The "Belt and Road" runs through Asia, Europe, and Africa, covering most countries and regions in the world, forming the longest economic corridor in the world. After the "Belt and Road" international cooperation summit forum was held, the "Belt and Road" moved from the "China Initiative" to the "International Consensus", driving China and the world into the "China moment" of globalization.
In recent years, the in-depth integration of the “One Belt One Road” and “Made in China 2025” strategic planning has rapidly promoted China ’s globalized industrial layout and promoted China ’s manufacturing industry to gradually become a manufacturing power. More and more excellent Chinese enterprises have stepped out of the country with the development of the “Belt and Road”, opened up a wider international market, established a new pattern of opening up to the outside world, and fully demonstrated the strength of Made in China and created by China.
For Chinese enterprises to "go global", opportunities and challenges coexist. Unfamiliar overseas markets are full of fierce competition, and many unknown factors will also lead to unpredictable and uncontrollable development of overseas markets. Unfamiliar laws and regulations and technical regulations, and intricate socio-political and economic conditions will bring us Many risks. As the Asia-Pacific leader of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technology Group, which has cooperated with domestic companies for more than 20 overseas projects (the cumulative project value has reached more than 50 million US dollars), the author has seen the rapid growth of domestic companies expanding overseas markets. At the same time, there are some thoughts and observations. Here, the author summarizes some of his thoughts and feelings, and hopes to discuss with domestic enterprises to give some reference and inspiration to the enterprises that are "going global".
Chinese enterprises "going global" face multiple challenges
The first is environmental factors. Overseas construction is closely related to the economic situation of the host country. It is necessary to comprehensively consider the state of the country's economic development, local laws and regulations, price levels, tax levels, currency exchange rates, and logistics and ecosystems. Because the environmental factors of each country are different, there must be strict agreement on the technical scheme, quotation preparation, warranty period, foreign exchange ratio, etc. of the cooperation. ? Managers need to think deeply about this issue.
The second is technical factors. In China, a considerable part of the manufacturing customer's requirements are still sufficient, and they are accustomed to asking manufacturers for free technical support and services to reduce their own manufacturing equipment costs, but this inertia dependency relationship is difficult to overseas Construction follows. Take industrial automation manufacturers as an example. After going global, they will encounter a lot of problems: one of these industrial automation suppliers is not large enough, and it is difficult to expand personnel and services overseas on a large scale; the other is because of language and culture There are a lot of problems in communicating with overseas users. Third, is the technology used by the products of industrial automation manufacturers internationally advanced, and can it meet the low maintenance and high quality requirements of overseas users?
The third factor is management. In overseas investment construction project contracting, many countries generally adopt the technical standards of developed countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, while most domestic companies refer to domestic technical standards, are not familiar with overseas technical standards, and lack the use of internationally accepted technical standards for EPC (general engineering standards). (Contracting) management, lack of overseas procurement channels and procurement experience, and lack of advanced information management systems and systems, especially in the fields of chemical industry and papermaking, compared with the international advanced level, there are still some gaps, which will cause domestic enterprises to run into difficulties when building overseas. .
The fourth factor is talent. The introduction, excavation, cultivation and storage of international engineering talents depend on the company's international vision and determination to build an international enterprise. At present, domestic companies are not optimistic in terms of the introduction, mining, cultivation and storage of relevant talents. There is a shortage of talents, especially compound talents who understand both technology and international business. At present, domestic companies generally lack a platform for international engineering training, creating insufficient opportunities for personnel to “go out”, and the negative sentiment of the majority of employees to work abroad has dominated. These negative emotions are mainly concentrated on concerns about personal safety while working abroad, concerns about their own family life, overseas life discomfort and difficulties in communication, and concerns about working abroad.
The construction of China-Central Asia natural gas pipelines A, B, and C has become a classic case of multi-party cooperation in overseas investment. During the implementation of this project, Huawei, Honeywell and the construction party cooperated to solve the problems encountered by Chinese companies in overseas investment and construction. To many problems.
How Chinese companies go to sea to solve difficulties
In response to these four key factors, the author suggests that domestic companies can gain experience from some successful overseas investment cases. For example, the China-Central Asia natural gas pipelines A, B, and C that have accumulated more than 100 billion cubic meters of gas have so far benefited more than 500 million people in 25 provinces in China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and are adjusting the energy consumption structure, It has played an important role in promoting energy conservation and emission reduction, and ensuring national economy and people's livelihood. However, during the construction of China-Central Asia natural gas pipelines A, B, and C, they faced tight construction time, difficult coordination, tight human resources, difficult material transportation, inconsistent standards and specifications, poor language communication, and inadequate laws and regulations. Familiar with other typical overseas construction difficulties and challenges. Finally, through cooperation with leading Chinese and multinational corporations, project personnel can successfully deliver projects before important time points on the premise of ensuring the long-term, stable, and safe operation of the project.
Therefore, in order to meet the challenges of environmental factors and management factors, it is recommended to cooperate with EPC companies with rich experience as much as possible. These EPC companies have rich overseas project construction experience, are familiar with local laws and regulations, and they all have certain overseas brand effects. High-quality global partners will also guarantee the implementation of overseas projects.
In terms of talent and technology factors, domestic companies can consider cooperating with some global technology and product companies. The global companies mentioned here are not just foreign companies. Domestic companies like Huawei and Lenovo also have the ability to deploy globally. No matter where domestic companies are building, global companies will have technical and service personnel to follow. I believe that most domestic companies that have participated in overseas projects can feel the importance of this. For example, the domestic Jerry Group chose Honeywell as a partner in the construction of overseas oil and gas EPC projects. No matter where their EPC projects are constructed, Honeywell's technicians can serve them. Wison Engineering in China reached an overseas cooperation agreement with Honeywell in May this year to achieve rapid expansion of overseas markets. It is reported that Wison Engineering's overseas EPC business now accounts for 50% of the share.
It can be seen that under China's "Belt and Road" initiative, China's equipment industry is gradually going abroad, but challenges still exist. Challenges are opportunities, and more and more brave domestic companies are planning to "go global" with the help of Dongfeng of the "Belt and Road". However, in the process of "going global", we must have clear thinking about how to maximize the avoidance of risks and successfully help other countries improve the construction of basic manufacturing industries.
