Word: italian
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...main responsibility for Yan "Klara" Haimei, Qianjiang's chief in Pesaro, is to watch Benelli's balance sheet, leaving design and production in the hands of the Italians. Both the Chinese and Italian managers emphasize that the aim is to boost the Italian brand while improving the performance of the smaller and simpler Chinese scooters. It's a question of knowing your markets. The 500cc motorcycles popular with European and American riders are not even permitted on Chinese roads. Says Marconi: "In China they've produced the same scooter for the past 20 years." Marconi says the equation...
...real change for the better. "We've seen more investment and new projects in the past 18 months than we'd seen in the past decade," he says. On the local level, this might be the most meaningful effect of the Benelli-Qianjiang model: the hundred or so Italian employees at the plant see the Chinese parent as the savior, not the usurper, of their jobs. "We would have closed down without them. They were the only ones with a serious plan," says Stefano Michelotti, a Benelli engineer. "We have to begin to think globally - Italian companies have...
Cash-rich Chinese enterprises have garnered attention for their mega-investments in Africa and other parts of the developing world. In Italy, Chinese investment has been most noteworthy in the textile business and in the purchase of bars and restaurants in northern Italian cities. Increasingly, Chinese investors are looking at all sectors of the European economy, including high-tech and heavy manufacturing. Thomas Rosenthal of the Italy-China Foundation says there are now 27 Chinese companies doing business in Italy, and that China has jumped from the 33rd largest foreign investor in Italy in 2004 to 10th...
...international investment works immediately, of course, regardless of where it originates. Italian automaker Fiat, for example, failed in its initial attempts to build cars in India because of India's protectionist policies and its own ignorance of the market. Now, however, Fiat has a partnership with Tata Motors that will turn out cars geared to local Indian needs. "There are great opportunities in both directions," says Berta, "but the way in must be soft. Europeans can't be aggressive in Asia. And Asians can't be aggressive in Europe...
...thing is clear: learning your partner's language always helps. Qianjiang boss Yan can now get by in Italian and engineer Michelotti often throws a few Mandarin phrases into conversation with his colleagues in Wenling. He's also begun to pick up certain words they keep repeating. Chinese Professor Brezzi explains the difference between "we should" (yinggai) and "we must" (yao). "I always hear 'yao,'" says Michelotti. That's a reminder of who's in charge...