ABSTRACT
In the first section of this chapter, about the specific characteristics of EU manufacturing subsidiaries in China,1 a framework is established to analyse the interaction among FSAs, LSAs and the operation of EU MNEs in China. In particular, the impact of two factors, that is, the size of parent companies and the timing of their entry into the Chinese market are discussed. The section on ‘Major operational characteristics’ reports about the major operational aspects of EU subsidiaries, that is, their ownership structure, partnerships, size of operation, location, sector distribution, R&D and market orientation. This analysis confirms the statistical results of Chapter 4 and provides complementary information about the specific characteristics of EU subsidiaries as compared to those from other origins. In the section on ‘Comparative analysis’, the characteristics of EU manufacturing subsidiaries are compared according to their period of entry (i.e. first movers versus latecomers) and to the size of their parent companies (large versus small MNEs). The comparative analysis tries to give an accurate explanation to the changing patterns of EU subsidiaries in China. The data that are used in this chapter were collected from 311 EU subsidiaries located in seven Chinese provinces and cities (see Chapter 1). After a descriptive analysis, statistical tests are carried out to verify the results.
