Xinhuanet: Sany PALFINGER cross-cultural integration creates "alloy culture"

"The current sales performance shows that each worker can create an output value of 5 million yuan for the company every year, which greatly exceeds the level of peers, which is inseparable from the efficient operation of our team composed of users from all over the world and industrial workers from all over the world." Li Mingfu, operations director and director of the general manager's office of Sany PALFINGER Special Vehicle Equipment Co., Ltd., said. On February 28, 2012, Sany Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. and PALFINGER Group of Austria formally signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Sany Changsha Industrial Park: Sany Heavy Industry subscribed for about 10% of the shares of PALFINGER for about 108 million euros, and PALFINGER invested 110 million euros to obtain 10% of the shares of Sany Heavy Plate Business. At that time, the situation of the two industry giants "you have me, I have you" began to take shape, but no one could have imagined that Sany PALFINGER would achieve a comprehensive and in-depth integration from the organization to the corporate culture in just one year after the official opening of the Rudong Economic Development Zone, and achieved such extraordinary results.

Integrate Eastern and Western cultures, and promote cross-cultural management with a sense of integration

Different countries and nations have formed different histories and cultures, including values, ways of behaving, habits of thinking, and so on. The realization of enterprise development goals depends not only on the improvement of production level, but also on the improvement of corporate culture soft power, which is the consensus of the industry. At the beginning of Trinity's founding*5656 challenge, PALFINGER was how to manage across cultures.

"How to unify people from different countries and different cultural backgrounds into a common value system and goal pursuit, and form a common value pursuit and corporate culture on the basis of seeking common ground while reserving differences? This was a challenge we faced in the early days of our company's formation. Li Mingfu said frankly that Chinese and Europeans are very different in terms of working methods, management concepts, thinking habits, etc., and when the two views are opposed, there will be conflicts. For example, when we have a meeting, the Chinese management has to come on time according to the habit, but foreigners are different, we have to make an appointment with them in advance, and if there is no appointment at hand, they will not come to the meeting, which requires integration. ”

When the company was founded, the board of directors developed a systematic solution to this problem: seeking common ground while reserving differences, and dealing with possible impasses through cross-cultural integration and management. "Many people think that the truth is in the hands of a few, and I used to agree with this sentence, but now I think that it is not all right, things are always multifaceted, especially for cross-cultural business management, it is necessary to coordinate the opinions and concepts of all aspects, and reach a decision on the basis of compromise *5655 degree of convergence." Li Mingfu said.

Sany PALFINGER deputy general manager Eric also told reporters that the two parent companies of the joint venture company are in different countries, and the two parent companies represent the unique cultural concepts and cognition of the two countries, bringing together foreign users from China and many countries, and we also maintain business contacts with customers from all over the world, and there are suppliers from different countries, so the way of production and operation, the habits of market operation, the design of products and services, and the concept of cultural management should be scientifically and reasonably planned on the basis of cross-cultural integration. To promote cross-cultural management, "it is necessary to adopt an inclusive management method for cultures of different races, different cultural types, and different stages of cultural development, and thus create a unique cultural management process of the enterprise." The core of cross-cultural management is to resolve cultural conflicts, find corporate goals that transcend cultural conflicts in the management process, maintain the common code of conduct of employees with different cultural backgrounds, and achieve the convergence of cultural awareness and values around the development strategy and goals of the enterprise. ”

In this regard, the company has developed and carried out a variety of cross-cultural training. According to the specific situation of the joint venture company, the manager of the participating department is responsible for training the personnel of the department, and focuses on informing the employees of the visual dimension of the cultural dimension, so that the employees of the department are aware of the cultural differences, and cooperates with foreign users to find effective work communication methods; The human resources department should post on the company's bulletin board the cross-cultural basic knowledge closely related to SPV, the analysis of work examples, and the cultural dimension differences in China, Austria, France, Slovenia and other countries, so as to quickly enhance the cross-cultural awareness of employees.

Integrate the culture of the parent company and let the products spread around the world like Mozart music

"This year's signing will make the cooperation between PALFINGER and Sany closer and deeper, so as to give full play to the respective advantages of both parties, promote better development of each other, and let the products of Sany and PALFINGER spread all over the world like Mozart's music, and become a model of cooperation between Austrian-Chinese enterprises." At the signing ceremony of the joint venture, Liang Wengen, chairman of Sany Heavy Industry Group, said. Obviously, in order to achieve a model of cooperation between Austria and China, in addition to the integration of production and operation, scientific research and innovation, it is also necessary to set a benchmark at the level of corporate culture integration. At the beginning of its establishment, the management of the company clearly realized that Sany PALFINGER is a joint venture between two group companies from different cultural systems, composed of 248 employees with common goals but different cultural backgrounds, and in order to achieve long-term success, it is necessary to integrate the cultures of different countries and nationalities, and it is also necessary to form a closely integrated "community" on the basis of integrating the corporate culture genes of the two parent companies, so as to achieve the unique corporate culture of the joint venture.

The development goal of Sany Heavy Industry Group is to transform the machinery and equipment industry with high and new technology, take the lead in upgrading the products to the world-class level, and become a landmark enterprise in China's machinery and equipment industry, with the mission of "creating a first-class enterprise, creating first-class talents, and making first-class contributions", and the "Sany spirit" of "self-improvement and industry serving the country" as the ideal, to promote the core values of "quality changes the world" in the whole company, and to take everything for customers and all from innovation as the basic business philosophy. PALFINGER is geographically closer to German culture, and their corporate philosophy is: to be the world's best manufacturer of handling equipment, to provide the most advanced, credible and cost-effective lifting solutions in the field of commercial vehicles and maritime affairs, and to use resources sustainably and responsibly.

"One is to make the world's best construction machinery, and the other is to make the world's best handling equipment, all of which are similar." Li Mingfu said, "The marriage of the two group companies is fully investigated, PALFINGER chose Sany Group because of the culture of the enterprise, they believe that Sany people are Germans in China, rigorous, serious and responsible, it is to understand the history of Sany and the culture of Sany that recognize Sany Group." ”

As a joint venture, Sany PALFINGER needed to create a unique corporate culture. "We want to be a company with a clear business process, and the main point of the discussion is: which parent company will we follow, which parent company's business process will follow, what aspects can be based on the parent company, and how can we reflect the differences between the two parent companies?" Eric said, "At the beginning of the establishment of the joint venture, we spent a lot of time discussing these issues, and the core was to continue the cultural pedigree of the parent company, integrate the cultural essence of the parent company, and form the cultural system of the joint venture according to local conditions. ”

The establishment of Sany PALFINGER is another new exploration of Sany's international development model, Sany can learn from PALFINGER's advanced technology and mature management system, and similarly, PALFINGER can use Sany's brand advantages to expand its influence in the Chinese market. Users expect that in the next 5 to 10 years,Truck-mounted cranesThe market will usher in the golden stage of rapid development, and although there are more domestic truck-mounted crane manufacturers, but the products and scale are uneven, compared with international counterparts there is still a large gap, Sany PALFINGER will undoubtedly usher in the development of the first opportunity, "We are determined to become a landmark enterprise in the global truck-mounted crane industry and * 5660 manufacturing users, to become the best in China's truck-mounted crane transport special vehicle industry, and to win the future development, there is no problem with production technology, cultural integration has become the key." Li Mingfu said, "Focus on quality, the pursuit of the best, beyond customer expectations, with an almost paranoid attitude, exhaust all means, the service to an unparalleled degree, this is the essence of corporate culture, to be integrated into the values and production behavior of every employee." ”

Create an "alloy culture" to support enterprises to win future competition

"Core values symbolize the *5661 goals of an individual or organization, as well as its deep-rooted beliefs and core, fundamental driving forces, everything that happens in your workplace is the basis for the formation of values, and the formation of shared values and cultural concepts is very important for a joint venture." Soon after moving into Rudong Industrial Park, the company's management held a seminar on the corporate culture of the joint venture company to introduce the corporate culture management experience of the two parent companies, and reached a consensus: we must absorb the essence of the corporate culture and values of Sany and PALFINGER for our use, and then jointly discuss and establish the joint venture's own unique corporate culture, so as to lay a solid cultural foundation for future success.

Later, after rounds of bottom-up and top-down combination of value discussions, the company reached a preliminary consensus on the current situation and future direction of corporate culture. *The output of the final values is based on a set of "enterprise type indicators" tools. The index divides companies into four types: "family culture", "structure culture", "project culture", and "innovation culture", and distinguishes these four cultures from cultural components such as leadership, customers, employees, power, and commitment. Through the deduction of each article, we have a clear understanding of the current cultural type of corporate culture, and finally determine the future cultural goals of the joint venture and the required values: respect, responsibility, and cooperation.

Li Mingfu introduced the cultural connotation of values to reporters in detail: the essence of respect is: do not do to others what you do not want to do to yourself, pay attention to the needs of others, create a good working and living environment for employees, think about others, and listen to the opinions of others with an open mind before making decisions; Responsibility emphasizes that employees should fulfill their duties and strive to do their jobs well; Implement the company's decisions, maintain the company's reputation and ensure the company's interests; Properly position myself, have a positive attitude, improve my comprehensive quality through unremitting breakthroughs and innovations, and ensure that all my work is result-oriented; Cooperation requires me to cooperate with my colleagues and customers based on partnership, adhere to win-win cooperation rather than personal heroism, trust and support each other, and do my best to create value for internal and external customers. "This is the 'alloy culture' formed on the basis of our integration of the parent company's cultural system, which represents the essence of the corporate culture of the joint venture." Li Mingfu said.

In order to better implement these values, the company has also formed a culture committee and designated specific responsible persons to be responsible for overall supervision, coordination and promotion: "Sany PALFINGER is a joint venture between two companies with completely different cultures, and in order to achieve long-term success, we must reach a common understanding of the corporate culture and form a competitiveness that cannot be imitated by others. Every cultural seminar, every expression of opinions, and every discussion is a process of forming a cultural consensus. In the future work, we will focus on the values of 'respect', 'responsibility' and 'cooperation', so that this value can truly become the spiritual driving force for future development. Eric said