Abstract: Given the fact that Chinese companies are increasingly stigmatized in recent years by Western countries against the backdrop of profound changes in global political landscape and economic environment, both practitioners and scholars have to address the risk of outbound Chinese companies being labeled. Drawing on conservation of resources(COR) theory and based on an exploratory case study of AC Valve, a Chinese manufacturing company that reached out overseas, this study finds that:(1) Under managers' stress appraisals, different stigma labels generate heterogeneous pressures, namely challenge-label pressure and obstacle-label pressure. Challenge-label pressure induces a demand for resource investment, driving the company to adopt proactive response strategies, whereas obstacle-label pressure triggers a need for resource preservation, prompting the company to take defensive response strategies.(2) Resource investment under a pioneering orientation is critical for addressing challenge-label pressure, enabling the company to invest in leveragesable entrepreneurial resources such as technological leadership, data assets, and human capital. This reflects the underlying mechanism through which the company persist in risk-taking entrepreneurial activities to proactively respond to the pressure of being labeled. Conversely, resource preservation under a restrained orientation is essential for coping with obstacle-label pressure, helping the company safeguard bridging entrepreneurial resources such as relational networks, social emotional resources and organizational emotional resources. This reveals the internal mechanism by which the company signals humility to defensively respond to the pressure of being labeled.(3) Through the synergistic interplay of these dual response mechanisms, the company achieved a restructuring of its growth paradigm and accumulated relational capital, thereby transforming “pressure into impetus”. This study advances theoretical understanding of the pressure on outbound Chinese companies being labeled, extends the contextual boundaries of COR theory, and offers valuable implications for Chinese enterprises to navigate an international environment where stigmatization prevails.

Key words: reaching out overseas, pressure of being labeled, organizational response, conservation of resources theory