“Belt and Road”- Made in Germany and Italy

Text by Zhao Lei Translation by Tao Wenjia Photos by CFP

“Belt and Road”- Made in Germany and Italy

Text by Zhao Lei Translation by Tao Wenjia Photos by CFP

Some believe that there are two countries in Europe which treat manufacturing as their most fundamental industry. One is Germany and the other is ltaly.

“Made in Germany” is Germany's gold brand which represents quality and brilliance. Among all 32 different categories of prod-ucts in the mechanical and equipment industries, 16 ones which are ranked the top in the world in terms of export amount are from Germany. Automobile, machinery manufacturing, chemical medicine, as well as electronics are the four traditional pillar industries in Germany. The secret of their success is that they at-tach great importance to research and development to constantly improve their core competitiveness. Compared to them, Chinese corporations are good at gradual evolution, but lack break-throughs in innovation. What we can learn from brands that are “Made in Germany” is: if we really want to sell products through the Silk Road, we must provide high-quality products with a reliable brand. Thus, Chinese corporations on the“Road and Belt” need to have brand awareness, corporate culture and social re-sponsibility.

For instance, the Yangjiang city in Guangdong is famous for its production of scissors and knives,however, few outside of Guangdong know this. So it may be a good idea for Yangjiang to reach out and work with German corporations to produce the Chinese version of “Zwilling”.

ltaly is famous for “the kingdom of small and medium busi-nesses”. Any “Belt and Road” cities with a plan to develop their small and medium businesses should take initiative to learn from the ltalians. Food, garment and furniture are the three traditional industries that the ltalians are proud of. Small and medium busi-nesses in ltaly play an important role in boosting national econ-omy and sustaining job market. Nearly 82% of the country's job opportunities are related to small and medium businesses However, they are currently facing economic hardship, so they are more than willing to explore the Chinese market, and the Chi-nese market in turn needs to be ready to reach out. lt is ex-pected that more Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises will go to ltaly to learn skills and valuable experiences. And it is hard to imagine that the ltalians would turn down such promising “students”. To a certain extent, small and medium-sized enter-prises are the barometer of the economic health of a country and a barometer of the vibrancy of the economy of Silk Road.

Zhao Lei

professor at the Institu te for International Stra tegic Studies of the Pa rty School of the Centr al Committee of the CP C, a director of the Res earch Office for Interna tional Relations and Na tional Unity. Mr. Zhao heads a key research project on the Belt and Road Initiative at CPS, and is the founder of th e forum “The Belt and R oad 100”.

趙磊

中共中央黨校國際戰略研究院教授、國際關系與國家統一研究室主任、中央黨校“一帶一路”重點研究課題主持人，“一帶一路百人論壇”發起人。

“一帶一路”與德意制造

有人認為，歐洲有兩個國家是以制造業為基礎的，一個是德國，另一個是意大利。

“德國制造”是德國的金字招牌，代表著品質與卓越。在機械設備業32個產品領域中，德國產品在16個領域為世界出口第一。汽車、機械制造、化工醫藥和電子電氣是德傳統四大支柱產業。德國企業成功的秘訣，是高度重視研發，不斷提高核心競爭力。而中國企業的短板是漸進性創新不少，但突破性創新不夠。“德國制造”對中國的啟示是：絲綢之路要有產品可賣，就要做真正有品質、有品牌的產品。因此，致力于“一帶一路”的中國企業要有品牌意識，要做有文化、有社會責任的中國企業。以城市為例，廣東陽江是中國“刀剪之鄉”，但在廣東之外，很少有人知道它。因此，陽江可主動同德國展開刀剪產業合作，打造“中國版的雙立人”。

意大利有“中小企業王國”的殊榮，致力于發展中小企業的中國絲路城市應該主動對接意大利。食品、服裝、家具是意大利的傳統優勢產業，俗稱“3F產業”。意大利中小企業在國民經濟和解決就業方面都發揮著重要作用，這類企業吸納了全國近82%的員工，但目前它們的發展面臨難題。為此，意大利需要開拓中國市場，后者也要積極對接前者。預計會有更多的中國中小企業家前去意大利拜師取經，意大利也不會放棄這個有前途的“學生”。從某種程度來說，中小企業是一國經濟健康狀況的晴雨表，也是絲路經濟活躍的晴雨表。