Recently, Harvard Business School listed into its case library the acquisition of Adisseo of France by Bluestar Group, a famous subsidiary of ChemChina. Bluestar acquired Adisseo for 400 million euros in 2006 and in the following decade smoothly completed the integration of Adisseo, boosting the latter’s profit-making ability.
ChemChina’s such acquisition involving the largest investment in France made by a Chinese company in history manifests the wisdom and strength of the Chinese enterprise engaging in international M&A and market competition. The management teams on both sides came to terms with each other in a short time, leading to smooth integration of corporate cultures. In the beginning of 2014, the Phase I liquid motioning plant with a yearly production capacity of 70,000 tons invested in by both sides in Nanjing, China, was put into operation and began to earn profits soon afterwards. Now the plant is under co-management of multiple teams from China, France and Spain. There was a time when as many as 22 countries sent their engineering technicians to join in the construction of the plant.
In the spirit of fully respecting the management concepts of Adisseo, ChemChina and its subsidiary Bluestar promote management integration with an open and accommodating mind, which not only helps expand Adisseo’s market in the Asia-Pacific region, but also enhances the integrated management effectiveness.
As Chinese enterprises become increasingly active in the global market, the cases about enterprise M&A and management are drawing attention of the academics across the world. Prof. McFarlan from Harvard Business School and Prof. Li Donghong from the School of Economic Management, Tsinghua University, have been tracking this case for many years. They have delved into and extracted the strategic layout and detailed design concerning corporate management integration.
Harvard Business School is a top-notch education institution in the world, which has turned out a number of political and economic celebrities. It is learned that through Harvard Business Printing this case will be released worldwide, which is fit to be included into MBA, EMBA and comprehensive management curricula and relevant training courses. This not only eloquently demonstrates the Chinese enterprise’s managerial practice, but also boosts ChemChina’s confidence and drive to pursue the internationalization strategy.