A study of Chinese OFDI drivers in five of the top investment recipient countries

4 Introduction Since the opening of their borders to inward and outward flows of capitals, Chinese managerial beliefs and actions have contributed to generate a revolution with incrementing repercussions in multiple sectors worldwide. While Western pillars have been sprawling globally uninterruptedly since the beginning of the 20 th century, Chinese Multi- oked out their national edges since the Nineties and offered valid alternatives to developing countries unsatisfied by the tenets of the Western world. The participation of China in international affairs has halved the pundits between those who openly criticize domestic public policies and blurry intentions pushing Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) and others who undeniably claim that the entrenchment of Chinese business perspectives and values in the rapid global transformations has produced more benefits than disadvantages. In light of this endless debate, the first objective of the following thesis is to depict a holistic review of the literature involved in the investigation of the fundamental drivers that led Chinese outward FDI to expand consistently and widely, even in remote areas of the planet. Secondly, the literature witnesses how domestic political factors cannot be neglected when Chinese OFDI is detected because political orientations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have steered the localization of foreign opportunities since the emergence of Chinese MNEs, often with scarce consideration for economic principles. However, the Chinese openness to multilateral agreements and the entrance in the WTO have imposed a substantial reform in the determinants of Chinese OFDI which have to overcome potential short-sighted domestic political interests. Therefore, the research question which arose after conducting a thorough literature review is hereby stated: Is Chinese OFDI mainly driven by financial opportunities in foreign markets nowadays, or pushed by domestic political interests? In relation to the posed research question, the principal objective of the dissertation comes down to the possibility to identify the level of influence played by a selected pool of political variables on one side and economic-related factors on the