From a business perspective: More opportuniti es
than challenges
From an entrepreneurial perspective, investing in Ger-
many represents a great opportunity for Chinese inves-
tors to advance their access to the global markets. Germa-
ny’ s favorable geographic position offers Chinese investors
a “gateway to Europe” and thus not only access to the Ger-
man market, but also the entire EU common market.
Chinese investors hope to gain better access to distribution
channels within Europe and a deeper understanding of the
needs of European customers (Jungbluth 2013: 37). As they
internationalize, Chinese companies are also trying to climb
up the global value chains and emancipate themselves from
their present role as primarily suppliers to Western com-
panies.
To speed up this process, they are seeking access to
technology and know-howby FDI in developed countries.
In this respect, the high density in technological world mar-
ket leaders (so-called “hidden champions”) that are desira-
ble M&Atargets makes Germany an attractive host country
for Chinese FDI (Emons 2015: 142-143).
An increasing num-
ber of Chinese enterprises fromentirely different sectors
also want to build an international reputation and expand
their own brands in order to catch up with other multina-
tional companies. In other words, they want to become
the Chinese Siemens, Samsung, or Sony.
The positive reputation
associated with the label “Made in Germany” could help
them in this regard (Jungbluth 2013: 75-76).
EU Forecast
euf:ba1.8i:52/nws-01