Internationalization, MNEs, Outbound FDI, China, Japan, Institutions, Industry, Resource-based view,

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The external environment of Chinese businesses made a fundamental shift around 2000/2001. This change would necessitate a corresponding change in growth strategies. A holistically framed concept of 'niche' strategy or the 'fundamentals based strategy', however, appears to be or will be the dominant growth strategy for Chinese firms in this changed environment. The fundamentals based strategy advocated in this paper is not only rooted in the classic Chinese strategy thinking but also supported by the practices of an increased number of Chinese firms. The main contributions of this paper include: (1) proposing a holistic concept of the niche strategy or the fundamentals based strategy as an enterprise growth strategy, (2) incorporating Chinese classic strategic thinking, (3) integrating Chinese cases to explicate this model and (4) positing that this strategy is effective for latecomers with resource disadvantage. We also propose future research directions.