While globalization has made the world flatter, localization is the key to capitalizing on it, according to executives of Chinese companies in the United States, who gathered in Houston to discuss localization strategies at a seminar organized by the China General Chamber of Commerce (CGCC). “According to our statistics, as of March this year, our Chinese-member companies have accumulatively invested over USD170 billion in the States, directly employ over 200,000 employees and indirectly support more than 1 million U.S. jobs,” said Hu Wei, Chairman of the CGCC and President and Chief Executive of Bank of China USA. “That’s a huge contribution from our investors to the U.S. community.” Hu said that as Chinese companies understand how to better tap into the local market, the optimization of localization strategies are important to compete globally, including localizing products, services and content.
Guan Linhua, CEO of Surge Energy, talked about how the company survived the pandemic and oil-price fluctuations by localizing its business. “When oil prices dropped to below USD40 a barrel, more than 200 companies filed for bankruptcy. We survived the downturn and even took advantage of the situation and made two acquisitions in 2021,” he said. Surge Energy is a wholly privately owned Chinese company based in Houston. Guan credited part of the company’s success to localization of projects, one being water conservation in very dry West Texas, which reduced CO2 emissions and made the roads in West Texas safer. By this year, Surge had sold USD7 billion in oil and gas and contributed USD2 billion in taxes as a Chinese operation in Houston.
Fuyao Glass America is another success story achieved through localization of the supply chain and employees, according to Vice President, Amy Lei. As the world’s largest auto-glass supplier, Fuyao got close to its customers in the U.S. – including Ford, BMW and Tesla – when it opened its Ohio factory. To make auto glass, “Fuyao needed a lot of raw glass. For the Ohio factory alone, we need 10 million pieces of raw glass each year”, Lei said. Unable to find a supplier of high-quality raw glass in such a large quantity, Fuyao decided to invest in raw materials and opened a factory in Illinois. “We localized and vertically integrated our supply chain. This gives customers a lot of certainty to know we have a reliable supply chain within our own system, and we can always deliver products on time,” Lei said, as reported by the China Daily.
