Poor reception for China’s global push
When Chinese manufacturer TCL snapped up Thomson’s television and DVD player operations and Alcatel’s mobile phone arm within six months in 2003 and 2004, the consumer electronics giant was hailed as the mainland’s answer to Sony.
TCL, which started as a cassette tape maker in the southern province of Guangdong, won plaudits for being one of China’s first manufacturers to become a global company by acquiring well-known international brands.
Now with Sony beset by problems, TCL has itself turned into a prime example of how going abroad could turn into a nightmare.
TCL’s handset joint venture with France’s Alcatel fell apart last year and the Chinese company is now ending its TV tie-up in Europe with fellow French group Thomson, after years of losses due to intense competition and misjudged market trends.
TCL will still use the Thomson brand for two more years in most European markets, maintain a subcontracting agreement with the French group and continue co-operation in the US but, in a sign of fracturing ties, TCL said it would release Thomson from an obligation to hold its stake of nearly 30 per cent in Hong Kong-listed TV unit TCL Multimedia for five years.
TCL’s troubles with Thomson and Alcatel underline the difficulties facing Chinese companies using international acquisitions as a shortcut into global markets.
“TCL’s management was too ambitious. They went global for the sake of going global, even though they did not understand the markets very well,” says Zeno Tse, analyst at China Everbright Research. He and other analysts say TCL was slow to react to market changes.
Li Dongsheng, TCL’s chairman, has admitted that the Thomson business was harder to manage than he expected. Randy Zhou, an analyst at Bank of China International, says TCL’s situation reflects a broader dilemma for Chinese companies. “While going global is a must rather than a choice for many companies, they often underestimate the difficulties of managing a global organisation, when you don’t have the global expertise and the global sales channels,” says Mr Zhou.
“They think it is very easy to be a hero, but it is not.”
There are companies which have done better. Lenovo, China’s biggest personal computer maker, last year took over IBM’s loss-making PC unit, knocking its profit down 85 per cent in the year that ended March 31.
But Lenovo seems to be gradually turning the corner with the IBM business. Analysts say it has been able to make headway because of management determination to understand overseas markets, overcome cultural issues and transform Lenovo into a global enterprise.
The company hired several former Dell executives, including William Amelio as chief executive officer, to manage the new business.
All internal e-mails are now in English and many Chinese employees have adopted English names to help western colleagues.
Huawei and ZTE, China’s two largest telecoms equipment manufacturers, are also making some progress toward going global.
One difference is that they have not made any big acquisitions abroad because, unlike consumer electronics groups, they have little need for well-known brands.
But for consumer products manufacturers, such as Haier and Hisense, which are still trying to expand their global footprint, acquisitions may still be on the cards. As they go shopping abroad, there are valuable lessons from the experiences of TCL and Lenovo.
“You have to know the markets before you go in. You also have to be big in China so that you have a steady cashflow to weather any restructuring costs.
“Otherwise whatever acquisitions you do, it will be very hard to please investors after the initial excitement,” says Mr Zhou.
TCL全球化倒退一步
在
2003年至2004年的6个月内，中国制造商TCL一举收购汤姆逊公司(Thomson)电视、DVD影碟机业务以及阿尔卡特(Alcatel)手机业务。当时，这家消费电器巨头被外界誉为中国大陆的“索尼(Sony)”。
TCL起初只是中国南部省份广东的一家盒式录音带制造商，如今已成为首批通过收购国际知名品牌成为全球企业的中国制造商之一，该公司曾因此受到赞誉。
而今，在索尼饱受各种问题困扰之际，TCL也已成为一个表明“走向世界”如何成为一场噩梦的极佳案例。
TCL与法国阿尔卡特公司建立的手机合资企业去年解散，如今这家中国公司与另一家法国集团汤姆逊在电视业务上的合作也即将宣告结束，由于激烈的竞争以及对市场走势的判断出现失误，双方建立的合资企业连续数年亏损。
在欧洲大多数市场，TCL还可以使用两年的汤姆逊品牌，继续执行与这家法国集团的分包协议，并继续在美国开展合作。但TCL表示，将免除汤姆逊在5年时间内持有TCL多媒体(TCL Multimedia)近30%股权的义务。这表明双方合作正在破裂。TCL多媒体是TCL在香港上市的电视业务子公司。
TCL与汤姆逊和阿尔卡特的问题突显出，中国企业在把国际并购作为进军全球市场的捷径时，面临着诸多困难。
中国光大证券研究所(China Everbright Research)分析师Zeno Tse表示：“TCL管理层过于雄心勃勃。他们对市场了解不深，但为了国际化而国际化。”他和其他分析师表示，TCL在应对市场变化方面表现得较为迟缓。
TCL董事长李东生承认，管理汤姆逊业务的难度超出他此前的预期。中银国际(Bank of China International)分析师周诚(Randy Zhou)表示，TCL的处境反映出中国企业所面临的更大范围的难题。他表示：“虽然对于许多企业而言，国际化已成为了一种必需，而非选择。但它们往往低估了管理国际机构的难度，因为它们不具备国际专业技能和全球销售渠道。”
“它们认为，成为英雄很容易，但事实并非如此。”
也有一些企业做得要好一些。中国最大的个人电脑(PC)制造商联想(Lenovo)去年收购了IBM处于亏损境地的PC部门，在截至3月31日的财政年度，该公司利润因此下降了85%。
然而，联想似乎正在逐步扭转IBM业务的困境。分析师们表示，联想已能在这方面取得进展，因为管理层决心去了解海外市场、克服文化问题并将联想打造为一家国际企业。
该公司聘用了几位戴尔(Dell)前高管来管理新业务，其中包括现任联想首席执行官的威廉?阿梅里奥(William Amelio)。
目前，该公司所有内部电子邮件都使用英文，许多中国员工还取了英文名，以便于西方同事工作。
中国最大的两家电信设备制造商华为(Huawei)和中兴通讯(ZTE)，也在国际化进程中取得了一些进展。
一个不同之处在于，这两家企业没有在海外进行大宗并购。与消费电器集团不同，它们对于知名品牌没有太大的需要。
然而，对于仍在努力扩大全球影响力的海尔(Haier)和海信(Hisense)等消费品制造商而言，并购可能仍在考虑之内。当它们在海外物色并购目标的时候，可以从TCL和联想的经验中学到一些有价值的东西。
周诚表示：“在进入之前，你必须了解市场。同时你必须在中国做大，这样才能拥有稳定的现金流，能承担住任何重组成本。否则，无论进行何种并购，在最初的激情过后，都很难取悦投资者。”
