The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative: strategic responses of governments and multinational companies

ABSTRACT

This introductory article to this special issue presents a brief review of the emerging literature on the strategic responses of multinational companies, governments and regional economic organizations towards the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. It also shows how the articles included in this special issue speak to the literature and how they add to our understanding of the implications of this geo-economic and geo-political mega-project for businesses and public policy actors.

KEYWORDS:

• China
• Belt and Road Initiative
• strategy
• multinational companies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Filip De Beule

Filip De Beule (PhD, U. Antwerp) is Associate Professor of International Business at the Department of Management, Strategy and Innovation at the Faculty of Economics and Business at KU Leuven University. His main research interests include the internationalization of firms, social enterprises, the geography of investment, and the study of emerging market multinationals.

Philippe De Lombaerde

Philippe De Lombaerde (PhD, RWTH) is currently director at the United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS) (Bruges, Belgium), and Associate Professor of International Economics at Neoma Business School (Rouen, France). Previously he worked as an Associate Professor of International Economics at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Bogota), lecturer and researcher at the University of Antwerp (Belgium), and as a researcher at the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) (Bangkok, Thailand), among other appointments. He is co-editor of The Political Economy of New Regionalisms in the Pacific Rim (Routledge, London-New York, 2019), with J. Briceño Ruiz.

Haiyan Zhang

Haiyan Zhang (PhD, U. Antwerp) is Associate Professor of International Business at the Department of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at NEOMA Business School. His research interests include international business activities of Chinese and overseas Chinese-owned enterprises, management issues of international joint ventures in transition economies, Chinese outward FDI in Europe, EU–China FDI relations, and related issues.