法國企業進入中國市場的商業模式探析

摘 要：法國企業有不同的方式進軍中國市場。廣泛來講有直接出口、間接出口、許可經營、合資以及直接投資等。很明顯，最后兩種方式涉及較多，風險和利益共存。文章的焦點也集中在后兩種商業投資模式的分析上。法國投資者可以與中國當地的投資者合作創建一家合資公司，他們雙方共同享有所有權和控制權，當然也要共同承擔風險。對于如今遍地開花的中法合資企業在過去十年中的發展，給出簡短的分析，并期待這兩種商業模式涉足長遠發展。

關鍵詞：法國企業；中國市場；進入；商業模式

中圖分類號：F74 文獻標志碼：A 文章編號：1673-291X（2013）33-0271-02

收稿日期：2013-09-27

作者簡介：吳卉（1981-），女，湖北武漢人，講師，留法碩士，從事法國中小企業在亞洲的生存狀態及發展前景、智慧教育、法語教學法等研究。

一、Analysis of Sino-French Joint Ventures

In about the last decade，Sino-French joint ventures mainly set up business in Shanghai （which represents 24% of the French Direct Investment in China），Beijing （15%），and the province of Guangdong （14%）.French investors are mostly large groups，some of which have been involved in China for a long time，such as Aventis （which had fourteen joint ventures in 1999，representing a total commitment of around 400 million US dollars），Air Liquide （which had sixteen joint ventures in 1999，representing a total commitment of around 100 million US dollars）and Alcatel （which had nineteen joint ventures in 1999，of which the largest was Shanghai Bell Co.，representing a total commitment of around 600 million US dollars）.

In conclusion of these past affairs，we can note that the diagnosis of French companies in China is globally positive.However，this diagnosis is more mitigated when the question of the “balance sheet” of French Direct Investment is raised.

The balance sheet of Sino-European companies in China is mixed.Some such as Siemens，Alstom or Nestlé have successfully set up business there，others have survived，but with relatively low profits，and others，such as Peugeot，have met with failure.In April 1997，Peugeot’s management announced its intention to pull out of the GPAC joint venture （Guangzhou Peugeot Automobile Co.）.

Knowledge of a country，i.e.，of its political situation，its regulations and its economic，commercial and financial characteristics，is an organizational resource that can be very useful for the companies engaged in an international growth strategy.In such a context，knowledge of management of a structural form such as the international joint venture is also a major asset for a company.In addition to knowledge of a country，knowledge of managing international joint ventures is a useful，non-material organizational resource.These resources are both based on individual and organizational information，experience and know-

how.They correspond to the repetition，experimentation and accumulation of know-how （relating to a country and to the management of a structural form）and derived from organizational learning.If they are maintained，developed and combined，these resources will support and strengthen the international growth strategy of the company that possesses them.Taking the example of China and a possible French investor，the combination of knowledge of this geographical area and of managing Sino-French joint ventures will directly determine the success or failure of the French company’s business in China.

These two resources “appear” in the organization after a period of organizational learning through the accumulation of experience and intelligence in experimentation.Learning these resources is a cumulative process.Thus，with time，repeated experience and new experimentation specific to a country and to managing international joint ventures together can enhance individual and organizational know-how.However，it’s not an automatic process，because simply accumulating experience in itself is not enough for developing real knowledge of a geographical area or of the management of international joint ventures.If the organizational learning process is to produce results by developing knowledge that is “applicable” by the company，the company must have a real capacity for learning or organizational routines.These organizational routines are the core of the learning process.These routines enable an organization to aggregate a variety of individual experiences relative to a country and to managing international joint ventures，and then to transform them into a codified and shared knowledge within the company and，especially，is applicable by the company pursuing its aims of international growth.

Although individual skills are essential，their value depends on the way they are used in specific organizational set-ups which are organizational routines，and it’s extent depends on different companies.Some companies have little or none of them，and draw little or no knowledge from their various experiences.Others have a real learning capacity to enhance their knowledge portfolio by accumulating their experiences.A company’s learning capacity is more a matter of its intentional will to identify and develop the necessary organizational routines，rather than being a given，static one.In other words，the inter-organizational differences in the number and quality of organizational routines used to accumulate，codify and share knowledge within each company explain the varying degrees of learning capacity within different companies.

Seen in the specific context of implementation of an international growth strategy by French companies that target the Chinese market，preferring the joint venture entry mode，the above discussion leads us to formulate the following hypothesis：Companies with considerable experience in China and in management of Sino-French joint ventures create greater value （for shareholders）than those that have little or none of this experience.

二、Foreign Direct Investment

In the past decade China has experienced an FDI boom unknown to any other developing country in the world.With practically no FDI inflows at the beginning of the reform period in the late 1970s，China has today become the second largest FDI recipient after the United States and by far the largest FDI recipient among developing countries.

Such rapid growth of FDI inflows in China is mainly attributable to the following factors：（1）China’s rapid economic growth in the reform period；（2）The abundance of labor and its low costs；（3）The immense size and the rapid expansion of China’s domestic market；（4）The role of the overseas Chinese investors from Hong Kong，Taiwan and Macao；（5）China’s increasing integration with the world economy and its willingness and efforts to attract FDI as embodied in its preferential policies offered to foreign investors.

FDI inflows slowed down from 1997 to 1999，which may be caused by the following factors：（1）A slowdown of China’s economic growth，as FDI tends to be positively related to GDP growth （Lemoine，2000）.（2）An excessive capacity in a number of industries such as some consumer electrical and electronic products，textile and clothing，and other light industrial products，which would have resulted from the massive -foreign and domestic- investment of the recent past （United Nations，1998），while the capacity of these industries to absorb FDI is limited.（3）Wage increases，especially in coastal provinces，are eroding incentives to foreign investors.（4）Reduced investment by Asian neighbors whose economies have been severely affected by the Asian financial crisis in 1997；at the same time，the international competitiveness of some of China’s exports was reduced as these countries have devaluated their currencies.

Another remarkable characteristic of FDI inflows in China is their very uneven regional distribution.About 90% of total FDI were concentrated in the coastal areas，especially in South China（Guangdong，Fujian，Jiangsu）.

Such outstanding regional disparity of FDI inflows is largely attributable to both the geographical advantage of the coastal provinces and preferential policies implemented in favor of these areas，though in general the low level of labor costs and the potential of the Chinese market also motivate the inflows of FDI in China.In the early 1980s，four Special Economic Zones（SEZs）were established in two coastal provinces，Guangdong and Fujian，neighbors of Hong Kong，Macao，and Taiwan，to attract the overseas Chinese investors.More recently，the gap in terms of FDI inflows between the coastal and interior regions shows some diminishing tendency as the Chinese government encourages FDI to flow into the interior regions and as the labor costs in the coastal regions have gradually grown.

Mode of Entering Chinese Market for French Companies

WU Hui，WANG Lu

（School of Foreign Languages，Wuhan Textile University，Wuhan 430073，China）

Abstract：There are different ways of tapping into Chinese market.Broad choices would be direct and indirect export，licensing，joint ventures，and direct investment.Obvious the last two ways involve larger amount of commitment，control and of course profit potential.They are therefore the focus in this paper.Foreign investors may join with local investors to create a joint venture company in which they share ownership and control.We take a look at what the Sino-French joint ventures have done in the last decade and give them a short analysis.From the past experience，we look forward to new development for these two modes entering into Chinese market.

Key words：French companies；Chinese market；entering；business mode

[責任編輯 魏 杰]