Abstract

China's announcement of “One belt, One road” initiative has encouraged Chinese enterprises to actively engage in international trade. The OBOR strategy was aimed at alleviating its overcapacity of production to further stimulate its economic growth and to reassure the global market that their food products were ‘fit for purpose’ from historic food safety breaches. Utilising the ‘Resourced-based view’ theory, this paper critically explores how Chinese dairy producers have responded to their government’s initiatives to further stimulate the Chinese economy. A qualitative approach was adopted, via 28 business executives and senior management within the dairy sector and governmental organisations. The research identified core barriers in terms of resource capacity, internationally recognised food safety management systems and cultural engagement for corporate international expansion. This paper aims to provide feasible strategic analysis and recommendations for the international expansion of Chinese dairy companies, based on the resource-based view theory and current government policies.