Liu Yonghao: Chinese companies' overseas "micro-competition" boosts profit margins with up to 100% growth

Ask AI · How can the overseas strategy proposed by Liu Yonghao enhance the competitiveness of Chinese companies?

Economic and Information Daily reporter Suo Hanxue, Beijing report

“Typically, our overseas profitability is higher than in China; in different products and different industries, overseas profitability is 10% to 100% higher than the corresponding domestic counterparts.” Liu Yonghao, chairman of New Hope Group, said in a recent interview with the reporter of China Business News, “Now Chinese manufacturing has gradually gained recognition overseas.”

Higher income for local employees

In response to the current situation where “involution” in domestic traditional industries is intensifying, Liu Yonghao believes that Chinese enterprises’ ability to “involve outward” is becoming apparent. “Right now, many traditional industries in China are quite competitive and ‘involuted.’ The end result of this is generally lower profits and greater earnings pressure. But when we look at the countries where we operate, we find that our products are highly competitive.”

As an early mover among Chinese companies going global, New Hope Group has been cultivating overseas markets for more than 30 years and has established factories in dozens of countries.

“‘Exceed, respect, and spread’ is a good approach and good experience for Chinese companies to ‘go global.’” Liu Yonghao said, “‘Exceed’ means that the income of management and staff of overseas-going enterprises is generally higher than the local level; ‘respect’ means respecting the local legal system, religions, and culture, and truly integrating into local society; ‘spread’ means spreading Chinese culture, spreading Chinese-manufacturing brands, and spreading the friendliness of the Chinese nation.”

According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, in 2025, under the guidance of high-quality co-building of the Belt and Road, Chinese enterprises’ outward investment remained healthy, steady, and well-ordered. Chinese companies that “go global” actively fulfill social responsibilities, annually creating and resolving employment for more than 2 million job positions on average.

Need to assess the target markets

According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, as of the end of 2025, Chinese companies had established more than 50,000 enterprises overseas, across 190 countries and regions. The stock of outward investment has remained in the world’s top three for 9 consecutive years. In 2025, China’s outward direct investment was $174.38 billion, up 7.1% year over year, and remained among the world’s leaders.

Facing the current complex and ever-changing international environment, Chen Jianfeng, chairman of the South China Committee of the CPA Australia and a senior certified public accountant in Australia, said in an interview with a reporter that during the process of enterprises actively exploring a “go global” strategy, it is necessary to reexamine China’s core advantages in digitization.

Chen Jianfeng especially emphasized that given the differing levels of development across countries, the solutions of overseas-going enterprises must have a high degree of specificity and adaptability.

“Enterprises must conduct a thorough assessment of the target market. Although the core technology may exist in China, when implementing it, it should also be combined with local technology for localization and integration. This not only helps reduce costs, but also improves the feasibility of the方案 and the effectiveness of implementation.” Chen Jianfeng also noted, “Cybersecurity is a critical area that must be given high priority. Different countries and regions, such as the United States and Europe, differ in terms of cybersecurity and judicial supervision. Enterprises must have the corresponding capabilities to respond.”

(Edited by: Hao Cheng; Reviewed by: Zhu Ziyun; Proofread by: Zhai Jun)