Since the reform and opening up, China's national economy has achieved rapid growth and leap-forward development. But overall, the quality of economic operation is not high. As the "artery" supporting the national economy, a series of problems such as the separation of logistics modes, insufficient infrastructure and backward application technology have begun to form bottlenecks, which restrict the overall improvement of China's economic quality.
We have noticed that with the acceleration of foreign capital entering China, multinational companies have incorporated China into their global strategic map. While sharing the huge commercial profits brought by the China market, these multinational groups have accelerated their all-round penetration into the China market.
Facing the strong entry of foreign logistics enterprises, China logistics industry and China logistics economic strategy are facing a severe market test.
Facing the challenge of multinational corporations
China logistics enterprises are facing unprecedented challenges. From 65438+February 2002 1 1, China officially opened its controlling stake in international freight forwarding enterprises to foreign investors, and China gradually opened its controlling stake to foreign investors in many logistics fields, such as road transportation, freight forwarding, material storage, freight express delivery, auxiliary services and so on, in accordance with its WTO commitments.
As an advanced organizational model and management concept, modern logistics has long been regarded as the third profit source besides reducing material consumption and improving labor productivity by the world industry. To this end, all countries in the world, especially developed countries, are stepping up research and development of modern logistics forms.
The Intervention Advantage of Transnational Logistics
The rise of world logistics is accompanied by the rapid development of economy. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, the concept triggered by the circulation of agricultural products expanded rapidly. Because of its developed economy, the United States naturally leads in logistics concept and market operation. In 1980s, with the introduction of advanced management systems such as MRP, MRP Ⅱ, Kanban management and just-in-time production, logistics gradually entered the integration stage of maturity and management modernization. From the logistics format of developed countries, the function of modern logistics is to design, implement and manage the logistics needs of customers in the supply chain, which is characterized by providing logistics management and services that customers need at the lowest cost based on information and logistics expertise.
In the process of world economic integration, the infiltration of developed countries into developing countries has become inevitable. The huge demand of China logistics market has naturally become the first choice to attract many international capitals to enter this industry.
It is also natural that transnational logistics penetrates into China market through advanced management methods. Foreign direct investment and transnational production and operation of enterprises are the result of the joint action of enterprise ownership advantage, internalization advantage and location advantage. In the foreign investment and transnational operation of enterprises, the first two advantages are usually manifested as preconditions and dynamic mechanisms respectively, while the third advantage determines the space for enterprises to carry out these activities.
In order to successfully conduct foreign direct investment and transnational operations, an enterprise must have at least one ownership advantage over its competitors-the enterprise owns or can acquire assets and their ownership that foreign enterprises do not or cannot acquire. Ownership advantages can be divided into two types: transferable and non-transferable. The former includes patent right, trademark right and production secret. , while the latter includes technological innovation ability, organization and management ability, marketing ability, economies of scale, etc. In the logistics field of western developed countries, its ownership advantage is extremely obvious. For example, in the United States, all components of the national logistics system are in a leading position in the world, especially distribution centers, express delivery and industrial logistics. There are well-known California food distribution centers, Wal-Mart distribution centers and Fleming distribution centers. Cross-regional express delivery -UPS represents the highest level of transportation and express delivery business in the world; Whirlpool Company is a typical representative of traditional industrial logistics. The e-commerce enterprise logistics has a well-known company like Amazon. Strong ownership advantage has become a solid capital for these enterprises to enter the logistics market in China.
In terms of internalization advantage, foreign enterprises can get more benefits by using their ownership advantage to make foreign direct investment than by transferring their ownership advantage with compensation (that is, externalization). The ownership advantage of an enterprise is an organic whole. Patents, trademarks and production secrets can be transferred to other enterprises, but the technological innovation ability, organizational management ability and marketing skills of enterprises are difficult to transfer. Therefore, transnational operation will bring more profits than transferring individual or local advantages because it gives full play to the overall advantages. Due to the service nature of logistics, this internalization advantage of logistics industry is particularly obvious.
Three ways of transnational operation of foreign capital
There are three main ways for international enterprises to operate internationally: trade entry, contract entry and investment entry. Combined with the specific characteristics of domestic and international logistics industry, international enterprises will flexibly adopt specific strategies to enter the logistics market in China.
1, the transaction comes into play. Trade entry is to enter the market by exporting products or services to the target country, which belongs to non-capital entry. International enterprises entered the logistics market in China earlier by trade, mainly providing logistics equipment and equipment, including the supply of software and hardware such as communications, networks and computers. This entry mode is characterized by simple form and clear competitors, but it lacks lasting competitiveness because of the small increment of product value.
2. Contract entry. Contractual entry is a kind of "non-equity arrangement" for international enterprises to enter the target country by concluding a long-term and non-investment intangible asset transfer contract with the legal person of the target country. The main ways of contract entry are authorized operation, technical agreement, service contract, management contract and subcontract. Contract entry is very common in hotels, restaurants and other service industries, but in the logistics industry, at least there is no climate yet. The reasons generally include: ① Although logistics management is mature in developed countries, it is still a new thing in China, where there is huge profit space. Therefore, international enterprises tend to operate independently in order to collect money quickly. ② The development of China's logistics market is lagging behind, vicious competition among domestic logistics enterprises is widespread, and there is resistance to foreign investment. Therefore, the contractual cooperation of logistics is very risky. (3) China's logistics standards have not yet been in line with international standards, which has become the main obstacle to contract entry. It can be predicted that when the logistics industry in China develops to a certain stage, with the lowering of entry barriers, contract entry will become an important means for international enterprises to explore the China market.
3. Investment entry. That is, through direct investment in the target country, the capital will be transferred to the target country together with the management technology, sales and financial skills of the enterprise, and branches or subsidiaries controlled by the enterprise will be established. Investment entry is the main competition mode faced by logistics enterprises in China at present, which is mainly divided into: ① procurement route. FedEx has had 10 direct flights to China every week since 1996, while UPS and UPS have got direct flights to Beijing and Shanghai, making these two giants in the international express market gain a firm foothold in China. ② Establish logistics facilities. Singapore Port Authority is one of the strongest container terminal management agencies in the world, and its annual container throughput has been ranked in the top two in the world for many years. It has long been eager to enter the mainland of China, and this wish has finally come true in Guangzhou Port. At the end of 2002, Singapore Port Authority joined Guangzhou Port, and the two sides established Guangzhou Container Terminal Co., Ltd. with a joint venture of 800 million yuan. This move will affect the entire logistics industry in the Pearl River Delta. For a long time, the logistics in the Pearl River Delta region mainly relies on Hong Kong and Shenzhen for transit. This pattern is bound to change due to the joining of Singapore giants. 3 follow in. At the beginning of 2002, Mitsui & Co., a famous Japanese logistics company, announced that it would set up a joint venture logistics warehousing company with fujifilm in Suzhou to provide logistics services for fujifilm in China. This model of merchant ship Mitsui and fujifilm represents the initial form of many foreign logistics companies entering the China market. When they come in, they first catch their familiar customers. For example, UPS and Motorola are long-term global strategic partners. In China, UPS naturally became their logistics service provider. (4) set up a branch. In 1990s, DHL, TNT, UPS and FEDEX, the world's four major express delivery companies, all set up branches in China, competing fiercely with China Post EMS. During the period of 1995- 1999, the average annual growth rate of China Post's international express delivery business was only 2%, with negative growth in some years. The business growth rates of DHL, TNT and UPS are all above 20%, and the business growth rates of DHL and TNT have reached about 40% in recent years. ⑤ Establish a joint venture logistics company. In June 2002, Hualian Supermarket Logistics Company and Yu Qiu Global Logistics Co., Ltd. jointly invested 72.5 million yuan, and the first Sino-foreign joint venture third-party commercial logistics project was launched in Shanghai, marking the entry of foreign capital into the third-party logistics market in China.
Analysis on the Competitive Situation of Logistics Industry in China
With the gradual opening of the logistics market, domestic logistics enterprises and international enterprises have entered two different starting points of competition. Using the method of competitive advantage and disadvantage analysis (SW analysis), we can get the general outline of the competitive situation of logistics industry in China under the condition of transnational competition.
1. The fundamental advantage of China logistics enterprises is the local advantage. ① Because logistics operation needs a certain carrier, China's logistics facilities and equipment are not very advanced, but they are rich in resources, low in price and competitive. ② Logistics is highly networked. After long-term operation, China's logistics enterprises have begun to take shape in their business networks and established close ties with government departments, which undoubtedly raises the threshold for foreign capital to enter China's logistics market. ③ Cultural advantages. It is easier for domestic logistics enterprises to understand customers' needs, behaviors and habits, and it is easier to form good communication between supply and demand sides, while foreign enterprises need to pay more in this respect.
2. The disadvantages of China's logistics enterprises are also obvious. Macroscopically, the market system is imperfect, the logistics elements are in a state of division, and the national unified logistics market has not yet been fully formed. Under the influence of long-term planned economy, Chinese enterprises, big or small, have everything from production, supply and sales to warehousing, processing, loading and unloading, packaging and transportation, which leads to the extreme dispersion and waste of logistics resources. Microscopically, the overall strategic planning of China's logistics enterprises is not ideal, lacking strategic awareness, and the logistics management concepts and methods are very backward. It is difficult to form standardized and standardized logistics operations by compartmentalization, which leads to the increase of invalid operation links and seriously affects the international competitiveness and rapid market response ability of Chinese enterprises. In addition, logistics enterprises are in a state of extensive operation, with low degree of specialization, poor internal quality and low operational efficiency.
Professor Gui told reporters that mainland logistics mainly involves more domestic logistics business and less international logistics business, resulting in higher logistics costs. Nowadays, it is more and more urgent for mainland logistics to gradually go international.
China's export-oriented economy is becoming more and more obvious, and the proportion of international trade is increasing. In 2003, the container throughput of China port was close to 50 million TEUs, an increase of 32% over 2002, surpassing the United States and ranking first in the world. It is predicted that by 20 10, the global freight volume will reach 7 billion tons, of which the cargo throughput of China port is nearly 4 billion tons, and the container throughput is about 65438+ 1 100 million TEU. Under this trend, if China's logistics industry does not develop in the direction of internationalization, it will have a negative impact on China's foreign trade, which is by no means alarmist.
Advance in cooperation and competition
In 2004, FedEx announced the establishment of its China headquarters in Shanghai, which was responsible for coordinating the development of all businesses in China. It is said that this headquarters had a CEO, a financial officer, an information officer and a human resources officer at that time. At the same time, the technology and sales staff are also very complete, which can be described as complete and functional. In the eyes of the industry, the layout has already begun. At the beginning, even the top management of FedEx said that such an organization "can fully cope with various challenges, co-ordinate the development of various businesses in China, and grasp the long-term development direction of FedEx in China".
Although Chen Jialiang, then president of FedEx China and vice president of Asia-Pacific region, said that China headquarters would not become an investment company, and there was no plan to operate express business in China. However, when the express delivery and logistics market in China is about to open, people still think that the logistics pattern of Sino-foreign cooperation will change.
difficult position
In the Measures for the Administration of Foreign Investment in International Freight Forwarding Industry, foreign express delivery companies can set up joint ventures in China, with a maximum share of 75%. By 2005, foreign express delivery companies can set up wholly-owned branches in China. As time approaches, FedEx seems to be trying to balance various interests in order to make the best decision among all kinds of flickering and confusing rumors. Not only FedEx, but also world express giants such as UPS, TNT, DHL and EXEL entered China through marriage with Sinotrans, the leading domestic logistics industry.
Almost every express delivery giant who entered China entered China by taking the lead in the local logistics industry. In this way, on the one hand, we can bypass the policy restrictions, on the other hand, we can make up for the shortage of local resources of foreign-funded enterprises through joint ventures. In the subsequent development, some foreign giants did gain a lot of benefits and opportunities in the cooperation with China's boss, but for some companies, this cooperation seems to be just a kind of "harm" to some extent.
For example, the fate of several foreign-funded logistics enterprises cooperating with Sinotrans is quite different. Every company that cooperates with Sinotrans is only an agent of Sinotrans. No matter who it cooperates with, Sinotrans can make a lot of profits from it. Since the agency fee can be collected from whoever you can cooperate with, it is natural that the better the relationship with Sinotrans, the more business Sinotrans will get. It is naturally difficult for Sinotrans to carry a bowl of water flat. In recent years, it is said that the turnover of DHL Company in Germany, which cooperates with Sinotrans, has jumped 60 times, and the cooperation agreement with Sinotrans has been renewed for 50 years. The total business growth rate of UPS in China, which cooperates with Sinotrans, has also remained above 35% for several consecutive years. TNT unilaterally announced that it would no longer cooperate with Sinotrans after the 15 year cooperation period with Sinotrans expired last year. According to industry sources, TNT has always played the role of "grievance" in the cooperation with Sinotrans, and has not gained much practical benefits. Acting only for express delivery business under 30kg is contrary to the title of "the second largest supplier in the world", which greatly restricts the development of TNT's logistics business in China.
Moreover, in the cooperation with domestic enterprises, many foreign logistics enterprises can only stay out of the mainstream business and it is difficult to control their own destiny. For example, the cooperation between Sinotrans and foreign-funded enterprises almost involves express delivery business. In 2002, the turnover of Sinotrans reached 65.438+0.355 billion yuan, of which the turnover of freight business was 65.438+0.03 billion yuan, while the express business was only 65.438+0.65438+0.5 billion yuan, and the express business did not account for 65.438+00% of the turnover. Among several large companies that cooperate with Sinotrans, except DHL, other companies like UPS actually do bulk cargo transportation. An industry expert said that from a global perspective, the market space for freight transportation is much larger, and express delivery only accounts for a small part of the market share. Freight is also the main business of Sinotrans. In the cooperation with Sinotrans, these partners obviously dare not set foot in these fields too much.
Sleeping in the same bed and having different dreams-dreaming strange strange bedfellows.
At the beginning, in the eyes of some people in the industry, FedEx's strong position will obviously help it to develop into a wholly-owned enterprise in the future. When FedEx entered China, it chose Datong Logistics as its partner. It is said that at that time, Chase's express delivery business was almost equal to EMS, which could be regarded as the limelight. However, around 1999, the contract between FedEx and Chase expired. FedEx did not renew the contract with Chase, but chose a little-known Daejeon company whose strength was far less than that of Chase at that time to cooperate. This laid the foundation for future model changes.
It is said that in the cooperation agreement signed between Daejeon Group and FedEx, both parties promised that FedEx would focus on overseas business in China, and Daejeon was mainly responsible for the expansion of domestic express network. At that time, some analysts believed that FedEx intended to maintain the management and operation style of FedEx in China by controlling such a small company. Moreover, after China is completely open to the logistics industry, it can also obtain sole proprietorship at a lower cost. However, in the past few years, the little-known Daejeon has grown from a small freight forwarding company to a large group with assets of nearly 400 million yuan. The development of Daejeon has made a big move, not only moving its headquarters from Tianjin to Beijing, but also re-establishing a new business development direction: taking express delivery as the leading factor, taking air transportation as the leading factor, driving the development of ordinary freight and establishing a unique Daejeon logistics service system. For such a full-fledged partner, FedEx is obviously difficult to control.
At that time, some insiders speculated that this was a front end for Daejeon to give up FedEx's "going it alone". At that time, FedEx said it was possible to participate in Daejeon's domestic express delivery business. Not only that, FedEx also announced to the outside world that it would continue to cooperate with Daejeon for 50 years after the expiration of the 15 contract. However, in less than half a year, the theory of continuing cooperation went away. On the contrary, FedEx has taken a more practical step towards independent operation by setting up China business area. It is said that FedEx had previously proposed to Daejeon Group to acquire another 50% of the shares of Daejeon-FedEx and turn the joint venture company into a wholly-owned company. However, due to the high asking price of Daejeon Group, this move failed to reach an agreement.
FedEx China headquarters was established, which is also the 5th anniversary of Daejeon-FedEx. However, on such an important day, the chairman of Daejeon Group arrived late. According to the reporters who attended the event at that time, Wang Shusen, the head of Daejeon, left in a hurry after attending the press conference. When someone asked about the relationship between FedEx's newly established China headquarters and Daejeon-FedEx, it admitted that the organization and personnel of FedEx's China headquarters had nothing to do with Daejeon-FedEx.
TNT plans to build an airport logistics base in Beijing with an area of 50 mu and an investment of 50 million yuan, which will be the largest integrated express delivery center in China, including express delivery center, freight forwarding and integrated storage center. This series of measures is obviously TNT's careful preparation to seize the commanding heights of China logistics industry in the future.
Experts pointed out that today, the management level of the logistics industry is getting higher and higher. If domestic logistics enterprises can't keep up, foreign-funded enterprises that cooperate with them will also be dragged down. After years of development, the network of foreign-funded logistics enterprises in China has gradually improved, and they have gradually understood the national conditions of China, so they can get rid of it as soon as possible. The independence of TNT and FedEx is only the beginning.
Foreign-funded enterprises attach great importance to the relationship between China partners and the central and local governments, not only because it can promote the initial approval of joint venture projects by the government, but also because good government relations can ensure that the joint venture company will continue to obtain necessary business licenses and assistance in the future, especially in transportation. The clients of foreign-funded enterprises and multinational enterprises already have a good relationship, but they still attach great importance to the local customers brought by China partners, which can help the joint venture project get more income in the early stage.
Foreign logistics chooses the opportunity to attack
On February 26th, 2005, LG (China) Logistics Co., Ltd. was announced to be established, which also made LG the first foreign-funded enterprise to introduce the professional logistics system into China since the logistics field in China was fully opened on February 6th, 2004. It is reported that LG set up its own professional logistics company in Korea as early as six years ago. Since May 2004, LG has sent a large number of Korean logistics experts to China, conducted a comprehensive investigation and analysis on the logistics structure of China market, and specially constructed a logistics information system suitable for China. Although the establishment of LG (China) Logistics Co., Ltd. was not unexpected, it still attracted great attention. In fact, some foreign logistics companies came earlier than LG.
Strong teams from all over the world have rushed to the beach.
In 2004, Malaysian Minister of Communications Chen led a high-level delegation from Southeast Malaysia Group to Wuxi to sign a contract with Beitang District of Wuxi to expand logistics investment. The Group will invest US$ 65.438 billion to build Wuxi Traffic Automobile Factory in cooperation with Wuxi Jinnan Logistics Co., Ltd. and set up Wuxi Jinnan Driving Training Co., Ltd., the first Sino-foreign joint venture driving school in Wuxi.
Almost at the same time that Southeast Group entered Wuxi, South China International Industrial Raw Materials City, the largest foreign logistics project in Shenzhen, signed a grand contract in Shenzhen Wuzhou Hotel. The project will invest 2.6 billion yuan to become the largest industrial raw material supply base in South China.
As for the "Big Mac" project of foreign capital in the logistics industry settled in Shenzhen, relevant experts believe that building a large-scale industrial raw material trading market has become an urgent requirement for Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta region to actively respond to China's accession to the WTO and build a world-class manufacturing production base. After the completion of this project, it will effectively reduce the manufacturing cost in this region, and at the same time enhance the attractiveness of Shenzhen to manufacturing enterprises in terms of cost, information, procurement, sales and export.
On the eve of the Spring Festival this year, Prologis, the world logistics real estate giant who has been lurking in China, suddenly made a move. Shen, vice president of ProLogis, said that in the next 5-7 years, ProLogis plans to invest 2 billion dollars to build a coastal storage network in China.
As the world's largest logistics real estate developer and service provider, ProLogis owns and manages 65,438+0,972 logistics storage facilities in 70 markets including North America, Asia and Europe, with a total area of 27 million square meters. Song Yang, client director of ProLogis, said that there are still projects under negotiation in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. At present, Prologis has established logistics parks in East China and South China, and the next coastal strategy is Bohai Bay Economic Circle. Starting this year, Prologis will implement large-scale investment plans in Beijing and Tianjin.
UPS strides forward
In 2004, a core problem faced by foreign logistics enterprises in China was "What kind of operation mode should be adopted"? Is it a wholly-owned subsidiary or a joint venture company? According to the agreement of China's entry into WTO, by the end of 2005, China should amend relevant laws and regulations and lift the restrictions on the ownership of foreign-funded logistics enterprises. In view of this, some foreign logistics enterprises decided to take the form of wholly-owned subsidiaries. K & is in Switzerland; Kuehne & ampNagel decided to establish its market position in two ways.
On February 2, 2004, 65438, UPS made the most important decision to enter the China market since 16, and invested 1 billion dollars to "redeem itself" abroad, taking the first step of sole proprietorship in China. By 2005, we will have the independent operation right of international express delivery service in the most important commercial city in China.
1907 UPS was founded in Seattle, Washington, USA, and is now headquartered in Atlanta. At present, UPS is the largest express delivery and parcel delivery company in the world, serving 200 countries and regions around the world and having 370,000 employees worldwide. In 2003, UPS's turnover reached more than 30 billion dollars, and 3.5 billion packages and documents were delivered to all parts of the world that year. On the map of the world, it is rare to find places that UPS services can't cover.
During the period of 1988, UPS entered the mainland of China to carry out international express delivery business. However, due to the restriction of China policy at that time, we had to form a joint venture company with Sinotrans, with each party holding 50% of the shares. In a short period of more than ten years in China, UPS has occupied 80% of international express business in China together with FedEx (FedEx), DHL (DHL) and TNT (Tiandi Express).
Although the cooperative relationship between UPS and Sinotrans has been very good, this government-arranged marriage is not conducive to its accelerated expansion in the China market. Some experts predict that after three years, the express delivery business in China will increase by more than ten times. If UPS wants to occupy a more favorable competitive position in the future market, it must first implement its own expansion strategy. Therefore, it is inevitable to put aside the shackles of Sinotrans. As early as 2003, TNT, one of the four international express delivery giants, had taken the lead in choosing to leave its partner Sinotrans. At the same time, TNT announced the establishment of a new cooperative relationship with the private "Super Mach". At that time, some insiders believed that TNT chose private small companies as partners, and the ultimate goal was to control Super Mach and realize "disguised sole proprietorship".
The separation of foreign-funded logistics enterprises reminds us from another aspect: in the market competition in China, China enterprises think that their advantages in the relationship with local governments and the central government, their network capabilities in China, their customer relationships in China and local talents may not be so important.