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Measuring Operations Performance

Alessandra Vecchi Editor

Chinese
Acquisitions
in Developed
Countries
Operational Challenges and
Opportunities
Measuring Operations Performance

Editor-in-chief
Andrea Chiarini, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

Series editors
Alok Choudhary, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
Adrian E. Coronado Mondragon, Royal Holloway, University of London,
Egham, UK
Pauline Found, University of Buckingham, Buckingham, UK
Sergio E. Gouvea da Costa, Pontifical Catholic University of Parana,
Curitiba, Brazil
Iñaki Heras-Saizarbitoria, University of the Basque Country,
Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
Kerry Jacobs, University of New South Wales, Canberra, Australia
Adina Claudia Neamtu, Constantin Brâncuși University, Târgu Jiu, Romania
Roberta S. Russell, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,
Blacksburg, USA
Martin Starr, Columbia Business School, New York, USA
Emidia Vagnoni, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
Alessandra Vecchi, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Jahangir Yadollahi Farsi, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13500
Alessandra Vecchi
Editor

Chinese Acquisitions
in Developed Countries
Operational Challenges and Opportunities

123
Editor
Alessandra Vecchi
Department of Management
University of Bologna
Bologna, Italy

ISSN 2363-9970 ISSN 2363-9989 (electronic)


Measuring Operations Performance
ISBN 978-3-030-04250-9 ISBN 978-3-030-04251-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04251-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018961209

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019


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Contents

The Rise of Chinese Multinationals: The Changing Landscape


of Global Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Lourdes Casanova and Anne Miroux
Chinese State-Owned Enterprises in the Market for Corporate
Control. Evidences and Rationalities of Acquisition in Western
Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Alessandro Baroncelli and Matteo Landoni
International Expansion of Chinese Emerging Market Multinational
Corporations to Developed Markets: A Qualitative Analysis
of Post-acquisition and Integration Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Daniel Rottig and Rui Torres de Oliveira
Contrasting Germany and China: What Is the Influence
of Culture and Learning on the PMI-Process? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Jonathan H. Chen and René Mahr
“Opportunities, but Nothing Very Concrete:” The Challenge
Finns Face with Chinese Delegations’ General Level of Interest
in Finland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Santa Stopniece

v
The Rise of Chinese Multinationals:
The Changing Landscape of Global
Competition

Lourdes Casanova and Anne Miroux

Abstract The past fifteen years have seen a major breakthrough for Chinese
Multinationals. Today, a fifth of the Fortune Global 500 companies are from China.
Their rise is reminiscent of the emergence of U.S. companies post-World War II.
Today, Chinese companies account for more than half of the top five firms across
the Banking, Automobile, Crude Oil Production, Engineering and Construction,
Logistics, Metals, Mining, Petroleum Refining and Telecom sectors. Yet, their
behavior differs from that of traditional multinationals. While for American com-
panies the priority has been the optimization of shareholder-value, Chinese com-
panies have prioritized growth over profits. This expansion has moved beyond
natural markets to advanced economies, particularly in service-based,
consumer-related or other “new” industries such as renewable energies. Likewise,
the increased involvement in global Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) is one
illustration of this ascent. The competitive advantages are diverse. First, Chinese
MNCs have lower production costs compared to their counterparts in advanced
economies. Second, they follow a strategy in which revenues are maximized at the
expense of gross margins. Third, since a majority of customers in China still yield
low purchasing power, Chinese companies are prone to design products/services in
more cost-effective ways.

This chapter is based on the Emerging Markets Institute Report 2017. Casanova, L.; Miroux,
A. 2017. Emerging Market Multinationals Report: Emerging Multinationals in a Changing
World. Emerging Markets Institute in collaboration with the OECD development Center. SC
Johnson School of Management. Cornell University. http://bit.ly/eMNCreport. The contribution
of Abdel Bouhamidi, Research Assistant is gratefully acknowledged as well as the editors:
Eudes Lopes and Jennifer Wholey Lehmann.

L. Casanova (&)  A. Miroux


Emerging Markets Institute, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business,
370 Sage Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-6201, USA
e-mail: Lourdes.casanova@cornell.edu
A. Miroux
e-mail: Am2449@cornell.edu

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 1


A. Vecchi (ed.), Chinese Acquisitions in Developed Countries, Measuring
Operations Performance, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04251-6_1
2 L. Casanova and A. Miroux


Keywords Chinese multinationals Emerging multinationals (eMNCs)
 
State owned enterprises (SOEs) Natural markets Mergers and acquisitions
Internationalization

1 Introduction

Chinese multinationals are making their presence felt, not merely in numbers, but
also in scale and scope. Their increased power has enabled their greater involve-
ment in global mergers and acquisitions and propelled them to the highest levels of
competition among leading global brands. Chinese MNCs operate with a different
philosophy than Western multinationals, who have traditionally focused on maxi-
mizing profits and value for shareholders. They have easier access to key resources
such as labor, and due to differences in cost structures, they may not need to
optimize profits or productivity per employee relative to U.S. or European com-
panies. SOEs are still prevalent in emerging markets (though their numbers are
decreasing), and for those companies, profits are not necessarily as important as for
private and public companies. In what follows, we examine the potentials and
ongoing constraints that befall the market landscape in China.

1.1 Major Economies Represented in the


Global Fortune 500

China’s presence among the Fortune Global 500 surged since 2005 and accelerated
since 2008. It is now almost converging with the U.S. The country’s increasing
prominence in this ranking is noteworthy in the years analyzed, China was the only
emerging market country that increased its number of companies in the Global 500:
from 98 in 2015, to 103 in 2016 and 108 in 2017 (see Fig. 1). Meanwhile, all
other emerging markets either observed no change or faced a decline during this
period.
As shown in Fig. 2, while the top-ranked 108 companies from China have more
or equivalent assets and labor on the payroll than those from the U.S., they continue
to generate less revenue and approximately half the profit of their U.S. counterparts.
As Fig. 2 demonstrates, Chinese companies’ profit margins are lower than those of
U.S. firms; their return on assets1 (profit to asset ratio) is also lower than that of U.S.
firms (1.2% vs. 2.2%). The same gap exists in return on employment (1.6% for
Chinese firms versus 3.8% for U.S. firms).

1
Return on Assets indicates how profitable a company is relative to its total assets. ROA gives an
idea as to how efficient management is at using its assets to generate earnings.
The Rise of Chinese Multinationals … 3

Number of companies in 200


180 China
U.S., 133
Fortune Global 500
160
175 Korea
140
120 India
100
80 China, 108 Brazil
60 16
Korea, 15 México
40
20 U.S.
0 Brazil, India, 7
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 México, 2

Fig. 1 Growth in representation on Global Fortune 500 (2005–17). Source Authors’ analysis
based on Fortune Global 500 data 2017, accessed August 2017

• Including Hong Kong

Fig. 2 Comparison of Chinese (including Hong Kong) and U.S. companies along four variables:
aggregated revenues, profits, labor and assets (Fortune Global 500 2017). Source Authors’ analysis
based on Fortune Global 500 data 2016, accessed August 2017

1.2 Profitability of Selected Industries

We next compare firms’ efficiency and operations across sectors, using margins and
return indicators. In Fig. 3, we compare profit margins between the U.S. and China,
the two countries with the most firms in the Fortune Global 500. Our analysis
4 L. Casanova and A. Miroux

20.00%
(25) (14)
14.20% 14.99%
15.00% (28)
10.72% (133)
10.00% (8)
7.52% (108)
7.06%
5.23%
5.00% (13) (22)
2.02% 1.34%
0.00%
Energy (35) Financials (53) Technology (22) All companies (500)
United States China
*Industries selecƟon criteria: More than 25 companies per industry and more than 10 companies
by industry for each group (either G-7 or E20).
Number of companies in parenthesis.

Fig. 3 Gross profit margin of companies from China versus U.S. in selected industries* (Fortune
Global 500 2017). Source Authors’ analysis based on data from S&P Capital IQ—Fortune Global
500 Financials accessed by August 2017

10.00% (14)
9.26% (8)
6.77%

5.00% (133)
(13) (25) (108)
(22) (28) 2.24%
1.13% 1.13% 1.19%
0.72% 0.86%
0.00%
Energy (35) Financials (53) Technology (22) All companies (500)
United States China
*Industries selecƟon criteria: More than 25 companies per industry and more than 10 companies
by industry in each group (either G-7 or E20).
Number of companies in parenthesis.

Fig. 4 ROA of companies from China and U.S. in selected industries* (Fortune Global 500
2017). Source Authors’ analysis based in data from S&P Capital IQ—Fortune Global 500
Financials accessed by August 2017

shows that the gap in the Technology industry between these two countries is quite
wide. While the U.S. has better profit margins than the G-7s average in all the
selected industries, this is not the case for China.
There is a significant difference between the ROA of U.S. and Chinese firms in
the Fortune Global 500 (Fig. 4): at 1.19%, the average Chinese firm ROA is about
half that of a U.S. firm (2.24%). The difference is particularly marked in
Technology. As in the case of profit margins, the U.S. stands out in its group, doing
better than the G-7 average.
The Rise of Chinese Multinationals … 5

1.3 Market Capitalization and Valuation

In analyzing market capitalization and Total Enterprise Value (TEV), we draw on


all available companies in the Standard & Poor’s Capital IQ database accessed by
July and August 2017. For the capital structure, profitability and valuation analysis,
we excluded companies classified within the financial services in light of the dif-
ference in the way these companies operate, finance their activity and manage their
assets and liabilities.
China is the second-largest country by market capitalization within the Global
Fortune 500. According to data from Capital IQ in August 2017, Chinese market
capitalization was *15% of the U.S.’ value at $11,283 billion. Remarkably, this
level of capitalization was achieved with one-third of the number of companies (40
Chinese vs. 120 U.S. public companies) in the sample. Capital markets heavily
influence both the U.S. economy and company capital structure; two of the most
important global Stock Markets (NYSE, NASDAQ) are in the U.S.
Chinese companies are younger and do not rely as heavily on stock markets.
Some of the biggest corporations are state-owned and do not trade on any stock
exchange. An example of the latter discrepancy is the Chinese electricity company
State Grid, the second-largest company in the world by revenues after U.S.-based
Wal-Mart. State Grid developed ultra-high voltage technology capable of reducing
energy losses during transmission. Beyond the integration of national grids in
China, this technology would facilitate grid interconnection between countries. The
company, which is present in thirteen markets and invests in South-East Asia,
Brazil and Greece, envisions a Global Interconnection scheme to create a super-grid
spanning the world. State Grid does not appear among the top-ranked international
companies in the world, but is rapidly expanding internationally, with far-reaching
consequences. In 2017, China was included in Morgan Stanley Capital
International2 (MSCI), as well as the possible privatizations of Chinese SOEs might
lead a greater proportion of China’s largest corporations to trade on stock markets.
Figure 5 displays the average total market capitalization for public companies
featured in the Fortune Global 500. The line represents the total number of public
companies included in the list.
The average Chinese company’s market capitalization in the Fortune Global 500
is around $42 billion—about 44% of the average market capitalization of American
companies. In July 2016, the largest Chinese company by market capitalization was
ICBC with a market capitalization of $224.6 billion, ranking 16th in the world. The
ranking of Top 15 companies by market capitalization is overwhelmingly
American, with 14 U.S. companies in July 2017.

2
Chinese stocks rallied to a new high in the following China’s inclusion in the MSCI index in June
2017. It remains to be seen if the rally will continue. Source; https://www.ft.com/content/
f648b8f6-550f-11e7-80b6-9bfa4c1f83d2, accessed August 2017.
6 L. Casanova and A. Miroux

$12,000 140

Number of Publicly
traded Companies
$10,000 120

US$ Billions
$8,000 100
80
$6,000
60
$4,000 40
$2,000 20
$- 0

Total Market CapitalizaƟon Publicly Traded Companies

Fig. 5 Total market capitalization by country for publicly traded companies, Fortune Global 500.
Source Authors’ analysis based on data from S&P Capital IQ—Fortune Global 500 Financials,
accessed in July 2017 (latest data available)

$120
US$ Billions

$100
$80
$60
$40
$20
$-

Average TEV Average Market Cap

Fig. 6 Average total enterprise value (Total enterprise value (TEV) is a used to compare
companies with varying levels of debt. TEV = Market capitalization + interest bearing debt +
preferred stock − excess cash.) and market capitalization by country according to companies in
Global Fortune 500. Source Authors’ analysis based in data from S&P Capital IQ—Fortune
Global 500 2017 Financials accessed by August 2017

TEV3 provides a more comprehensive valuation of a firm than market capital-


ization since, in addition to market capitalization, Total Enterprise Value also
includes debt and preferred stocks minus excess cash and equivalents. Figure 6
demonstrates that the average U.S. TEV is the highest of all countries in the Fortune
Global 500. China is the only country that has a lower average TEV than market
capitalization. This is due to excess cash held by Chinese companies, largely for

3
TEV = Market Capitalization + Interest Bearing Debt + Preferred Stock − Excess Cash. TEV is
useful to compare companies with different capital structures (for instance with different levels of
debt) since the firm’s value is unaffected by its choice of capital structure.
The Rise of Chinese Multinationals … 7

186% 172%
121%
105% 107% 97%
87% 84%
41.8% 55.0% 41.6% 46.5% 52.1% 54% 47.4%
38.3% 41.2% 30.2%
10% 9.2%

United United France Switzerland Germany China Brazil Korea India Russia
States Kingdom
% Debt/Equity % Debt/Capital

Fig. 7 Capital structure analysis by country for non-financial companies in the 2016 Fortune
Global 500 (Note Excludes financial services companies). Source Authors’ analysis based on data
from S&P Capital IQ—Fortune Global 500 Financials 2016, accessed by July 2017

52.10%

12.60% 9.68% 5.85% 5.51% 4.72% 4.35% 3.51% 3.37% 2.65%

Brazil Russia India Germany France Mexico China


United Korea Switzerland
States
*The lending rate is the bank rate that usually meets the short- and medium-term financing needs
of the private sector. This rate is normally differentiated according to creditworthiness of borrowers
and objectives of financing. The terms and conditions attached to these rates differ by country,
however, limiting their comparability.

Fig. 8 Lending interest rate* (%) from selected economies with 2016 data from the World Bank.
Source Authors’ analysis based in data from World Bank (International Monetary Fund,
International Financial Statistics and data files). Available at: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/
FR.INR.LEND, accessed in July 2017

precautionary motives.4 Excess cash represents a cost, but it is indicative of how


Chinese companies operate in order to avoid financial default, especially in an era
of slower growth.

1.4 Capital Structure Analysis

On average, companies from emerging economies such as China rely heavily on


debt compared to equity (Fig. 7). For China, the average debt to equity ratio is high,
though U.S. companies also rely on debt for several reasons: low interest rates,
lower perception of risk and the wider availability of financing options.
The differences in interest rates in emerging economies compared to Western
countries (see Fig. 8) cannot fully explain these results. (Western interest rates are

4
See https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-02/china-inc-has-1-trillion-in-cash-that-
it-s-too-scared-to-spend, August 2, 2016.
8 L. Casanova and A. Miroux

comparatively quite low.) China is a notable exception: the low level of interest
rates supports high debt-to-equity ratios. In addition, a number of the largest
Chinese firms are SOEs, which do not rely on stock market financing.

2 Comparing Price Competitiveness Among Chinese


eMNCs5

In this section, we compare prices of Chinese products and services those from
America and Japan, accounting for diverse price policies in different countries and
market segments.
Our selection is based on:
(1) Comparable characteristics and functionalities;
(2) Company origin;
(3) High volume of sales,
(4) E-commerce availability;
(5) Availability to U.S. consumers;
(6) Products or services in which companies from E20 and G7 countries compete.
We restrict the analysis to the following product categories:
(1) Technology products: laptops, desktops, tablets and mobile phones;
(2) White goods: fridges, air conditioners and televisions;
(3) Cars;
(4) Apparel: sports shoes;
(5) And airline tickets.
Figure 9 charts list prices for five laptop brands sold on Amazon, the U.S.
e-commerce retailer. We define characteristics that a laptop should possess based on
different uses: home, work, travel, and gaming. Within each category, we analyzed
Amazon’s recommendations. The prices listed refer to the average cost for a laptop
in each category for the selected brands. We observe that Apple is consistently the
most expensive option in each category. In the gaming and work laptop product
category, the price differences are much narrower (excluding Apple).
In Fig. 10, we compare desktop computer prices using the same method as in
Fig. 9. In this figure, we observe a similar trend: Apple is the most expensive in
every category, followed by Dell, which Chinese brands now closely tracking
Dell’s prices. In such a fiercely competitive environment, one could envision Dell
struggling to maintain its edge.
Figures 11 and 12 show each brand’s prices for their latest versions of smart
phones and tablets. Again, the most expensive brand analyzed is Apple, but
competitor brands show remarkable differences. While Apple has continued to

5
This research was carried out in July and August 2017.
The Rise of Chinese Multinationals … 9

3,000
2,399
2,500
1,758
Price ($)

2,000
1,199 1,375
1,500 1,050 1,024 1,000
909
1,000 580 499 499 488 699 699 580 550 724
500 350
280
500
0
Dell

Dell

Dell

Dell
Acer

Lenovo

Acer

Lenovo

Acer

Lenovo

Lenovo

Acer
Asus

Asus

Asus

Asus
MacBook

MacBook

MacBook

MacBook
Brand

Fig. 9 Laptop prices for top U.S. and Chinese brands (July 2017). Source Authors’ analysis based
on Amazon U.S., www.amazon.com accessed July 2017

4,000 3,449
3,000
Price ($)

2,000 1,450 1,393 1,249


1,149 1,149
565 500 479 649
1,000 375 440 410 375 350
0
Acer

Acer

Acer
Dell

Dell

Dell
Lenovo

Asus

Asus

Lenovo

Asus

Lenovo
MacBook

MacBook

MacBook
Brand

Fig. 10 Desktop prices for top U.S. and Chinese brands (July 2017)

1,800 1,699
1,563
1,600
1,400
1,200 1,049
Price ($)

1,000 814
800 659 640
558 599 560 499
600
400 308
180
200
0
Apple Huawei Samsung Oppo R9s Xiaomi Mi Asus
iPhone Galaxy
Phone
Brand

Fig. 11 Prices of cheapest and most expensive mobile phones by brand for top U.S. and Chinese
brands (July 2017). Source Authors’ analysis based on Amazon U.S., www.amazon.com accessed
July 2017
10 L. Casanova and A. Miroux

1,400 1,305

1,200

1,000
776
Price ($)
750
800

600 460 500

400 329 300


171
200

0
Apple iPad Huawei Pad Samsung Galaxy Xiaomi Mi Pad
Tab
Brand

Fig. 12 Prices for cheapest and most expensive tablets for top U.S. and Chinese brands (July
2017). Source Authors’ analysis based on Amazon U.S., www.amazon.com accessed in July 2017

boast the highest profits and valuations in the stock market, Huawei (see Box) has
the second highest average price. In China, the Huawei phone is the bestseller rather
than Apple.
Our analyses demonstrate:
– A narrower price difference among smart phones than tablets. Huawei’s prices
may even soon converge with Apple for the most expensive phone. The gap
between the two companies is small, indicating that Huawei is poised to position
itself also higher in the market.
– Smartphone companies are split into two segments: those that are price com-
petitive (e.g., Oppo, Xiaomi, Asus, etc.) and those are quality competitive (e.g.,
Apple, Huawei).
Chinese smart phones (e.g., OnePlus, Meizu, or Asus) are entering other
emerging markets, as well as Europe and the U.S. A new business model now
drives the typically low prices of Chinese phones: all Android manufacturers source
most phone components from China and assemble their phones in the country as
well. Chinese smart phone companies reinforce this low-cost model with a price
strategy similar to that of G-7 economies. Chinese customers are less willing than
U.S. customers to pay more for a similar product based on brand. American cus-
tomers’ are often more willing to pay higher prices because of their higher pur-
chasing power, brand recognition and loyalty.
In Fig. 13, we examine price differentials among white goods from Chinese and
American companies. The line shows the average price of each brand. The price of
a Chinese brand refrigerator is lower than the average, and much lower than that of
American brand refrigerator. As for televisions and air conditioners, Chinese
products are in some cases more expensive than those from Japanese or American
companies. This indicates that Chinese firms are not limiting themselves to the
Compact Refrigerators (2.7 - 3.3 ft³) Air Conditioners (300 - 400 ft² room)
344
400 296 500 399
349 Average
167 143 Average 375 281 263 243 262
200 99 99 79 175 229
250

Price ($)
Price ($)
0 125
Summit General Garrison Midea Haier Arctic King Hisense 0
Electric Frigidaire Honeywell RCA Arctic King Haier Midea
US China US China
The Rise of Chinese Multinationals …

Brand Brand

2,250 1,989
1,661 Televisions Overall Average
1,573
1,500 1,077
916 1,026
741 800 753 673 635
750

Price ($)
0
LG Samsung Sony Sharp Hitachi TCL LeEco Hisense Vizio Sceptre
Korea Japan China US

Brand

Fig. 13 Prices for white goods by top U.S. and Chinese brands. Source Authors’ analysis based on Wal-Mart U.S.A, https://www.walmart.com/ accessed
August 2017
11
12

Full-Size Sedan Cars Coupe Cars


46,550 46,575
50,000 35,882 40,370 49,990
60,000 35,700
40,000 24,125 26,689
30,000 40,000
20,000 20,000
10,000
0 0
Kia Genesis Toyota InfiniƟ Chevrolet Chevrolet Nissan InfiniƟ
Korea Japan US US Japan

StarƟng Price ($)


StarƟng Price ($)
Brand Brand

Basic SUVs Luxury Cars


60,000 39,345 69,050 62,450 51,075 56,305 55,390
26,967 24,911 24,230 22,783 1,00,000
40,000 50,000
20,000
0 0
InfiniƟ Toyota Nissan Kia Chevrolet Genesis Hyundai Kia InfiniƟ Acura

Japan Korea US Korea Japan


StarƟng Price ($)

StarƟng Price ($)


Brand Brand

Fig. 14 Prices for various cars by top U.S. and E20 brands (Note Blue for American Brands, Lighter Blue for Japanese and Yellow for Korean). Source
Authors’ analysis based on https://www.edmunds.com/ accessed July 2017
L. Casanova and A. Miroux
The Rise of Chinese Multinationals … 13

250 230
200 Nike Li Ning
Price ($)

160
150 130
85 80 80 90
100 60 60 55 55
70
40 50 40
50 30 20 28 20 22 20 30 22 20
15 16 13 20
0

Running Basketball Yoga


Category / Product

Fig. 15 Comparison of prices for sports merchandise between the leading Chinese and American
brand. Source Authors’ analysis based on http://www.nike.com/ and http://www.lining.com/.
Accessed August 2017

lower end of the market. In addition, American companies are now competing on
price with their Japanese and Chinese counterparts.
Figure 14 illustrates a price analysis for cars. Chevrolet, and other American
brands, are similarly priced or lower priced relative to Japanese brands. The
Chinese automotive industry holds a modest presence in G-7 countries. We believe
that the competitive landscape will change as the industry moves towards electric
and self-driving vehicles China is moving ambitiously to the forefront with com-
panies like LeEco or NIO, which may become formidable global competitors.
As discussed, Chinese multinationals compete mainly on price. Figure 15
compares sports merchandise prices between a major Chinese company, Li Ning,
and Nike. Li Ning is cheaper than Nike in every category. In fact, Nike’s prices are
two to seven times higher than Li Ning’s.
Lastly, we look at airline ticket prices, comparing U.S. and Chinese carriers.
Figure 16 demonstrates that Chinese airlines charge lower prices relative to

$7,580
$8,000
$7,000
$6,000
$5,000
$4,000 $3,241
$3,000
$2,000
$553 $852 $734
$1,000 $429
$-

NYC -> Beijing Los Angeles -> Hong Kong NYC -> Beijing

Fig. 16 Airfare comparison of one-way prices non-stop between Chinese airlines and American
carriers. Source Authors’ analysis based on https://www.expedia.com/, accessed in August 2017
14 L. Casanova and A. Miroux

American carriers, despite increased competition in the airline industry. Emerging


markets’ airlines have only served the U.S. and Europe for five to 10 years, but
these carriers have already substantially disrupted the global airline landscape.
While our price comparison exercise is exploratory in nature and should be
replicated with a much larger sample, it suggests that heightened competition is
already taking place between among G-7 and E20 brands and services, with China
as a clear emerging leader.

3 Can Chinese Brands Gain Global Dominance?

We turn to the top firms represented in two global listings: Brandirectory’s 500
most valuable brands and the BrandZ’s top 100 ranking. Brandirectory rates
companies based on perceived brand value—i.e., whether a company’s brand
recognition affects the prices it can charge for a product or service. American
companies with excellent brand recognition include Coca-Cola, Google, Facebook,
and Apple, for example. G-7 economies have successfully used brand value as a
strategy to compete by differentiation.
While we observe that the number of Chinese companies in the Fortune list is
closing in on the number of U.S. companies, Chinese firms have much work to do
to close the gap with U.S. companies in brand equity and recognition (see Fig. 17).
American companies’ competitive edge is not just in branding; their success also
suggests competitiveness in differentiation. Chinese firms have not yet reached the
same level of differentiation as American companies, though they have narrowed

Fig. 17 U.S. and Chinese 197


companies in Fortune Global 133
108
500 and brand value rankings. 57 54
Source Authors’ analysis 14
based on data from Fortune
Global 500 2017: Fortune 500 Brand Directory BrandZ Top 100
Brandirectory www. Top 500
brandirectory.com/league_
tables/table/global-500-2017, United States China
accessed by September 2017.
54%
Top 100: BrandZ www.
brandZ.com, accessed 39%
September 2017
27%
22%
11% 14%

Fortune 500 Brand Directory BrandZ Top 100


Top 500
The Rise of Chinese Multinationals … 15

the gap in revenues and size. On the other hand, Chinese companies tend to be
younger than their American counterparts; global competition is relatively new
foray for them. There are, however, some exceptions. Small numbers of Chinese
companies have made great strides in their brand value.
However, there is a growing trend that suggests Chinese and other E20 brands
will climb these rankings soon enough. Additional analysis is required to determine
how emerging market companies are making efforts to expand their brands inter-
nationally. With growing interest, we look to three Chinese companies which are
collectively referred to as “BAT”: Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. Much like
American powerhouses Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple, each member of
this Chinese trio is gaining recognition as tech leaders in China and abroad.
As shown in Fig. 18, nearly all of the top 10 brands were from G-7 countries
between 2009 and 2017. During this time, the top 10 brands from emerging countries
all showed improvement but are still a far cry from reaching G-7 brand recognition.
That being said, several Chinese companies such as ICBC, China Mobile and China
Construction Bank hold places in the top 15 best ranked brands in the world.
In Fig. 19, we observe that all of China’s Top 10 brands are also in the Top 50
positions of BrandZ; in 2009, China only had four brands represented. While G-7

China G7 Others
6 10 11 14 1 9
23 29 18
32 33 34 2
43 44 40 25
57 3 34
4 43
91 5 54
101 61 63 60 62
6 65 67
121 7 7 81 85
8 8 90 87
151
9
171
181 10
11 124 125
215 12 140
13 150

Fig. 18 Top 10 Chinese brands in China versus G-7 and other global brands, 2009–2017. Source
Authors’ analysis based on Fortune Global 500 2017: BrandZ, Brandirectory www.brandirectory.
com/league_tables/table/global-500-2017, accessed September 2017

2017 Rank Brand 2017 Rank Brand 2017 Rank Brand


10 ICBC 6 Samsung Group 103 Tata
11 China Mobile 60 Hyundai 191 Airtel
14 China ConstrucƟon Bank 62 SK Group 222 LIC
23 AliBaba 11 2 LG Group 251 Infosys
29 Bank of China 300 LoƩe group 294 State Bank of India
32 Sinopec 325 KT 345 Reliance Industries
33 PetroChina 339 Kia Motors 369 Indian Oil
34 Agricultural Bank of China 390 Korea Electric Power 378 HCL Technologies
40 Huawei 426 Shinhan financial group 498 Larsen Toubro
47 Tencent 434 KB Financial Group

Fig. 19 Top 10 brands for China, 2017. Source Authors’ analysis based on Fortune Global 500
2017: BrandZ, Brandirectory www.brandirectory.com/league_tables/table/global-500-2017,
accessed September 2017
16 L. Casanova and A. Miroux

countries like America and Japan continue to lead the pack, E20 companies have
made significant, noticeable progress in global brand recognition.

4 Conclusion

The last two decades have witnessed a dramatic rise in the global presence of
Chinese multinationals. The global dominance of Chinese multinationals is sup-
ported by their increased presence in the Global Fortune 500 and by the fact that
more than half of top five firms across a number of key sectors such as Banking,
Automobile and Engineering and Construction are Chinese.
As our analyses show, the pattern of Chinese companies existing only as
low-cost competitors is changing. The price differential is shrinking between those
of Chinese firms and its G-7 counterparts, and may soon converge in some con-
sumer markets. Chinese companies are putting greater emphasis on branding, with
Lenovo in laptops and Huawei in smart phones leading the way. Meanwhile,
China’s long-held cheap labor advantage is slowly eroding. Apple, the world
profit-leader, with high valuations based on brand value, may soon see the con-
sequences of this transition.
The landscape of global competition is changing. The dominance of Chinese
multinationals can be expected to increase and the competitive basis will continue
to shift to an increased focus on branding, technological innovation and quality.
Collaborating and competing effectively with these new global players—Chinese
multinationals—will become an important factor in the success of every multina-
tional that wishes to succeed globally.

References

Casanova L, Miroux A (2017) Emerging market multinationals report: Emerging Multinationals in


a Changing World. Emerging Markets Institute, S.C. Johnson School of Management. Cornell
University. http://bit.ly/eMNCreport/
Fortune (2017) Fortune global 500 directory website. http://fortune.com/fortune500/. Accessed
Aug 2017, Jan 2017
Standard & Poor’s (2017) Capital IQ. Database. Accessed through S.C. Johnson School of
Management Library in July and August 2017. Cornell University
UNCTAD (2006) World investment report. FDI from developing and transition economies;
implications for development. In: United Nations conference on trade and development, Geneva
UNCTAD (2015) UNCTADStat. In: United Nations conference on trade and development. http://
unctadstat.unctad.org/EN/Index.html. Accessed 15 Dec 2015
UNCTAD (2016) FDI recovery is unexpectedly strong, but lacks productive impact, global
investment trends monitor no. 22. In: United Nations conference on trade and development,
20 Jan 2016. http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/webdiaeia2016d1_en.pdf
Chinese State-Owned Enterprises
in the Market for Corporate Control.
Evidences and Rationalities
of Acquisition in Western Countries

Alessandro Baroncelli and Matteo Landoni

Abstract In this chapter, we propose an exploratory analysis of the Chinese


acquisition of foreigner companies by state-owned enterprises during the last ten
years (2008–2017). Cross-border merger and acquisition (M&A) carried out by
Chinese companies have shown strong growth, and have gradually emerged as the
dominant vehicle for Chinese outward investment. Our aim is to understand the
main dynamics underling the phenomenon of Chinese state-owned enterprises
acquisitions in advanced countries. For this purpose, in our analysis we target only
mergers and acquisition of companies in western countries in the last ten years. Our
data collection returned a sample of around 150 cases. We use both quantitative and
qualitative data to get insights about the main patterns of acquisition, industry
choice, and country location. Moreover, we try to fill the gap related to the
understanding of the rationalities for such strategic-asset-seeking M&A. Our con-
clusion contributes to the literature on international M&A and supports the
business-oriented strategy of state-owned enterprises in dealing with cross border
acquisitions.

Keywords Chinese state-owned enterprises  Merger and acquisitions



Cross border M&As International strategy  M&As rationalities
Corporate control

1 Introduction

Chinese direct investments have become the subject of growing media and political
attention, as increasingly internationally minded Chinese companies have carried
out a campaign of outbound M&A, followed by green field investment across the
world. However, this shopping spree is not quite what it appears, having contrasted

A. Baroncelli  M. Landoni (&)


ICRIM Center of Research, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore,
Via Necchi 5, 20123 Milan, Italy
e-mail: matteo.landoni@unicatt.it

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 17


A. Vecchi (ed.), Chinese Acquisitions in Developed Countries, Measuring
Operations Performance, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04251-6_2
18 A. Baroncelli and M. Landoni

results in relation to the target countries of acquisitions. While the bulk of Chinese
acquisitions abroad are taking place in emerging Asian markets, the Chinese cross
border M&A deals which mostly attract the attention of the media are those carried
out in the western world.
The rise of Chinese FDI has been increasingly investigated with a focus on
motivation, determinants and strategy (e.g. Deng 2004, 2007, 2009; Buckley et al.
2007; Morck et al. 2008; Yamakawa et al. 2008). Zhang and Ebbers (2010) pro-
vided an overview of China’s overseas acquisition investigating about the reasons
why—according to the evidence they were able to collect—about half of China’s
overseas acquisition attempts have not been completed.
This chapter focuses particularly on Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs)
acquisitions of companies in advanced countries (North America, Western Europe,
Oceania) in the period 2009–2017, the years after the last financial crisis. It pro-
vides an updated analysis of the Chinese SOEs M&A aiming at analyzing their
entry mode and the industries they have targeted. The chapter contributes to the
growing literature about Chinese cross borders M&A and shed lights on SOEs
activism in the market for corporate acquisition describing their behavior and
dispelling their rationalities and strategic motivation.

2 Background: China Going Global

Since 1978, when economic reform started, China has integrated into the world
economy very quickly. It emerged in the world market first as an exporter and
foreign direct investment (FDI) recipient, then as an investor as well. Figure 1 show
the growing trend of Chinese FDI on the total global stock of FDI. Although
China’s FDI flows as a proportion of global flows have experienced some volatility,
in recent years they have stayed at above 5% trailing only the US and UK.1 In 2016
reached 5.1%, behind the US and Hong Kong.
Companies form emerging market economies are increasingly involved in cross
border mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The global market for corporate control is
not changing only the geography of the operations, but also the type of actors
involved. For the first, the direction of investment is turning around, with an
increasing number of acquisitions by emerging markets companies into developed
countries counterpoising the other way around. For the second, many emerging
countries are not equal to free market economies as in most of the western coun-
tries; thus, a relevant number of M&A operations on the axis emerging
markets-to-developed countries witnesses the involvement of non-private firms,
being either state-owned enterprises (SOEs) or Sovereign Funds.

1
According to data from UNCTAD. See: UNCTADstat, http://unctadstat.unctad.org/EN/Index.
html.
Chinese State-Owned Enterprises in the Market … 19

14

12

10

0
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Fig. 1 China’s FDI as a proportion of global FDI. Source Authors’ elaboration from
UNCTAD FDI statistics

This is certainly the case of China too. In 1982 China made its first overseas
acquisition. However, its presence in the world merger and acquisition market was
almost irrelevant—with only a couple of acquisitions recorded each year—until
1992, when Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping visited South China and called for the
opening-up of the Chinese economy to be accelerated.
According to UNCTAD (2005, 2008), between 2004 and 2007 the value of
China’s overseas merger and acquisitions grew more than ten times (from 1.1 to
15.5 billion US$). Providing credit and loan support for overseas projects the
Chinese government strongly supported SOEs and made possible such a growth to
take place. Thus, SOEs’ overseas M&A became an important way of FDI entry to
the outside world (Global M&A Research Center 2007).
According to McKinsey & Company (2017) from 2011 to 2016 outbound M&A
volume has risen by 33% per year. In 2016, Chinese companies spent 227 billion
US$, six times what foreign companies spent acquiring Chinese firms. And Chinese
companies were involved in ten of the largest deals worldwide in 2016 and many of
them refer directly to the state, or to a local government. In both cases, these
companies are controlled by a public authority.
As China’s own domestic industry is undergoing sustained upgrade and trans-
formation following the 18th CPC National Congress, where technological and
business model innovation was elevated to the core of China’s development
strategy, Chinese companies are beginning to make more rational assessments of
their overseas investments which determines a major impact on the main sectors
and regions where Chinese companies have been making overseas investments. It
implies the increase of bids for high-quality international assets in western
economies.
20 A. Baroncelli and M. Landoni

Since 2012, the Chinese Government has introduced policies2 aiming at facili-
tating the country’s industrial upgrading, improving its indigenous innovation
capabilities and increasing the quality of consumption. These policies also implied a
tighter guide on companies’ outbound investments.
SOEs have been the main instrument for implementing these policies aimed at
investing in innovative companies at international level and in particular in Western
countries. Chinese public investments have also been used to establish R&D centres
and business incubators in foreign markets, useful for starting relations with
international researchers and organizations involved in innovation projects which
are consistent with the guidelines for the development of the country.
Chinese companies have been increasingly oriented at acquiring high-quality
assets that allow them to achieve critical breakthroughs in technology and to reach
levels of excellence in industries the Chinese Government considers to be strategic
to the development of the country.
Overall, such a transformation of Chinese companies driven by overseas M&A
allows also to improve the supply of quality products and services in the domestic
market and move further up the industrial value chain.
The 2007–2008 financial crisis determined two consequences: on the Western
markets it multiplied the opportunities for foreign M&As since a large number of
firms had a financial distress, in China more companies and individuals started
looking at international targets for M&A in search of assets that could deliver
higher returns than those available in the domestic market. The real estate, and
cultural, sports and entertainment sectors were those who attracted increasing
Chinese overseas investments (KPMG 2018). The total amount of China outbound
acquisitions grew dramatically, from 49 billion US$ in 2010 to 227 billion US$ in
2016. However, in absolute terms this level still remains very low in relationship to
the size of the Chinese economy and compared to other major economies.
According to McKinsey & Company (2017), Chinese companies spent around
0.9% of GDP on outbound acquisitions in 2015; EU companies spent 2.0%, and US
companies 1.3%, investing 2.4 and 3.2 times the dollar amount Chinese companies
spent respectively.
Consequently, we expect that Chinese companies will in time remain an
important part of global cross-border M&A, and that means levels of activity
substantially higher than what we have seen to date. According to EIU and IMF
(EIU 2017) China’s overseas direct investments (ODI) flows (on a
balance-of-payments basis) will return to growth in 2018 and in the years to go. The
estimates indicate a sharp rise in both the flow and the stock of Chinese ODIs
compared to the GDP (from around 130 billion US$ and 6% of GDP in 2018 to
over 250 billion US$ and 14% of GDP in 2021), and then a slight decline in 2022
(to around 210 billion US$ and 14% of GDP) (EIU 2017).

2
Please, refer to Appendix for further details on the “Going Out policy” introduced by the Chinese
central government to encourage domestic companies to go abroad to make investments, utilize
foreign reserves, establish consumer bases, as well as enhance China’s international political and
economic influence—much of which had to be accomplished through M&A.
Chinese State-Owned Enterprises in the Market … 21

Table 1 ChemChina Company Country Business sector Year


acquisitions abroad
Adisseo France Animal-feed 2006
ingredients
Parts of France Organic silicon/ 2006
Rhodia sulphide
Qenos Australia Plastic 2006
ADAMA Israel Agrichemicals 2011
Elkem Norway Silicon 2011
Pirelli Italy Tyres 2015
Syngenta Switzerland Agrichemicals 2015
Mercuria Switzerland Oil trader 2015
KraussMaffei Germany Industrial machinery 2016
Source Authors’ elaboration from EIU—Economist Intelligence
Unit (2017)

The concentration of Chinese overseas investments taking place until 2016 in


cultural, sports and entertainment sectors (including outbound M&As) and into
assets within the real estate, brought Chinese Government to tight overseas direct
investments rules to prevent illegal capital outflows (Sina English 2017).3 In August
2017, the Chinese Government enacted further restrictions on overseas investment
in assets such as real estate, hotels, cinemas, entertainment businesses and sports
clubs. Instead, Chinese companies were encouraged to strengthen their investment
cooperation with foreign high-tech and advanced manufacturing firms, and judi-
ciously expand investment in service sectors related to trade, culture and logistics
(KPMG 2018).
Those regulatory controls introduced by the Chinese Central government have
slowed M&A growth in 2017. In January 2018 the Ministry of Commerce and the
State Administration of Foreign Exchange issued rules on ODI approvals and fil-
ings, separate from NDRC 11.
The types of foreign firms that Chinese SOEs are most interested in acquiring are
those (mostly Western firms) allowing the Chinese economy to moving away from
export-driven manufacturing towards high-end, high-tech R&D and domestic
consumption. In addition to being numerous, many of China’s takeovers of Western
companies in recent years have also been huge. ChemChina acquired the Swiss
pesticide and seed producer Syngenta AG for 43 billion US$—the largest overseas
acquisition by a Chinese company to date—and emerged as the most dynamic
globaliser among China’s state enterprises (see Table 1).
Tencent took over Supercell, the Finnish mobile game developer, for 8.6 billion
US$. Zhongwang International bought out U.S. aluminium producer Aleris for
2.3 billion US$. HNA Group purchased Ingram Micro Inc. for 6.3 billion US$.
Haier Group paid 5.4 billion US$ for General Electric’s home appliance division.

3
The measures, known as “NDRC 11” build on prior ODI management rules published by the
National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in 2014.
22 A. Baroncelli and M. Landoni

300
France Germany Italy United Kingdom

250

200

150

100

50

-50

-100
2009 2010 2011 2012

Fig. 2 Chinese FDI into EU. Source Authors’ elaboration from Eurostat data

The surge in China’s investment (see Fig. 2), and the shift in its targets, was seen
as a serious challenge by most Western economies who tightened their
investment-screening rules. The US seems a particularly unwelcome place for
Chinese M&As.
Two years after it was proposed, the top U.S. financial regulator blocked the
takeover of the “venerable” Chicago Stock Exchange by Chongqing Casin
Enterprise Group, a Chinese-led investors consortium. The 136-year-old exchange
(known as the CHX) is not one of America’s biggest exchanges—it handles about
1% of U.S. trades—but it is one of its oldest. If the deal had gone through, it would
have marked the first takeover of a U.S. exchange by Chinese interests. Casin had
the goal of listing Chinese companies in the U.S., and the CHX would have
provided a route for doing this when the relevant firms did not meet the standards of
the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange.
Initially, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)
cleared the takeover indicating that it presented no national security concerns.
However, in Feb. 2018 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (2018) said
on Thursday that it could not go through as it did not comply with rules on
ownership and voting limitations.
Overall, there has been an increase in reviews by the Committee on Foreign
Investment in the US (CFIUS), which examines takeovers in America for security
threats, but it has been proportionally smaller than the increase in Chinese
investments.
Chinese State-Owned Enterprises in the Market … 23

3 Literature Analysis

3.1 SOEs in the China

SOEs have been representing a distinctive feature of the economies of both


advanced and emerging market economies. Although the number of SOEs in the
advanced countries has considerably decreased since the last quarter of past century
(Guriev and Megginson 2007), their global role has conversely increased, partic-
ularly in recent years. SOEs account for around 10% of global GDP and around
20% of global market capitalization (Bruton et al. 2015); the share of SOEs among
the Fortune Global 500 has increased from 9% in 2005 to 23% in 2014 (PWC
2015). Clearly, it follows that a large part of SOEs comes from the emerging market
countries, where they participated to the economic development in the era
of Globalization (Ralston et al. 2006; Musacchio and Lazzarini 2014; Stan
et al. 2014).
A relevant share of companies from the emerging market economies are directly
controlled and owned by the state. The Chinese government is a prominent case in this
respect. Many large Chinese companies are state-owned enterprises that refers
directly to the central state or either to public holdings or banks. Their role is dominant
in the Chinese economy, and their activities on the international M&As market is
unneglectable. China has been the fastest emerging economies in the last two decades
with a stunning growth. Being a communist country—at least formally—a large part
of the Chinese economy is controlled by the government or by other public authorities
at the local level. Most of the control resides in state-owned enterprises. Chinese SOEs
generate 29% of China’s GDP (Lee 2009), and control strategic industries (Chan and
Rosenbloom 2010; Nolan and Xiaoqiang 1999; Girma et al. 2009).
The role of SOEs in China has evolved over time. At least four phases are
distinguishable: from the communist revolution to the first years after the cultural
revolution (1949–1978), the regime used SOEs to drive a central, planned econ-
omy; in the second period, planned economy partially opened to market rules under
Deng Xiaoping (1979–1990); through the 90s most of the Chinese economy turned
toward socialist market economy; the last and current period follows the entrance of
China in the WTO in 2001 and the overall reforms of the economy (Zhong 2006).

3.2 SOEs in the Market for Mergers and Acquisition

Despite being a neglected argument in the M&A literature for a long time (Lebedev
et al. 2015, p. 660), the activism of SOEs in the M&A market has very recently
become a rising topic in scholars’ articles (Lebedev et al. 2015; Karolyi and Liao
2016; Clò et al. 2016; Bacchiocchi et al. 2017; Del Bo et al. 2017; Chen and Young
2010; Wu and Xie 2010; Xie et al. 2017; Reddy et al. 2016).
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CHAPTER VIII.
THE SHIP.

he next morning was Sunday, and Peggy’s heart


sank when her aunt said to her, “I think I won’t let
you out of my sight to-day, Peggy, for something
always happens whenever you go even into the
garden alone.”
“It seems to,” Peggy admitted sadly, but she did
not like the idea of remaining all day long with Aunt
Euphemia.
Church was long and hot, and then there was
dinner, and then Aunt Euphemia said she would
read Peggy a story. Peggy did not care about this; she wanted to go
out, and yet did not dare to say so. But just as they were sitting down
to read, Dr. Seaton came in, and Peggy was delighted to have the
reading stopped.
“I’ve come to take Peggy with me to the harbour, if you will allow
it, Miss Roberts,” he said. “I promised to take her there some day,
and I have more time this afternoon than on week days.”
Aunt Euphemia was really rather pleased to get Peggy off her
hands for an hour. She was feeling sleepy, and it was a bother to her
to look after Peggy, so she consented to Dr. Seaton’s proposal
without any difficulty.
It was not a long walk to the harbour, where there was much to
see.
“I am going to take you on to a Danish ship,” Dr. Seaton said;
“you will hear the men talking a queer language you have never
heard before, and the captain will take you down into his cabin, I
dare say.”
The Danish ship was lying close up to the quay. It was painted
very bright emerald green, and Dr. Seaton pointed out to Peggy the
figure of a woman made of wood and painted white which was at the
bow of the ship.
“Poor lady, she goes through all the storms with her white dress.
When she comes into harbour after a winter storm she is crusted
over with salt from the waves,” he said.
“Why do they have a wooden lady at the end of the ship?” Peggy
asked.
“Because they think it brings luck to the ship,” said Dr. Seaton.
They came to the side of the quay, and he called to some of the
sailors, and they came running forward to lift Peggy on board.
Sailors are always specially
clean and tidy on Sunday,
dressed in their best clothes.
They were such nice-looking
men—tall, with yellow hair; and
Peggy noticed the rings in their
ears at once. Of course, she
couldn’t speak to them, or at
least they couldn’t understand
what she said; but the captain
took her hand, and led her all
round the ship, letting her look
at everything she wanted to see
—the huge anchor, all red with
rust, that took ever so many
men to lift; and what interested
Peggy more than anything—the cargo of tubs that the ship had
brought over. There were tubs of every imaginable size, down to tiny
ones of white wood.
“Oh, I could wash my doll’s clothes in these!” Peggy cried. She
wanted one dreadfully, and yet didn’t know how to get it, for the man
wouldn’t understand about her doll. As she was standing there
saying, “Doll, doll, doll,” and looking wistfully at the dear little tubs,
Dr. Seaton came round again from the cabin where he had been
seeing a boy with a broken arm.
“Oh, I do want a tub to wash my doll’s clothes in so dreadfully!”
Peggy cried, “and he doesn’t understand what I mean.”
Dr. Seaton said something in German, and in a minute the
captain began to pull out dozens of tubs for Peggy to choose from.
But she was not quite pleased till she had explained through Dr.
Seaton that she wanted to buy the tub. “I would never ask for
anything,” she explained—“mother doesn’t let me do that; and I’ve
got a whole shilling of my own to pay it with.”
Dr. Seaton had to explain this to the captain, and they both
laughed a great deal.
“But you must pay it for me just now please, Dr. Seaton, because
I haven’t my shilling with me,” Peggy explained; and then a horrid
fear overcame her that perhaps Dr. Seaton did not carry so much
money about with him either, and she would have to go away without
her tub; and he had told her that the ship would sail next morning!
She began to look very dismal at this thought, while Dr. Seaton
was feeling in his pocket; but to her great relief he drew out quite a
handful of shillings, and gave one to the captain, who took it and
laughed again.
“There now, Peggy; you can choose which you like best,” he said.
It took Peggy a very long time to
make up her mind. At last she chose a
beautiful little tub, oval shaped, bound
with three hoops of white wood, and
with two handles to lift it by. Dr. Seaton
wanted to hold it for her, but Peggy
wouldn’t let it out of her own hands,
she was so well pleased with it.
The captain told her that the tubs came from a place in Russia
with a funny name—Archangel; and that pleased Peggy even more,
because it was so much more interesting to have an Archangel tub
than an ordinary Scotch or English one.
Then the captain led the way down into his cabin. The cabin of a
ship like this is not like that of a large passenger steamer. It is almost
as small and dark as a cupboard, and has only just room for a tiny
table and two or three chairs. The table was securely fixed to the
floor, so that when the sea was rough with big waves it should not
slide about.
The captain brought out from a cupboard a funny-shaped bottle,
and the smallest glasses Peggy had ever seen. He poured a little
stuff out of the bottle into the glasses, and offered one to Dr. Seaton,
who took it and smiled; then the captain took one, and held it out,
and knocked the edge of the little glasses together, making a tinkling
sound like a bell.
“What does he do that for?” Peggy asked.
“It’s a way of being friendly and polite in Denmark,” Dr. Seaton
replied.
Then they both smiled and nodded again, and each drank off the
stuff from the glass.
“Let me taste, please,” said Peggy, standing on tip-toe by the
table.
“You would think it horrid,” said Dr. Seaton, laughing; “it would
burn your throat.”
“Oh, just a tiny taste—just the tip of my tongue; I want to so
much,” said Peggy.
So the captain poured another drop into the tiny glass, and
tinkled the edge against his own; and Peggy, thinking she must
imitate Dr. Seaton’s manners, bowed and smiled and tried to give the
same funny gulp down of the liquid as he had done. But there was
only a drop at the bottom of the glass, and that drop was such horrid
stuff, it was like trying to swallow mustard, Peggy thought. She
coughed, and coughed, and coughed till her eyes filled with tears,
and both the men stood laughing at her.
“That will cure you of drinking
habits, young woman,” said Dr.
Seaton, “Now we must say good-bye
and come home.”
Peggy was very sorry to leave the
ship, for there seemed to be all
manner of queer things to see there
still. But she said good-bye to the
captain very nicely—so nicely that he
told her to wait for a minute; and going
to the cupboard, he drew out from it a
huge scarlet shell, which he handed to
Peggy with a bow.
“O Peggy, that is a present you will like!” said Dr. Seaton.
Peggy could scarcely believe her own good luck. The shell was
so perfectly beautiful; and Dr. Seaton showed her also that if she
held it to her ear she would hear a rushing noise inside it.
“O captain, thank you very, very much,” said Peggy, quite
overcome with delight.—“I think you must carry the tub, Dr. Seaton,
for I can’t give my shell out of my hands,” she said.
Dr. Seaton translated her thanks to the captain, and he seemed
very pleased, and told Peggy he had a little girl on the other side of
the sea just her age. Peggy stood still looking very uncertain and sad
at this bit of news. Then she pulled at Dr. Seaton’s hand and
whispered something to him. She felt it was her duty to say so, but it
was so difficult that she could not say it out loud. It was this,—
“Won’t his little daughter want the shell?”
She waited very impatiently to hear what answer the captain
would make; but, to her great relief, he said that his daughter had
lots of shells, because he took them home to her from almost every
voyage. Then they all shook hands, and Peggy was lifted up on to
the quay again, clasping her large red shell.
“I shall always be able to hear the sea now, even when I go home
far away from it,” she said.
When they reached Seafield, Peggy ran into her room, and came
back with a little netted purse in her hand. Out of this she took her
shilling, and gave it to Dr. Seaton for the tub. But Dr. Seaton would
not take the shilling, and Peggy was quite distressed, and turned to
Aunt Euphemia to know what she ought to do. “Please, auntie, I
bought a tub, and now Dr. Seaton won’t take my shilling,” she said.
Aunt Euphemia, too, tried to make him take it, but all in vain.
So Peggy had to replace the shilling in her purse, and thank him
very much.
CHAPTER IX.
THE WASHING DAY.

onday morning was hopelessly wet. The rain came down in


sheets, and the garden looked like a pond. But Peggy was
delighted. “It’s such a good washing day,” she explained to
her aunt, “and all my doll’s things are so black.”
Aunt Euphemia suggested that Janet
would allow the washing to go on in the
kitchen; and Peggy at once ran away to fetch
the doll’s clothes and her little tub, and carry
them all to the kitchen. Janet was very
pleased. She put the tub on a stool, so that it
should be just the right height for Peggy to
wash at, and filled the tub with nice soapy hot
water.
Then she pinned up Peggy’s sleeves to
her shoulders, and together they undressed
the doll (which was a baby one, in long white
robes), and laid its clothes in a heap on a chair.
Peggy would have liked to wash them all at once, but Janet told
her that washerwomen did things one at a time, so she consented to
do this. The doll’s long, tucked white robe was the first to go into the
tub. It was not indeed very white, for it had got rather dirty on the
railway journey.
“Rub it all over with soap, Miss Peggy,” Janet said, and Peggy
rubbed on the soap as hard as she could. How the water fluffed up! it
almost filled the tub, and Peggy had to part the frothy suds away with
her hand to see to rub the cloth. After the robe had been well
washed, Janet gave Peggy a basin full of clean water to rinse the
soap out of it, and then she took a ball like a big blue cherry,
wrapped it in a bit of muslin, and shook it about in the water. The
water became bright blue too!
“Now, Miss Peggy, put the robe in,”
said Janet. Peggy was afraid to do it;
she thought it would come out bright
blue. But Janet assured her it would
only have a nice bluish look that would
make the white whiter; and Peggy
believed her, and dipped the robe in
the blue. It came out as white and nice
as possible.
Then Janet hung it before the
kitchen stove to dry, and Peggy saw
that on the stove Janet had put the
dearest little iron to heat.
“Am I to iron it out my own self,
Janet?” she asked.
“Oh yes, Miss Peggy, that you are.”
It took only a few minutes for the frock to dry, and then Janet put
a blanket with a sheet over it upon the lid of a large box, and gave
the box to Peggy for an ironing table.
The little iron was not at all difficult to manage, and Peggy found
that it was delightful to squeeze all the creases out of her doll’s robe.
It looked as good as new when it was done.
“Why, Janet, Belinda won’t ever need new robes at all; I can go
on washing and washing them,” Peggy said.
There remained, however, all Belinda’s under-clothes to be
washed; and before they were half finished, Peggy began to think
that washing was rather hard work.
“My hands feel so queer, Janet,” she said, drawing them out of
the soapy water. They looked indeed most strange; the skin was all
crinkled up in the funniest way. “Oh, look!” Peggy cried in dismay.
Janet assured her they would come right in a very short time.
“But I’m thinking you’ve washed enough, Miss Peggy, for one day;
maybe I’ll finish it for you,” she said.
Peggy wasn’t altogether sorry. “Well, Janet, if you will be so kind
as to finish for me, I will go and listen to my shell,” she said, “and
perhaps my hands will stop feeling funny.”
There was a small library at Seafield where Peggy was allowed
to play by herself. She liked the room much better than the drawing-
room, because there were such lots of books with nice pictures in
them. Those she liked best were Hume’s “History,” with pictures of
the kings and queens, and Blair’s “Grave,” with illustrations by a man
called William Blake. Peggy used to spread the large book upon the
floor and pore over the pictures. She didn’t understand them, but that
only made them more interesting. To-day, instead of looking at the
pictures, she got her red shell, and sat down on the corner of the
sofa holding the shell to her ear. The rushing sound in the shell was
just like the noise of the sea outside, and Peggy listened to it for a
long time. Then getting a little tired of this, she went to the window
and looked out. The rain had stopped, and the sun was beginning to
come out. The thrushes were singing as if they liked the rain, and
Peggy thought it would be nice to go out and see what it felt like
also. So she went out to the front door, and stood there looking out.
Then she stepped out on to the gravel; then she ran a little bit down
the avenue; then she came to the gate and looked out at the sea;
and then a new thought struck her—why should she not look to see
if she could find any lovely red shells on the beach? The tide was
out; there was a stretch of sand with little pools and rocks covered
with seaweed: surely in these pools or on the sands she might find a
red shell for herself! This was stupid of Peggy, for shells like that the
captain gave her come from tropic seas, not from our own sea; but
she did not know this.
Out Peggy skipped along the shining sand. It was firm and nice to
run on, and she wondered she had not done this long ago; it was far
nicer than the garden. Her feet made tracks on the sand like the
footprint Crusoe saw, she thought. Then she came to a pool with
little seaweedy rocks in it. The first thing she saw there made her
stand still with interest: it was a lot of things like little red flowers
growing on the edge of the rock. But when she put her hand down
and tried to get one, she found it was alive; and when she touched it,
it drew in all its waving red feelers, and became like a lump of red-
currant jelly fixed to the rock! “I hope I didn’t hurt it,” Peggy thought.
She leant over the pool and watched it till it cautiously put out first
one feeler and then another, and at last it looked as pretty as ever
again and as much alive. Peggy wondered what it was called. Then
down on the slushy sand at her feet Peggy saw a great big lump of
jelly, six times as large as the little one in the pool. It didn’t look very
nice, she thought, but she wondered if, when it was put into the
water, it would bloom out like the other. The only way to find this out
was to lift it into the pool, but Peggy hesitated about doing this. Then
she saw a long flat stone like a slate lying near, and taking this in her
hand, she tried to slip it under the “jelly beast,” as she called it. But
the jelly beast didn’t seem to like being disturbed, and it sank down
and down into the soft sand till it almost disappeared. Peggy became
more and more anxious to get it. She dug her slate down into the
sand, and at last, with a great effort, lifted the jelly beast, along with
a great lump of sand, and flung it into the pool. Then she sat down to
watch it. To her great joy it began, just like the other one, to put out
one feeler after another, till it lay there at the bottom of the pond like
a big pink rose. “Oh, it’s lovely; I do want to have it for my own!” she
cried. “I wonder if I would be allowed to have it in my tub.” She bent
down to look nearer, and under the fringe of seaweed suddenly she
saw something shining red. She plunged her hand down and
grabbed the prize. But, oh dear me! the next moment she screamed
and screamed. It was a large red crab she had caught at, and the
crab had caught her! Have you seen the crabs lying in the fish-shop
windows twitching their claws? They look harmless enough, but with
these claws they can hold on in the most terrible way, once they
catch hold of you. Oh, how Peggy screamed! She ran towards the
house splashing through the pools, with the big red crab hanging on
to her hand. She was in an agony of pain and terror. The sound of
her screams brought James running from the garden. Peggy ran
straight to him, calling out for help; and James caught up a stone,
and gave the crab such a blow on its claw that it let go in a moment,
and fell to the ground. Peggy’s finger was bleeding a good deal, and
he took out his own handkerchief and bound it up for her, and then
took her other hand and led her, still sobbing, up to the house.
“We’ll gang into Janet, missie,” he said
wisely. He knew that Janet was a more
comforting person than Martin, and Peggy
thought so too. Janet took her on her knee,
and kissed her and wiped her eyes, and
looked at the poor nipped finger till gradually
Peggy stopped crying. Then Janet took her to
the pump, and washed her face and hands, and began to tell her a
funny story about a crab that had nipped her own finger once, till
Peggy found herself laughing instead of crying.
When she was quite happy again, Janet said to Peggy that they
would go together and tell Aunt Euphemia all about it. Peggy was a
little frightened, but Janet said she must do it, and together they went
into the drawing-room.
Here it seemed to Peggy that Janet took all the blame on herself.
She told Aunt Euphemia how she had allowed Peggy to go away
from the kitchen, and had not looked after her, and how Peggy had
gone out alone, and then she told the sad story of the crab. And Aunt
Euphemia, instead of being angry, accepted the excuses Janet
made, for she was very fond of Janet, and never thought anything
she did was wrong.
“Maybe, ma’am, you would let me take Miss Peggy to the shore
myself?” Janet asked; “then she’d get no mischief.”
“Indeed, Janet, I see she must never be left alone for a minute;
so when your work is done, you may certainly take the child out with
you,” said Aunt Euphemia.
“Come away then, Miss Peggy,” said Janet; “ye’ll bide wi’ me till I
make the currant tart, and in the afternoon we can gang till the
shore.”
Peggy ran off to the kitchen as happy as possible to make the
currant tart, and Janet told her that they would go down to the shore
together, carrying Peggy’s tub, and fill it with all manner of sea
beasts, and bring them back to the house. And wasn’t this a
delightful suggestion?
CHAPTER X.
THE SEA BEASTS.

I
t was wonderful how many sea creatures Peggy and Janet found
when they began. The little tub was quite full before long, and
Peggy, looking into it, told Janet that she was afraid they wouldn’t
be very comfortable.
Janet considered for a minute, and then told Peggy that there
was an old washing-tub in the scullery which she was sure her aunt
would let her use instead of her own little one; then there would be
room enough for all the creatures to be happy.
“But how would we ever get a washing-tub filled with water out of
the sea?” Peggy asked.
“Hoots! James and me can
carry it up in pails,” said Janet.
“Will you ask Aunt
Euphemia about it?” Peggy
asked. She had begun to see
that Janet could get anything
she wanted. Janet said that she
would, and went off to gain Aunt
Euphemia’s consent to the
scheme. She came back
smiling, and Peggy knew all
was right, so she clapped her
hands with delight.
“O Janet, do you think James will get the water to-night?” she
cried. “For it would be horrid if my poor beasts died, or were sick for
want of it.”
Janet then went off to look for James, and before long Peggy had
the joy of seeing him come toiling up the walk, carrying two huge
pails of water. Then Janet went down to the sea again with two pails,
and brought them back filled, and James brought two more, and
when they had all been poured into the tub it was quite full.
“Now I can put in my beasts!” Peggy cried.
The first of all was a great prize: it was a bit of
stone with two sea anemones attached to it. Sea
anemones are the creatures that Peggy had
seen in the pool that were like little pink flowers.
Janet had explained to her that it hurt anemones
to be scraped off the rocks, and so they had to
hunt till they found them growing on a small
stone that it was possible to lift. It had been some time before they
found this, but at last, at the bottom of a pool, Janet spied a small
stone with two beautiful anemones sticking to it. Whenever she lifted
the stone out of the water, the funny little creatures drew in all their
pretty petal-like feelers, and became like lumps of red-currant jelly;
but the moment Peggy placed them in the tub of water, out came the
feelers one by one till they were as pretty as ever again.
Then there was one of the big ones that had been scooped out of
the sand with great difficulty, and was rather offended evidently, for it
took a long time to put out its feelers—just lay and sulked on the
bottom of the tub. Peggy watched it for a long time, but as it wouldn’t
put out its feelers, she turned to the other creatures.
There were a number of whelks. Whelks, you
know, are sea-snails. They live in shells, and
draw themselves in and out of them very quickly.
The moment Peggy put them into the tub, they
pushed their shells on to their backs as snails do,
and began crawling slowly along the edges of the
tub.
“O Janet, my whelks will walk out and get lost!” Peggy cried. But
Janet told her she thought they liked the water best, and would stay
in it.
Then there were three mussels. Mussels live in tight, dark blue
shells; but when they please they can open their shells, much as you
open a portfolio, for there is a kind of hinge at the
back of the shell. However, they too were sulky,
and lay still quite tight shut.
Janet had picked up a very large shell, and
put it into the tub, and Peggy asked her why. She
said they would see before long. Now she took the large shell and
laid it in the water. Peggy watched, and suddenly she saw a thin
green leg come stealing out; then another and another, till at last a
tiny green crab came scrambling altogether out of the shell, and ran
rapidly about the tub.
“O Janet, it’s a little crab! How did you know? Do they always live
in these big snail shells?” Peggy cried.
Janet told her that they were called hermit crabs, and that they
lived in the cast-off shells of other creatures, just using them as
houses.
“Put your hand into the water, Miss Peggy, and you will see him
run in,” Janet said.
Peggy shook her hand in the water, and saw the little crab scuttle
away and get into his shell like lightning.
Janet had wanted to add a big red crab, like the one that nipped
Peggy, but Peggy wouldn’t have it. There were some limpets, in their
little pyramid-shaped shells, and then Janet had added a lot of
seaweed of different kinds. Some of it was slimy green stuff, like long
green hair, which Peggy didn’t at all admire; but there were pretty
feathery pink weed and nice brown dulse.
“I wonder if James could get a flounder,” Janet said thoughtfully.
Peggy asked what a flounder was, and Janet said it was the kind
of flat little fish Peggy had had fried for breakfast that morning.
“They’re ill to catch,” she added. “But maybe James could get ye
ane.”
“Oh, a fish—a real live fish—in my tub would be so delicious!”
cried Peggy.
She ran off to beg James to try to
catch one for her; and James, who
was very obliging, went off once again
to the shore with a pail in search of a
flounder.
Peggy stood and watched him for
quite half an hour as he went slowly
across the sands, stooping over each
pool to see if there were flounders in it.
At last he came back, and Peggy
scarcely liked to ask him whether he
had got one, for she felt it would be so
disappointing if he hadn’t—her
collection would be quite incomplete.
But James was grinning with pleasure,
and he showed her two nice brown
flounders in the pail.
“Oh, they are flat!” cried Peggy.
She dived her hands into the pail, and attempted to catch them—
quite in vain. Then James slowly poured away all the water on to the
ground, and there the flounders lay, flopping about at the bottom of
the pail. Peggy was almost afraid to touch them, but James said they
would do her no harm; so she caught hold of one of the slippery,
wriggling little fish, and flung it into the tub, and it darted off and hid
itself under the seaweed. Then she put in the other flounder, and it
also hid under the seaweed, where it couldn’t be seen.
“I think they must be sleepy, and be going to bed,” Peggy said.
And then, quite tired out with her exertions, she rubbed her eyes and
yawned, till Janet told her it was time for her to go to bed like the
flounders; and Peggy agreed that it was.
CHAPTER XI.
THE LAST DAY AT SEAFIELD.

N
ow, if Peggy had taken time to think about it, she was only
going to make herself unhappy by collecting all these
delightful creatures in the tub; for her visit to Seafield was to
come to an end on Wednesday, and this was Monday
evening. The whole of Tuesday morning Peggy thought of nothing
but her dear sea beasts. She stood beside the tub and watched
them; she crumbled a bit of bread very fine, and flung it into the
water, and actually saw one of the flounders eat a crumb; she
chased the hermit crab into its shell a dozen times, and watched the
whelks move slowly along the side of the tub. It was the nicest
amusement she had ever had. But in the afternoon Aunt Euphemia
said that they were going to drive to the station.
“Your father is coming for you, Peggy, you know; he is going to
take you home to-morrow.”
Peggy was very fond of her father—so fond that she had cried
when she said good-bye to him last week. It surprised Aunt
Euphemia extremely that, instead of being glad to hear of his
coming, Peggy seemed sorry, for she burst into tears.
“Why, Peggy, are you not glad to see your father?” said Aunt
Euphemia.
“I don’t want to go home!” Peggy sobbed.
Aunt Euphemia was rather pleased. “Do you want to stay with me
then, dear?” she asked.
“No; it’s my sea beasts. Oh, oh, oh!” sobbed Peggy. “Do you think
father will take the tub of sea beasts back in the train with us?”
No wonder Aunt Euphemia was hurt. It was nasty of Peggy to say
that she only wanted to stay because of the sea beasts.
“Of course, he will do nothing of the kind,” said Aunt Euphemia.
“All the beasts must be put back into the sea to-night.”
She walked away and left Peggy to cry alone. But after she had
cried for some time, Peggy remembered that father was different
from Aunt Euphemia, and perhaps would not distress her by making
her part from the dear sea beasts. So she dried her eyes, and
thought perhaps it was as well that he was coming.
The drive to the station was quite dull. Nothing happened, for
Peggy wasn’t allowed to sit on the box-seat with the driver as she
wanted to, but had to sit beside her aunt in the carriage. At the
station, too, there was very little to notice—only some sheep in a
truck, looking very unhappy. Peggy gathered some blades of grass,
and held them to the sheep, and they nibbled them up. Then the
train came puffing in, and the next minute she saw her father jump
out of a carriage, and come along the platform to where she was.
Peggy was so delighted to see him that she ran right at him, and
caught hold of his knees so that she nearly made him fall. Then she
took his hand, and began telling him everything at once, in such a
hurry that it was impossible for him to understand anything she said.
“Not so fast, Peggy. Wait till we are in the carriage,” he said,
laughing.
It seemed a very long time till they were all packed in, and then
Peggy had to climb on to her father’s knee and put her arm round his
neck. “Now may I begin?” she asked.
“Yes, sweetest; tell me all about everything now,” her father said.
And Peggy began her story, of course, at the wrong end.
“I’ve got a tub full of such dear sea beasts, father,” she said.
“There are two flounders, and a lot of whelks, and a hermit crab, and
two anemones fixed on a stone, and a big one stuck on to the foot of
the tub, and I watch them all day; and, please, how am I to take them
home?”
“Well, I must come and see them first,” her father said.
“And please, father, I got lost one day, and had my frock stolen—
the new one—and the bees stung me, and a crab nipped my finger,
and I was very naughty once—only once—and I went on to a green
ship, and—and—”
“Why, Peggy, you seem to have had a week of the most
extraordinary adventures; it will be quite dull to come home.”
Peggy wasn’t quite sure about this. She had so many things she
was fond of at home, that if only she might take her sea beasts back
with her, she thought she would be quite happy to return. She sat still
for a few minutes thinking about this, while Aunt Euphemia spoke to
her father. But the moment the carriage stopped at the door, she
seized her father’s hand, and begged him to come and see her tub
of sea beasts.
“Not till after tea, Peggy; I’ll come then,” he said.
Peggy would have liked him to come there and then, but she
knew she must wait.
Tea seemed longer than usual. Her father told her to be quiet, so
she ate away without uttering a word, and listened to all the dull
things Aunt Euphemia was saying. At last, when tea was over, she
came round to where her father sat, and took hold of his hand, and
gave it a little squeeze, which she knew he would understand.
“Yes, dearest!” he said,
but waited to hear the end of
what Aunt Euphemia was
saying. “Now, Peggy,” he
said at last, “come along;”
and together they went out
to the garden, and came to
the tub. Peggy looked in.
“Why, father,” she cried,
“my crab is floating on his
back! Isn’t it funny of him?”
Colonel Roberts examined the crab for a minute.
“I’m afraid he’s dead, Peggy,” he said. “They don’t turn up their
toes that way unless they’re dead.”

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