Reshma Kapadia of MarketWatch reports that Chinese companies are invading American homes, and it’s raising alarms. Kapadia writes:
Chinese companies have quietly gone global, popping up in the lives of Americans everywhere. Teens play Honor of Kings on phones powered by Anker chargers. Homeowners cool off with Haier air conditioners and peer into Midea or GE refrigerators for a snack. Car owners grab their Dirt Devil vacuum to clean up a mess in their Volvo.
Americans are long used to buying products made in China for U.S. companies. The difference now is that Chinese companies are the owners and innovators. Honor of Kings is among Tencent Holdings stable of games. Anker Innovations is a Chinese consumer electronics company founded by a former Google software engineer. Haier Group and Midea Group are appliance giants. Dirt Devil is among the brands owned by Hong Kong–based Techtronic Industries and Volvo is owned by Chinese auto maker Geely.
The overseas push by a broad range of Chinese companies helps ensure that China remains a factory for the world—increasingly for higher-value-added products like semiconductors, electric vehicles, and commercial aircraft. Behind the effort is increased competition and slowing growth at home, and a push by Chinese leaders to use exports to boost the nation’s overall growth. […]
China’s expansion is also in areas that it hasn’t typically been associated with—including higher-value goods like ships and mid-haul jets, which the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, or Comac, is already flying domestically.
Global multinationals are about to face more competition, but it will take time to see which Chinese companies manage the foray abroad well enough to transform themselves into thriving global businesses.
Read more here.
