Research On The Relationship Between Degree Of Internationalization And Performance Of Chinese Manufacturing Enterprises

Internationalization strategy is one of the important development strategies of Chinese enterprises.After putting forward the "Go global" strategy and the "Belt and Road" Initiative,the degree of internationalization of Chinese enterprises has been deepening continuously,but the profit level of Chinese enterprises is still lower than that of multinational enterprises in developed countries.Domestic and foreign scholars’ empirical studies on the relationship between degree of internationalization and enterprise performance have also obtained a variety of possible results,such as positive correlation,negative correlation,inverted U-shape,U-shape,horizontal S-shape,N-shape,M-shape,inverted M-shape and no correlation.One of the reasons for the inconsistency in the empirical conclusions may be that the impact of the internationalization process pattern on the relationship between degree of internationalization and performance is ignored.Since the multinational corporations in emerging economies,including China,present a leapfrog development path completely different from the traditional multinational corporations,so it is crucial to fill the research gap by focusing on the relationship between internationalization process patterns and firm performance.International enterprises operating overseas must face various factors related to the environment.At present,the global market environment is becoming more severe and volatile.Therefore,it is necessary to study the influence of environmental dynamics on the relationship between the degree of internationalization and enterprise performance.Based on LLL paradigm and springboard theory,this paper takes Chinese manufacturing enterprises with internationalization behavior as samples to identify and describe the internationalization process patterns of enterprises through cluster analysis,and then uses regression analysis to compare the relationship between degree of internationalization and enterprise performance under different modes,as well as the influence of environmental dynamics on the relationship between degree of internationalization and enterprise performance.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows: First,the process of international expansion of Chinese manufacturing enterprises is gradual and accelerated.This study classifies and identifies the internationalization process patterns of enterprises through cluster analysis,and finally obtains four patterns: gradual internationalization,accelerated internationalization of overseas investment,accelerated internationalization of overseas sales and overseas investment,and deinternationalization.In this paper,the combination of accelerated internationalization of overseas investment,accelerated overseas sales and internationalization of overseas investment is called accelerated internationalization enterprises.Since deinternationalization enterprises have chosen to give up or reduce their participation in international competition,this paper will not study the relationship between degree of internationalization and performance of deinternationalization enterprises.Secondly,there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the degree of internationalization and performance of gradual internationalization enterprises,while there is an S-shaped relationship between the degree of internationalization and performance of accelerated internationalization enterprises and the level of "first decreasing,then increasing and then decreasing".The critical internationalization point of the accelerated path(DOI=1.68)is higher than that of the gradual path(DOI=0.68).The performance of the accelerated internationalization enterprise is always smaller than that of the zero degree of internationalization,and the profit effect of the accelerated internationalization enterprise is not good.Thirdly,environmental dynamics has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between degree of internationalization and enterprise performance,which makes the curve of the relationship between degree of internationalization and enterprise performance of gradual and accelerated enterprises steeper.The improvement of environmental dynamics is conducive to the acquisition of more effective information and resources,the improvement of technical capabilities and the generation of new competitive advantages,but it will also lead to the increase of the difficulty of the management to predict,act and operate in the overseas market.Compared with the existing researches,the theoretical contributions of this paper are as follows: First,from the dynamic and multidimensional perspective,the construction of multidimensional feature groups to distinguish the internationalization process,to identify and describe the internationalization process pattern of Chinese manufacturing enterprises,to provide a theoretical basis for the study of internationalization process;Second,it puts forward the analysis framework of the influence of degree of internationalization on enterprise performance under different internationalization process modes,which contributes to the construction of a more scenario-dependent theoretical pattern of Chinese enterprises’ internationalization strategic behavior-performance.Thirdly,environmental dynamics is introduced as a moderating variable to enrich and expand the research boundary of the relationship between internationalization strategy and firm performance.The practical significance of this paper is as follows: First,by identifying the unique internationalization process pattern and evolution characteristics of Chinese enterprises,the relationship between degree of internationalization and performance of gradual and accelerated internationalization enterprises is compared,so as to find the balance point between domestic and international operations and maximize the interests of enterprises.Secondly,it is helpful for managers to identify the risks under different internationalization process modes and make more reasonable arrangements and decisions for the dynamic process of internationalization expansion of enterprises.Thirdly,by studying the impact of environmental dynamics on the relationship between degree of internationalization and enterprise performance,managers should consider the matching degree between degree of internationalization and environmental dynamics when operating overseas,and adjust their own strategic decisions according to the changes of the environment.