Chinese early internationalizing firms: A review and research agenda

The rise of Chinese early internationalizing firms (CEIFs) has attracted increasing interest from international entrepreneurship scholars. However, a clear consolidation and integration of extant literature on CEIFs is missing. This article reviews scholarship on CEIFs and examines specific areas in need of further development. A systematic framework organizes the findings on the basis of a content analysis and identifies three thematic categories of inquiry, related to the antecedents, elements, and outcomes of CEIFs. Our review summarizes four major research streams and identifies future directions in each of these streams. The review offers insights for scholars devoted to the study of CEIFs and provides recommendations for international entrepreneurs.