huawei case sdudy

VOLUME 17

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NUMBER 2

Internationalization Strategy of MNEs from Emerging Economies:
The Case of Huawei
Sunny Li Sun
Abstract: With the current rise of multinational enterprises (MNEs) from emerging economies (EE), more attention is now being directed to EE MNEs and what drives the internationalization of these companies. In this article we aim to provide more insights into the strategies and development of EE MNEs by conducting an in-depth study of a Chinese high-tech company in the communications equipment industry: Huawei. Our case study proposes that EE MNEs (1) tend to nurture their capability in the domestic market as a base before internationalization; (2) prefer to enter markets with fewer barriers in cultural, technological, economic, and institutional distances to accumulate experience and move up the value curve; and (3) use inward and outward linkages to complement their strengths and offset their weaknesses in the global market. Our study on the internationalization patterns of EE MNEs enriches and broadens current MNE theory.
Keywords: Internationalization, multinational enterprises, emerging economies, value curve

Introduction
What determines the international success or failure of a firm is a fundamental question in strategy and international business (IB) research (Peng
2004; Rumelt, Schendel, and Teece 1994). Most of the established IB literature has assumed or taken the perspective of how multinational enterprises (MNEs) from developed economies (hereafter DE) successfully enter and effectively compete in other developed or developing countries. With the current rise of MNEs from emerging economies (hereafter EE), more attention is now being directed toward EE MNEs and what drives the internationalization of these companies (Bartlett and Ghoshal 2000; Luo and

Sunny Li Sun, University of Texas at Dallas, School of Management, SM 43, P.O. Box 830688, Richardson, Texas 75083-0688,
Tel [phone] / Fax (972)

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