TCL's Decade of Manufacturing in Mexico: Gains and Losses

Patience is key when it comes to integrating with unfamiliar markets and assimilating into local cultures; breaking through global supply chain systems to leverage the strengths of different regions while avoiding weaknesses; and adapting to local conditions by employing digital and automated tools—this is the equation for manufacturing in Mexico that TCL has solved over a decade.

At the westernmost point where Mexico borders the United States, a prismatic iron fence extends into the sea, its graffiti blurred by the erosion of waves and sea breeze. The beach on the southern side is bustling with tourists, while the northern California beach is deserted.

This border wall, stretching for thousands of kilometers from west to east, separates two worlds. The most continuous section runs from Tijuana in Mexico to Juarez, which are also the two most economically vibrant metropolitan areas on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Drug trade is often mentioned in this context, but it is irrelevant to the vast majority. Both Tijuana and Juarez are major manufacturing hubs for consumer electronics like televisions, with industry leaders such as TCL, Hisense, BOE, Samsung, Foxconn, Pegatron, and Wistron having factories here.

Advertisement

TCL was the earliest company from mainland China to establish production capacity in Mexico, acquiring Sanyo's factory in Tijuana in 2014, which has been over a decade now. Hisense and BOE arrived in Mexico in 2016 and 2021, respectively.

Not only in the television industry, but in the past, it was mostly European, American, and Japanese-Korean enterprises that used Mexico as a stepping stone to enter the U.S. market. Now, more Chinese faces are appearing on this stepping stone. In 2023, Mexico replaced China as the U.S.'s largest importer for the first time in 17 years. A survey conducted by Mexico's largest commercial bank, BBVA, on the Industrial Park Association showed that from 2018 to 2022, when the U.S.-China trade war broke out, among the foreign companies that entered Mexico, the U.S. accounted for 35%, while China only accounted for 6%. By 2025, the proportion of Chinese companies is expected to reach 20%.

After 2022, Chinese investment in Mexico has accelerated sharply. In this grand march of Chinese manufacturing to Mexico, Chinese companies are limited by their lack of global experience and often encounter setbacks. Many people only realize when they arrive in Mexico that no matter how strong the capital is, it is difficult to bridge language differences, cultural gaps, and ecological rejections. Nowadays, more and more Chinese manufacturing companies are going to Mexico to build factories and start production, with more companies researching and observing, but without real experience, it is hard to determine what kind of challenges and opportunities they will encounter in Mexico.

In late May 2024, visits were made to TCL's two factories in Tijuana and Juarez. One has been operating for ten years and is at a critical point of improving profitability; the other has been in operation for five years and is at a capacity expansion phase. These correspond to the two issues that Chinese factories care about the most—how to expand production capacity to keep up with market growth and how to reduce costs to achieve profitability?

In these two factories, we can see their various attempts, how to control costs, improve efficiency, and expand benefits, how to be alert and achieve refined management, and how to implement localization and unite the Chinese and Mexican teams as one.Most Chinese companies that set up factories in Mexico target the North American market, and regardless of whether they are profitable in the early stages, securing orders from the North American market is the key. TCL's two factories have already achieved support for the North American market. According to data from the market research firm Omdia, TCL TVs ranked second in retail volume in North America in 2023.

Established in Huizhou, Guangdong in 1981, TCL is one of the earliest Chinese companies to initiate a global strategy. It went to Vietnam to build a factory in 1999 and acquired France's Thomson TV and Alcatel mobile phones in 2004, possessing factories and channels across continents. Currently, TCL's overseas production bases are distributed in seven countries: Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Poland, Mexico, and Brazil, with TV production capacity exceeding 30 million units. These overseas factories, together with TCL's factories in Huizhou and Chengdu, have established TCL's global supply system for terminal businesses.

Juarez MASA Factory, Reorganizing Order

In July 2023, Li Jingxi put down the MBA he was reading and came to Juarez to serve as the deputy general manager of TCL Electronics' Mexican MASA factory. The task he took on was to reorganize the factory, increasing the annual production capacity to 2 million units, including the construction of two large-size production lines, the establishment of self-injection molding capabilities, the introduction of five large injection molding machines, with a total investment of about 100 million yuan. This is just the first phase, and the production capacity will be further expanded in the future.

"The goal is clear, this must be done, and it must be done successfully," said Li Jingxi.

If Mexico is stereotypically considered a dangerous country by the Chinese, then Juarez is "the danger within danger." It is the city with the highest homicide rate in the world. Chinese expatriates almost never go out after dark, living a life between the factory, dormitory, and supermarket, and they certainly do not join the hustle and bustle on the streets for fear of "being accidentally shot."

However, compared to the vague personal safety risks, what Li Jingxi is currently anxious about is a common problem for many Chinese-funded enterprises - how to synchronize the expansion of production capacity with the improvement of capabilities.

The MASA factory originated from the French Thomson company acquired by TCL at the end of 2003, and for many years after, the factory area was rented to other companies for operation. Before the Sino-US trade war in 2018, the tariff on China's export of color TVs to the United States was 3.9%; after 2019, after multiple rounds of game-playing between China and the United States, the tariff was increased by 7.5%, and the export tariff on color TVs rose to 11.4%. Due to the USMCA agreement, Mexico's export of color TVs to the United States is duty-free. TCL decided to relaunch the Mexican MASA factory. Just as the production order was gradually restored, the pandemic came, with ocean shipping containers in short supply, a large number of goods stuck in ports, costs soaring, and many employees infected.

At the end of May 2024, the MASA factory was a scene of construction. Not far from several operating assembly lines, construction workers from the construction party were repairing clean rooms and installing injection molding machines, with many materials waiting to be put in place. Li Jingxi was a bit distressed, as the construction progress of the Mexican engineering party was slower than he expected, some places were not completed with enough quality, and rework was needed.Mexico is a country that is difficult to pin down, and it is challenging for Chinese people to understand its temperament, "one must leave room for maneuver," said Li Jingxi.

Leaving room for maneuver is an inviolable principle in Mexico. When planning last year, MASA factory was expected to have six TV production lines, including the original three lines, two new large-size lines, and one injection molding line. However, after dismantling the old lines, Li Jingxi judged that, considering future product planning, the mass production progress of the new lines might not meet expectations. In March of this year, he cleared out a section of the warehouse and transformed the old line into a seventh production line.

Looking back, Li Jingxi feels that this decision was correct. On one hand, it served as a backup production line before the current new lines were launched, ensuring timely delivery; on the other hand, large-size TVs are still an increasing market in the United States, and although the current production capacity is sufficient, the demand may not be met in half a year or a year.

An important task during the reconstruction of the MASA factory was localizing the supply chain. The first phase was the localization of major TV components, with injection molding and chassis built by the MASA factory itself, while back panels and packaging materials were sourced from other factories in Mexico. The second phase involved a comprehensive assessment of whether products like film could be localized.

In parallel with the supply system, a more comprehensive digital system was also being established. This is one of the key focuses of the MASA factory's work in the second half of the year. In the past, there was a simple system, but it was not fully functional and lacked complete information. Now, among the expatriate staff, four are specifically responsible for system construction, involving seven systems that cover manufacturing execution, warehouse management, quality management, and more. This entire system has been promoted to other global factories of TCL TVs and even home appliance factories.

Under the allocation of headquarters orders, the order volume of the MASA factory increased by 20%-30% in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year. The ample order volume spread the depreciation costs of the equipment, reducing the average cost by more than 10% compared to the previous year.

If the ability to enhance localization of supply, management, and operations can be improved in the future, along with increased operational efficiency, it is expected that costs can be controlled. For Li Jingxi, what is more important is to build and successfully implement the factory's capabilities; this is a report card he needs to deliver this year.

The MASA factory continues to make progress. In June 2024, the chassis production capacity ramp-up was completed, and the injection molding machines were also operational, with both expected to have an annual production capacity of over 2 million units. On June 28th, two newly built production lines were successfully tested and put into operation, establishing a complete production process for large-size TV injection molding, chassis, and module assembly. It appears that the initial tasks have been completed on schedule.Despite the MASA factory being established for over 20 years, the time it has truly set its goals and been operational after restarting is relatively short. The core value of the MASA factory is to ensure the North American market by providing safe supply and rapid response. This cannot be achieved solely by the factory itself; it requires comprehensive planning from the headquarters. In the first half of this year, approximately 30%-40% of the MASA factory's production capacity was supplied to the local Mexican market, but in the second half, it will focus on large-sized TVs, mainly 65-98 inches, with all production capacity dedicated to major North American clients. The Mexican market primarily consists of small and medium-sized TVs, with smaller and more scattered orders, which are more advantageously supplied by the Vietnamese factory.

Typically, the first step for Chinese manufacturing factories arriving in Mexico is to stabilize, including employees, supply chains, and orders. The challenge for the MASA factory lies in localizing and expanding production capacity simultaneously, which requires the ability to predict the future and preemptively solve potential problems. Digitalization is the foundation for such prediction.

Many new factories may be disorganized in the early stages due to various不适应ations, and they consider digitalization as an "icing on the cake" part after everything stabilizes; some factories may also put it on hold due to cost considerations. MASA's experience shows that the efficient operation of the global supply chain is inseparable from digitalization.

The MOKA factory in Tijuana, Mexico, demonstrates another solution to a different set of challenges: how to integrate digital capabilities into an existing old plant after the factory has been operating for many years and has become a system in itself, further reducing costs and increasing efficiency to achieve profitability.

MOKA is the English name for Mojiake Technology, a contract manufacturer of TV and other display products under TCL Technology.

Tijuana MOKA factory, turning losses into profits

The restarted Juarez factory, together with the Tijuana factory, forms TCL's dual-factory layout in Mexico. The former is the MASA factory producing TCL-branded TVs, while the latter is the MOKA factory mainly engaged in TV contract manufacturing.

Tijuana is known as the capital of North American TV manufacturing, gathering a large number of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean TV manufacturers. The plant built by Japan's Sanyo Electric in 1987 is located on the border between Tijuana and San Diego. After the decline of the Japanese TV industry, TCL acquired this factory in 2014 and turned it into the MOKA factory, responsible for TV contract manufacturing. The MOKA factory has been operating for ten years and has gone through the stage of expanding production and building local supply capabilities for the MASA factory. The pressure facing this veteran factory is to invest in equipment renovation while ensuring profitability.MOKA Factory covers an area of 85,000 square meters with a construction area of 59,000 square meters, primarily producing televisions ranging from 32 inches to 115 inches, as well as commercial display and monitor products. Currently, there are 16 production lines in total, including 5 integrated module and complete machine lines, 4 module assembly and testing lines, and 7 SMT (Surface-Mount Technology) lines. The annual production capacity has expanded from 500,000 to 700,000 units at the time of acquisition to approximately 3 million units today.

Exteriorly, the factory building does not appear to have a history of 37 years, but upon entering the workshop, the limited original space restricts the layout of a TV production line from start to finish, and it is also difficult for automated equipment to enter. Occasionally, TVs need to be moved from one line to another. This seemingly simple action, however, limits the efficiency of the entire production line and labor costs.

Wen Enjiang is looking for a breakthrough for this issue. In April of this year, he took over the important task from the former factory general manager, He Daoqing, to enhance and improve the factory's manufacturing capabilities and achieve profitability.

MOKA Company implements the Amoeba Management Model, where each factory is an independent combat unit with separate financial accounting. Although the company is profitable at the overall level, the Tijuana factory also faces operational pressure. There are only two paths before them: either increase the price and加厚 profit margins, or strictly control costs and improve efficiency.

The former is almost a dead end. In the global TV OEM market, MOKA has already occupied the top position. Data from Luotu Technology shows that in the first quarter of this year, MOKA led the world with a shipment of 3.25 million units, nearly 40% higher than the second place. However, market competition remains fierce, and price competition is severe.

He Daoqing served as the factory director from 2018 to 2023. In his impression, the OEM fee has hardly increased in the past decade, and a slight mistake could lead to financial imbalance.

Mexico is a country with extremely high costs in all aspects, with production costs being twice as high as domestic costs, and the vast majority of Chinese-funded factories are operating at a loss. Strict cost control is just the foundation, and the more arduous task is to improve the efficiency of each link. TV assembly is a labor-intensive industry, and the core of improving efficiency is people. TCL Tijuana Factory requires each person's operation time to be controlled within 20 seconds to maintain consistent operation time points. Otherwise, if some people are fast and some are slow, it will lead to inefficient operation, and it is difficult to increase the hourly output.

Li Weifeng is the production manager of TCL Tijuana Factory, responsible for improving production efficiency. Li Weifeng has 17 years of production experience in China and has been in Mexico for 6 years. In the first three months after arriving in Mexico, he was so frustrated by the efficiency of local workers that his eyes were red and swollen, and it was unbearable to enter the workshop. It takes 3.26 seconds to insert a wire in a domestic factory, but it takes 7, 8 seconds or even 10 seconds in Mexico.

Now, Li Weifeng has developed a strong heart and is well-versed in the combination of Chinese methods and Mexican techniques. The former is to clarify the production process and system, the skill requirements of each workstation, and targeted training; the latter is not to directly instill in workers, but to say half and leave half, allowing workers to understand and internalize on their own.

Accumulated communication and promotion have made hourly output a production indicator that all employees of Tijuana Factory pay attention to. On the factory's display board, the production tasks completed by a production line in this hour are displayed in real-time. Workers compete for every minute and second like they are in a sports meeting. If the target is 120 units, when they reach 115 units, the person in charge of the line becomes excited and shouts "Rápido! Rápido!" (Spanish, meaning "fast! fast!"). Finally, everyone cheers together. If the weekly production target is achieved, workers will also receive an additional bottle of cola or a chicken leg.Over the past five years, production efficiency (actual output/maximum output) has gradually increased from 60% to over 90%. In the most intuitive hourly production indicators, the hourly production of 32-inch TVs has increased by more than 10%, and the hourly production of 50-inch and 55-inch TVs has increased by about 30%.

"You look at the production line again, no one is chatting, the speed has gone up, and it sounds very pleasant," Li Weifeng is very satisfied.

To further reduce costs and increase efficiency in the factory, how to improve digitalization and automation capabilities is crucial. Previously, when visiting many Chinese-funded factories in Mexico, it was found that most factories' automation levels are not as high as domestic factories. The core reason is that automated equipment needs to be imported from the country, and logistics and tariff costs are very high. At the same time, it is necessary to increase the number of dispatched employees to design, install, operate, and maintain these equipment and systems, which is an additional expense.

In addition, the utilization rate of automated equipment in Mexico is insufficient. Domestically, factories can operate in three shifts, and equipment can run 24 hours a day, quickly recovering costs. However, in Mexico, only one to two shifts can be operated, which is not cost-effective.

The reality of MOKA Factory is that the physical conditions of the plant are insufficient, and there is almost no space to add automated equipment. Wen Enjiang mentioned that in the past few years, the factory has undergone five transformations, each time through repeated evaluation and cautious decision-making, and each time it was "had to be done" before taking action.

In this extreme situation, MOKA Factory has avoided the problem of high investment costs in automation and digitalization, and tried to "use the most suitable tools to solve problems" instead of blindly pursuing the proportion of automation.

It's not only at the Tijuana factory level, MOKA headquarters is also coordinating the allocation of global production capacity to enable each factory to achieve individual profitability. In addition to China and Mexico, MOKA has also laid out in Poland, India, and Vietnam.

Solving management problemsAlthough TCL's two factories in Mexico have different business models, they face similar core issues: personnel management and cost management. These are also common challenges faced by the vast majority of Chinese-funded companies in Mexico today.

A person who has been working in Mexico for nearly 10 years in a factory consulting company said that the most common request he hears from Chinese clients is, "Can I achieve the same cost in Mexico as in China?" His answer is "impossible."

Almost all costs in Mexico are higher than in China, including labor, utilities, raw materials, and logistics. Taking Monterrey, Mexico, a hub for Chinese-funded manufacturing factories, as an example, the average price of industrial electricity is about 1.2 yuan per kilowatt-hour, which is twice as expensive as in China. The water price in the industrial park is about 32 yuan per cubic meter, while the price of non-residential water in Shenzhen is 3.77 yuan per cubic meter, an eightfold difference. The price of renting a factory in Monterrey is more than 7 US dollars per square meter per month (approximately 51 yuan), while the rental price of a factory in Dongguan is around 30 yuan per square meter per month.

It is understood that the cost of Mexican factories is 40%-50% higher than that of Chinese factories, which is the norm. Many companies still need to ship products to the United States from China or Southeast Asia, and even if transportation and tariff costs are saved, the cost of Mexican factories is still higher.

Among TCL's two Mexican factories, MOKA, which is engaged in OEM business, is more sensitive to costs. Over the past few years, the OEM fee has not increased. In 2022, the consumer electronics industry was severely down, and in 2023, the order volume increased significantly, but the labor cost of the factory surged instead.

He Daoqing had to formulate a cost reduction plan, including reducing the operating expense ratio, increasing revenue from non-manufacturing businesses, reducing losses in the first half of 2024, and achieving profitability by the end of the year. To this end, he listed 82 action items. After Wen Wenjiang took over in April of this year, an additional 36 items were added.

"Break down all the costs and analyze them one by one, to see where else we can save," He Daoqing recalled.

The biggest pressure comes from labor costs. The monthly salary and social security benefits of workers in the Tijuana factory are around 8,000-9,000 yuan, far higher than in China, resulting in labor costs accounting for as much as 73% of the total factory costs. In just six years, labor costs in the Tijuana factory have nearly tripled.

In Mexico, there is a regulation that surpasses all Chinese people's imagination: the legal minimum wage standard is unshakable and must increase by 20% every year. This means that the salary of grassroots operators usually increases by 20%, while managers such as team leaders and line leaders also need to increase by 8%-10%. This is a very heavy cost burden for labor-intensive industries like television.

Mexico also stipulates that the ratio of foreign employees to local employees should be within 1:9. Many companies will try to send employees abroad as much as possible according to this line, but this also means higher foreign assignment allowances and accommodation costs.The factory of TCL Tijuana, which employs over 800 workers, only has seven Chinese nationals. Even at its peak, there were only eleven Chinese nationals. Apart from the general manager and a few key positions, the vast majority, including managers, are Mexican. Despite having only seven Chinese personnel, the manufacturing characteristic of "cost reduction" continues. The original four management team dormitories were reduced to three, saving over a thousand dollars in rent each month, which amounts to tens of thousands of dollars a year, and any allocated vehicles are sold if possible.

In addition to cost reduction, more importantly, is how to improve labor efficiency. The MASA factory introduced China's KPI assessment system and performance reward system, also assessing Mexican employees based on performance, with more work leading to more pay. This is unheard of in the vast majority of local Mexican companies, where employees receive a fixed salary regardless of the amount of work they do. Compared to general fixed salary adjustments, this method of salary increase based on "efficiency" is much higher. Li Jingxi once worried whether employees would react negatively, but the Mexicans naturally accepted the "management innovation" from China.

Now, the MASA factory also sets rewards for production lines that perform exceptionally during peak seasons, but unlike in China, where money is given directly to individuals, they are given to teams. Mexicans enjoy parties and value food, often using the money to buy cola, pizza, tacos, or saving up for several rewards to throw a party together.

Considering the ultimate cost, the common challenge faced by Chinese-funded factories in Mexico is how to cooperate with local employees. Mexicans speak Spanish, and the vast majority of Chinese employees can only speak a few simple Spanish phrases, making communication difficult. Chinese employees always think that Mexicans have low work efficiency, are not flexible, and are unstable. Mexicans, on the other hand, believe that Chinese people are impatient and sound a bit fierce when they speak.

The expansion period is usually when there are the most expatriates and also a high-incidence period for communication and friction. For example, the MASA factory currently has about 20-30 Chinese personnel. The sense of responsibility and initiative that Chinese expatriates advocate can easily lead to ambiguous job definitions in the eyes of their Mexican colleagues. A Mexican supervisor once expressed dissatisfaction, saying that every Chinese expatriate seemed to be his leader, able to give him work suggestions and demands, making him feel disrespected. After he raised this issue, Li Jingxi redefined the boundaries, clarifying that only two people could directly assign tasks to him, and also clarified the responsibilities and reporting relationships between Chinese expatriates and Mexican managers.

In addition to employee management, Chinese-funded factories in Mexico want to stabilize their footing in a completely unfamiliar environment. In addition to reducing costs and increasing efficiency on their own, they also need to coordinate with headquarters and the global supply chain. To some extent, the Chinese team stationed in Mexico needs to have a "big heart" to cope with the dual pressures and challenges from local culture and headquarters' KPIs.

TCL's overseas business is developing rapidly, with overseas factories in Mexico, Vietnam, India, Poland, and more, "everyone needs people," He Daoqing recalls, there was a period of human resource tension. In 2019, he also served as the factory director of MOKA, when the factory had just gotten on track, and the headquarters increased a large number of orders for him. At first, he was in a flurry, unable to improve efficiency, and it took half a year to stabilize, preparing for a sprint, when the epidemic hit.

In April 2020, the Mexican government required factories to shut down, but 280,000 sets of materials had already been shipped from the country. He calculated that if they could not be processed in time, the demurrage and port fees would exceed 5 million US dollars. He rented an unfinished warehouse to unload the goods. A month later, when the government allowed work to resume, he still had to think about how to increase production capacity while doing a good job of protection.

After the epidemic, He Daoqing found that if the order volume and material volume are not stable enough, it will greatly increase production costs. He spent three years continuously communicating and optimizing with headquarters and colleagues in other regions to ensure a balanced supply chain. This is an ability that a factory director must have, to be able to take the initiative to stand out and promote problem-solving.In addition to fulfilling the production tasks assigned by the headquarters, the management team of MOKA Factory is not only focused on cost reduction but also planning to increase revenue. The factory is currently trying out other value-added services, such as logistics and warehousing. Customers who need to temporarily store goods or contact more cost-effective logistics service providers can do so through this factory. This is thanks to the warehousing and logistics challenges encountered during the pandemic period, which led MOKA Factory to significantly enhance its logistics capabilities. Moreover, the Tijuana factory is also responsible for addressing after-sales issues for North American customers, responding to needs within 24 hours, thus generating some income from non-manufacturing operations last year.

A Broader Market

Influenced by geopolitical factors, supply chain security, and global layout considerations, in recent years, an increasing number of Chinese companies have been investing and setting up factories in Mexico. Data from the non-governmental organization "Invest Monterrey" in Nuevo León, Mexico, shows that by the end of 2022, there were 1,294 Chinese companies investing in Mexico.

Enrique Dussel Peters, a professor of economics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, recently released a report indicating that between 2018 and 2022, Chinese companies created over 112,000 jobs in Mexico, accounting for nearly 40% of the total.

Mexico has become an important destination for Chinese manufacturing to go global. During visits to Mexico, it was found that a significant reason many Chinese-funded factories chose Mexico was to secure orders from the North American market. North America is the largest market globally, and while factories in Southeast Asia can also supply North America, they do not have the advantage of "proximity deployment and rapid response" that Mexico offers. It only takes half an hour to drive from Tijuana and Juarez to the United States.

Moreover, to ensure supply chain security, some North American customers are sometimes willing to pay 30% to 100% more for products sourced from Mexico, creating profit margins for Chinese companies.

However, after a large number of Chinese-funded enterprises arrived in Mexico, they encountered difficulties adapting to the local environment. These companies have been developing well domestically, but their efficient supply chains and extreme cost efficiency that they take pride in have failed in Mexico. They have faced challenges such as soaring costs, cultural conflicts, and difficulties in localization.

In contrast, TCL's two Mexican factories, despite still striving for development, have accumulated considerable experience and achievements in localization and cost control. The supply chain has shifted from a single-minded pursuit of cost optimization to a combination strategy of "localization, security + efficiency + agility." Overseas factories are an essential part of Chinese companies' global layout. While the profit of a single factory is important, maintaining a market through overseas factories can better help enterprises achieve long-term development.

For TCL's global map, the value of the Mexican factories is more strategic, moving from a passive response to an active layout. "Customers know we have factories in Mexico, and they are more willing to cooperate with us," He Daoqing introduced.In addition to being able to respond to the demands of the North American market in a timely manner, the local Mexican market is also quite substantial. Data from the World Bank shows that Mexico's GDP per capita (Gross Domestic Product), calculated using purchasing power parity (current international dollars), reaches 23,900 yuan, higher than China's 23,000 yuan. Mexico can also radiate the entire South American market, which has a population of over 400 million, and products from China are very popular here.

The wave of Chinese enterprises going global is just beginning. Peters' report mentions that although from 2018 to 2022, China (including Hong Kong) accounted for 18.77% of global foreign direct investment, 6 percentage points higher than the United States, there is still a huge growth potential for China's foreign direct investment. From 2018 to 2022, Japan, Germany, and Canada's foreign direct investment as a share of GDP all exceeded 3%, the global average was 1.39%, while China's was only 0.97%.

Chinese enterprises have ample opportunities in overseas markets and will also encounter various unpredictable challenges. Chinese enterprises need time to grow overseas, and every time they overcome difficulties, it is a process of accumulating experience. Only by fully experiencing this process can they truly enhance the competitiveness of Chinese enterprises in the global market.