China Fdi

International Business Review 21 (2012) 508–517

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International Business Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ibusrev

Equity-based entry modes of the Greater Chinese Economic Area’s foreign direct investments in Vietnam
Bih-Lian Shieh a,*, Tzong-Chen Wu b,1 a b

Graduate Institute of Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, 18 F., No. 4, Sec. 1, Chung Hsiao W. Road, Taipei 100, Taiwan, ROC
Department of Information Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, No. 43, Sec. 4, Keelung Road, Taipei 106, Taiwan, ROC

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history:
Received 21 October 2010
Received in revised form 31 May 2011
Accepted 2 June 2011

In January 2007, Vietnam became the 150th member of the World Trade Organization
(WTO). Vietnam is located in the heart of Asia and has a resource-rich economy, which offers it a significant advantage in attracting foreign direct investments (FDIs). The research focuses on equity-based entry mode choices adopted by multinational corporations (MNCs) in the Greater Chinese Economic Area (GCEA) for entering Vietnam.
The statistical results indicate that equity-based entry modes are significant when FDI firms entering Vietnam originate from the GCEA, which includes Mainland China, Hong
Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. However, the interaction results show that industry does not have a moderating effect on the relationship between location and entry mode, whereas it is not found that industrial cluster is specific to any one location. The generalized model has implications for the theoretical and managerial perspectives of both the host and the home countries. ß 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Entry mode
FDI
GCEA
MNC
Vietnam

1. Introduction
Ethnic Chinese communities have been increasingly expressing interest in the multinational corporations (MNCs) in the world economy (Ahlstrom,

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