Stiglitz, former vice president and chief economist of the World Bank and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, pointed out: At present, the process of globalization is driven by the interests of international companies, which aggravates the inequality in the world. The entry of foreign enterprises will often destroy local competitors and hit the ambitions of many small and medium-sized enterprises to develop national industries.
In a sense, the essence of globalization is a kind of "neocolonialism".
Small and medium-sized enterprises in China account for more than 95% of the total number of enterprises in China, and 3/4 of the employed population in cities and towns in China work in small and medium-sized enterprises. Statistics also show that SMEs are the most dynamic economic entities in China, and 65% of patented technologies, over 75% of technological innovations and 80% of new products are developed by SMEs. And large enterprises are also developed from small and medium-sized enterprises. Undoubtedly, the future of China's economy depends more on the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Stiglitz also pointed out that unemployment is more harmful than waste, and it is likely to destroy the whole market economy, and the engine of creating new jobs is small and medium-sized enterprises.
So, how should small and medium-sized enterprises respond to the challenge of globalization?
The "invisible champion model" of German enterprises provides us with the best reference.
Mr. hermann simon, a professor of German management, began to study German SMEs because he was asked a difficult question when he visited Harvard Business School in the United States: German enterprises are not prominent in the world's top 500 rankings, but why can they become a world exporter and a world economic power?
The research results of 10 surprised him. It turns out that the mainstay of Germany's export trade and even the whole economy is not well-known names such as Siemens, Bayer and Mercedes-Benz, but some unknown small and medium-sized enterprises such as Brita, Howie and Hildebrand. They are highly focused on a narrow industry, but they are far ahead of any other enterprise that produces similar products in the international market. For example, Brita, which produces household water purifiers, accounts for 85% of the global market share of similar products. The cigarette machinery produced by Howe Company occupies 90% market share in the world. Sheila Brand, which specializes in wine distribution, has a global share of 60%. Most of them are not noticed by the media and the public, but they are real champions, so Simon named them "invisible champions".
There are more than 1000 such invisible champion enterprises in Germany. Don't think their standards are shameful. For example, Tetra, which produces tropical fish feed, occupies 60% of the global market. Although the product is small, its turnover reaches 6 billion US dollars, and it has wholly-owned subsidiaries in more than 65,438+000 countries around the world. Grotz-Beckett Company, which specializes in the production of industrial sewing machine needles, also has an annual income of 700-800 million Domagk, with rich and stable profits.
Of course, there are many precedents for developing into a world-renowned enterprise. For example, in 1972, SAP, founded by Hope and four friends, betrayed IBM collectively and devoted themselves to developing ERP software for many years, eventually becoming the world's leading giant in this field, with global annual sales reaching 9 billion US dollars and brand value ranking 34th in the "100 Top Brand List" in 2004, five places higher than Siemens.
The reason why invisible champions are little known is that most of them are not good at and unwilling to spend a lot of money to hype themselves, and even deliberately avoid contact with the media, lest too much attention may increase competitors and imitators, but it may also limit the rapid growth and development of the company because of the lack of support from the capital market.
After all, these German enterprises have gradually become the leaders of this industry after years or even generations of continuous focus. Today, this long-term slow development strategy is no longer applicable, and the pioneers have long been deeply rooted. Playing by the old tricks can only become a laughing stock, and there must be new ways to play in the new era, that is, positioning.
Positioning is to avoid direct competition and cut into consumers' brains from the perspective of differentiation. At this time, there will be no rivals in the market. You have to seize the precious opportunity to grow up quickly and stay in this position before a powerful imitator appears, otherwise it will be "to marry other girls." This requires enterprises to assess the situation, conduct appropriate publicity at the right time and attract the resources needed for development.
In fact, since Simon, the "father of invisible champions", published an article in Harvard Business Review 1995 for the first time to let the world know about these successful small and medium-sized enterprises, Germany has also begun to pay attention to excavating invisible champions. For example, the Hessian state government holds the Invisible Champion Competition every year from 1999, and selects the enterprises that keep the world leading position in their own fields but are unknown to the public, so as to enhance their popularity, help them gain the attention of the capital market, and help small and medium-sized enterprises grow into world-class large enterprises.
Therefore, the key to becoming a champion enterprise today is not to make a fortune invisibly, but to be professional, to further focus on a certain positioning, to become a leader in market segments, and to quickly break through the defense lines of established enterprises from a local point. The so-called "unstoppable" driving force of this "potential" comes from the support of consumers, and it is precisely the positioning in the minds of consumers.
On the other hand, positioning alone is not enough. The government and all walks of life must provide more financing service support for small and medium-sized enterprises, help promising small and medium-sized enterprises get rid of the shackles of capital bottlenecks and quickly spend the critical period of growth.
At present, there are many blank positioning fields in China market that need to be filled and created. Large enterprises often have enough space for small and medium-sized enterprises to exert their fists because they are worried about the impact on existing product lines, or they don't care about the large-scale market segments as a whole, or because they are slow in making decisions and lack innovative and flexible enterprising spirit. The key is that our entrepreneurs and marketers should master the positioning theory as soon as possible, then we can make great strides and build strong brands in many market segments, which will make multinational companies hard to prevent.
However, in order to truly subvert the pattern of multinational companies leading the market, the biggest test for us is whether we can restrain the impulse of diversification and maintain our concentration for decades. Once many enterprises grow up or diversify their risks, their competitiveness will be weakened and their fate will be even more worrying. In fact, the best way to diversify risks is market diversification.
For example, the "Pustefix" brand soapy water produced by Heine Company in Germany specially blows soap bubbles for children. Such a humble product has been exported to more than 50 countries around the world, with an annual income of 7 million US dollars.
In contrast, what China enterprises especially lack is a global perspective.
As Reese pointed out: "In today's era, the only rule that regulates people's behavior is the forest law: eat others or be eaten by others, and there is no other choice." If you can't transport your products and services to every corner of the world, companies in these remote corners will have to push their products and services to your country. They will plunder your family business with their strong physique, outstanding global reputation and accumulated experience for many years. "
In fact, there are some "invisible champions" in China at present, such as "the king of lighters", "the king of buttons" and "the king of nail clippers". But most of them are produced by international trade OEM. However, suppose that one day other people's labor costs are lower than ours, do we still have orders? If others are more dedicated than us, where is our way?
This is by no means alarmist, but a real problem. For example, India's labor force is the cheapest in the world, and it is also of high quality. In 2004, India clearly put forward the goal of building a world manufacturing center, and implemented a series of preferential policies for foreign investment, eager to make a breakthrough in manufacturing after establishing an excellent reputation in the software industry. South Korea's LG Electronics Company plans to invest US$ 654.38 billion in India by 2007, making India the second largest overseas production base after China. This shows that India's attractiveness as a manufacturing production base is gradually increasing.
In addition, countries such as Vietnam also have cost advantages.
Obviously, we can't be satisfied with low-level foreign trade processing and export. We need to get rid of the routine of simply winning by low cost, determine our unique survival value as soon as possible, not only strive for perfection in product quality, innovation and service, but also eliminate domestic consciousness, go to the international market to fight the storm in person, and interpret the charm of China marketing and China brand with broad vision, broad mind and lofty ambition.
How to go abroad is also an urgent problem for our education and training circles. The rejuvenation of the Chinese nation needs a large number of international talents, especially professional marketers who are proficient in foreign languages and familiar with international business.
If one day, not only large enterprises, but also most small and medium-sized enterprises have China marketers who are fluent in foreign languages and suits, they will appear at the international airport, then China will surely become a brand power and once again show the glory of Chinese civilization.
Attached:
Eight characteristics of "invisible champion" summarized by Simon
1. Burning ambition. They all have a very ambitious goal, that is, to become a global leader in their own fields, and to pursue this dream tirelessly without thinking about it.
2. Highly focused. Define the market very narrowly, and all strategies and tactics revolve around it. Many enterprises want to diversify once they are a little bigger, but they will never.
3. Close customer relationship. Make up for the limited defects of customers with global marketing, like to set up your own subsidiary to explore the international market, and don't hand over the customer relationship to a third party.
4. Be the partner of the outstanding person. Very close to customers, especially top customers. If you want to be a leader in the global market, then your customers must also be the top in the world.
5. innovation! Innovation! Innovation! Products and production processes are highly innovative. Their innovative activities are global and continuous.
6. Enter the top arena. Create strategic competitive advantages in product quality and service. Always keep close contact with the strongest competitors. They are often in the same area or even in the same city. Competition in the same city is actually a world-class competition. The strongest opponent can make you a world leader.
7. Protect your uniqueness. Seldom outsource, do your best to keep your activities in R&D secret, so as to protect proprietary technology and core competitiveness. Think that the real competitive advantage lies in something that only they can do.
8. Strong corporate culture. The most powerful and distinctive force is strong leadership. They are real entrepreneurs with extraordinary courage. Their leadership style is two-sided. They are principled and authoritative on major issues, but they blend in with employees in details and peace. Employees have strong ability, strong sense of identity and enthusiasm for the enterprise, high productivity and low absenteeism rate. Recruiting new employees is very strict, but once recruited, the turnover rate is almost zero. In addition, the leader has been at the helm for a long time, and the average term of office of CEO is 24 years.