Geary, John and Nyiawung, Julius (2022) The impact of Chinese investments on western multinational enterprises’ work and employment practices: A consideration of institutional, political and dominance effects. Human Relations, 75 (5). pp. 842-870. ISSN 0018-7267

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Abstract

One of the most significant developments in international business in recent years is the dramatic expansion of Chinese – often state-led or state-supported – investment in Africa. While we know something of Chinese multinational enterprises’ strategies, we know comparatively little about their work and employment practices and even less about their influence on western multinational companies (MNEs). We examine these important issues by looking at the practices of a major Chinese MNE alongside those of a French MNE and a US MNE in Cameroon’s oil industry. We find that while the French and American MNEs were successful in importing their preferred practices and in evading host-country regulations for many years, this was challenged upon the arrival of the Chinese MNE. We query why and by what means did the entrance of a major MNE lead to significant changes in the behaviours of long-resident MNEs. The translation of the identified effects is explained by drawing on different levels of analysis that include an appreciation of the location of the MNE and the state within the international political economy of capitalism, attendant shifts in the frontiers of political The translation of the identified effects is explained by drawing on different levels of analysis that include an appreciation of the location of the MNE and the state within the international political economy of capitalism, attendant shifts in the frontiers of political influence, isomorphic institutional influences, actors’ postures within and beyond the MNE, and their relational interplay.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Africa; Cameroon; China; dominance; international HRM; international political economy of capitalism; multinationals; neo-institutionalism; oil; power;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Business
Item ID:	18335
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726721998432
Depositing User:	Julius Nyiawung
Date Deposited:	28 Mar 2024 15:26
Journal or Publication Title:	Human Relations
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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