6. Huawei in Canada: Doing Business in the Midst of Game of Thrones

Scholars of business have long studied how government politics, as one group of exogenous macro-level factors, can influence cross-border firm strategies. This chapter investigates Huawei’s business in the U.S. and its close ally, Canada. Adopting a case study approach, the authors review the disruption of Huawei’s business in the U.S. and how this country’s growing pressures, epitomized by the arrest of the company’s CFO in Vancouver, impacted Huawei’s strategy in Canada. In contrast to what the conventional wisdom may suggest, the arrest did not lead to a defensive strategy by Huawei and to this date, the company aggressively preserved its business in Canada. Adopting the perspectives of strategic resources and non-market capabilities, the authors discuss business-politics dynamics of multinationals from developing countries in sensitive industries such as IT.