Hidden Champions
Why is Germany, a comparatively small country, so strong in exports? Theexplanation lies in its “hidden champions”, little known mid-sized world marketleaders. My total count of these companies is around 2,500 worldwide, and 1,200of them are from Germany. They alone account for about one quarter of Germanexports.
Surprisingly I found a rather similar structure in China. 68 percent of allChinese exports come from companies with fewer than 2,000 employees — not fromlarge corporations. It is also amazing that China already has well over 100hidden champions, probably more than highly developed countries such as France,the UK or Japan.
Strong ambitions
One outstanding characteristic of these firms is their extreme ambition withregard to global market leadership. This is the aim that drives hidden-championentrepreneurs in both China and Germany. In numerous talks in China I asked theaudience, “Who wants to become world market leader?” Always more than halfraised their hands, very similar to Germany. These ambitions will unavoidablylead to a competitive collision in the global marketplace.
Germans as low-price competitors
Globalization usually starts with exports and sales. Manufacturing follows,then R&D, and later on complete management functions. Most German companiesare in the late stages of this process. They are not only building hugemanufacturing sites in China, but also moving R&D for cheaper and simplerproducts there. Siemens and Bosch are well advanced on this path. SchenckProcess, a world leader in industrial weighing and measuring processes, has evenmoved its complete competence centre for the mining industry to Beijing. Theonly way for German companies to remain competitive against the Chinese in thelow-cost, low price-segment is to “become Chinese” themselves.
Tata Nano ‘German’
A very recent idea which I strongly advocate is that German companies shouldstart to attack their Chinese competitors on the cost side. This requiresradically simplified products, known as ultra-low-price products, andmanufacturing in the lowest-cost locations. These are usually outside China, incountries such as India, Bangladesh and Vietnam. The Tata Nano car in India is acase in point. It is essentially a German car with nine German suppliersinvolved, Bosch being the biggest. The components delivered by the Germans weredeveloped and are manufactured in India, not in Germany.
Chinese as high-value competitors
But we also see a movement in the opposite direction. The Chinese call ittrading up. When I visited the concrete pump plant of Sany in Changsha, China,about a year ago, I was stunned. The first thing I saw in this ultra-modernplant (comparable only to a Scania plant I had visited near Stockholm shortlybeforehand) were Mercedes and Volvo truck chassis. Expressing my astonishment, Igot the reply, “We mount our concrete pumps on the best trucks in the world.”And it went on. I saw Deutz diesels, Bosch Rexroth hydraulics and controls fromSiemens. Sany stated unequivocally that they use only world-class suppliers.
A few months later I met Sany’s General Manager Europe in Cologne, near towhich Sany is currently building a greenfield plant — the first Chinese plant inGermany. My “Why?” question again found an interesting reply: “Sany has to be ina world-class manufacturing location. If we want to become world-class we mustbe in direct contact with the best global manufacturing and engineering talent.”In 2009, Sany overtook Putzmeister from Germany as the global leader in concretepumps.
Sany is not a typical Chinese company, but it is a harbinger of things tocome. I consider the Chinese the most serious competitors for the Germans in thefuture. But with their strong presence in China and other emerging countries,the Germans are well prepared for the looming fight.
Learning to learn:
文章最后一段点题，写出了德国面临的挑战也存在机遇 。这种内涵，作者是通过两层转折成功实现的，学习这种写作手法，为以后高阶写作打好基础 。
Language Points:
1. collision 碰撞 2. manufacturer 制造商
Exam Focus:
1.Which statement is Not true about “hidden champions”?
A They are little know mid-sized world market leaders.
B They play an important role in Germany’s strong export.
C Nearly half of them are from Germany.
D They contribute to 68% of all Chinese exports.
2. Does the author have confidence in German’s ability in dealing withChinese enterprises’ challenge?
A Yes B No C Not given.
BEC商务英语阅读材料：成竹在胸
Confidence can make or break your career. Luckily for those lacking it,self-belief is easy to boost
(1)...........................................
“Hugely from a leadership and team perspective,” says Rob Yeung, a corporatepsychologist at Talentspace and author of Confidence: The Art of GettingWhatever you Want.
“You must be confident for others to have confidence in you. People equateconfidence with competence.”

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标题：BEC阅读|BEC阅读材料( 三 )