Oct 8 – Chinese Industrial Parks in South East Asia: Who is Building Them and Why? with Jean Oi

Beginning in the early 1990s—well before the Belt and Road Initiative—Beijing encouraged Chinese firms, both state-owned and private, to “Go Out/Go Global” (走出去). Research shows many companies responded, but we still know little about how they choose where to go and where they settle within host countries. Do firms from the same Chinese locality co-locate abroad? Do they cluster by sector—and if so, through what mechanisms?

Through this talk Jean Oi (Stanford University) will present preliminary findings that open the black box of subnational actors in Chinese overseas investment. She will map who the investors are, whether state or private sector, where they originate within China, and where they locate overseas. Professor Oi will show that industrial parks (产业园区)—much as in China—are a central organizational hub for Chinese firms abroad, and that while some parks begin as private entrepreneurial ventures, over time a local government often steps in to promote and invest in them increasing their economic and strategic significance.

This event will be moderated by Professor Min Ye and hosted at the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 67 Bay State Road, Boston from 4:00-5:30pm.