按:本人的英語水平不高,應(yīng)讀者要求,斗膽將愛科CEO接受金融時報記者的采訪的文章翻譯出來。不當(dāng)之處,請方家指正。
據(jù)筆者掌握的信息,由于《金融時報》及網(wǎng)絡(luò)的巨大影響力,這篇文章在西方世界傳播甚廣。德國企業(yè)的不少人士都已經(jīng)知悉。
制造商抨擊中國的全球化“威力”
彼得•馬斯 2008.2.26倫敦報道
作為全球化的經(jīng)濟力量,中國的威力已經(jīng)被西方世界嚴重評價過高――按一位美國領(lǐng)先的企業(yè)家的說法:許多中國的公司過度依賴抄襲競爭對手的產(chǎn)品,并且雇員們根本不用功鉆研。
馬丁•瑞奇哈根(Martin Richenhagen)是世界第三大
拖拉機制造商美國亞特蘭大愛科(Agco)公司的董事會主席和首席執(zhí)行官。他還說腐敗在中國“仍是個沉重的負擔(dān)”,同時中國受殃于不透明的法律和一個妨礙技術(shù)進步的充當(dāng)過度保護主義者的政府。
“也許,除了紡織品工業(yè)外,我不曉得在中國還會產(chǎn)哪種世界級的產(chǎn)品。”馬丁•瑞奇哈根先生對《金融時報》說。
他補充說,北京當(dāng)局應(yīng)該讓更多海外企業(yè)持有更多國企的股份,如果他們想避免這些企業(yè)被新技術(shù)冷落的話。
“除了你的企業(yè)與其他企業(yè)親密合作(控股中國企業(yè)),不然要想成為重要的出口商是不可能的。”瑞奇哈根先生說。他的企業(yè)去年銷售額達到68億美元,僅22%來自于北美市場。
在過去的18個月里,瑞奇哈根先生已經(jīng)遭受到打擊,因為北京拒絕了愛科在中國**大的國有拖拉機制造企業(yè)第一拖拉機公司占有多數(shù)股份。
“很多中國人工作根本不努力,”瑞奇哈根先生說,同時,通常他們的老板執(zhí)迷于拷貝其他企業(yè)的零部件和產(chǎn)品,而不是自己引導(dǎo)產(chǎn)品創(chuàng)新。
“這在過去已經(jīng)成為實踐且并沒有變好的跡象,”瑞奇哈根先生補充道,自從發(fā)現(xiàn)抄襲比開發(fā)新產(chǎn)品“方便易行”且不需要聘用非常有才能的工程師,很多中國企業(yè)正沿著這條路線變得更糟。
瑞奇哈根先生是一位擁有鋼材、電梯和地板行業(yè)背景的德國企業(yè)管理者,他稱發(fā)表這些觀點是基于他在過去的25年里到過中國約30次而形成的判斷。
很少有外國商業(yè)人士公開發(fā)表如此評論,瑞奇哈根先生的觀點將會讓其他那些私下對中國的商業(yè)生態(tài)某些方面發(fā)表受挫意見的其他公司領(lǐng)導(dǎo)權(quán)衡一下了。
在某些關(guān)鍵的產(chǎn)業(yè)如能源、汽車和銅鐵,北京已經(jīng)對外資公司在本國企業(yè)中獲得主要股份設(shè)置了障礙,即使當(dāng)局一直愿意讓外資公司在中國建立合資企業(yè)或沒有任何中國合伙人的工廠。
原文:
Manufacturer slams China’s global prowess
By Peter Marsh in London,F(xiàn)ebruary 26 2008
China’s prowess as a global economic power has been severely overrated by the west, according to a leading US-based industrialist, who says that many Chinese companies are over-reliant on copying rivals’ products and have employees who do not work hard enough.
Martin Richenhagen, chairman and chief executive of Atlanta-based Agco, the world’s third-biggest maker of tractors, also says corruption “remains a big burden” in China while the country suffers from opaque laws and having an over-protectionist government that hinders technological progress.
“I’m not aware of a single world-class product that has been developed in China, apart perhaps from in the textiles industry,” Mr Richenhagen told the Financial Times.
He added that Beijing should do more to allow overseas companies to take majority stakes in domestic companies, if they wanted to avoid these businesses being left behind technologically.
“It is not possible to be an important exporter to other places but close your borders to others [taking controlling stakes in Chinese companies],” said Mr Richenhagen, whose company had sales last year of $6.8bn, with just 22 per cent of this figure coming from North America.
Mr Richenhagen has grown frustrated over the past 18 months with Beijing’s refusal to allow Agco to take a majority stake in First Tractor, a state-controlled company that is the country’s biggest tractor maker.
“A lot of Chinese are not hardworking at all,” Mr Richenhagen said, while, frequently, their employers were obsessed with copying other companies’ parts and products instead of leading innovation themselves.
“This has been the practice in the past and it’s not getting any better,” Mr Richenhagen said, who added that many Chinese companies went down this route since copying was “cheaper and easier” than developing new products and also did not require them to hire the most talented engineers.
Mr Richenhagen, a German executive with a background in the steel, lifts and flooring industries, said he based these views on about 30 visits made to the country over the past quarter century.
While it is rare for foreign business executives to voice such remarks publicly, Mr Richenhagen’s views will carry weight with other company managers who have also privately expressed frustrations about some aspects of the business environment in China.
In certain key industries such as power, cars and steel, Beijing has placed barriers in the way of allowing non-Chinese companies to acquire majority stakes in local businesses, even if the authorities have been happy to allow non-Chinese companies to set up joint ventures or build their own factories in the country that operate without any Chinese partners.
發(fā)表于 @ 2008年03月26日 12:42:00 |點擊數(shù)()