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Chinese and Indian outbound M&A activities have recently attracted enormous attention in the Western hemisphere. However, little is known about the newly internationalising firms, especially with respect to their motives and strategic behaviour. The master´s thesis at hand tackles this shortcoming by analysing the internationalisation process of 11 emerging multinationals from China. The results provide new insights into the distinctive and often unconventional strategic patterns of emerging multinationals. Four alternative pathways can be identified, namely the pathway of Exporters, Followers, Penetrators, and Challengers. Each pathway is characterised by its individual strategic moves toward internationalisation. The master´s thesis was submitted in May, 2008.

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Stefan Krieger, M.A. HSG (Master of Arts HSG in Strategy and International Management, University of St.Gallen) - Consultant at a global leading strategy consultancy firm

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