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Exploring the Missing Links between International Business and Domestic Migration: The Case of China

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The Palgrave Handbook of Global Migration in International Business

Abstract

International business (IB) scholars are increasingly emphasizing the importance of migration for international operations. However, extant IB studies on migration mainly focus on international migration, few studies have systematically explored the relationship between IB and domestic migration. Academic discussions on international business and domestic migration have remained separate. To close the gaps in the literature, this study takes the unprecedented rural-urban migration in China as an example to examine how foreign direct investment and domestic migration have influenced each other, and how multinational enterprises (MNEs) have exerted influence on and responded to local institutional environments such as the discriminatory human resource management practices against rural migrants over the past decades. It also develops a future research agenda for further examining the relationship between IB and domestic migration in China. Our study reveals that domestic migration matters for international business, especially in developing countries, constituting an important research area for future IB studies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    China was one of the 23 founding members of the WTO’s predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). It withdrew from GATT in 1950 due to the change in government and reapplied for membership in GATT in 1986. Since then, negotiations on China’s accession to GATT continued for 15 years, until an accession protocol was adopted by WTO members in 2001. Therefore, China claims that it re-joined the WTO as a founding member of GATT.

  2. 2.

    “Workers are the masters of the enterprise” is a socialist rhetoric in China during the era of planned economy before 1978. This “master” narrative emphasizes that the socialist revolution in China in 1949 had transformed the proletariat class into the leading class and risen workers from slaves in the old society to the owners of the nation. Therefore, the interests of workers are fully aligned with the interests of the nation and the state-owned enterprises. As the leading class, they need to exercise leadership during work for the interests of their enterprises and the nation. At the same time, the nation should look after workers by offering them life-time employment and cradle-to-grave welfare. The “master” narrative helped workers gain a sense of dignity and avoid being marginalized. In an age of reform since the late 1990s, this “master” narrative has become Chinese workers’ collective memories of the past in the Mao era (Gong, 2015; Lee, 2007).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Mingqiong Mike Zhang & Jiuhua Cherrie Zhu

  2. Department of Management, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Peter J. Dowling

  3. School of Management, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Di Fan

Authors
  1. Mingqiong Mike Zhang
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  2. Jiuhua Cherrie Zhu
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  3. Peter J. Dowling
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  4. Di Fan
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Correspondence to Mingqiong Mike Zhang .

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  1. Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland

    Audra I. Mockaitis

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Zhang, M.M., Zhu, J.C., Dowling, P.J., Fan, D. (2023). Exploring the Missing Links between International Business and Domestic Migration: The Case of China. In: Mockaitis, A.I. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Migration in International Business. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38886-6_11

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