The global emergence of Chinese multinationals: A resource-based view of ownership and performance

We apply insights from the resource-based view to better understand the emergence of Chinese multinational companies (MNCs) and to investigate the determinants of their performance. We argue that state ownership and foreign-corporate ownership have played a role in providing Chinese MNCs with access to key resources to improve their performance. Moreover, given the dominant role of government policies in China, Chinese MNCs are more profitable when their ownership structures align more closely with attributes favored by government policies. Our findings provide strong support to our arguments. This study provides new insights into how ownership structure leads to heterogeneity in MNC performance.