The locational entry theory and the international expansion of enterprise groups:a case study of Haier Group
区位进入理论与企业集团的国际化扩张——以海尔集团为例

Chinese enterprise groups are large corporation organizations generated from the reform and opening to the outside world. Under the background of the economic globalization, the study on their international expansion is of great practical significance. This article mainly focuses on the international expansion of Chinese manufacturing enterprise groups. The article is in five parts. The first part, as a brief introduction, expounds the situation of globalization and the roles of MNCs. The second part offers a detailed introduction to Professor Hayter's model, i.e. the theory of locational entry of multinational corporations. Selecting Haier Group as a case, the third part analyses the multinational expansion process of enterprise groups. It concludes that the multinational expansion process requires full domestic development and a sound local basis. In the fourth part, analysis is made on both the entry advantages and the spatial barriers of Haier Group. Among the entry advantages of Haier Group are the managerial and cultural advantages, technological innovation advantages, product quality advantages and marketing advantages. But it is also facing up with some spatial barriers such as psychological distance, small size and policy restrictions of host countries, etc. In part five, the article concludes that the multinational expansion process should go through the stage of domestic development and form a sound local basis. Furthermore, it is important to pay attention to the orientational role of market area and thrive to balance between integration and localization to develop diversified competitive advantages.