Bureaucratic Politics and Overseas Investment by Chinese State-Owned Oil Companies: Illusory Champions

Abstract

From the state-centered perspective, China`s hunt for foreign energy deals has generated increasing uneasiness in international relations. By exploring Chinese national oil companies` overseas expansion, this study finds that Chinese bureaucratic fragmentation in the context of the state`s changing relationship with state-owned enterprises has greater impact on firms` offshore ventures than the state-centered perspective contends.