International Chinese Contractors in Small Geographic Markets: 2005/2009 Evolution

The importance of understanding international business management has become imperative for companies and other organizations. This broad range of relationships is the paradigm of world living for contemporary societies, where the various legal persons, regardless of their size, have more and more information about the world as a whole, and even not being aware of this, they are affected by decisions and events that are, or seem to be, geographically distant from them. The public works are one of the components of the building industry. The analysis of enterprises internationalization, of this activity sector, implies to understand how and why companies are addressing more other markets than the domestic ones, to bid in public tenders, and when they get success, to work in these different regions or countries. Public works are an economic activity linked with sovereignty, because the main customer is the state. This paper studies Chinese international contractors' presence in geographic small markets, namely Caribbean Islands and Oceania. Considering the data from 2005 to 2008, gathered from McGraw Hill Construction Reports-Engineering News Record. We analyse the evolution of the presence of referred companies in the targeted market, consider the main internationalization models, and we try to identify the main variables explaining the international contractors' options. Then, we conclude that Chinese companies are increasing their international activity, and geographic proximity has no significant importance and it is not as relevant as to other foreign companies.