Research Studies Project Report (M.B.A.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2006

A research study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration, School of Management

China started opening its economy to the outside world in 1978 with India following in 1991. The reforms undertaken by these economies have propelled them to the preferred destination of international investments with many multinational corporations setting foot to take advantages of factors such as low cost labour, highly skilled manpower etc. China (followed by India) is still the most preferred destination with FDI many times to that in India. The research started with the hypothesis that China and India are following the same behaviour in going global. But research has shown that China's going out strategy is more in alignment with its national interest's e.g. Securing energy supplies to fuel its global economy A few Chinese corporations like Lenovo, TCL have started buying out brands to derive more value to later exploit. In India's case it is less to do with government push (except securing energy supplies like china) but more a case of entrepreneurship of diverse corporations who have different considerations e.g. Pharmaceutical companies seeking technology and markets (especially for generic products) . Chinese companies are mostly in the asset exploitative mode It is also seen that China is facing resistance to its global aspirations e.g. thwarted Unocal bid by CNOOC and its actions are more under scrutiny possibly because of the size of the deals. Making new friends and becoming soft power seems to be working for China. Going global is not a smooth journey and has to be preceded by generating goodwill and there is a lot one has to give before you start taking back e.g. china's involvement in Africa, Cambodia, Burma etc. India needs to look at big deals like china and also adopt the soft power approach