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Finance & economics
财经板块
Investment in Africa
非洲的投资
Links in the chain
链条上的环节
Why linkages between foreign and local firms are all too rare
为何外国公司和本地公司之间联系甚少
In 2016 daniel kinuthia started a small business in Kenya making shoe uppers for the local subsidiary of Bata, a multinational footwear company. He was short of finance and equipment, and his contract with Bata ended when covid-19 hit. But he says supplying Bata and visiting its factory taught him "what happens, how the shoe is marketed, the kind of shoe that can be sold". Now he dreams of using those skills to build a factory of his own.
2016年，丹尼尔·金努西亚在肯尼亚开办了一家小公司，为跨国制鞋公司Bata在当地的子公司生产鞋帮子。由于缺乏资金和设备，他与Bata的合同在新冠爆发时便终止了。但他表示为Bata供货和参观其工厂让他了解到“发生了什么，鞋是如何营销的，以及可进行销售的那种鞋”。现在他梦想着能够利用这些技能建立自己的工厂。
Many African governments are keen to attract foreign investment. But its impact hinges on what Albert Hirschman, a postwar economist, called "linkages". By supplying or buying from multinationals, local firms like Mr Kinuthia's can learn about markets and technology. Such linkages are all too rare in Africa, however. Many multinationals ship in their inputs and export what they produce. That brings jobs and dollars, but does not spur development.
许多非洲国家政府渴望吸引外国投资，其影响取决于战后经济学家艾伯特·赫希曼所说的“联系”。通过向跨国公司供货或采购，像金努西亚这样的本地客户可以了解市场和技术。然而，这种联系在非洲太罕见了。许多跨国公司将他们的投入运输出去，并出口他们生产的产品。这带来了工作机会和金钱，但没有刺激发展。
A recent study by John Rand of the University of Copenhagen and others finds that linkages are scarcer in Africa than in developing Asia. The multinationals they surveyed in Kenya imported two-thirds of their intermediate inputs, for instance, whereas those in Vietnam imported just a quarter. And local linkages transferred less technology than expected. Firms learned as much by trading across oceans as they did from foreign firms in their backyard.
由哥本哈根大学的约翰·兰德和其他一些人最近所做的一项研究发现，非洲的这种联系与发展中的亚洲相比更为稀少。例如，他们在肯尼亚调查的跨国公司有三分之二的中间原料来自进口，而越南的跨国公司只有四分之一。而且地方联系转移的技术也比预期的要少。公司从海外贸易中学到的东西和他们从自家后院的外国公司中学到的一样多。
Extractive industries in particular tend to operate as enclaves. Mining concessions often come with import-duty waivers, says Lukas Bekker, a supply-chain expert who has helped set up mines in three African countries. That makes it cheaper to import equipment than to use local contractors. And buying local can be risky. A finance manager with 20 years' experience in African mining says he prefers to keep procurement offshore, having uncovered "frauds and kickbacks" between staff and local suppliers in the past.
采掘业尤其倾向于像飞地一样运作。曾帮助在三个非洲国家建立矿山的供应链专家卢卡斯·贝克表示，采矿特许权通常与进口关税豁免同时存在。这使得进口设备比使用本地承包商更便宜。购买本地产品也有风险。一位在非洲采矿业拥有20年经验的财务经理表示，他更喜欢把采购工作放在海外，因为他曾发现员工与当地供应商之间存在“欺诈和回扣”。
Capacity takes time to build. In Uganda, which has long been preparing to pump oil, a survey in 2012 found that only 200 trucks in a local fleet of 2,500 were up to scratch. "We had to transform our business," says Jeff Baitwa, who spent $20m buying equipment to upgrade his haulage company for oil contracts. Sometimes the technical gap is too wide. "I'm told the pipeline has what they call 'seamless pipes'," says Stuart Mwesigwa, a manager at Uganda's largest steel company. "No one in east Africa is manufacturing that!"
能力的培养需要时间。乌干达已经为开采石油准备了很长时间，2012年的一项调查发现当地2500辆卡车中只有200辆达到了标准。杰夫·拜特瓦表示：“我们必须进行业务转型。”为了签订石油合同，拜特瓦花了2000万美元购买设备来升级他的运输公司。有时技术差距太大。“我听说这条管道有所谓的‘无缝管道’，乌干达最大的钢铁公司的经理Stuart Mwesigwa说。“东非没有人制造那种东西！”
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
