Foreword

The rise of emerging market multinational enterprises and the development of digitalization has profoundly reshaped the connotation of competitive advantage of multinational enterprises. The development of emerging market multinational enterprises presented by China shows a unique law that can not be explained by western multinational company theory, and the eclectic paradigm of international production can not explain and give further guidance how Chinese enterprises can realize leapfrog innovation through cross-border M&A integration from the edge of the network to the innovation center under the condition of lack of ownership advantage; The relevant research on the integration of organizational structure after the M&A of developed countries multinational companies can't touch the core of deeper integration of resources under the presentation of Chinese enterprises retaining the autonomy of overseas subsidiaries. With the rapid development of digital technology, the competitive advantage of multinational enterprises is not only based on internal resources, but also on the ability of enterprises to access from the outside through various networks. Emerging markets are more likely to get rid of the dependence of the old technology paradigm and accelerate digital innovation across existing solutions, thus releasing the"big data"advantage caused by market scale and forming a new competitive advantage for multinational enterprises in emerging markets in the digital era.

Most of the p ublished books on the integration of China's cross-border M&A follow the theory of multinational companies in developed countries, lacking theoretical explanation for the unique integration mode of Chinese enterprises after M&A, and even less theoretical explanation for how Chinese enterprises break through the limitation of ownership advantage and use national comprehensive competitive advantage. The universal value and management implications of the research conclusion of typical case analyses are restricted. At present, the opportunities and challenges brought by digitalization for cross-border M&A in emerging markets represented by China have not b een systematically studied.

Therefore, this book explores the influencing factors and mechanisms of Chinese enterprises'cross-border post-merger integration mode on enterprise innovation in the digital context. Based on the perspective of innovation network center emb edding and balanced emb edding, it puts forward the theory and logic of"network advantage determinism"of Chinese enterprises'cross-border post-merger integration. This book is divided into six chapters. In the first chapter, the related literature of cross-border post-merger integration and enterprise innovation is sorted out, and the research space is found. On this basis, the second to fifth chapters respectively analyze the comp etitive advantages of emerging market multinational enterprises, the advantages of network centrality emb edding, the advantages of network balance embedding, and the advantages of the network in the context of the digital economy. The contents of the four chapters are carried on and progressed step by step to expand and enrich the connotation of network advantage determinism of Chinese enterprises'cross-border M&A. The sixth chapter is the conclusion and enlightenment, summarizing the conclusion of this study, combing the theoretical and management enlightenment of this study, and discussing the limitations of this study.

The basic features of this book are as follows：first, following the leading edge, this book elaborates on the latest research progress, esp ecially the theory of digitalization and the advantages of multinational enterprises. This study collected a large number of references, statistical data, conference pap ers at home and abroad up to 2019, especially the attention of the international business field to the theory of digitalization and internalization. The purpose of this book is to try to break through the ownership advantage, location advantage, and internalization advantage defined by the traditional OLI paradigm, and explore whether Chinese multinational enterprises can form a fourth brand-new competitive advantage—"network advantage"in the era of the digital economy. Second, this book focuses on the combination of theoretical develop ment and policy analysis, to provide ideas for the construction of a leapfrog innovation policy system in which Chinese enterprises jump from the edge of the network into the network center through cross-border integration; this book provides a decision-making system for the integration in cross-border M&A in line with the actual situation of Chinese enterprises, and pays attention to the deeper integration of knowledge, brand and key business of the target in the practice of Chinese enterprises, and provides policy ideas for Chinese enterprises to bridge the gap of high complexity knowledge and promote Chinese enterprises to go to the world innovation center. Third, based on field research on Lenovo Group, BOE Technology Group, Wanxiang Group, Geely Automobile, BAIC Foton Automobile, etc. , an empirical sample database of cross-border M&As and innovation of Chinese enterprises is formed by cross-matching with international authoritative databases, and the general law of integration and innovation of Chinese enterprises is extracted through a variety of econometric analysis models and innovation network analysis tools. The law provides an empirical basis for the"network advantage determinism"of the internationalization of emerging economies.

This book is an important research achievement of the National Natural Science Foundation Youth Project（No. 71802027）, Beijing Social Science Foundation Youth Project（No. 18YJC019）and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications basic scientific research project（No. 2020RC29）hosted by the author.

The main content of this book is completed during the post-doctoral research in the School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. Professor Chen Yan, my post-doctoral cooperation tutor, has made important contributions to this research！Professor Chen Yan has led many enterprises to carry out the on-the-spot investigation and international discussion to promote the research to be realistic and pragmatic. He has provided a lot of insights, guidance, and help for the research ideas and framework.

Thanks to Prof. Wang Huan, Dean of School of Economics and Management of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, for her providing the academic p latform, and Professor Yan Qiang, Professor He Ying, Professor Zhang Shengtai, and Professor Li Hongbing of School of Economics and Management of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, for their valuab le comments on this study for many times. In terms of research methods, I would like to thank academician Zhang Ping, director of the State Key Laboratory of Network and Exchange technology of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and Professor Peng Yang, Professor of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications for their support in this research！

Thanks to my doctoral supervisor, Professor Chen Feiqiong from the School of Economics, Zhejiang University, who inspired me to pay attention to and interest in the integration strategy of cross-border M&A of Chinese enterprises. Professor Chen Feiqiong's international and forward-looking academic vision, "quiet"and"diligent"academic attitude will benefit me all my life.

I would like to thank Professor Wu Changqi of Peking University, Professor Yi Jingtao of the Renmin University of China, Professor Liu Qing of University of International Business and Economics, Professor Chen Wenjuan of Hong Kong University, Professor Huo Da of Central University of Finance and Economics, Professor YP Liu of University of Reading, UK and Professor Jaime Ortiz of University of Houston for their valuable suggestions on this study. Thanks to the invitation of Professor Maria Tereza Fleury, President of AIB 2019 project, this study can be discussed and corrected extensively and in-depth in the Academy of International Business Global Conference, and this book is improved accordingly.

The readers of this book include researchers in the field of global investment and innovation, global strategic decision-makers of enterprises, global investment policymakers, and readers interested in cross-border M&A in China.

In the process of writing this book, I have referred to the research findings of scholars at home and abroad, and I would like to express my sincere gratitude and respect to all the scholars referred and quoted in this study！For the shortcomings of this book, readers and colleagues in the academic community are welcome to correct them.

Li Fei

March 2020

On the Bank of Qingshui River