In Comrades We Trust--the Expatriation of Us Legal Managers by Chinese Multinationals
Abstract: The expansion of China-based multinational companies (MNCs) present new theoretical and policy questions. A pressing one, in light of the rising tensions between China and the US, concerns Chinese MNCs’ capacity to navigate the intricate US legal system. This article begins to address the question by analyzing Chinese MNCs’ US legal managers. Survey data and in-depth interviews reveal considerable heterogeneity in the US legal management positions at the MNCs, and among those having established such positions, a significant minority chose to deploy expatriates instead of relying on local recruits. Moreover, due to home-state institutional pressure and high transaction and agency cost, state-owned Chinese MNCs are more likely to assign trusted colleagues to supervise the US legal matters. The findings contribute to ongoing debates about Chinese MNCs and outbound investment, US-China relations, state-owned enterprises, corporate legal capacity of MNCs, and human resource management in specialty areas.
