On May 10th, according to the announcement issued by Hisense Electric, Hisense Group Co., Ltd. won the bid of Slovenian appliance company Gorenje. This also means that the Chinese home appliance companies will go further. The domestic home appliance market is now becoming saturated. Looking for new growth points, companies must accelerate the process of globalization. However, in the eyes of the industry, the overall strength of China's home appliance companies needs further improvement, and it is necessary to constantly guard against adverse factors such as anti-dumping in order to completely change the pattern of home appliances.
Overseas acquisitions
It is reported that Hisense, Haier, and Hefei Meiling had previously bid for a home appliance manufacturer in Slovenia, Gorenje. After fierce competition, Hisense won with a maximum offer of approximately 293 million euros and will announce the acquisition of Gorenje. Hisense for 293 million euros within 15 days. The quotation was provided on the condition that Hisense acquired Gorenje shares at least 50%. Gorenje's largest shareholders include 11.8% of IFC and 10.7% of Matsushita Electric.
Then Hisense Electric confirmed the news of the acquisition. However, the main entity participating in the restricted bid quotations was the controlling shareholder of the company, Hisense Group Co., Ltd., not Hisense Electric.
According to statistics, Gorenje was established in 1950 and is one of the largest exporters in Slovenia with a market capitalization of approximately 154 million euros (approximately US$182 million). The company stated last year that it is seeking a strategic partner to increase cost efficiency and expand Brand awareness.
Industrial watcher Hong Shibin pointed out that with the aid of Gorenje, Hisense can open up channels for penetration into other European countries. Since Gorenje was founded, the company has continued to expand into other countries through multi-brand and multi-channel approaches. As of now, Gorenje owns Gorenje, Mora, Atag, Pelgrim, Etna, Krting and Sidex are the seven brands. In terms of channel expansion, the Gorenje Group currently includes 83 companies, of which 59 are located outside of Slovenia and have products in more than 70 countries.
Independent design replaces OEM
In recent years, Chinese home appliance companies have increased their penetration in overseas markets. The acquisition of foreign companies is one of the important ways. In 2015, Skyworth acquired the TV business of the German television manufacturer Metz, and Hisense acquired Sharp's production line in Mexico; In 2016, Haier acquired General Electric, the world's top home appliance company, for US$5.5 billion. After that, Midea conducted three outbound acquisitions.
Household appliances companies increase their overseas penetration, partly because of the globalization trend, and on the other hand because of the saturation of the domestic market. According to the sales volume of domestic color TV market released by China Yikang for the first two months of 2018, the first two of the year The monthly color TV market scale and profit both declined, falling 3.1% in the first two months of sales, and sales also fell 1.4%.
On the way to the sea, Chinese home electronics companies have undergone a transition from OEM to independent brands. In the 1990s, many internationally renowned home appliance multinationals shifted production to China, making China a global household appliance producer. Large workshops '. Through OEM, the scale of China's home appliance industry has rapidly expanded, and the average annual growth rate of China's home appliance exports is 47%. But OEM production is not a permanent solution. This method was also used by Chinese home appliance companies. Brought painful lessons.
In recent years, China’s home appliance brands have basically left the era of simple foundry, and have independently designed and developed into the mainstream of the industry. At the same time, under the opportunity brought by the 'Belt and Road Initiative', China’s home appliance brands have further focused on the overseas market and promoted them. Localized operating capabilities of its own. Today, China has firmly established itself as a major household appliance in the global market.
Comprehensive strength still needs to be strengthened
With the rise of China's household electrical appliance companies, the former household electrical appliance companies in the European, American and Japanese industries began to decline. This is especially true for Japanese home appliance companies. Wu Chunyong, CEO of Fusion.com, pointed out that, as a whole, the pattern of the world's home appliance industry continues to change and continues eastward. The pattern of Japan, the United States, Japan and South Korea is quietly becoming China-Korea-dominated. Chinese companies are not only in the local market, but also in the global market has started a round of continuous harvest. Chinese companies such as Haier, Gree, and TCL have begun to dominate the world's home appliances. Industry development direction and competitive landscape.
However, in the process of home appliance industry development, Chinese companies have not yet reached the extreme. Hong Shibin pointed out that the current global integration is a major trend. Under this background, China’s home appliance companies only want to have a certain degree of overall strength in order to compete globally. Still far from enough, if you want to go further and fly higher, you need to further strengthen your overall strength. After all, the foreign market and the domestic market environment are different, the policies are different, and many challenges are unknown. The 'very powerful' comprehensive manufacturing strength, promotion ability, product strength, etc. can shine on the world stage.
"There is a big difference between the international market and China's domestic market. The international market is heavy on technology and the domestic market is valuing prices. ' Hong Shibin said. It is precisely because of this difference in philosophy that the internationalization route has been frustrated. At the end of last year, American business The ministry announced the results of an anti-dumping investigation against large-scale domestic washing machines produced in China and found that there were dumping behaviors in Chinese-made washing machines. This was the first anti-dumping investigation against Samsung and LG and eventually affected the entire Chinese washing machine industry.