“Manufactured in China” Builds a Stronger Nation
Builds a Stronger Nation
THE label “processing materials supplied by clients” was for some time synonymous with “Made in China.” It is a painful reminder to China’s manufacturing industry of having to export 800 million shirts so made to import one aircraft. Thanks to implementation of the economic transformation and innovation strategy, however, China’s construction abroad of highspeed trains, the going global of its nuclear power projects, and its smart phone exports have altered the “Made in China” connotation to that of “Intelligent Manufacturing in China.” But in light of the pressure exerted by the economic downturn, how can the industry maintain its focus on the high end of the value chain? And how may it create more star brands and quality goods? The recently published draft outline of the 13th Five- Year Plan formulated a specific path for China’s industrial development and transformation, including the upgrade of its manufacturing.
Innovation-Driven
Chinese cellphone manufacturer Lenovo, owner of the Motorola brand, plans to increase its smart phone output in India to 10 million in 2016, its goal to become the second-largest smart phone producer on the subcontinent. The smart phone shipments of another Chinese company, Huawei, exceeded 100 million in 2015, giving the company a market share ranking among the global top three, along with Samsung and Apple.
“Promoting production by lowering costs is no longer viable,” Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said. “In the past, we worked mainly as an equipment manu- facturer for others, and had no control over the product or manufacturing technique.”
Lenovo now invests RMB 10 billion annually in research and development. The company invested US $2.5 billion in India last year, making it one of the top 40 companies there. The transformation from low-cost to innovation- and branddriven manufacturing is the inevitable course for Chinese enterprises to create competitive products.
The old, investment-driven mode of developing the Chinese economy no longer works. Therefore the country intends to devote more resources to innovation.
Innovation was indeed foremost among China’s five development concepts put forward in 2015, Premier Li Keqiang having specified mass innovation and entrepreneurship in his government work report that year. The country has since adopted a number of measures