CTG, the largest clean energy company in China, entered the Brazilian market in 2013 through the establishment of CTG Brasil in Sao Paulo to carry out operation, mergers and acquisitions of power projects.

Through seven years of rapid growth, CTG Brasil has now grown into the third largest power generation company in Brail, with 8.28 million kilowatts of installed capacity and total assets value mounting to 48,700 million RMB. In the Brazilian market, corporate culture has a direct impact on enterprises’ capacity to adjust to the external environment and coordinate internal resources. In face of the challenges brought by the collision of both corporate culture and national culture, the capability to integrate different cultures becomes crucial for CTG Brasil’s operation. During several mergers and acquisitions, CTG Brasil steadfastly holds its corporate value of absorbing the cultural virtues of acquired companies and has built a unique multicultural enterprise management model.

To break the “Law of Seven” through cultural integration

In the international M&A area, there is a rule called “Law of Seven”, which means that 70% of the M&A can’t reach the expected value, with 70% of the reason attributed to unsuccessful cultural integration.

On November 25th of 2015, CTG Brasil won the bidding to operate two major hydroelectric plants in Brazil, i.e. Jupiá and Ilha Solteira dams, with a concession contract of 30 years. In order to ensure the stable transition of management and guarantee the security and the continuity of the operation of the electric plants, CTG Brasil sent a labor invitation to all of its staff under the principle of duly respecting their legitimate rights. Eventually 84% of the staff accepted this invitation. On July 1st of 2016, CTG Brasil officially took over the Jupiá and Ilha Solteira dams and held a big cultural interchange event, on which the Chinese Vice President delivered a speech in Portuguese. A Brazilian engineer said emotionally that he was deeply moved and believed that CTG Brasil would be a responsible enterprise committed to long-term local development.

To follow the localization model

From the very beginning, CTG Brasil opted for the business model of localization, making great efforts to build a local workers team and to adapt to the local cultural environment. So far, CTG Brasil has over 800 employees, of which only 20 are Chinese and more than half of the senior executives are from Brazil. The company has been promoting the intellectual interchange among experts in the hydroelectric industry of both countries, which contributes significantly to its technological and managerial innovation and lays foundation for the projects’ stable operation and  technological transformation.

To build an “international family”

In CTG Brazil, lots of Brazilian colleagues show great interest in learning Chinese and Chinese culture. Many of them got their affection for China thanks to the cultural activities organized by CTG Brasil. In 2016, CTG Brasil launched a cultural integration project called “We” including activities like lectures, cross-cultural communication, case analysis and role playing, which helped over 100 employees from China and Brazil better understand the culture of each other. What’s more, CTG Brasil organizes celebrations of traditional festivals of both countries so that the employees get to know the traditions and customs of the other part, thus building an open and inclusive corporate culture.

For Chinese employees in Brasil, the company launched a project called “buddy” that matches each one of them to a Brazilian colleague as their “buddy” according to their department, hobbies and personalities. The Brazilian “buddy” can help their Chinese partner get familiar with the local culture and language and vice versa. This project helped Chinese employees quickly adjust to the local work environment and lifestyle.