Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ireland is low, and Ireland has never featured among the top destinations for Chinese FDI into the EU (Wang et al., 2018). It is observed that the limited presence of Chinese FDI in Ireland, not only contrasts with growing Chinese FDI elsewhere, but also contrasts sharply with Ireland’s track record in consistently attracting high levels of FDI. This has been identified as an anomalous phenomenon in the international business domain that merits further research. Building on the work by Wang et al. (2018) that examined the impact of human resource and industrial relations factors in attracting Chinese FDI, this study investigates and explores the impact of the socio-economic factors on the location decisions of Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) investing in Ireland. The socio-economic factors investigated notably include market, infrastructure, logistics, corporate tax, financial grants, industrial promotion agencies (IPAs), business laws, language, culture and some political considerations.
This study adopts a primarily qualitative methodology involving semi-structured interviews, which was intended to garner rich and novel insights and perspectives from the interview respondents on research topics. Across the whole interviewing process, significant effort was given to ensure that the most knowledgeable and authoritative respondent was always used. As a result, a total of 40 in-depth interviews were conducted, including 16 in-depth interviews with senior managerial respondents from Chinese MNEs and 24 in-depth interviews with other expert informants who are independent from Chinese MNEs, notably including senior managerial personnel from Irish IPAs and other bodies of significant relevance.
Overall, this paper finds that along with certain political considerations, Ireland’s EU membership, Ireland’s potential as a point of entry to the EU market, Irish culture, Ireland’s business laws, the role of the Irish IPAs, and the English-language skills of Irish workers were generally reported as having a positive impact on the location decisions for the majority of Chinese MNEs in Ireland (particularly those that located in Ireland in more recent times).The issues of corporate tax, financial grants, Irish domestic market, infrastructure and logistics were reported as less significant factors for the location decisions of the majority of Chinese MNEs in Ireland, particularly those that established in Ireland more recently.
With respect to the contribution, theoretically, this research addresses a significant gap in the international business literature by empirically investigating Chinese FDI/MNEs investing in a small and developed Western economy. Arguably, this paper makes a substantial conceptual and empirical contribution to the existing literature on the pertinent areas under investigation, such as contributing valuable empirical data and useful insights to the growing body of literature on Chinese FDI/MNEs and advancing the existing knowledge on FDI investing in Ireland. Furthermore, this work sheds light on an anomalous phenomenon in the international business domain, vis-a-vis the surprisingly low levels of Chinese FDI/MNEs in Ireland despite Ireland’s reputation as a magnet for MNE activity.
At the practical level, the qualitative empirical data presented, and the empirical findings generated on the research topics are likely to be of particular interest to practitioners who are directly involved in promoting Chinese FDI into Ireland. More broadly, this paper provides valuable information and practical implications for public-policy makers and institutional actors, particularly in terms of how they might develop more effective incentives or approaches to attract FDI from Chinese MNEs.
Reference
Wang, Y., Lavelle, J. and Gunnigle, P. (2018) ‘Chinese firms in Ireland: profile, motives and impact of human resource and industrial relations considerations’, European Journal of International Management, Vol. 12, No. 5/6, pp. 695-721..
