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| “Power But Not Hegemony” and the Decoupling Identity Reconstruction: LI Shufu’s Coping Way in the Case of Geely’s Acquisition of Proton |
| YAO Xiaotao，WANG Yong，LIU Ruiyu |
| Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China |
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Abstract In response to “the Belt and Road Initiatives”, Chinese enterprises have begun to enter the emerging economies along the Belt and Road through merger and acquisition(M&A). Aiming at answering a series of common problems such as how Chinese enterprises should deal with new challenges in this new situation, this paper selects the typical case of Geely’s acquisition of Proton located in Malaysia. Based on the in-depth analysis of Geely’s M&A challenges and countermeasures, we summarize LI Shufu’s M&A thoughts as “power but not hegemony”. The results show that Geely faces challenges of its own external identity inertia and Proton’s internal identity inertia, and Geely copes with these challenges with decoupling identity reconstruction strategies, including the identity projection, the reconstruction of object’s cognition of identity, the reinforcement of object vision of identity, and the reinforcement of aspiration of identity. Theoretically, this paper finds that the liability of origin lacks explanatory power in this new context, and identity inertia can better make up for this gap. Practically, the findings can also provide guidance for other Chinese enterprises that intend to invest in emerging economies along the “Belt and Road”.
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Received: 31 January 2021
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