Internationalization of enterprises based on benchmarking and gap analysis

Abstract

Against the backdrop of intensifying economic globalization and China's entry into WTO, various markets in China are opened up to overseas corporations while Chinese enterprises are also enjoying better access to the international market, which remarkably facilitates and accelerates the internationalization process of Chinese enterprises. However, most Chinese enterprises, having so long been subject to government intervention and protective policies, encounter great difficulties in adopting themselves to intense competitions in the free market during the transitional phase. There are a host of problems worth research and attention for those Chinese enterprises which are seeking international market presence and success. The construction industry and business has been playing a significant role in China's national economy, therefore, experiences of those Chinese construction companies in establishing and elevating their status in the overseas market are illustrative cases worth serious study and detailed analysis. Focusing on Chinese construction enterprises as the study subject and applying the benchmarking study as the major research method, the current paper first draws a comprehensive assessment of various operational aspects of a few selected world-leading construction enterprise according to the Balanced Scorecard, then formulates a highly quantitative benchmark system, next completes a case study of a typical Chinese construction company CSCEC by measuring its performance indicators against the target indicators in the benchmark system, and finally offers suggestions to guide those enterprises to better their future practices by defining and analyzing the discrepancies found in the research. The paper finds its value in providing a set of practicable and feasible performance evaluation methodology which can be applied to any China-based construction enterprise willing to compete in the international market and is expected to shed some light on the overall transformation process of those companies to be global players.