Chinese companies operating beyond China’s borders constitute a geopolitical force but are relatively under-researched. The Global China Research Spoke of the Australian National University Australian Centre for China in the World (CIW) will hold a conference in Canberra to extend knowledge on this topic of increasing political and strategic importance.
The two-day conference 29-30 June 2023 seeks insightful perspectives on Chinese companies operating abroad ranging from state-owned enterprises to private start-ups to organised crime syndicates operating in fields as diverse as high tech, infrastructure and online gambling.
The conference will have a cross-border and cross-disciplinary focus, looking the dynamics between Chinese companies and their host states. Academics and emerging scholars with expertise in China studies, business, and the politics and societies of host states in regions including Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Pacific, and Africa, are all welcome to participate.
Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:
- Relationships with the Chinese party-state and the host state
- Chinese companies operating abroad in comparative historical perspective, including with European company-states of the colonial era;
- Relationships between Chinese companies operating abroad and China’s foreign policy goals
- Internal structure and operations of Chinese companies operating abroad
- The origins and influences of Chinese companies operating abroad
- Relationships with bureaucracies, commercial counterparts and civil society in host countries
- Communist party influence on organisational structure, style of operating and incentive and penalties for employees.
- How Chinese companies manage the complexities of operating in international environments including language, host country markets, unfamiliar political systems, and cultural milieus as well as with competition from other commercial entities.
- Case studies of particular Chinese companies operating abroad, or conversely, a range of Chinese companies operating in a particular host country.
The publishing outcomes of this conference will include a special issue proposal to The China Journal.
If you are interested in participating, please send a 250 word abstract, a brief CV and your institutional affiliation to the conference organizer, Dr Greg Raymond greg.raymond@anu.edu.au by 30 March 2023. A limited number of travel bursaries may be available – please enquire if needed.