ABSTRACT
This book documents the globalization, adaptation and eventually localization processes of Chinese SOEs in West Africa and compares across and among SOEs using primary sources collected through ethnographical fi eldwork from the Chinese SOEs that so far have been unavailable in the literature. It allows appreciation of the degree to which power relations among the actors shaping Chinese SOE globalization processes are organic and pluralistic. It also highlights the importance of local relationships and social capital for altering the original power dynamic in the long run. With better local relations and knowledge, a provincial SOE can outperform a central SOE in Africa, even if the latter has more privileged resources from the Chinese state. Inspecting power relations through analysis at diverse levels, and in particular at the micro (individual) level, the book provides evidence of how power relations between Chinese companies and African actors should be viewed beyond the binary perspective of dominant and dominated.
