Yangcheng Evening News: It's still so sharp Xiang Wenbo

Source: Yangcheng Evening News Reporter: Han Ping
 

On May 29, 2011, Sany Group's "Global *5656 Crane" 3600 tons of crawlerscraneSuccessfully offline Courtesy of CFP
 

Photo courtesy of Wenbo CFP, President of Sany Heavy Industry

 

On May 29, 2011, at noon, in Kunshan, Xiang Wenbo, president of Sany Heavy Industry, accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from Yangcheng Evening News.

On June 6, 2006, Xiang Wenbo officially challenged Carlyle's acquisition of XCMG on his blog, and published 46 blog posts in a row, which finally ended in a big turnaround.

Five years have passed since the XCMG incident. In five years, Xiang Wenbo, as one of the world's top 50 CEOs released by Forbes*, not only led Sany Heavy Industry from a listed company with a market value of 5 billion yuan to an enterprise with a market value of more than 100 billion yuan, but more importantly, Sany itself also began the strategic process of internationalization. Mr. Xiang, who was once a strong opponent of Carlyle's takeover of XCMG, has now set up camp abroad for five years.

Today, five years later, does Xiang Wenbo have a deeper understanding of the internationalization of enterprises? A reporter from Yangcheng Evening News interviewed Xiang Wenbo in Kunshan.

Three years ago, a reporter from Yangcheng Evening News interviewed Xiang Wenbo, and today, three years later, as soon as Xiang Wenbo opened his mouth, he still had a strong Hunan accent and that kind of high-speed pronunciation frequency, whether you like it or not, it is still so sharp and clear.

 

■Xiangyin has not changed, and the original intention has not changed

 

In the past five years, because the blog has successfully mobilized hundreds of millions of netizens to be wary of foreign acquisitions of Chinese enterprises, thus aborting a series of major events of foreign acquisition of Chinese enterprises, Xiang Wenbo has become famous in the First World War, but also bears the big hat of inciting nationalist sentiments.

"I can't wear the hat of nationalism, and if I have to wear a hat, then I think I am a nationalist. I am not generally opposed to the acquisition of Chinese capital by foreign capital, I am against cheap sales! Oppose the sale of leading enterprises in important industries! You see, isn't XCMG developing very well now? There is a double-digit growth rate every year, and the output value last year was more than 60 billion yuan. The Chinese market is so good, why sell to Carlyle? Xiang Wenbo is very happy that he succeeded in the first place.

Mark Zuckerberg*, the founder of Facebook, famously admired: Fate favors the bold. Five years ago, Xiang Wenbo plunged headlong into Carlyle's acquisition of XCMG, he did not expect that two years later there would be a once-in-a-century financial turmoil, did not expect the country to introduce a stimulus plan of four trillion yuan, and did not expect that China's construction machinery industry would face such an explosive growth situation as today.

Looking back, if heroes are judged by success or failure, Xiang Wenbo is undoubtedly successful.

In the past five years, in the process of internationalization, Sany has pursued the ancestral motto: do not do to others what you do not want, in foreign countries, Sany has always insisted on investing in the construction of new factories and the establishment of new research centers, and has never carried out any mergers and acquisitions. Xiang Wenbo said: "As far as the path of international development is concerned, I personally believe that it cannot be said that it cannot be said through mergers and acquisitions, but our own development history of Sany does not rely on large-scale mergers and acquisitions to achieve scale expansion. ”

 

■ Drifting across the ocean, sheep meet wolves

 

After five years of experience in overseas markets, Xiang Wenbo also felt a lot of helplessness in the process of overseas development. He told the Yangcheng Evening News reporter that in 2010, the global (excluding China) excavator sales were only 110,000 units, while China alone sold 160,000 units, and the Chinese market has occupied most of the world. These markets, historically are all foreign brands, but in recent years, with the rise of China's construction machinery enterprises, the global market share of foreign brands, especially China's market share, is declining rapidly, and the market share of some enterprises has plummeted by nearly 50%.

"Sany has been seeking overseas development in recent years, and I call it Sany's third venture. The essence of foreign culture is wolf culture, where interests are contested and grabbed, and everything that can be used is unabashedly used, including culture and law. In contrast, Chinese culture has always been about humility and patience, and our culture is essentially sheep culture. Speaking of this, Xiang Wenbo paused, and suddenly Mao Sai suddenly laughed and said, "Well, it's better to be a wolf in sheep's clothing." As he spoke, he raised his hands and excitedly made a sheepskin motion.

"What I really feel now is that internationalization is not just the behavior of a company, even in countries with developed market economies, it is not entirely the laws of the market economy that play a role, and foreign companies often rely on the power of the government when suppressing Chinese enterprises."

 

■Overseas expansion is not easy

 

The once-in-a-century financial turmoil has caused the prices of many overseas assets to plummet, and many Chinese companies have entered the world's top 500. Xiang Wenbo disagrees, saying: "Chinese companies should not underestimate the difficulty of overseas expansion. Enterprises must have the support of national diplomacy, military, culture, economy, law and other aspects, at present, our enterprises go out or scattered, alone, lack of coordination at the national level. ”

Xiang Wenbo used a very simple metaphor to explain to the Yangcheng Evening News reporter the process of Chinese enterprises going international alone: "It's like a child entering a very dangerous situation, but this child is very brave and smart, and he overcame the difficulties and succeeded." However, he is a minor after all, and he needs the protection of his parents, so we can't encourage all children to act bravely because he succeeds, because it is not a high probability event for children to succeed in righteousness. The state is the parent of the enterprise, and if Chinese enterprises want to embark on a successful path of internationalization, they need the state to be a strong backing behind them. ”