Lenovo Makes Strange Move Into Germany 联想进军德国令人摸不着头脑

By newsdoug on June 2, 2011

Lenovo finds new time bomb in Medion Lenovo (HKEx: 992) just can’t seem to get big Western markets out of its mind, even as it bills itself as a developing markets specialist. That’s the only conclusion I can reach after reading that Lenovo will buy Germany’s Medion AG (Frankfurt: MDN) in a deal valued at $670 million, its biggest overseas M&A since its purchase of IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) computer business in 2005. (English article; company announcement) To this day I’m still not sure why many people consider the IBM deal a success, as Lenovo has increasingly abandoned or scaled back its business in the developed markets that were IBM’s main PC territory in favor of more familiar developing markets like its own home China base. Perhaps “success” is a relative term, since the handful of other major high-tech M&A deals by Chinese firms to date have ended much more badly. Still, the reality is that Lenovo’s IBM purchase took most of the luster off IBM’s PC business, and now most in the US see it as a low-end “made in China” brand rather than the higher-end image that IBM had cultivated. I see no reason why the Medion brand won’t suffer a similar fate now under Lenovo ownership, and really don’t understand why Lenovo is pursuing this deal when it should really be focusing on developing markets in South and Southeast Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

Bottom line: Medion’s brand value will drop sharply after its purchase by Lenovo, causing a distraction for China’s leading PC maker when it should be focusing on developing markets.

联想<0992.HK>虽然自称是新兴市场专家，但心里还是放不下西方的广阔市场。当我得知联想将以6.7亿美元收购德国Medion AG<MDNG.DE>股份之後，这是我得出的唯一结论。这是联想2005年收购IBM<IBM.N>电脑业务後，其最大一宗海外并购案。直至今天，我仍不确定，为什麽很多人仍觉得IBM收购案是个成功案例，因为联想逐渐放弃或是缩小了其在IBM个人电脑主战场–成熟市场的业务，转而专注于新兴市场。也许“成功”是个相对的词，因为中国企业的大型高科技并购案很多最终都以失败告终。当然，现实情况是，联想并购IBM电脑业务之後，IBM个人电脑的高端形象尽失，现在大多数美国人把其看成是低端的“中国制造”。我觉得Medion被联想收购後，也会重蹈IBM的覆辙。我真不理解为什麽联想要并购这家企业，而不是专注于南亚、东南亚、拉美和东欧等新兴市场。

一句话：Medion被联想收购後，品牌价值将急剧缩水，这对於联想来说发展方向将受到干扰，因其本应该专注于新兴市场。