Abstract :
The important phenomenon that the internationalization of Chinese firms (ICF) represents
has attracted increasing interest from scholars from multiple fields over the
past 20 years (1991–2010). Although this proliferation of research has the potential to
significantly improve understanding of Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs), the
necessary step of consolidating and integrating extant knowledge is absent. This paper
reviews the scholarship on the ICF and offers insights into the specific areas in critical
need of further development. By focusing on articles published in major scholarly
journals during the period 1991–2010, the authors develop a coherent framework to
organize and reviewconceptual and empirical findings from disciplines as far ranging as
management, international business, cross-culture and area studies.Within the reviewed
literature, three primary streams of enquiry are identified which focus on the antecedents,
processes and outcomes of the ICF.Achievements within each of the three research
streams are carefully reviewed using content analysis, whereby a number of important
issues are identifiedwhich have remained consistently untouched,and recommendations
are provided for future research, aimed at developing a more integrated research agenda
on the ICF for management and international business scholars.
