Ágnes Szunomár at the 7th Copenhagen Conference on Emerging Market Multinationals
Ágnes Szunomár, associate professor at the Department of World Economy participated in the 7th Copenhagen Conference on Emerging Market Multinationals, organized by the Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Copenhagen, Denmark between 14-15 October. This year’s conference welcomed papers related to the conference theme of 'Outward investment from emerging economies’, with the special theme being 'Emerging market multinationals and the politics of internationalization’.Agnes Szunomar presented a paper titled “Emerging market multinationals in European peripheries - The case of Chinese FDI in East Central Europe”. This topic is of particular importance since research on international business presents various aspects of non-European emerging market multinationals’ (MNEs) investments, but it has not yet addressed those factors that drives non-European emerging MNEs’ into European emerging countries. The presentation therefore focused on the biggest emerging economy, China, and explored the main characteristics of Chinese investments, types of involvement, and identified the home and host country determinants of Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) within the East Central European (ECE) region, with a focus on structural, institutional and political factors. By looking at the changing patterns of Chinese outward FDI in ECE region and Chinese investors’ potential motivations when choosing a specific destination for their investments, the presentation concluded that pull determinants of Chinese investments in ECE region differ from that of Western companies in terms of specific institutional and political factors that seem especially important for Chinese companies. The paper on which the presentation was based will soon be submitted to an International Business Review special issue, organized by CBS.