As mankind enters the new century, the tide of economic globalization is rolling in, which makes more and more countries integrate into the world economic system. If we say that in the 1980s and 1990s, we realized the initial take-off of the national economy through "bringing in", thus narrowing the distance between China and the western developed countries, then now we should share the global resources through "going out" on this basis, so as to share the economic benefits brought by economic globalization, because transnational operation will bring benefits to China enterprises that cannot be given by domestic operation.
Transnational operation is an extension of domestic operation and belongs to the category of enterprise operation. It refers to a kind of market behavior that market operators engage in business activities overseas and cross the geographical boundaries of their home countries in order to expand their living and development space. It is an advanced form of enterprise internationalization. In other words, transnational operation means that enterprises take the international market as the stage, start from the global strategy, consciously participate in the international division of labor and international economic activities, set up branches, subsidiaries and other branches overseas, and make extensive use of international resources to engage in a series of business activities such as overseas investment, production and sales. Its purpose is to obtain the benefits of transnational operation through the rational allocation of global resources, that is, to seek as large a market share and high profits as possible on a global scale in order to maximize economic benefits.
First, the status quo of transnational operations of China enterprises
By the end of June, 2002, 6,758 non-financial institutions had been established in China with overseas investment, with a total agreed investment of US$ 654.38+0.32 billion and Chinese investment of nearly US$ 654.38+0 billion. The accumulated contract value of foreign contracted projects was US$ 654.38+US$ 005.3 billion, and the turnover was US$ 75.2 billion. A total of US$ 2,865.438 billion has been signed in foreign labor cooperation contracts, with a turnover of US$ 22 billion and more than 2.6 million laborers sent abroad. Overseas resources cooperation projects such as oil and gas, minerals, forestry and fishery are running well, and economic benefits are gradually emerging. China enterprises have also started to set up R&D centers overseas to carry out agricultural cooperation, and made some progress.
Although the wholly-owned, holding or shareholding enterprises established by these state-owned, collective or private enterprises overseas have developed rapidly, the overall situation is not satisfactory at present. The survey shows that at present 1/3 overseas Chinese-funded enterprises are developing well and making profits; 1/3 is under maintenance; In addition, 1/3 is in a state of loss or suspension. Of course, this situation is related to external factors such as the short time for China enterprises to go overseas and the lack of experience in dealing with international market competition. It is also related to the insufficient guiding role of the government and the improper use of its own strategies, which should be paid attention to by all parties and solved.
Second, the problems existing in the transnational operation of China enterprises
1. The purpose of "going out" is not clear.
The strategy of "going out" is an enterprise behavior advocated and encouraged by the government, but the main body of "going out" is the enterprise, and the situation of the enterprise itself is the key to decide whether to go or not. There are many influential enterprises among more than 6,000 enterprises that "go global" in China, but there are not many successful cases of "going global". One of the main reasons is that for many enterprises, when "going out" has become a national strategy, it is not only an unavoidable external pressure, but also makes some enterprises think that "going out" must have a broad vision and unlimited scenery without having to understand their competitive advantages. Therefore, many enterprises lack clear and specific development goals and plans, long-term strategic thinking and scientific management system when they "go global", and often lack argumentation in investment projects, environmental analysis, location selection, partner selection, formulation and implementation of business strategies, and their business methods are single, so they cannot proceed from the actual situation of enterprises and make full use of their strengths and avoid weaknesses. Under the premise of lack of investigation of overseas environment, blind investment, lack of practical talents to meet the needs of local market, incomplete marketization of operation and management, and still in a semi-government state, these enterprises are bound to be difficult to succeed. As experts pointed out, "going out" can't just rely on enthusiasm, and the magic weapon for enterprises to stand on the international market is core competitiveness. Zhang Xiang, former vice minister of foreign trade and economic cooperation, once pointed out that enterprises that "go global" must have their own core products and technologies if they want to stand in the international competition. In view of the current strength of enterprises in China, many experts suggest that enterprises should think twice before "going out". If they are enthusiastic, this situation will not last long. Enterprises must decide whether to "go global" according to their own conditions.
2. Poor policy guidance and coordination.
So far, there is no overall strategy and industry planning for overseas investment in China, and there is no clear industrial policy and industry orientation. Due to the lack of unified guidance and coordination for overseas investment, various departments, regions and enterprises are fragmented, and foreign investment is arbitrary, which leads to repeated overseas investment and vicious competition, which affects the overall efficiency of China's overseas investment.
The development of China motorcycles in Viet Nam is a typical case. Before China Motorcycle 1999 entered the Vietnamese market, Vietnamese basically used bicycles as their main means of transportation. So far, bicycles have basically become motorcycles. According to the statistics at the end of 2000, every 7 Vietnamese people have a motorcycle, while in Hanoi, the capital, every 3 people have one. The number of motorcycle enterprises in China has also increased from 4 in 1999 to more than 70 in 200 1 year. 1999, Honda of Japan occupied 80% of the market share. In less than two years, Chinese enterprises replaced Japan to seize 80% of the Vietnamese market, but this does not mean that the strategy of transnational operation of China motorcycle enterprises is successful. The price has been lowered from more than $800 at the beginning: a 100CC motorcycle has dropped from $600 at the beginning of 2000 to $270 at the end of the year. In a short period of six months, the number of motorcycles imported from China has surged. In April and June, the price of 5438+00 was greatly adjusted, and it dropped by about $70 each time. By the end of 2000, $270 was close to the cost price, and the high profit period lasted less than one year. Although it occupies most of the market share now, the profit rate is getting lower and lower, and there is nothing to do with the consequences of the price war. It is the vicious competition among domestic motorcycle enterprises that leads to today's embarrassing situation. Also in the Vietnamese market, Japanese companies can sit at the negotiating table and discuss foreign price strategies, so until now, the profit of Japanese motorcycles in the Vietnamese market has been maintained at a stable level. The reason lies in the disorder of China's "going out" enterprises and the lack of overall planning by the government, which leads to vicious competition among domestic enterprises. Many enterprises in China have generally gone through such a stage of transnational operation: rushing-short-term prosperity-price war-getting into trouble.
Price war is the main means of competition among enterprises in China. Whether with foreign companies or domestic enterprises, it seems that price is the only means to win. At present, the increase of anti-dumping investigations against China enterprises by many countries also shows that China enterprises have a single means of competition. A good function of transnational operation is to avoid anti-dumping. In this way, as long as one enterprise develops a certain market, other enterprises will always flock to other countries, which will not only damage the image of China enterprises, but also lose the market again. At this rate, it is difficult for China enterprises to gain a foothold in the international market.
3. The awareness of protecting intellectual property rights is not strong
Apart from the vicious competition of domestic enterprises, the main reason why China motorcycle enterprises lost the Vietnamese market was that Vietnam issued the "Document No.92". At the time of vicious competition among enterprises in China, the Vietnamese government lost no time in promulgating the Measures for the Management of the Localization and Automation Rate of Motorcycles in Vietnam. In other words, the Vietnamese government began to support domestic enterprises, which is undoubtedly worse for China enterprises, because after entering the Vietnamese market, in order to compete for the market, China enterprises have cooperated with the Vietnamese and provided them with technology and even drawings for free. As a result, the Vietnamese mastered the production technology of motorcycles in a few years, and soon.
On the other hand, Chinese and Japanese motorcycle companies have cooperated for many years. Japanese companies don't talk about the core technology, even the simple parts should be bought by China company. Ignoring the protection of technology is another reason for the decline of China motorcycle enterprises in Viet Nam, while other industries and enterprises have similar problems.
4. The enterprise's R&D level is low and it lacks technical advantages.
Although China enterprises' industrial products have large output and low prices, and many products have certain price advantages and can occupy a lot of market share, internationally, many industrial products in China are at a disadvantage in cost performance, which is directly related to the low R&D level of China enterprises. Therefore, at present, most foreign-funded enterprises in China are trade processing enterprises, and their products mostly enter the low-end market. Enterprises that "go global" must have their own core products and technologies in order to gain a foothold in international competition.
Third, the countermeasures of transnational operation of China enterprises
1. Enterprises should have clear business objectives.
The main body of transnational operation is the enterprise rather than the government. Therefore, when domestic enterprises explore the international market on a large scale, the first thing to consider is why they want to go global. Why should we explore the international market? Is it to increase the sales of existing products, or to be close to consumers in developed countries, thus leading the new world trend of product development? Is it to set up a bridgehead at the forefront of foreign science and technology to attract top talents, or to optimize the production layout on a global scale to gain the comprehensive advantages of the system? Is it to optimize the supplier structure and reduce the procurement cost, or to break into the backyard of competitors and control their domestic market? Obviously, different strategic objectives require different transnational business strategies.
2. The government guides the coordinated development of enterprises to avoid vicious competition among enterprises in China.
Once the purpose of internationalization is determined, we should consider which region and country's market to start with. Transnational operation of enterprises is actually the geographical expansion of enterprise value chain. The geographical distribution of the value chain determines the internal value activities of enterprises, which should be arranged at home and which should be arranged abroad, which directly affects the performance of transnational operations of enterprises.
At present, China's foreign investment is mainly concentrated in Asia, the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa and other underdeveloped countries and regions. These areas are rich in resources, with relatively backward processing and manufacturing industries, low labor costs and large investment space. Most of them welcome foreign capital, technology and management, and some governments have even formulated a series of preferential policies to attract foreign investment. Compared with local competitors, China enterprises have certain comparative advantages in technology, management experience and financing ability, and their operating costs are relatively low. Therefore, China enterprises should pay attention to these countries. However, any market has two sides. The shortcomings of this market are that the scale is generally very limited, the market order is chaotic, and even the political situation is often turbulent. In addition, the local industrial system is isomorphic with China, and the concentrated influx of China enterprises can easily lead to vicious competition among China enterprises or the local government waving a protectionist stick.
Compared with emerging markets, developed countries such as Europe, America and Japan have higher market transparency, perfect legal system and good infrastructure, which are highly complementary to the China market. However, there are problems such as slow growth and fierce competition in mature markets, and the labor cost is higher than that in China. This requires China enterprises to know themselves and know each other comprehensively. Take Britain as an example, where technology is developed and R&D strength is strong, but the labor cost is high. If you go to Britain to invest and set up a factory, process and assemble it, it is likely that the loss will outweigh the gain. On the contrary, if technical cooperation is carried out in Britain, local talents are absorbed, local advanced technologies are digested, and finally R&D achievements are brought back to domestic production, China enterprises should make great achievements.
Therefore, the government should strengthen macro-guidance, make overall plans, encourage enterprises to choose suitable market entry from reality, and then formulate corresponding business strategies for different host markets. In transnational operation, there is no one-size-fits-all single strategic model.
Step by step, foster strengths and avoid weaknesses
The choice of market entry mode has great influence on the success or failure of transnational business strategy. Due to the complexity of transnational operation, it is often difficult for enterprises in the primary stage from domestic to world to conduct a thorough analysis of the local market. Enterprises can first choose foreign markets that they know better, try to explore with more flexible entry methods and learning attitudes, actively consult experienced enterprises, government agencies and research institutions, accumulate experience in practice, establish organizations, systems and teams suitable for transnational operations, and then gradually form strategies to optimize international business. Many companies in the United States have experienced a process of "selling first, then making joint ventures, then acquiring joint ventures, and finally becoming wholly-owned enterprises". The vast majority of multinational companies in China are small in scale, weak in ability and inexperienced, and have no advantage in technology or management in the global business environment and global economy dominated by large multinational companies. So we can consider entering the international market in this step-by-step way.
At the same time, we should avoid direct competition with large multinational companies, focus on areas that have not been noticed by large multinational companies or are not yet or can't be involved at present, fully rely on the advantages of the parent company, concentrate on doing a single business, strive to be "small but refined", quickly improve our own strength in a short time, and then consider developing other similar businesses according to the actual situation. Only when an enterprise develops to a certain scale and establishes its core advantages can it give full play to its potential and consider its diversification strategy according to the actual situation.
4. R&D localization to build core products.
If enterprises want to "go out" and implement transnational operations, they need to brand their products, not only to build international brands, but also to "localize" brands in transnational operations. For example, after IBM entered the China market from 1992, it spared no effort in the localization of product brands. The word "America" was not seen in IBM's overwhelming advertisements, and its products were also reformed according to the preferences of consumers in China. According to the successful experience of developed countries, multinational companies can't move their domestic products abroad intact, but should redesign their products for consumers in different countries, and open up markets through exports before formal production, so as to increase the success rate of product brands. Therefore, many multinational companies have set up R&D institutions in their investment countries. Since 1998, major multinational companies have set up more than 20 research institutes and R&D centers in Beijing, and the trend is getting worse. The purpose of doing this is not only to make use of outstanding talents in China, but also to study our society, develop products suitable for our market, and better meet the requirements of localization.
If multinational enterprises can't provide special products according to the tastes of local consumers, it will be difficult for them to successfully occupy the local market. Therefore, China enterprises can learn from the successful experience of foreign countries, set R&D centers in countries and regions where they invest, put the research and development of new products in the first place, cultivate the brand of China enterprises, and cultivate local consumers' recognition of the core products of China enterprises, so as to further develop new business and expand market share.
5. Strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights
After China's entry into the WTO, with the further opening of the market, there will be many business opportunities. However, enterprises must improve the technical content of their products. It is difficult for products without scientific and technological content to occupy the market for a long time. At the same time, enterprises should pay attention to protecting their own technology. Otherwise, relying solely on low-tech products without brands will easily lead to vicious competition among enterprises and affect the overall reputation of China enterprises.