经济资源、制度环境与我国对欧盟直接投资的区位选择

Economic Resource,Institutional Environment,and Location Choice:From Perspective of China's OFDI to EU

主流的对外直接投资理论在解释发展中国家对发达国家逆向投资行为方面存在一定局限。本文利用2003—2012年中国对欧盟27个国家(地区)的直接投资及相关数据,运用投资引力模型,从经济资源及制度环境视角系统地考察了中国对欧盟直接投资的区位选择。本文发现,中国对欧盟的直接投资具有显著的资源寻求和战略资产寻求动因,欧盟的商业自由度及贸易自由度对我国对欧盟直接投资的区位选择具有积极作用,市场规模及政府规制品质则具有显著的抑制作用。进一步研究发现,中国对欧盟投资的区位选择影响因素在经济危机前后有所差异:危机前,战略资产对我国对欧盟直接投资的区位选择具有显著的抑制作用,市场寻求动机不明显;后危机时期,市场规模及金融自由度具有显著的抑制作用,战略资产寻求动机不明显。这些发现不仅可以增进人们对发展中国家对发达国家逆向投资行为的理解,而且可以为中国企业对欧盟的直接投资实践提供参考。

The rapid development of China＇s outward foreign direct investment（OFDI） to EU has changed not only the pattern of bilateral investment but also the traditional theory of OFDI. The mainstream FDI theories believe that enterprises can make investment with downlink gradient international division of labor characteristic to countries which have lower development level, then obtain return by overcoming additional operating costs and risks over- seas. These theories, great at explaining international investment activities of Western multinationals, shows obvious limitations in explaining the investment behavior of China＇s OFDI to developed countries. The Chinese enterprises＇ FDI to EU differ from Western multinationals in that it belongs to reverse upstream in- vestment from developing countries to developed countries. With respect to EU advanced enterprises,lacking strong ownership advantages, the Chinese firms＇ international investment behaviors cannot acquire strategic assets such as advanced technology and well-known brand based on their ownership advantages as the core, which increase the dif- ficulty of complexity for Chinese firms to enter the EU market. Moreover, China＇s direct investment to EU will also be affected by institutional environment of host countries, thereby affecting their location choice motivation. Since the traditional investment cannot provide satisfactory explanation to such international investment with reverse upward characteristics, it is urgent need for scholars to study and solve. From integration of economic resources and institutional environment perspectives, this paper provides a sys- tematic analysis of Chinese firms＇ investment motivation and determinants of location choice to EU, trying to discover whether China＇s investment to EU have some particularities that traditional theory can not explain. This paper select data from direct investment by Chinese firms to 27 EU countries and regions during the 2003--2012 decade for an empirical test model, and find that：The location choice of China＇s investment to EU shows significant natural re- source-seeking and strategic asset-seeking motivations; business freedom and trade freedom have positive effect on the location choice of China＇s investment to EU. Through further testing, we also find that there is differences exist before and after the financial crisis：Before the crisis, strategic asset has significant negative effect, market-seeking motive is not obvious; for post-crisis period, market size and financial freedom have significant inhibitory effect, stra- tegic asset-seeking motive is not obvious. These findings may improve our understanding of China＇s OFDI to EU. This study shows that except economic resource factors,institutional environments （economic freedom and government regulation quality） in host country are also important factors in determining location choice of FDI. This means that the traditional evaluation system for FDI location choice needs to be appropriate amended. Furthermore, in the case of companies which lack of core competitive advantage, it can make up their disadvantage in terms of economic resources by utilizing positive impact of institutional environment from host country, and they can implement internationalization by acquiring advanced technology and strategic assets from western developed countries, gradually improve their competitiveness in overseas markets. Many researchers believe that the location advantage of developed countries mainly lies in higher techno- logical level, and the type of international investment flow from developing countries to developed countries mainly belongs to strategic asset-seeking motivation, but this study found that China＇s direct investment to EU contains Chi- nese characteristic feature that both have strategic assets-seeking and natural resource-seeking motivations.