"Choosing partner" vital for private enterprises to go global

The impetus pushing China's economy forward has become another "big engine", involving state-owned, individually run as well as foreign funded enterprises. The "big engine" has gradually evolved from the previous "double engine" of state-owned and collectively owned enterprises, noted Liu Yajun, director with Investment Promotion Agency of Ministry of Commerce at the Conference of Dialogue between Private Enterprises and World's Top 500 held in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang province recently.

Liu added that private economy has witnessed rapid growth in the past five years, with an annual rate of 53 percent, positioning solidly in the national economy. In light of the further opening of the country's investment sectors and the adjustment of industrial structure, private enterprises have taken part in some sectors, where the state-held capitals enjoy advantage, by means of investment, acquisition, and reform of state-owned enterprises, with numbers of capital-intensive and labour-intensive enterprises on the rise and scale increasing with each passing day. Meanwhile, individually run enterprises also made a great leap forward in such sectors as steel and iron, coalmining, chemical industry, auto industry, real estate, IT as well as the burgeoning service industry.

"Multinationals and home private enterprises, in our view, are two different economic entities. Among the two, one possesses the world's most advanced management, techniques and overseas relations, and the other rich local experiences, marketing network as well as resolute pioneering spirits. During the global economic globalization process, the top priority for the two economic entities is to hold dialogues, and then to connect with each other rather than to create confrontation between them," commented Wei Jianguo, vice minister of Commerce at the conference.

Wei further noted that under the situation of economic globalization, it is of crucial importance to explore an organic integration point by which, through the pursuit of a win-win cooperative pattern by means of communication and dialogue, the localization of multinationals and the internationalization of private enterprises could be achieved. The cooperation between multinationals and private enterprises should proceed from dialogue to connection, and then from connection to exchange. Dialogue aims at deepening understanding, and connection targets on having complimentary advantages so as to achieve the objective of exchange in terms of the flow of capitals, techniques, management, cultures as well as talents.

As of connection, Gilbert Van Kerkhove, a high-ranking official with EU Chamber of Commerce and chief economic advisor of 2008 Beijing Olympics, draws a very vivid simile, ¡°the key point for connecting with the world's top 500 lies in how to connect, which is similar to choosing a dancing partner who can be neither too tall nor too short, neither too large nor too small. When multinationals have contacts with Chinese enterprises, they do consider their short-term profits and long-term interests, and also think about whether China will become a potential competitor after cooperation.

By People's Daily Online