The role of institutional and political factors in attracting Chinese and Russian multinationals to the Visegrad countries

Abstract

International business research is usually focused on various aspects of foreign direct investment (FDI) by non ‑European emerging ‑market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) without attention to non ‑traditional factors pulling them into host countries. The objective of this paper is to examine the investments of EMNEs from two source countries, China and Russia, within the Visegrad Four (V4) economies. Based on interviews and a qualitative document analysis, it explores the main characteristics of their investments into the V4, including host ‑country determinants by focusing on macroeconomic, institutional and political factors. The paper finds that these factors do influence EMNEs’ investment practices, and that they correlate with the changing quality of political relations, but this influence needs to be assessed on a case ‑by ‑case basis.