Q-Cells of Germany was the world market leader in solar panels when Anton Milner, chief executive, was asked about the threat of competition from Asia. His response was dismissive. German customers would never buy a Chinese product that had to last 20 years, he maintained.

　　德国Q-Cells公司曾经是全球太阳能电池板市场的领军企业，当时有人询问该公司首席执行官安东·米尔纳(Anton Milner)对于亚洲竞争威胁的看法，他的回答不屑一顾。他认为，如果一件东西要用上20年，德国消费者绝对不会购买中国货。

　　A few years on, China’s Suntech Power has outsmarted and outsold the German company, and Mr Milner is no longer in office. Q-Cells’ stock market value has collapsed from ￠11bn at the end of 2007 to about ￠390m. Besides Suntech, Chinese rivals such as Yingli Green Energy and JA Solar are also flooding Germany with cheap but reliable panels, while large parts of the domestic industry are in the doldrums.

　　几年过去了，中国尚德电力(Suntech Power)已“智胜”了这家德国公司，销量也在其之上。米尔纳也已卸任。Q-Cells的市值从2007年底的110亿欧元，跌到了3.9亿欧元左右。除了尚德，英利绿色能源(Yingli Green Energy)和晶澳太阳能(Ja Solar)等相互竞争的中国企业，也将大量廉价而耐用的太阳能电池板销往德国，而德国该行业的大部分企业都陷入了低潮。

　　Q-Cells provides a cautionary tale for corporate Germany. Just as the country’s machine tool makers, car companies and electrical engineering groups have brought their plants back to full speed following the sharp economic decline of 2009, the next big challenge appears on the horizon.

　　Q-Cells的经历给德国企业界敲响了警钟。经历了2009年的急剧经济衰退，当德国的机床制造商、汽车制造商以及电气工程集团重新让工厂全速运转之际，地平线上出现了一个新的重大挑战。

　　China – long renowned for producing cheap clothes, toys and electrical goods – overtook Germany to become the world’s largest exporter in 2009. Last year it registered a trade surplus with Germany of almost ￠17bn. Today, it is on the verge of a direct assault on Europe’s economic powerhouse in its core industrial areas.

　　2009年，素以生产廉价服装、玩具和电子产品闻名于世的中国超越德国，成为全球第一大出口国。去年中国对德国的贸易顺差接近170亿欧元。如今，中国即将在这个欧洲经济火车头的核心工业领域，对其发起直接攻击。

　　“I am expecting a massive attack from China in Europe in the next few years – particularly in the machinery sector,” says Franz Fehrenbach, chief executive of Bosch, the world’s largest maker of car parts and Germany’s largest privately held industrial group by sales. “The Chinese will improve their quality and technology, but they will at the same time be extremely price-attractive.”

　　 “我预计，未来几年中国将对欧洲发动大规模进攻，特别是在机械行业，”博世(Bosch)首席执行官弗朗茨·菲润巴赫(Franz Fehrenbach)表示，“中国企业将改进产品质量和技术，但同时它们的价格也将极富吸引力。”博世是全球最大的汽车零部件生产商，以销售额衡量，也是德国最大的私有工业企业。

　　In areas that include not only solar panels but also wind energy, telecommunications networks, power transmission and high-speed trains, Chinese companies are already on a par with their western counterparts, often after “re-innovating” technology sucked out of joint ventures. In other areas, such as construction machinery, machine tools, cars and electrical engineering, companies from Sany in construction equipment to Shanghai Electric in power systems are gearing up to compete.

　　不仅在太阳能电板领域，在风能、电信网络、电力传输和高铁列车等领域，中国企业也已经与西方同行旗鼓相当，这往往凭借的是对从合资企业获取的技术进行“再创新”。在其它一些领域，例如建筑机械、机床、汽车和电气工程，许多中国企业也都正开足马力，参与竞争，例如生产建筑设备的三一集团(Sany)和电力系统领域的上海电气(Shanghai Electric)。

　　As the race between the world’s largest exporting nations gathers pace, what steps is German industry taking to fend off the greatest threat it has faced since the rise of corporate Japan in the 1960s and 1970s?

　　随着世界两大出口国之间的竞争提速，德国工业界正采取哪些举措，以抵御自上世纪六七十年代日本企业崛起之后所面临的最大威胁呢？

　　At first glance, it looks as though Europe’s largest economy has lost out in its core sector. In mechanical engineering – a sector employing 909,000, or one in 20 German industrial workers, and made up mostly of small and medium-sized “Mittelstand” enterprises – China has taken the lead. At 25 per cent, its world market share in 2009 was almost twice that of Germany.

　　乍看之下，这个欧洲最大的经济体似乎已经在核心产业部门败下阵来。在机械工程领域，中国已占据领先优势：2009年中国在全球机械工程市场占有25%的份额，几乎是德国的两倍。德国机械工程行业共有90.9万名工人，也就是说，每20个德国工人中就有一人来自该行业，且主要由中小型企业(Mittelstand)构成。

　　“I have to say I find it admirable with how much speed they are catching up, and how clever they are in combining western technology with their own and producing it at low cost levels,” says Peter Leibinger, deputy head and part-owner of Trumpf, the world’s largest laser-cutting machine maker.

　　“我不得不说，对于它们迎头赶上的速度、将西方技术与自主技术相结合并以低成本生产的聪明才智，我深感敬佩，”Trumpf副总裁兼所有者之一彼得?莱宾内(Peter Leibinger)表示。Trumpf是全球最大的激光切割机制造商。

　　Until now, their success has been driven by consumers in their vast home market and exports to fellow emerging markets. However Thomas Lindner, president of VDMA, the German engineering association, says the competition will soon be felt in Europe. “In higher-volume markets, such as machine tools, the situation will become a lot more critical for us than in the niche markets,” he says.

　　迄今为止，推动中国企业取得成功的，是其庞大国内市场的消费者，以及面向同为新兴市场伙伴国家的出口。然而，德国机械设备制造业联合会(VDMA)主席托马斯?林德纳(Thomas Lindner)表示，很快欧洲也将感受到竞争压力。“在交易量较大的市场，例如机床，对于我们来说，形势要比在利基市场严峻得多，”他表示。

　　While this poses a threat to some, many executives are adamant that their companies will hold their own. The key is the characteristic that has driven their economy for more than a century: the engineering-based approach and inventive spirit that spawned Mittelstand specialists in niche markets and premium technology products, from Porsche sports cars to Trumpf cutting machines.

　　尽管这对一些德国企业构成了威胁，但许多企业高管坚信，自己的企业能够坚守住阵地。成功的关键便是一个多世纪以来一直推动德国经济发展的德国企业特质：孕育了利基市场和高端技术产品（从保时捷跑车到Trumpf切割机）领域众多专业中小型企业的工程学方法和创造精神。

　　T?ake Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, world market leader in printing presses. It recently produced its 1,000th press at a site near Shanghai, where it is assembling standard machines of similar quality to those sold in Europe but with fewer features and priced more competitively.

　　以全球印刷机械市场领导者海德堡印刷机械有限公司(Heidelberger Druckmaschinen)为例。最近，该公司设在上海附近的工厂下线了第1000台印刷机。这家工厂从事标准印刷机的组装工作，产品质量堪与在欧洲销售的机械媲美，但少一些功能，价格也更具竞争力。

　　Bernhard Schreier, chief executive, says the group is even winning market share in China from local rivals who are unable – and unwilling – to catch up. “This is a niche market with low volume and high entry barriers,” he says. With its huge research and development costs, he adds, it would neither yield the profits nor confer the prestige of a move into strategic areas such as solar power, cars or high-speed trains.

　　海德堡首席执行官本哈特?施海尔(Bernhard Schreier)表示，该公司甚至正从中国本土竞争对手那里赢得市场份额——这些本土企业没有追赶海德堡的能力和意愿。“这是一个交易量小、准入门槛高的利基市场，”他表示，和进军太阳能、汽车或高铁列车等战略性行业相比，这个行业由于研发成本巨大，既无法创造那么高额的利润，也无法带来很高的声望。

　　Like Heidelberger’s presses, German engine-maker Tognum’s products for ships, trains, and the oil and gas industry are regarded as premium. When KiwiRail, a New Zealand train operator, became the first developed country company to order Chinese locomotives, it insisted that the engines were supplied by Tognum. “The Chinese don’t have service and maintenance networks outside their home country, so this is where we come in,” a Tognum executive says.

　　和海德堡的印刷机一样，德国发动机制造商Tognum为船只、火车、油气行业生产的产品被视为高端产品。当新西兰铁路运营商KiwiRail成为第一家订购中国产机车的发达国家企业时，该公司坚持要求由Tognum供应发动机。“中国企业在海外没有服务与维护网络，因此我们便有了用武之地，”Tognum一位高管表示。

　　But local production, and pursuit of the Chinese market, have downsides – such as the practice of re-innovation. “What China lacks right now is not money; it is technology. So if you can give technology to China this is the best way to capture this market,” says Mao Zhenhua, director of the institute of economic research at Beijing’s Renmin University.

　　但本地化生产和追逐中国市场也有负面影响——比如那些“再创新”行为。“中国现在缺的不是钱，而是技术。因此如果你能给中国提供技术，便是占领这个市场的最佳方法，”北京人民大学经济研究所所长毛振华表示。

　　Germany is not only Europe’s largest trading partner with China, it is also its largest technology exporter. But managers are increasingly outspoken about forced technology transfers, as well as pressure to use local suppliers and provide state-controlled design institutes with detailed information on projects. Martin Brudermüller, head of the Asia-Pacific region at BASF, the world’s largest chemicals maker by sales, says the group always takes its best technology to China. But he adds that “compulsory technology transfer is something we are strongly lobbying against”.

　　德国不仅是中国在欧洲最大的贸易伙伴，还是中国最大的技术出口国。但对于被迫的技术转移以及使用本地供应商、为国有设计院提供项目详细信息的压力，企业经理人已经越来越直言不讳。巴斯夫(BASF)亚太地区主管薄睦乐(Martin Brudermüller)表示，该公司总是向中国提供最先进的技术，但他又补充道“强制性技术转移是我们正大力游说、加以反对的事情”。巴斯夫是全球销售额最高的化学品制造商。

　　While some German companies avoid taking cutting-edge technology with them when they move production to Asia, others simply avoid disclosing it in full to Chinese partners. “It takes two to tango,” says Axel Heitmann, chief executive of Lanxess, the speciality chemicals maker. “We have defined key technologies which we are protecting by not lifting the lid on them.”

　　尽管一些德国企业在将生产转到亚洲时，会避免带去最尖端的技术，但另一些企业只是避免将技术毫无保留地透露给中方合作伙伴。“一个巴掌拍不响，”特殊化学制品公司朗盛(Lanxess)首席执行官贺德满(Axel Heitmann)表示。“我们定义了一些关键技术，我们会守口如瓶以保护这些技术。”

　　Long-standing relations with China have proved valuable ?for Germans. Bosch, for exam- ?ple, has been doing business there for more than 100 years, and today employs almost 30,000 people at 46 sites. This history has created high levels of trust between the conglomerate and local partners.

　　事实证明，与中国历史悠久的关系对德国价值非凡。例如，博世在中国开展业务已有百余年，今天其在中国设有46处工厂，员工近3万人。这种历史交往，让博世集团与中国本地合作伙伴之间建立了很高的信任度。

　　Plus, Bosch’s managers say, if you can sell your products there, you can sell them anywhere. “The biggest market in China is going to emerge in the midprice segment. Our task is to become steadily more competitive and to play a large role in this segment locally. If we achieve this, then we don’t have to be afraid about the competitiveness in the rest of the world,” says the company’s Mr Fehrenbach.

　　此外，博世的经理们表示，如果你能在中国销售产品，就能在任何地方销售产品。“中国最大的市场将在出现在中等价位领域。我们的任务就是稳步提高竞争力，在当地的中等价位产品市场扮演重要角色。如果我们做到这一点，便不用担心在世界其它地区的竞争力了，”博世的菲润巴赫表示。

　　Indeed Siemens, Europe’s largest engineering company, has developed a strategy to sell lower-priced, simplified versions of its high-end products pitched at the Chinese market elsewhere. The Somatom Spirit, its entry-level CT scanner, was developed and produced in China; today more than 80 per cent are sold abroad – increasingly in the west.

　　事实上，欧洲最大的工程公司西门子(Siemens)已开发出一套战略，将其在中国市场推销的高端产品的低价简化版本，销往其它地区。西门子的入门级CT扫描仪Somatom Spirit就是在中国开发生产的；目前该产品八成以上都销往海外地区，且西方国家越来越多。