Chinesische und indische Direktinvestitionen in Deutschland - Muster, Auswirkungen und Reaktionen in globalen Produktionsnetzwerken

Since the 1970s the annual economic growth in some countries has outperformed that of industrialised economies. Companies from these emerging markets (emerging market firms / EMS) are now increasingly investing abroad. EMFs are acknowledged as a new determinant of a globalized economy, however just few publications are focusing on this phenomenon. In addition, stakeholders do not share an equal view on these investments, some are supportive some are dismissive. An empirically sound, fact based foundation is needed to discuss the phenomena of internationalization of EMFs. Chinese and Indian companies are important representatives of the trend of internationalization of EMFs. They increasingly invest in Germany. Thus Chinese and Indian investments in Germany are researched. Findings are used to describe the characteristics of these companies and to conceptualize the consequences that arise of their investments. The global production network approach (GPN) is used as an analytical framework. Its categories namely, value, power and embeddedness are extended using theories from neighbouring disciplines. In this study EMFs are the acting organisations. Their decisions influence the stakeholders in the target country. The stakeholders are the acquired companies, their clients, suppliers and their competitors as well as workers employed by the acquired companies. The economic developments researched empirically are treated in of a relational scientific view. The empirical instruments are designed to consider path dependencies as well as non-rational parameters. This study is built on existing publications that generalize underlying reasons behind the foreign direct investment (FDI) by EMFs. Further, the consequences of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are often based on diminutive primary data and findings are neither used to extend existing concepts on FDIs or develop new concepts on the internationalization of EMFs. In existing studies negative consequences for the acquired companies are described. In this study, primary data is gathered to investigate this finding and conceptualize own findings within the extended GPN-approach. This study is cumulative in nature i.e. it consists of five articles. In combination with the GPN framework, the articles offer an extensive analysis of primary and secondary data on Chinese and Indian FDI in Germany. The descriptive statistic analysis of Chinese and Indian companies with investments in Germany reveals that they are heterogeneous actors. The companies are active in various business segments and their choice of market entry, either via a greenfield- or a brownfield-route, depends on the targets for the market entry and the size of the company. Existing denominations do not consider the identified heterogeneity of the EMFs. Investments, in which a German company was acquired, are analysed by qualitative and in-depth interviews. The consequences and the reactions of the companies and the defined stakeholders are presented in detail. It is shown, that an extended GPN-approach is applicable to develop both, the reasons for internationalisation on a M&A route as well as the consequences, that have to be expected. The results show that antithetic characteristics within the categories of power and value of the acquiring and the targeted company lead to no direct negative effects for the acquired company. The finding – based on hard economic factors such as lower quality within the acquirers’ products – gets support in the importance of embeddedness. The non-existence of territorial and network embeddedness of the acquiring company as well as a low development of societal embeddedness about the target market are conceptualized as parameters that protect the targeted companies of negative consequences after an acquisition. These three categories allow a differentiated analysis of FDI by EMFs and enable a contingent view. By considering the governance relationships towards clients and suppliers, the study additionally offers an insight on the external backward and forward dimension of the value chains. The consequences for these companies are conceptualized, too. Summing up, the extended GPN-approach is developed as a theoretical instrument that can be used to research the internationalisation of EMFs and the consequences of these FDI on the value chains of companies in developed economies.