global network embeddness.It also emphasized the important role of host country network embeddness in improving the viability of foreign subsidiaries.The innovations of this research are reflected in the following three aspects:First,taking the embeddness geography attributes and transferability as the starting point,this paper empirically tests the impact of home country network embeddness,host country network embeddness and global network embeddness on the survival of Chinese foreign subsidiaries,and further explores whether multi network embeddness can make up for the ownership advantage that emerging market multinational enterprises do not have,so as to form a multi network advantage that affects the survival of foreign subsidiaries.Based on the transmission mechanism of multiple network embeddedness affecting the survival of foreign subsidiaries in Chinese context,this paper considers the mechanism of multiple network embeddedness in the survival of foreign subsidiaries from the perspective of the transferability of different levels of network resources,,which can break through the boundary of the traditional survival theory of foreign subsidiaries and form a new system of network advantage determinism with the core of network resource acquisition and multiple network embeddedness,which can affect the survival of foreign subsidiaries in China that lack the classical ownership advantage important value.This paper takes network embeddedness as an important factor to determine the behavior and viability of foreign subsidiaries,explains the survival of foreign subsidiaries of emerging market multinational enterprises from the perspective of multiple network embeddedness,breaks through the survival performance model determined by the internal resources,management and external environment of enterprises under the traditional theoretical framework,and constructs multiple network embeddedness for Chinese foreign subsidiaries.Through theoretical exploration and empirical testing of a new mechanism for Chinese foreign subsidiaries to build a diversified network embeddness to achieve foreign survival advantages,his paper systematically explains the new mechanism of how Chinese foreign subsidiaries can improve foreign survivability through multiple network embeddedness,making up for the theoretical gap of the combination of social network theory and enterprise survival theory.Second,based on the perspective of network dynamics,this paper examines the impact of the dynamic evolution mechanism between home country network embeddness,host country network embeddness and global network embeddness on the survival of foreign subsidiaries,considers the survival of foreign subsidiaries from the perspective of alternative and complementary relationship between different levels of network embeddedness,optimizing global network configuration,reveals the network embeddness evolution characteristics,evolution path and evolution mechanism of foreign subsidiaries of multinational enterprises in emerging economies,and provide effective explanations for how foreign subsidiaries of multinational enterprises in emerging economies can overcome the "outsider disadvantages" and cultivate sustainable competitive advantages in the global market.In addition,in order to expand and test the applicability of the network embeddedness theory of developed international foreign subsidiaries,this paper takes emerging economies represented by China as the research object,uses the K-M survival function estimation and Cox survival analysis method to deeply analyze the dynamic evolution mechanism and transmission mechanism between the multiple network embeddedness and the existence of foreign subsidiaries in China.It not only complements the existing network theory research on how to allocate different levels of network resources to improve the viability of foreign subsidiaries of emerging economies in the process of internationalization,but also helps foreign subsidiaries of China to cope with complex international forms,break through the difficulties of foreign survival,and improve the success rate of transnational investment.At the same time,it also has important theoretical guidance significance for the foreign investment of enterprises in emerging economies.Third,Based on the state industry enterprise cross level research framework,this paper constructs the logic,path and theory of the influence of multiple network embeddedness on the survival of foreign subsidiaries.The research on the relationship between network embeddedness and the survival of foreign subsidiaries has been expanded from a single static isolated relationship to a global network embeddedness behavior that breaks through the organizational boundary of enterprises,and the unique law of the leaping growth path of foreign subsidiaries from the edge of the network to the center has been refined,which provides valuable reference for the policy-making of constructing the advantages of foreign investment network and improving the foreign survival ability of enterprises in China.In conclusion,the empirical results are innovative in theoretical advancement and practical application.The results of this study show that home country network embeddness,host country network embeddness and global network embeddness are all helpful to improve the viability of foreign subsidiaries,and the foreign subsidiaries that are dependent on the host country network can effectively access the market resources of strategic host country,and overcome the "double disadvantages" of the outsiders and scale that may arise in the process of China's rapid internationalization,and etter survive in the international market.Secondly,by examining the dynamic interaction mechanism embedded in different networks,we comprehensively and deeply analyze the interaction and coupling mechanism of different relationship networks,which provides a policy reference for the government to guide foreign subsidiaries on how to improve the competitiveness and viability of the international market.Finally,based on the heterogeneity of industries and enterprises,the adjustment effect of multi-network embeddedness and the survival of foreign subsidiaries was tested,and new perspectives of influencing factors at the micro and meso levels further expanded and enriched the research on the survival of foreign subsidiaries,and it provides a valuable reference for the government to promote the strategic layout of China's foreign investment with "clear direction and classified guidance". |
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