Doctorate Couples Look Back On The Road Of Successful Entrepreneurship In The Past 15 Years

My wife and I were sent to Germany in 1983 to study. After several years of hard reading, they received doctorate in natural science from University of Bremen and Ph. D. in management science from University of Cologne.

In May 1992, we founded our own company, CLW import and Export Trading Co., Ltd., Bremen, Germany.

Looking back on the road of entrepreneurship in the past 15 years, constantly surpassing ourselves and achieving pformation and upgrading are the biggest gains we have achieved.

In the initial stage of passive pformation, when we founded the company, we had no experience and two had no funds.

But we have the advantage that the overseas Chinese did not have in the past few generations, that is, we are familiar with the languages, laws, taxes, social customs, etc. of the host country, and with China's reform and opening up, there is a need for a group of people to undertake the role of the bridge in China and Europe.

We sell a lot of products, such as buying chemical products from China, activated carbon, natural casing, bristles, aviation casings and so on, and then in Germany to find customers to sell these commodities; at the same time in Germany to find the commodities needed in the Chinese market, such as new mechanical equipment, chemical patent products, waste rail and so on.

From 1992 to 1995, we must give up some commodities in operation, such as activated carbon.

Germany (EU) began to levy 15% customs duties on activated carbon in China since 1994, so that the price of commodities has been raised. Customers can not accept suddenly rising prices, resulting in a backlog of commodities, which is a typical passive pformation caused by trade barriers.

There are also examples of active pformation. For example, we bought pieces of computers in the German market and sold the whole machine immediately after assembling and debugging. The profits of each computer were 30%-50%.

But the upgrading of computers is too fast. We do not have our own production and processing bases. We can only run around the edge of the market.

So after considering, we no longer make this product.

Instead, we keep some products in the form of product upgrading, such as natural casing.

The natural casing of the natural casing is the sausage skin, which includes three categories: pig casing, sheep intestines and cattle casing.

China is a big country in processing natural casing. It has a history of more than 100 years, especially the number of Chinese pig casing, which accounts for more than 85% of the world's pig casing Market.

Germany is the distributing center of European natural casing, but the quality problem of casing is the most troublesome problem encountered by operators. If we want to further develop in Germany, we must pay close attention to quality and upgrade quality.

The processing of natural casing in most countries is mainly artificial, quality problems emerge one after another, and the market is more chaotic. Up to now, there is not a whole industry recognized and unified standard all over the world.

But users have their own standards. This is the goal we want to strive for. In order to ensure the goal of product quality upgrading, we have taken two steps: first, to set up our own production and processing bases in Germany; two, to seek stable and reliable partners in China.

The German government has very strict requirements for meat processing enterprises. If the Chinese want to run meat products in Germany, they must act according to the requirements of the German government.

At the end of 1994, we found a 5900 square meter land in the industrial port area of Bremen with a three storey building.

But this building does not meet the requirements of meat processing. We must build a new production workshop, warehouse (including cold storage), offices, disinfectant facilities for employees, etc. according to the requirements of the German government.

The German bank loans have been selected for 2 million, but we need 2 million Mark to achieve this goal.

So at the same time, we found 3 German banks and submitted their project plans, feasibility reports and audit reports of the company's status to them respectively.

Luckily, we signed a contract with a bank soon and got 2 million Mark's 10 year loan.

Until now, I still remember that the German bank manager was shaking hands when signing, because we were not German after all, and had just started doing business for more than two years, so his nervousness and worry were understandable.

The fund problem has been solved. We should also try to make use of the preferential policies of the local government.

We take the initiative to find the competent government department that does not come to the Meizhou government, and win the government subsidy of 18% of the total investment. The condition is that our company must ensure that 5 Germans are employed in our company within 5 years. This is a good thing for us to kill two birds with one stone. First, it reduces the burden on the staff, because the company always needs to add new staff to develop, two is to establish a good relationship with the local government.

The governor who did not come to Meizhou told us that it was the first time that he did not come to Meizhou to subsidized the Chinese economy.

The new building was completed in 1995. The company has obtained the license of meat production and processing issued by the European Union. This is the first time that overseas Chinese have obtained such a certificate in Germany.

The first goal of our planned product quality upgrading has been achieved.

In order to achieve the second goals of product quality upgrading, we have been running around the country in Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi and other provinces in the past few years. We have found many manufacturers, and finally chose one of Hebei enterprises through business contacts.

It is a joint venture food processing enterprise jointly owned by the state-owned Ministry of agriculture and a Hongkong company.

At that time, the operation of the company was not good. We considered that as long as we could control, the factory would produce and process according to our requirements to meet the requirements of our customers.

In 1996, we invested 5 million yuan in joint venture with the factory in Hebei, bought back their shares from the original Hongkong company, and established a new joint venture. We accounted for 60% of the shares.

Because of the increasing volume of our business, only a product from a joint venture factory can not meet the demand. We still buy products from many other manufacturers in China.

The realization of the second goals of product quality upgrading shows that our overseas Chinese have more advantages than German businessmen.

In 1996, we applied our product processing standard and brand to the German national patent office for patent registration. Our products are not only protected by German law, but also we plan to introduce this traditional product into systematic and standardized procedures to upgrade this product for China, Germany and the world.

Chinese entrepreneurs have to go through four passes. Chinese immigrants have different experiences in different parts of the world.

We believe that no matter what line we do, upgrading our products is the only way for Chinese to develop overseas.

According to our actual experience, the survival and development of overseas Chinese must go through the following four points: 1.

We must master the local mother tongue as much as possible. Only by mastering the language can we understand their laws, regulations, customs and so on; 2, government clearance.

We must have a good relationship with the local government and abide by the law and discipline. The local government is not only the supervision of the enterprise, but also the service for the enterprise.

We must familiarize ourselves with the commodities we operate and learn and learn about new products as soon as possible, especially commodities that are pformed. We must know the commodities well, and 4.

No matter which product, as long as the quality is excellent and the price is reasonable, the customer will come to the door voluntarily. Don't be afraid of fighting hard. You must find the strongest and hardest opponent in the industry.

Failed to find a lesson, victory, and then find a stronger opponent.

We hope that our experience and lessons will provide some help for overseas Chinese, especially for new immigrants.