Contents: PART I: Why a Focus on the Belt and Road Initiative? David De Cremer, Bruce McKern and Jack McGuire An Academic Approach to the Belt and Road Initiative PART II: On the Significance of the Belt and Road Initiative Ying Zhang The Belt and Road Initiative: Views from the Chinese Side and the European Side Bruce McKern Implementing the Belt and Road Initiative: Competing Priorities PART III: Belt and Road Initiative at the Societal and Country Level Steffi Weil and Dora Munteanu The Belt and Road Initiative: A Pathway to World Leadership? Bala Ramasamy, Matthew Yeung, Yann Duval and Chorthip Utoktham Soft Infrastructures and the Belt and Road Initiative Nikolay Murashkin The Belt and Road Initiative and Sino-Russo-Japanese Relations Saite Lu China’s Infrastructure Investment in Africa Chaowei Xiao and Chuchu Zhang Urban Development along the Belt and Road: A Case Study of North Africa Gokhan Bitmis and Jack McGuire Developing Effective Cross-cultural Negotiations: The Case of the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ for Turkey and China Michael Tai China on the Arabian Sea: A Risk Assessment PART IV: Managing the Business Dynamics of the Belt and Road Initiative Peter J. Williamson Realizing the Potential of the Belt and Road Initiative: What Role for M&A? Mark Greeven Globalizing Innovation Ecosystem, Entrepreneurs and the Digital Silk Road Chuchu Zhang and Chaowei Xiao ‘One Belt, One Road”’ Risk Assessment and Chinese Investment Yimin Zhang and Qinli Zhu RMB Internationalization in Relation to the Belt and Road Initiative David De Cremer On the Leadership Challenges for China in the Belt and Road Initiative Simon Taylor How Will the Belt and Road Initiative Be Financed? Eden Yin Promoting the Belt and Road Initiative: A Strategic Marketing Approach Richard Pomfret Central Asia and the Belt and Road Initiative Index In 2013, China’s President Xi Jinping launched what is now known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Since then, the initiative has instilled apprehension, enthusiasm and uncertainty around the globe in equal measure. The Belt and Road Initiative: Opportunities and Challenges of a Chinese Economic Ambition strives to reflect upon and synthesize the challenges and opportunities faced by China and indeed the rest of the world pertaining to the implementation of such an ambitious project. It covers perspectives from regions both in and around Asia, as well as from Europe, the United States and Africa. In addition to this, the initiative is discussed through the lens of various disciplines such as geo-politics, marketing, currency, finance, leadership, negotiation, security and the digital component of the Silk Road. The resulting compilation provides for a thoroughly extensive and pluralistic examination of the BRI, lending the reader a peek into what the world may anticipate from China and this project in the years to come.