Multinational1 Companies Accelerating the Sales Strategy Rearrangement
There is a new trend in the investment by multinational enterprises: to shift their businesses and technical transformation2 to establishing production bases, the core strategy is first to occupy the huge Chinese market.
Reviewing the short-term investment history: in 1992, most multinational companies merely set up representative offices in China and mainly engaged in trade.
But since 1995, they have shifted to establishing production bases, especially the share holding companies . Such multinationals3 include Omron, Hitachi, Panasonic, Sanyo, Fujitong, Toshiba, Isuzu of Japan, Siemens, Bayer, Henkel of Germany, General Electric, IBM, Motorola, and Dell Computer of America.
In recent years, multinational companies have accelerated their large investment in China. McDonald's alone has built 52 factories in China. ABB Group established 20 joint4 ventures. Volkswagen AG set up four large joint ventures and one solely-invested enterprise with a total investment of U.S.$ 2 billion. In addition, Boeing has three large joint ventures, and the key components5 of 3100 Boeing planes now flying worldwide were made in China. Moreover, with the relocation fever, multinational companies are intensifying7 their localization strategy of the root in China.
According to employment records, foreign-funded enterprises favor local professionals. The director of human resources for Microsoft Co., Ltd. says, over 500 their employees are Chinese, and most of them are masters and doctors. To our surprise, more and more senior posts are being taken by Chinese. In the ABB Group, of 5000 employees, nearly ten general managers are Chinese, while foreign senior officials are very few.
In order to ensure that their products keep up with the changing market, multinational companies lay special emphasis on the localization of R D and the expansion towards the intellectual service field. Some powerful companies have increased their R D investment and established research institutes in China. A China fever has been started by foreign IT magnates.
Notes
multinational adj.多国的, 跨国企业的
accelerate v.加速, 促进
sale n.供应, 销路, 销售额
strategy n.方案
rearrangement n.重新整理
trend n.倾向, 趋势
multinational enterprise跨国企业
shift vt.转移, 改变
technical transformation技术出售
transformation n.转化, 改革, 转换
representative offices办事处
establish vt.打造, 设立, 确定
production base生产基地
core strategy核心策略
core n.果核, 中心, 核心
occupy vt.占领, 占据
share holding companies持股公司
product agency商品代理
training of personnel职员培训
supply funds提供资金
joint ventures合资企业
solely-invested enterprise独资企业
key components重点零部件
relocation n.再布置, 变换布置
fever n.狂热, 高度开心
intensify6 vt.加大
localization strategy当地化策略
employment n.雇用, 职业
foreign-funded enterprise外资企业
favor vt.照顾, 喜欢
professionals n.专业职员
director n.主任, 主管,
human resources人力资源
master n.硕士
doctor n.博士
senior posts高级职位
general manager总经理
senior officials高级官员
intellectual service field智商服务范围
research institute研发机构
China fever中国热
magnate n.巨头, 有钱人
At the end of last year, Microsoft invested U.S.$ 80 million in a China Research Institute specializing in essential research. It also declared recently that U.S.$ 50 million investment will be made in the Microsoft Asian Technology Center in Shanghai, the highest level research institute of Microsoft in China.
Siemens intensifies9 the localization of key technology. After a century of introducing track communication technology into China, vice8 president Mr. Burt said, a century's experience persuaded us that a key factor securing the successful operation is the localization of key components.