How are Chinese firms' activities in Africa shaped by local social, cultural and political processes? In what sense is this embeddedness flexible and how does this affect firms' internationalisation? What is specific and generalisable about Chinese firms? How are geographies of trade and production shifting towards South-South engagement?
Dr Elisa Gambino is Hallsworth Research Fellow in Political Economy at the Global Development Institute of the University of Manchester, UK and Adjunct Researcher at the Centre for Asian Studies of the University of Ghana. She joins Josh White to discuss her article 'Flexible embeddedness: how Chinese lead firms internationalise in Africa' (2026), published in Review of International Political Economy and co-authored with Costanza Franceschini. They unpack the concept of flexible embeddedness through the lens of Chinese lead firms' internationalisation in Kenya and Ghana and the varied, dynamic and contested nature of South-South engagement.
'New Thinking in Political Economy' is a monthly podcast showcasing cutting-edge political economy research that helps us to understand the world around us.
The series is produced by Chris Saltmarsh and Josh White. This episode was edited by Josh White with support from Chris Saltmarsh. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.
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