The influencing factors on Chinese enterprises’ OFDI: evidence from China with countries along with the “Belt and Road” initiatives

In recent years, the academic focus of researchers has gradually shifted from the macro impact brought about by the “Belt and Road” initiative to the impact on micro-economic entities. This research aims to follow the trend and conduct quantitative research in the updated gravity model on micro-business entities. The analysis uses panel data of China’s OFDI flow from 59 countries along the “Belt and Road” route and relevant data from the host country from 2007 to 2018. This article follows the sampling method for the overall regression analysis. Besides, the research also divides the overall sample into Southeast Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, South Asia and West Asia. Accordingly, it examines samples of each region separately to study the differences in the influential level of main variables on China’s OFDI flow along the route. The study's statistical results imply that China’s direct investment in countries along the Belt and Road is affected by the host country’s market size, per capita income, resource endowments, technological endowments, and geographic distance.