Who's afraid of companies from emerging countries ?

• Sébastien DESSILLONS
  Author of a 3rd year dissertation at the École des mines and of the book Les nouveaux conquérants. Qui a peur des entreprises des pays émergents ?
  
• Thomas MAURISSE
  Author of a 3rd year dissertation at the École des mines and of the book Les nouveaux conquérants. Qui a peur des entreprises des pays émergents ?
  
• Erik IZRAELEWICZ
  Managing editor, Les Échos
  Author, Quand la Chine change le monde (Grasset, 2005)
  
  
• Jean-Louis BEFFA
  Chairman and managing director, Compagnie de Saint-Gobain
  

Summary

International business classifications are full of the names of new companies which will be making a name for themselves in the near future. The flow of investments from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere is growing exponentially, and sometimes includes huge acquisitions (such as that of IBM by Lenovo, Corus by Tata Steel, and Inco by CVRD), with more spectacular ones yet to come. Who are these exceptional Chinese, Indian and Russian companies ? What makes them tick ? How do they grow ? What are their particular assets on which they depend for their growth ? What difficulties do they have to overcome in order to grow ? There are many crucial questions which need to be answered in order to understand tomorrow's economic world. Where do we in the West stand in all of this ? The emergence of these new 'champions' is inevitable in the medium term, and today we are experiencing a transitional period which requires OECD (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development) companies to reconsider the current situation. They have to learn to use these new ideas as assets. This would be possible if one moves quickly. One must also take a fresh look at what is happening in the public sector. What is the role of the public sector ? Should it protect our companies ? And if so, how ?

Summary translated from French by Rachel MARLIN.

• The entire article was written by Élisabeth BOURGUINAT and translated by Rachel MARLIN.

To obtain this article, you can :

• download it in French (PDF help) using your password or contact ecopar@paris.ensmp.fr (Reference IN101007).
• download it for free in English (PDF help) or contact ecopar@paris.ensmp.fr (Reference IN101007-ENG).

The entire article appears in French in the Journal de l'École de Paris du management N° 71.