news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

In 1993, German Volkswagen settled in Shanghai.

As a supplier of Volkswagen, German spring manufacturer Kern-Liebers has also come to China and plans to build a factory near Shanghai.

At that time, the president of this company, Dr. Stein, visited many places but was not satisfied. Finally, when passing through Taicang by chance, he saw the fir trees on both sides of the local sea transport embankment, which "looked very much like the Black Forest in his hometown". He immediately fell in love with this place and decided to settle here, becoming the first German company in the area.

Thirty years later, Kern-Liebers has increased its capital in Taicang 11 times, and has grown from a "small workshop" with only 6 employees and an area of ​​400 square meters to a "spring kingdom" with 70,000 square meters of self-built factory buildings and an annual output value of 1.5 billion yuan.

At the same time, in January this year, with the registration and establishment of the BEUMER Group in Taicang, Taicang also welcomed its 500th German company.

Taicang, a county-level city in Jiangsu, covers an area of ​​only 800 square kilometers and has a population of more than 800,000. However, it has successfully attracted more than 500 German companies known for their rigor to come across the ocean and establish themselves here, becoming a famous "hometown of German companies". What is its secret?

A stone from another mountain can be used to polish a jade.At a time when the central government emphasizes promoting high-level opening up, attracting global resources and factors, and attracting foreign investment, it is necessary for us to re-examine the evolutionary logic of this "hometown of German companies" to see if we can gain some experience and inspiration from it.

Shi Mingde, the former Chinese ambassador to Germany, once commented on Taicang: "Taicang is more well-known in Germany than in China."

So we need to make a simple portrait of Taicang first.

Taicang is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province and is administered by Suzhou City. It borders the Yangtze River to the east, facing Chongming Island across the river, Baoshan District and Jiading District of Shanghai to the south, Kunshan City to the west, and Changshu City to the north. It has a total area of ​​809.93 square kilometers and a permanent population of 848,000.

In 2023, Taicang City achieved a regional GDP of 173.494 billion yuan.

In the "2024 CCID Top 100 Counties" list released not long ago, Taicang ranked sixth in the country.

In Jiangsu, which is full of strong counties, this result may not be outstanding enough, but if it is placed in Zhejiang and Shandong, Taicang is firmly the first county.

Of course, compared with other counties, Taicang’s most unique IP is still its shining city business card, “Hometown of German Enterprises”.

As of now, the total number of German companies in Taicang has exceeded 530, accounting for 10% of the total number of German companies in China. Among them, there are more than 60 "hidden champions" and 11 regional headquarters and functional institutions of multinational companies; 8 of the top 20 German family-owned companies have invested in Taicang, including Schaeffler, UMC, TRUMPF, Heraeus, Merck, Brose, Mahle, and Freudenberg; 6 of the top 10 German machine tool companies have set up in Taicang, including TRUMPF, EMAG, CHIRON, Defoss, AUTOMAT, and INDEX.

It took 14 years from the time the first German company settled in Taicang in 1993 to the time the 100th German company settled there; and it took just over two years from the time the 400th German company settled in Taicang to the time the 500th one settled there.

It can be seen that the investment of German enterprises in Taicang is still increasing, and the concentration is still improving. Taicang's golden signboard of "Hometown of German Enterprises" is becoming more and more shining. We can't help but ask -

Why is Taicang the hometown of German companies?

After research, I personally summarized three key words: geographical location, industrial location and interpersonal location.

Let’s talk about geography first.It is undeniable that the superior geographical location is a huge inherent advantage for Taicang to become the "hometown of German companies." "Shanghai next stop, Shanghai next stop" is Taicang's geographical label. The drive from Taicang Municipal Government to Shanghai People's Square is only 50 kilometers, which can be reached in 1 hour.

Taicang borders Shanghai by land for 38.8 kilometers, the longest of the three urban areas adjacent to Shanghai in Suzhou; the former first highway from Shanghai to Jiangsu, the Shanghai-Taicang Highway, is 38.5 kilometers long. This highway, which was built in 1921, was once listed as one of the longest highways in Shanghai and is still one of the main roads in Shanghai; in addition, Taicang also has a 38.8-kilometer golden coastline of the Yangtze River and is an important node at the end of the river and the beginning of the sea. The annual container throughput of Taicang Port exceeds 8 million TEUs, ranking 8th in the country and 20th in the world.

But geographical location alone is not enough. Geographic location is only a necessary condition, not a sufficient condition. There are still many underdeveloped areas around many large cities. Only when there is a close connection of interests and active integration into the industrial division of labor and cooperation chain of advanced regions can the geographical advantages be fully utilized.

This brings us to the issue of birth.Taicang has become the "hometown of German companies" because of the industrial division of labor and industrial cooperation with Shanghai. When Volkswagen settled in Shanghai, Taicang got a share of the supporting industries. After years of hard work, Taicang has gathered more than 700 auto parts manufacturing companies, the backbone of which are German companies. Among the German companies that have come to Taicang, 70% are related to automobile manufacturing.

At present, 70% of the parts of a car can be made in Taicang, and 18 of the top 100 global auto parts suppliers have locations in Taicang.

Not long ago, Taicang's new energy vehicle core parts industry cluster was selected into the list of Jiangsu provincial-level small and medium-sized enterprise characteristic industry clusters for 2024. Once an industrial cluster is formed, it is often difficult for companies to leave, and they are unwilling to leave.

In order to further deepen the industrial collaboration with Shanghai, Taicang has introduced more than 500 "Shanghai projects" in the past three years, and more than 60% of the above-scale auto parts companies have become suppliers of SAIC Group and Tesla. In the first half of this year alone, Taicang has introduced 78 new "Shanghai projects" such as BEUMER facilities and equipment and Boao Automotive, fully integrating into Shanghai's world-class automotive industry cluster.

In 2023, Taicang Port exported 439,500 vehicles, accounting for 8.4% of the country's total automobile exports, making it the largest port for automobile exports in Jiangsu.

With its geographical location and deepening industrial ties, Taicang has become the "hometown of German companies" and has a good reputation among the people.

If the establishment of the first and second German companies was due to luck, then the fact that more than 500 German companies have flocked to a county-level city in China cannot be explained by luck.

The influx of German companies is not only due to the Taicang government's active recruitment, but also due to the word-of-mouth recommendation of German entrepreneurs in their home country. After all, when investing in a foreign country, the endorsement of compatriots is more trustworthy. Ambassador Shi Mingde's statement, "Taicang is more well-known in Germany than in China," is also a clear proof.

Due to the development achievements of Kern-Liebers in Taicang and the unremitting promotion of Dr. Stam and others, German bearing giant Schaeffler Group, machine tool giant TRUMPF, electrical connector giant Phoenix and other companies have tried to invest in Taicang.

Today, Taicang has become one of the regions in China with the best development, highest density and most obvious economic benefits of German-funded enterprises. It is also the only "Sino-German Enterprise Cooperation Base" jointly awarded by the Ministry of Commerce of China and the Ministry of Economics of Germany.

Knowledge has spillover properties.Foreign investment into China not only brings jobs and tax revenue, but more importantly, the advanced technology and concepts they bring have a huge driving effect on the growth of our local companies.

Shenzhen is a good example. The birth of the "Special Economic Zone Miracle" is inseparable from the great institutional innovations in top-level design, and the advanced management models, concepts, technologies, talents and funds brought by foreign-funded enterprises in the early days of reform and opening up in terms of practical implementation.

In Taicang, after a large number of German companies settled there, they have led to more than 800 local companies and research institutes to carry out various forms of cooperation with German companies, such as industrial supporting, innovation collaboration, talent cultivation, and capital integration, which has promoted the upgrading and improvement of the local industrial chain.

There are also high-quality German companies such as Stokes and TRUMPF that have carried out a large amount of technology output and provided smart manufacturing solutions to more than 200 local companies.

The establishment of German companies in Taicang has also greatly enhanced the local talent training efforts.

In the past, when German companies came to Taicang, it was not easy to find suitable technical workers. In order to solve the problem of lack of skilled workers in enterprises, Taicang decided to introduce Germany's "dual system" skill talent training model.

In 2001, with the joint efforts of the Chinese and German governments, Taicang built the first professional worker training center for German-funded enterprises in China, which was jointly operated by Kern-Liebers, Fischer-Heinz-Kreuzberg, a company specializing in innovative teaching aids, the Taicang High-tech Zone Government and Taicang Vocational Secondary School.

In addition to Kern-Liebers, other companies can "buy" a student from the center for 50,000 yuan.

Later, as more and more German companies settled in Taicang, the demand for skilled workers increased dramatically and more and more types of jobs were needed. Many German companies followed Kern-Liebers' example and established training centers in Taicang.

Taicang’s vocational schools also began to explore the path of localizing the “dual system”.In 2007, the Sino-German Training Center, the first cross-enterprise training center in China, was established jointly with local German companies and the Shanghai Representative Office of the German Chamber of Commerce.

Since then, Taicang has established 15 "dual system" training centers and a dual system research institute, and built a high-skilled talent training system with orderly connections at multiple levels from secondary technical schools to junior colleges and undergraduate programs. It has become China's largest "German Vocational Qualification" examination and training base, and has cultivated more than 10,000 management and professional and technical talents, which has not only solved the employment problems of German companies, but also provided a large number of talents for local companies.

A large number of German companies have settled in Taicang, which, on the one hand, is of great benefit to the local industrial upgrading and talent cultivation. On the other hand, it also prompts the Taicang government's business services to be more international and more law-based.

Wang Xiangyuan, secretary of the Taicang Municipal Party Committee, said that German companies chose this place not only because of its locational advantage along the river and close to Shanghai, but more importantly, Taicang's business ecology has sustained stability.

German companies prefer to formulate their own development plans based on the government's long-term plans, which requires the government to maintain a high degree of stability in terms of reward and punishment standards, process details, etc. Once there is a "back and forth" or "frequent policy changes", it will affect the expectations and confidence of German companies.

In fact, whether it is German companies or local private enterprises, Taicang's business services are consistent and treat them equally. In addition to continuously implementing the most accurate and powerful multi-dimensional guarantees, Taicang hopes to create the closest and most effective government-business relationship, that is, "no disturbance when there is no need, and response when there is a call."

Taicang believes that supporting the development of enterprises and respecting entrepreneurs is like planting a tree, which cannot be shaken all the time. To this end, Taicang has strengthened supervision of the use of administrative power, asked less questions and managed less about the normal production and operation of enterprises, strictly prevented random visits and excessive visits, strictly prohibited random fines and excessive charges, and all departments should coordinate and balance necessary inspections and supervision, so that enterprises cannot be greeted and sent off all day long. Try not to interfere with or disturb the production and operation order of enterprises, so that enterprises can calm down and focus on development, entrepreneurship, and expansion.

The continuous additional investment by enterprises is the greatest recognition of the local business environment. Among the German companies that settled in Taicang in the early stage, 90% have increased their capital and expanded their shares.Schaeffler Group, one of Germany's top ten hidden champions, has settled in Taicang for 29 years, increased its capital 13 times, accumulated investment of over 2 billion euros, and an annual output value exceeding 20 billion yuan, making it the largest German company in Jiangsu.

Last September, the list of "Cities (Districts) with the Strongest Sense of Happiness among Entrepreneurs in 2023" was released, and Taicang topped the list. As a frequent visitor to the "Happiness List", Taicang has been rated as the happiest city in China 11 times and ranked first among county-level cities 7 times.

If you work hard, you will reap the rewards.

Not long ago, the "semi-annual reports" of cities with a GDP of one trillion yuan in the Yangtze River Delta were released one after another. Suzhou ranked first with a growth rate of 6.2%, and also won the championship among the top ten cities in the country in terms of GDP.

Among Suzhou's districts and county-level cities, Taicang City grew by 7.7% year-on-year, ranking first in the city.

Once a business-friendly environment has been established and fertile soil for industries has been cultivated, continued economic growth is a foregone conclusion.At a time when we are pursuing high-quality development, Taicang’s evolutionary path deserves our serious study and reflection.

No.5944 Original first article | Author Sifangjun

Open whitelist duanyu_H｜Contributed by tougao99999｜Image Visual China