Chinese State-Owned Enterprises in West Africa ─ Triple-Embedded Globalization

This book is based on first hand materials collected from ethnographical investigations of Chinese State Owned Enterprises in West Africa - primarily Ghana and Benin.. Collaborating and even compromising with Ghanaian actors has been essential for the survival of Chinese businesses. The revelation of an adaptive and struggling China, instead of a ruthless one, in Ghana challenges the dominant vision of a powerful China in Africa. Through the lens of Chinese actors in Ghana, it supports the argument that Africa is a powerful actor of its own history and development trajectories, in contrast to the popular image that often presents the continent as a victim passively waiting for external assistance.

Lam challenges the oft-cited "Chinese business advantages" that allegedly serve as the basis of an asymmetrical power relationship between China and Africa. She discusses why the image of a monolithic "China Inc" is inaccurate, or at least incomplete. This is achieved through a combination of analysis of the literature on the relationship between China and Africa, and on the Chinese state and its economic actors, as well as empirical analysis of Chinese State Owned Enterprises and their Chinese expatriates in Ghana and Benin.

Nganting Lam is a Post-doctoral Fellow of the Joint Research Group on Migration, China and the Global Context of the Max Weber Foundation, Germany and the Hong Kong Baptist University