Enrique Dussel Peters has announced the publication of an important book: Latin American and Caribbean Overseas Foreign Direct Investment in China in the 21st Century (Unión de Universidades de América Latina y el Caribe, 2023; ISBN 978-607-8937-05-9), which can be downloaded at: https://dusselpeters.com/388.pdf.
Dussel Peters describes the project this way:
The book is an in depth analysis of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) overseas foreign direct investment (OFDI) to China including macro, meso and micro (case studies) analysis. It includes a regional perspective (PRESENTATION/Enrique Dussel Peters), and the experiences of Argentina (Leonardo E. Stanley), Brazil (Celio Hiratuka), the Caribbean (Jevon Minto, Chevano Baker and Noel Young), Central America ( Rafael Arias-Achio and Rafael Arias Ramírez), Chile (Dorotea López, Andrés Bórquez, and Juan E. Serrano-Moreno), Mexico (Enrique Dussel Peters), and Peru (Alan Fairlie). An invitation by the Academic Network for Latin America and the Caribbean on China (Red ALC-China) to improve the examined countries and case studies, and to include new countries and case studies.
He offers 6 conclusions in his "Presentation" (Ibid., pp. 7-15):
(1) the methodological weakness of statistical production makes assessment difficult, especially as the major players have failed to coordinate their data production and reporting;
(2) while LAC outbound investment in China has consistently grown, the trajectories may change as China and the West sort of their respective trade empires;
(3) the rate of outbound investment into China varies considerably among states in the LAC region, with the usual suspects (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina) driving investment (along with special case Chile), while other states the polarities of investment may be reversed;
(4) the implications of rates and forms of outbound investment beg further analysis especially with respect to LAC MNEs driving outbound investment that tend to be (a) experienced players in outbound investment; (b) long time investors in China; (c) most began investment through trade and representation offices; (d) all investors experienced periods of substantial learning and adaptation, including cases where outbound investment went badly; (e) pathways to investment were quite varied reflecting experimentation and contextualization in overcoming entry barriers and included joint ventures; various forms of M&A, and some greenfield investment; (f) the business case for outbound investment was fueled by cheaper labor and materials but has matured as Chinese markets have grown along with the capacity of partner firms; (g) successful experimentation in initial phases were followed by expansion especially through M&A; (h) success appeared to require inbound LAC firms to innovate global competition practices; (i) inbound investment tended to avoid the larger cities in favor of small and medium sized urban centers; and (j) successful inbound investment has been leveraged by some firms to aid i development of further expansion into other Asian states;
(5) the trend appears to be for the imposition of increasingly higher entry barriers for new investment even as the overall investment climate in China has changed especially with respect to the costs and risks of investment;
(6) all firms from the LAC region have been affected by the imperial maneuverings between the Chinese and the Americans; but rather than leave China LAC firms have adopted what is called a "China + 1" strategy--reasonably analogous to China's dual circulation policy as a means of promoting what the Europeans call "re-risking" strategies.
The work is well worth a read. Last point, and interestingly, while Brazilian firms might be sensitive to issues of sustainability (pp. 90, 94), a reference to sustainability in Central American coffee production (pp. 162) is noted, human capital (and resources) is mentioned several paces (eg pp. 18, 28, 49, 93, 116, 169, 196, 229, 252, 254, 271, 278); property rights are noted at pp. 111-112); the human rights landscape in investment did not play a prominent role in the analysis.
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