The contradiction between China's commerce and French commerce

Danone: Since it entered China in the 199s, Danone has successively controlled three national brand enterprises in China, namely Wahaha, Zhengguanghe and Robust, and participated in Mengniu, Bright Dairy and Huiyuan. Danone leaders have never made secret of their ultimate goal of controlling their counterparts in China, which has also caused a strong rebound from China partners such as Zong Qinghou and Wang Jiafen.

veolia water: at the beginning of 27, it acquired the equity of China water supply enterprise twice at a high premium, making veolia a target of public criticism. The public is worried about the possibility of bearing high water prices in the future, while the industry is worried about the safety of China Water.

SEB: In April 27, it acquired Supor, holding 52.74% to 61% equity of Supor, and became the controlling shareholder. This merger has also been boycotted by many domestic peer companies, becoming the first case to be included in the hearing procedure of anti-monopoly review by the Ministry of Commerce.

schneider: in 1994, it requested to acquire 8% of the shares of Chint. In 1998, it was required to hold 51%. After being rejected, Schneider acquired the old rival of Zhengtai, Delixi (in the form of equal proportion of capital contribution), and constantly filed infringement lawsuits against Zhengtai.

From Danone to Carrefour, the impression of French companies in China seems to be unable to be associated with the soft romance of French rich red wine and perfume, and only Napoleon Kingo can't go everywhere by himself.

In fact, French companies have been taking pains to win the favor of China people in China. The French, who are famous for their romance, should be good at it. Air China's China-France route recruits flight attendants from mainland, and the food provided to China passengers, from cold dishes to sweets, is authentic Chinese food, not cold western-style dishes. When L 'Oré al was in China market and Gong Lihong, Gong Li was the image spokesperson; When Zhang Ziyi was hot, Zhang Ziyi was the image spokesperson ...

However, their efforts were not very successful. Sina. com's survey on "Focus on Danone's Merger and Acquisition of Wahaha" was attended by 232,995 people. "Do you support Danone Group or Zong Qinghou for the development of the incident?" 7% of the respondents chose Zong Qinghou, compared with 15% who chose Danone.

In addition, at the end of 27, Foreign Investment in China, a magazine under the Ministry of Commerce, sponsored the selection of "the most China-minded multinational companies". Twenty-three multinational companies including Accenture, AstraZeneca, BP, Procter & Gamble and BASF were selected, but none of them were French companies.

why do people's sentiment and industry resistance always refer to French companies? Is it true that only French companies are the protagonists who cause Chinese people to worry about the "safety of foreign mergers and acquisitions"? Of course not. French companies are involved in the forefront of China's national sentiment, which is probably related to the industry characteristics of their companies in China.

American multinational companies invest in China in a wide range of industries, especially in manufacturing, finance and insurance. Although for China people, there have been worries about "Caterpillar takes all" and objections aroused when Carlyle bought Xugong, the manufacturing industry is still the focus of the elite, which is far away from the lives of ordinary people.

however, France's economic advantages are concentrated in the field of daily consumer goods, and it has a greater voice in the international consumer market. Retail, food and light industry account for a large proportion of French multinational companies' investment in China, and the investment areas are mainly concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta with Shanghai as the center.

Veolia Water does not belong to the consumption field, but urban water supply involves everyone living in the city. A slight change will naturally attract more attention.

second, the "leap-forward" temperament of French enterprises is another reason for their dissatisfaction in China.

The so-called "leap" means that one culture in an organization is superior to other cultures and plays the role of a ruler. The decision-making and behavior in the organization are dominated by this culture, while other cultures are suppressed. This "leap-forward" temperament makes it difficult for China entrepreneurs to negotiate with French enterprises. The general manager of a state-owned cultural company, the most painful business negotiation in memory, is the negotiation with the president of the Asia-Pacific region of French Hua Xie Fei Li Bai Qi Publishing Group. "The negotiations have been going on for nearly three months. Not during the day, but at night. At eleven or twelve o'clock in the evening, he called me to talk at the bar. In the end, I really can't support it. When it gets dark, I will find a hotel to sleep, then get up late at night and talk about it. After many negotiations, the two sides drafted an agreement, and the other party said that it would be approved by the headquarters again, but in the end there was no news. "

Wang jiafen, the former chairman of Bright Dairy, struggled with the arrogance and even rudeness of the French from beginning to end in cooperation with Danone.

Originally, the temperament of French companies is similar to that of China companies. They pay attention to relationships and family ties, and "walk around at a red light". Coupled with romantic culture, French companies in China should have been very friendly. It's just that French culture itself has a profound humanistic background, which makes it not inclusive of foreign popular culture; At the same time, the French have a strong sense of superiority in their mother tongue, which leads to a low English penetration rate. All these make French multinational companies face great challenges in absorbing and using global talents and cross-cultural management.

The disintegration of Guangzhou Peugeot in p>1997 has been regarded by business schools as a typical case of cultural conflict of multinational companies. The French managers implemented a full set of French management in a blunt and compulsory way, which was incompatible with China's traditional concepts and culture, which not only aroused the resentment of Chinese personnel, but also caused strikes. In the course of more than 1 years' joint venture, the top management of both sides failed to devote themselves to shaping the same values of the enterprise to reduce the cultural conflicts between the two sides. Guangzhou Peugeot France's main business goal is to obtain high profits in the short term, and its decision-making has obvious short-term behavior tendency; On the other hand, China hopes to promote the economic development of enterprises and the whole region through joint ventures, and at the same time promote the process of localization. "strange bedfellows" eventually led to the disintegration of the joint venture company.

France occupied 38 seats in the Fortune Global 5 list in 27, of which 31 invested in China. Hubert vedrine Fa, a former French foreign minister, thought that the penetration of French enterprises into the China market was behind other European countries, and certainly far behind American and Japanese enterprises.

But the resentment happened to fall more on French enterprises. "Don't understand and abide by local laws", "Take aggressive tactics in intellectual property rights" and "Merger and acquisition that destroys brands" ... Among several common mistakes made by multinational companies, French companies have made some more or less in China, but the "Merger and acquisition that destroys brands" seems to be particularly worrying.

Wang jiafen said: "Danone hopes to have the light at last from the first day it enters the light." Nan Cunhui said, "Delixi is not wrong, but Schneider deserves vigilance." According to the survey, more than 6% of the public think that "brand-destroying mergers and acquisitions" will damage the autonomy of China's economy and should be restricted.

At the beginning of globalization, American multinational companies have an irresistible desire to expand wherever they go, but they often succumb to reality in the end and adopt a more flexible way of life according to different situations.

"In the past, I always felt that when Americans went to the world, they were full of contradictions between idealism and realism. Now it seems that the French idealism is more romantic, and the French realism is more cold. " Jia Qingguo, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, views the French business spirit in this way.