| With the in-depth development of globalization,transnational mergers and acquisitions have become an important means for enterprises to transform their own development modes,optimize resource allocation,and enhance core competitiveness.In particular,the "Outline of the 14 th Five-Year Plan" proposes to comprehensively improve the level of opening up to the outside world and build a new system of higher-level open economy,which provides new historical opportunities for China’s transnational mergers and acquisitions.Overall,transnational mergers and acquisitions of Chinese enterprises have shown a rapid development trend.According to statistics,China has long maintained the top three positions in foreign direct investment,and transnational mergers and acquisitions have become the main form of China’s foreign direct investment.At the same time,in recent years,the "black swan" events such as Brexit in the UK,the "antiglobalization" in the US,and the COVID-19 pandemic have occurred frequently,and international trade protectionism has continued to rise,and international trade barriers to China have been increasing.China has become the country most seriously affected by international trade barriers,with trade barriers against China accounting for one-third of the total.In summary,the number of trade barriers encountered by Chinese enterprises and cross-border mergers and acquisitions has developed in a relatively synchronous manner.Then,whether trade barriers are an important influencing factor for Chinese companies’ cross-border M&A deserves further study.Based on the theories of investment-trade substitution theory,international production compromise theory,institutional theory,and springboard theory,this paper,from the perspective of trade barriers and cross-border mergers and acquisitions,uses the data of cross-border mergers and acquisitions of listed companies in China A-share from 2001 to2021 as the research sample,and uses the quantitative method of fixed effect model to empirically test the influence effect of trade barriers on Chinese enterprises’ cross-border mergers and acquisitions.The empirical results show that(1)There is a significant positive relationship between trade barriers and Chinese enterprises’ cross-border mergers and acquisitions.As the number of trade barriers increases,the number and amount of Chinese enterprises’ mergers and acquisitions in host countries also increase,showing the motivation of crossing trade barriers.(2)The promotion effect of trade barriers on crossborder mergers and acquisitions is heterogeneous.Specifically,this promotion effect is more obvious in the samples of leaders’ visits,partner relationship establishment,"Belt and Road" countries and developed countries.(3)Further analysis shows that trade barriers affect corporate cross-border mergers and acquisitions by increasing corporate export costs.In addition,trade barriers reduce the success rate of Chinese enterprises’ cross-border M&A.Combining the research conclusions,this paper puts forward some policies and suggestions.From the macro level,the government should coordinate the relationship of all parties to provide a favorable policy environment and institutional guarantee for Chinese enterprises’ cross-border mergers and acquisitions.From the micro level,enterprises should choose appropriate and suitable for their own development merger and acquisition strategies according to their own conditions,and actively take various measures to defuse the risk of mergers and acquisitions. |
