When conducting business with China, you need to pay attention to what you are doing, especially when it involves sharing knowledge with Chinese companies. Patents don’t have the same value there as they do here. Over at Kubo, they are also aware of the risks. “There are certain parties we will not work with for that reason,” says Robert. “We could do easily business with them, but because they plan to do everything the same as the Dutch are doing, we will not collaborate with them.”
At the same time, they don’t need to or can supply everything to a country with so many means of production. “We need to respect the Chinese industry. The market over there is huge, and eventually, their industry will develop to do certain things on its own. However, I think the Netherlands is strong enough to continue innovating and remain ahead.”
Many countries in the world have tried copying what the Netherlands is doing. “But I don’t know any that succeeded,” says Robert. “There are countries that can build greenhouses, but those are not on the same level as the ones made in the Netherlands. They are not thought through, too heavy, too expensive, they don’t let in enough light, the heating systems are wrong, and so on and so on.”
There is money in knowledge
As far as China is concerned, Robert believes that at one point, they will realize that money is not in supplying technology. “Money is running a successful production company. The reason we are so good at this in the Netherlands is because we do it all over the world. If the Chinese want to copy this model in their own country, they will be shocked at how little money can be made in this business. You can’t achieve it even with a conglomerate worth 100’s of billions. The margins for greenhouse constructors are ridiculously thin.”
Robert is not afraid that the ‘big boys’ from China will take the work out of the hands of the greenhouse constructors. “What I am afraid of, however, is that they won’t be able to handle the Dutch systems and decide to keep using their own methods. Or, that if they do decide to copy the Dutch technique, they will be disappointed as the technology lags behind and they again will not be able to achieve the results they want.”
In short, the Chinese market is an exciting place, but one they have faith in over at Kubo. Which is why they are investing in it already. “We started a company in China. We hired the people and have an office in China, so we can now do business as a legitimate Chinese company. That way, we can help the Chinese achieve their wanted modernization and again pave the way for the Dutch industry as a whole.”
For more information:
KUBO Group
info@kubo.nl
www.kubogroup.nl
Robert Keijzer
+31 610 728 501
rkeijzer@kubo.nl