There is a new trend in the investment by multinational enterprises: to shift their businesses and technical transformation 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 companies are the highest form of foreign investment, besides investment and reinvestment, their responsible also includes product agency, the training of personnel, providing information and supplying funds). Such multinationals 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 joint 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 components of 3100 Boeing planes now flying worldwide were made in China. Moreover, with the relocation fever, multinational companies are intensifying 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 (China) 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 (China) 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.

 

multinational adj.多国的, 跨国公司的

accelerate v.加速, 促进

sale n.出售, 销路, 销售额

strategy n.策略

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技术转让

transformation n.转化, 改革, 转换

representative offices办事处

establish vt.建立, 设立, 确定

production base生产基地

core strategy核心战略

core n.果核, 中心, 核心

occupy vt.占领, 占据

share holding companies持股公司

product agency产品代理

training of personnel人员培训

supply funds提供资金

joint ventures合资企业

solely-invested enterprise独资企业

key components关键零部件

relocation n.再布置, 变换布置

fever n.狂热, 高度兴奋

intensify vt.加强

localization strategy本地化战略

employment n.雇用, 职业

foreign-funded enterprise外资企业

favor vt.照顾, 喜欢

professionals n.专业人员

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智力服务范围

research institute研发机构

"China fever""中国热"

magnate n.巨头, 富豪