The Evolution Of Space-time Pattern And Location Selection Of China’s Outward Foreign Direct Investment In The Mining Industry

The exploration and utilization of mineral resources by human has gone through a long history.Mineral resources support the survival and sustainable development of human beings.China’s demand for mineral resources is strong,and it is constantly increased with the development of the economy and society,but limited by the constraints of domestic mineral resources,the contradiction between supply and demand is becoming more and more acute.Foreign direct investment is an important way to participate in global resources allocation.In order to meet the needs of the country and the strategic layout of global resources,as a resource-seeking mining industry,it has always played an important role in China’s outward foreign direct investment(OFDI),and location selection is an important strategic decision.The location selection of China’s OFDI in the mining industry is a space issue for the pursuit of different minerals,and it is a problem of strategic layout of global resources from point to surface under the time sequence,which is related to national resource security and global value chain dominance.The location advantage can also enhance the international competitiveness of Chinese enterprises and ensure the benefits of enterprises.In the context of global changes and China’s construction of a new development pattern and the second Centennial Goal,it is of great significance to study the evolution of space-time pattern and location selection of China’s OFDI in the mining industry.At present,there are some research results on the location selection of China’s OFDI in the mining industry.The specific classification of mineral resources is not clearly distinguished in the research.The influencing factors of location selection are mostly considered from the static perspective,and the research methods are outdated and repetitive.The research area of the dissertation is the solid minerals.Based on foreign direct investment theories,location theories,evolutionary economic geography theories and configuration theories,the thesis summarizes the historical evolution of China’s OFDI in the mining industry,analyzes the characteristics of the space pattern and the evolutionary factors of each stage,and summarizes the paths of location selection.It can provide specific suggestions for enterprises.It is of great significance to promote the optimal allocation of enterprise resources and location resources,improve the total factor productivity and intertemporal allocation efficiency of resources in China’s mining industry,and ensure the security of national resources.The main research contents and conclusions of the thesis are as follows:(1)To sort out the five stages of China’s OFDI in the mining industry,and summarize the evolution process and characteristics of the space-time pattern from scattered type to "one-core and three-regions" to "dule-core and two-regions".The thesis analyzes the linkage effect with the evolution of space-time pattern from two aspects of China’s economic development stage and institutional arrangement.(2)The global and local correlation indices from 2004 to 2020 were calculated using the exploratory spatial data analysis(ESDA),and the location clustering of six important nodes is analyzed.China’s OFDI in the mining industry has a weak positive correlation in space,and tends to decline year by year.The agglomeration trend of regions with similar agglomeration levels has little change and has a weak trend.The agglomeration factor has a convergence effect in location selection.And use the Markov chain to predict the evolution trend of China’s OFDI location in the mining industry in five aspects in the next five years.(3)The configuration analysis method,which is different from the contingency perspective analysis method,is introduced in detail,and a new idea is found for the empirical analysis of the location selection of China’s OFDI in the mining industry.The relevant content of the qualitative comparative analysis(QCA)method is introduced in detail,and the adaptability of this method to the location selection of China’s OFDI in the mining industry is described in detail.Using the QCA method to study the location selection of China’s OFDI in the mining industry from historical evolution to today’s selection,from the comprehensive research of multiple minerals to the focus of key minerals,it deeply analyzes the location selection of China’s OFDI in the mining industry.(4)The dynamic QCA method is used to study the evolution of location selection path and the evolution of conditions and functions of China’s OFDI in the mining industry in two historical periods from 2004 to 2009 and 2010 to 2019.A three-dimensional linkage-matching framework of host country,country-home,and country enterprises is constructed,and necessary conditions and configuration analysis are carried out for the two stages respectively,and it is verified that there is no necessary single condition for location selection of high-level OFDI,resulting in different paths.The configuration path formed by the interaction of conditions,and under the same five antecedent conditions,the location selection path of high-level OFDI in the two stages has evolved,the path has become more concentrated,and the functional status of the conditions has also evolved.(5)On the basis of the study of historical periods,the driving mechanism of the location selection of China’s current OFDI in the mining industry was investigated,and it was proposed that the mining environment of the host country should be determined by integrating the area of mineral rights,exploration budget and critical minerals indicators.CHOICE is a dichotomous outcome variable,and WGI,IEF,CA,EB,and CM are set as causal ingredients.From 2018 to 2020,it is necessary to select 27 locations including Canada,the United States,Cameroon and other major mining countries that were not involved in cross-border M&A projects,including Chad,Liberia,and Madagascar as reference locations.The causal ingedients and configuration are analyzed,and it is revealed that the thinking of the recent investment selection location has shifted to more favorable mining basic conditions,and other conditions can be compensated by other means.(6)It is proposed to build a foreign direct investment in China’s mining industry with specific strategic emerging mineral resources nickel and cobalt as the research object based on WGI,IEF,EB of nickel and cobalt,and TCC of nickel and cobalt.Strategic location selection path mechanism model,analyzing the interaction between causal ingredients and the path leading to the result.The location selection of foreign nickel ore investment does not depend on a single causal ingredient,but is the result of a combination of different causal ingredients.There is only one path,that is,the cost-driven type in a weak macro environment.In the 17 main producing areas of nickel ore,the investment location is inclined to countries with low institutional quality,economic freedom and low production cost of nickel ore.There is no systematic path in the selection of external cobalt ore investment locations,but four paths are formed as a result of negation-selection,that is,they are all negation-high-cobalt ore exploration investment types,and other conditions are relatively weakened under the negation-high-cobalt ore exploration and investment conditions,which are not involved.The main factor in choosing the location.(7)Suggestions on promoting the global resource distribution of China’s OFDI in the mining industry from the macroscopical level.First,focus on the allocation of market resources,strengthen the government’s regulation of the optimal allocation of enterprise resources and location resources,and establish an optimal allocation system and mechanism.Second,the international market-oriented reform of mining enterprises should focus on strengthening the international market-oriented capabilities of stateowned enterprises and private enterprises.Third,an all-round,multi-level and systematic foreign direct investment think tank should be built to enable Chinese enterprises to invest in foreign direct investment through digitalization.The main innovations of the thesis are as follows:(1)Combined with Arc GIS,Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis methods and traditional Markov chain model,the thesis analyzes and summarizes the evolution process and characteristics of the space-time pattern from scattered type to "one-core and threeregions" to "dule-core and two-regions",points out the focus and motivation of location selection at each stage.The thesis comprehensively investigates the evolution of the spatial differentiation and evolution of China’s OFDI in the mining industry,and finds that the location selection of China’s OFDI in the mining industry is less affected by agglomeration factors,and predicts the location of China’s OFDI in the mining industry in the next five years.The evolution trend of the five aspects provides suggestions for the location selection of Chinese enterprises’ OFDI in the mining industry,and also provides a feasible method for the research on the location evolution of China’s OFDI in the mining industry.(2)This thesis analyzes the factors and the mechanism of the location selection of China’s OFDI in the mining industry.On the basis of relevant theories and research,combined with the characteristics of the mineral resources industry,a host country-home country is constructed that combines qualitative and quantitative factors in the location selection of China’s OFDI in the mining industry.The three-dimensional linkage matching framework of home country enterprises proposes to add mining environment elements on the basis of examining the macro environment of the host country,including Exploration Budget,Claim Area,Critical Minerals and Total Cash Cost.(3)The fsQCA method is adopted to carry out configuration analysis on the location selection of China’s OFDI in the mining industry.The sufficient and necessary conditions for the location selection of China’s OFDI in the mining industry are clarified,and the influencing factors of the location selection of China’s OFDI in the mining industry are further clarified,which provides new ideas and a new method for the research on the location selection of China’s OFDI in the mining industry.The fsQCA method is used to analyze the evolution of the location selection path,the difference of conditions and the internal mechanism in the two historical stages,the core factors,path characteristics and motivation of the investment location selection at the current stage,and the location selection of specific minerals taking nickel and cobalt ore as examples and specific location decision-making recommendations.