ABSTRACT
Over the past few years, emerging market multinationals have exerted competitive pressure on developing country multinational companies not only on their home turf, but also in other developing countries. However, our understanding of these fi rms and their operations in emerging economies, in general, and Africa in particular, is limited. This chapter seeks to shed light on the activities of China’s ‘emerging solar stars’ in the solar photovoltaic industry in Africa. Our analysis uncovered that home-country factors such as subsidies and tax relief, and host countries’ conditions such as new market opportunities and renewable targets have combined to infl uence their recent expansion into the African market. In addition, fi rmspecifi c factors such as frugal innovation and low cost-base have facilitated their outwards strategy. In addition, the ‘new’ China-Africa relationship has also become a major inducement in these expansions. We conclude by setting out the implications of the fi ndings.
