Which Factors Affect the Internationalization of Chinese Firms?

Internationalization processes and the factors impacting them have been studied very actively since the 1970s. International Business (IB) researchers have sought to explain why some firms internationalize slowly (see Bilkey, 1978; Johanson and Vahlne, 1977, 1990; Johanson and Wiedersheim-Paul, 1975; Morgan and Katsikeas, 1997) and why some internationalize much faster (see Bell, 1995; Madsen and Servais, 1997; McDougall, Oviatt, and Shrader, 2003; Oviatt and McDougall, 1994). Although a substantive body of research has emerged, there is still not enough evidence with regard to the internationalization of firms from some emerging countries. For example, Sandberg (2009: 108) states that traditional internationalization theories ‘need to be adjusted and complemented to be suitable (…) for studying firms taking off from a turbulent emerging market as China’.