What drives cross-border acquisitions of hotel companies based in an emerging economy? A study on Chinese hotel corporations

This study takes Chinese hotels as example, explores the driving forces and objectives underlying the cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) of hotel corporations based in emerging economies (EEs) from three perspectives: the institutional conditions of EEs; the characteristics of the hotel industry; and the types of the acquiring corporations. To this end, 20 senior corporate executives who served as decision makers in seven Chinese hotel corporations’ CBAs were interviewed. The findings identify four emerging objectives of Chinese hotel corporations: 1) create network; 2) export the brand; 3) obtain land resources; and 4) transfer assets. The findings also demonstrate that the institutional conditions of EEs, the characteristics of the hotel industry and the types of the acquiring corporations are important influential factors in the CBAs decisions of Chinese hotel corporations.