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BETWEEN
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THE
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BORDER
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FACTORS IN AFRICAN-
ASIAN TRADE AND INVESTMENT
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Conversely, there is near identity of the proportion of owners of surveyed Chinese firms operating in Africa that are Chinese both by nationality and by ethnicity. This underscores the fact that Chinese investors in
Africa are relative
newcomers and have not, at this juncture, integrated into the African business community to any significant degree, a notion that is explored more deeply in chapter 6. Instead, recent
Chinese investments in Africa, as evidenced in virtually all of the business case studies carried out for this analysis, have been largely accompanied by temporary assignments of executives to the African continent. As Chinese investment in Africa has grown, it has been estimated that some migrant workers from
China have moved to Africa, creating anew Chinese diaspora.
10
Table 5.2 shows that, among surveyed firms, Chinese firms hire the largest percentage of workers from China
or other East Asian countries,
accounting for 17 percent of total employees. Indian firms hire about half as many of their workers from India (9.8 percent).
By differentiating between firms that export more than 10 percent of their output (exporters) and those that do not (nonexporters), it becomes clear that exporting firms tend to have higher proportions of employees hired outside of the countries where firms are located, regardless of firm nationality (table 5.3). In the case of Chinese, Indian,
and European firms,
exporters have a significantly higher proportion of employees brought from the firms home country or home region. In the case of African firms,
exporters also hire a greater proportion of employees from other African countries than do nonexporters. Taken together, this is clear
evidence that foreign workers, particularly those from foreign firms home countries,
TABLE 5.2
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