In the era of globalization, more and more Chinese companies are expanding their business to a global scale, and going overseas has changed from an "option" to a "must-choose" for some enterprises. From the new energy vehicles independently developed by Chinese brands, to the medical devices with increased international layout, to the short development of cultural output, more and more Chinese companies are accelerating the pace of going overseas. 36Kr Research Institute continues to pay attention to the overseas track, summarizes the overseas path, overseas area, and overseas track based on the dynamics of Chinese enterprises going overseas in 2023, and outputs in-depth research on the overseas strategy in 2024 for the reference of enterprises that have gone overseas or potential overseas to formulate strategic layouts.
1. What is the stage of development of Chinese enterprises going overseas? Who are the players in the market?
Chinese enterprises going overseas have entered the 4th stage of fully upgrading product power and brand powerStage 0. In recent years, with the maturity of various technologies in China and the improvement of the ability of the first chain, Chinese enterprises have become more abundant in the way of going overseas. Some overseas enterprises are further increasing R&D efforts and localized production capacity investment, and gradually integrating into the local market with excellent products and ultimate cost performance, while others have begun to pay attention to brand effect, by creating a unique and recognizable brand image, attracting the recognition of overseas consumers, and then building their own moat at the level of user minds. Google's "China Global Brands 2023" report points out that the most important job for Chinese brands at this stage is to create meaningful differentiation, that is, the "sense of value" of the brand.
Nowadays, Chinese enterprises have formed a complete industrial ecology for going overseas, and the participants include not only overseas enterprises, but also leading companies that provide digital services for overseas enterprises, such as technology companies, marketing service providers and SaaS service providers.
Ecological map of China's overseas industry.
2. What are the paths and modes for Chinese enterprises to go overseas?
According to the characteristics of different overseas markets and industries, Chinese enterprises mainly go overseas through three paths: overseas mergers and acquisitions, investment and self-construction, and first-class business cooperation. Overseas M&A refers to the acquisition of existing overseas companies or teams to obtain their technology, business, brand and other resources, and quickly enter the overseas market; Investment in self-construction refers to the direct establishment of new companies overseas to expand the market from 0; Business cooperation refers to cooperation with mature sales companies, and business partners help enterprises expand overseas markets.
Comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the three sea routes.
After more than 40 years of development, the overseas model of Chinese enterprises has continued to iterate, and currently mainly includes three categories: product and service going overseas, manufacturing going overseas, and model going overseas.
Comparison of the three modes of going to sea.
3. Go to sea 4Under the wave of 0, what suggestions does 36Kr Research Institute have for Chinese enterprises going overseas?
(1) Overseas enterprises should choose the appropriate overseas mode and overseas area according to their own brand characteristics and the industry to which they belong. Taking the e-commerce industry as an example, the main overseas destinations are Europe and the United States, which have strong purchasing power, and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, which have a large space. Marketing channels are mainly divided into B2B and B2C, of which the B2C model is divided into third-party sales platforms and self-built independent stations. In terms of pallet organization, most third-party platforms have launched a fully managed model to help small and medium-sized merchants with production capacity but lack sales capacity, as well as factory merchants to go overseas.
Suggestions on the strategy of enterprises in different industries to go overseas.
(2) Chinese companies should see innovation as their main driver for competing in the global market. In practice, enterprises can use digital technology to improve the operational efficiency of the first chain, marketing, compliance and other links, and expand the development space from the dimensions of product innovation, business model innovation, cultural innovation, and management innovation.
The key research questions in this report are as follows:
What is the stage of development of Chinese enterprises going overseas? What are the driving forces in the development process?
At present, in China's overseas industry ecology, what are the categories of market players? What are the various representative enterprises?
How many modes and paths are there for Chinese enterprises to go overseas?
What are the changes in the industry and geographical distribution of Chinese enterprises going overseas?
4Under the wave of 0, what suggestions does 36Kr Research Institute put forward for Chinese enterprises going overseas?