Conflicts over Property and State Responses to the Internationalization of Chinese Companies in the US and the EU

Outline

The international expansion of Chinese corporations has triggered extensive economic, trade, and industrial policy responses in the USA and the EU. While the USA has adopted a decisive stance using import tariffs, investment controls, and sanctions against Chinese state-owned and high-tech companies, the EU has taken a more cautious approach through initiatives such as the International Procurement Instrument. The aim of this project is to analyze and compare the specific design of property-related state interventions in the USA and the EU and to assess their impacts on the international strategies of Chinese enterprises.

Building upon research from the initial funding phase, this project shifts the focus from exploring the causes of new state activities to emphasizing their effects on Chinese-owned entities. The foundational assumption is that the "new statism" observed in the USA and EU primarily targets Chinese state-owned enterprises and those holding strategic stakes in high technology sectors. However, these measures affect the international strategies of Chinese corporations differently: There are indications of significant scaling-back of corporate networks in the USA ("decoupling"), while the same firms appear to be merely adapting their strategies within the EU market (e.g., shifting business areas).

Central to the analysis is a comparison of company-related property conflicts in the USA and EU, the property-oriented state responses in industrial and foreign economic policies concerning the internationalization of Chinese companies, and the resulting strategic adjustments these firms undertake in both markets. The project employs a mixed-methods design: First, a comparative analysis of state responses in the USA and EU will be conducted. Subsequently, the SinoTop500 dataset, established during the first funding phase (detailing ownership structures of the largest Chinese companies), will be expanded to include data reflecting the impacts of these property-related state measures and analyzed using descriptive statistical methods. Finally, this quantitative analysis will be deepened by qualitative case studies examining the changing strategies of selected Chinese enterprises in the USA and EU.

Project activities

Publications

Academic publications
  • Schmalz, S.; Schneidemesser, L., Xu, H. (2024): “An Emerging China-Threat-Corporatism? CRRC’s Acquisition of a German Locomotive Company and Its Impact on Labour Relations”, In: European Journal of Industrial Relations, online first, https://doi.org/10.1177/09596801231226421.
  • Köncke, P.; De Graaff, N. (2024): “Chinese Multinationals and Europe’s Geoeconomic Turn: De-globalization of the Chinese ICT and Automotive Industry?“, In: Politics and Governance 12, https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.8195.
  • Köncke, P.; Schmalz, S. (2024): “The World-System of Vaccine Distribution. Global Inequalities and Geopolitical Conflicts During the COVID-19 Pandemic”, In: Journal of World-Systems Research 30(1), 195-222, https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2024.1173
  • Peters, F.; Rinne, J.; Saalfeld, R.; Schmalz, S.; Stuart, A.; von der Weth, L. (2024): “Eigentumskonflikte: Eine Typologie”, SFB 294 Working Paper No. 5, https://sfb294-eigentum.de/de/publikationen/working-paper/#paper-nr-5
  • Gräf, H.; Schmalz, S. (2023): “Avoiding the China shock: How Chinese state-backed internationalization drives changes in European economic governance”, In: Competition and Change, online first: https://doi.org/10.1177/10245294231207990.
  • Erlbacher, L.; Schmalz, S. (2023): “Chinese Perspectives on the US-China Rivalry: Navigating Geo-economic and Technological Tensions in a New Era of Global Statism”, In: Critical Policy Studies 17(2), 337-345, https://doi.org/10.1080/19460171.2023.2218463.
  • Schmalz, S. (2023): “Varianten des digitalen Kapitalismus: China und USA im Vergleich”, in: Carstensen, T.; Schaupp, S.; Sevignani, S. (Hg.): Theorien des digitalen Kapitalismus, Berlin: Suhrkamp, 285-304.
  • Köncke, P.; Simon, J. (2022) (Hg.): StaatsKapitalismus, PROKLA. Zeitschrift für kritische Sozialwissenschaft Nr. 208.
  • Schneidemesser, L./ Butollo, F. (2022): “Alibaba’s Distribution-Centred Approach towards the Industrial Internet: A Chinese Version of Industry 4.0?”, In:  Gereffi, G.; Bamber, P.; Fernandez-Stark, K. (Hg.) China’s New Development Strategies: Moving Up and Moving Abroad in Global Value Chains, Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore, 61-83. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-19-3008-9_3
  • Schmalz, S.; Gräf, H.; Köncke, P.; Schneidemesser, L. (2022): “Umkämpfte Globalisierung: Amerikanische und europäische Reaktionen auf Chinas Aufstieg im Hochtechnologiebereich“, in: Berliner Journal für Soziolologie 32(3), S. 427–454. DOI: 10.1007/s11609-022-00481-x.
Media and podcasts

Lectures

  • Schmalz, Stefan: “Chinesische E-Auto- und Batteriehersteller als neue Wettbewerber: Industrie- und arbeitspolitische Herausforderungen“, China Briefing of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung/ Foreign Policy Working Group of the SPD Parliamentary Group, German Bundestag, Berlin (25.4.2024)
  • Schmalz, S.; Schneidemesser, L.: “What Does Chinese Direct Investment Mean for Co-Determination? A Comparative Study in the German Metal and Electronics Industry”, International Labor Process Conference, Göttingen (5.4.2024)
  • Schneidemesser, Lea: “An Emerging China Threat Corporatism? Chinese Brownfield Investments with Industrial Policy Implications”, Seminar Series “The world at present – scholars international research”, No. 14, Shanghai University, Institute of Economic Sociology and Multinationals, Shanghai (5.1.2024)
  • De Graaff, N.; Köncke, P.: “China Inc. Enters Europe: Internationalization Strategies of Chinese ICT and Automotive Companies Expanding into the European Union”, EWIS-Workshop, Amsterdam (12. bis 14.7.2023)
  • Schneidemesser, Lea: “Chinese OFDI in Europe amid Digitalization –Beyond Huawei and Tiktok, what access to data can be gained by Chinese investors in Europe?”, SASE Annual Conference 2023, Rio de Janeiro (20. bis 22.7.2023)
  • Schmalz, Stefan: “When Germany Started Questioning Chinese FDI: An Analysis of the Acquisition of a Leading German Robotics Company”, Conference “Breaking Boundaries – Chinese Companies Abroad”, The Australian National University, Canberra (29.6.2023)
  • Gräf, Helena: “Conflicts over the rise of Chinese Capitalism: The reconfiguration of economic governance in the EU”, Workshop „Germany’s Geopolitical Economy“, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto (30.09.2022)
  • Schmalz, Stefan: “Digitale Kapitalismusvarianten: China und USA im Vergleich”, DGS Congress 2022, Bielefeld, (29.9.2022)
  • Erlbacher, L.; Köncke, P.: “The Anatomy of China’s State Capitalism: Mechanisms of Party-State Influence and Degrees of State-Permeation”, REDEFINE China/Europe and the Changing Global Order Seminar Series (The Open University, UK), digital (8.9.2022)
  • Köncke, Philipp: “Mechanisms of Party-State Influence and Degrees of State-Permeation in China’s Capitalism”, SASE Annual Conference 2022, Amsterdam (10.7.2022)

List of all lectures

Events

 

Project Staff

A picture of Prof. Dr. Stefan Schmalz.

Prof. Dr. Stefan Schmalz

Principal Investigator

Jena
A picture of Philipp Köncke.

Philipp Köncke

Researcher

Jena
A picture of Sabrina Stangl.

Sabrina Stangl

Scholarship Holder

Jena
A picture of Sophie Steidel.

Sophie Steidel

Scholarship Holder

Jena
A picture of Catalina Renč.

Catalina Renč

Researcher

Jena