Resilient, agile, innovative: Chinese private enterprises to continue thriving

Editor's note: Liu Qiang is a research fellow at the Academy of Financial Research, School of Economics of Zhejiang University of China. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN. 

On February 17, 2025, a symposium on private enterprises was held in Beijing, highlighting the vast and promising prospects for their development and journey in the new era. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the government has consistently emphasized the significance of private enterprises and made meticulous arrangements aimed at fostering their healthy and high-quality growth. Undoubtedly, the significant development of private enterprises during economic transformation originates from both internal driving forces and institutional incentives.

In the midst of market fluctuations, policy adjustments, and external uncertainties, Chinese private enterprises have leveraged their market-oriented nature and inherent resilience to cultivate remarkable competitive advantages and demonstrate vast development potential. Their efficient decision-making systems enable them to swiftly capture market dynamics and adjust production strategies, distinguishing them from traditional organizational models. Furthermore, by flexibly allocating resources and optimizing production processes in real-time, private enterprises effectively navigate supply chain disruptions and changes in consumption trends. For instance, in the new energy sector, they have significantly enhanced their risk resistance and displayed impressive market adaptability through flexible production line designs and simultaneous advancements in multiple technological pathways.

Private enterprises also exhibit a high degree of policy adaptability. They closely align with national policy orientations, integrating national strategies into their development plans. By continuously tracking policy dynamics, they proactively establish policy prediction systems and advance research and development (R&D) as well as capacity allocation. In implementing national strategies such as green transformation and the digital economy, private enterprises actively respond, conduct green technology reserves, and promote intelligent transformation. This ability to convert policy directives into technological upgrades ensures they remain at the forefront of industrial transformations, effectively bridging policy orientations with market logic.

In terms of risk prevention and control, private enterprises build robust dual-dimensional risk barriers. By investing continuously in key technology areas, they reduce external dependencies and bolster their core competitiveness. Additionally, they expand into emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East, forming a multi-regional trade system that flexibly adapts to changes in international trade rules. This strategy not only ensures operational stability but also grants them greater initiative in the global economic competition landscape.

As global economic competition intensifies, Chinese private enterprises are showcasing increasingly significant competitive advantages through a seamless integration of innovative vitality, organizational efficiency, and market insight. Their systematic approach to innovation-driven development allows them to harness market demand as the starting point for innovation. By closely linking technological breakthroughs with commercial applications, they swiftly bring technological achievements to market. In fields like high-end equipment, private enterprises rely on open innovation platforms to collaborate with universities and research institutions, overcoming key technological bottlenecks and gradually gaining a voice in core segments of the industrial chain.

The adaptability of their organizational models enables private enterprises to flexibly respond to changes in the international market. In the face of sudden supply chain shocks or shifts in trade policies, they achieve business resilience by quickly adjusting production layouts and optimizing resource allocation. For example, by utilizing digital tools to build cross-border supply chain collaboration networks, they monitor logistics nodes in real-time and dynamically adjust procurement strategies, effectively mitigating the impact of regional risks on overall operations.

Their precision in market expansion also enables private enterprises to formulate differentiated competitive strategies. In developed economies, they focus on technological cooperation and brand building to enhance product value. While in emerging markets, they expand market share through localized production and channel penetration. Additionally, by leveraging digital trade platforms to capture evolving consumption trends, they transform data insights into drivers for product upgrades, establishing a sustainable growth path within the multilateral trade system.

Currently, with the shifting momentum of global economic growth and the overlay of domestic high-quality development goals, the private economy, empowered by policy and facilitated by market mechanisms, is accelerating its potential release. The sustained activation of institutional dividends fosters a more relaxed development environment for private enterprises.

At the policy level, the deepening of the economic reform has systematically reduced institutional transaction costs through streamlined administrative approvals, expanded market access, and optimized financing support. Notably, in areas such as intellectual property protection and fair competition review, long-term mechanisms have been established providing stable expectations for private enterprises' technological R&D and model innovation. This optimization of the institutional environment promotes the accumulation of production factors in high-value-added areas and accelerates the enhancement of existing resources.

Moreover, the improvement of dual-circulation adaptability creates broader development spaces for private enterprises. The coordinated advancement of a unified domestic market and high-level opening-up policies offers a "domestic-foreign linkage" development space. Internally, they develop supply chain resilience through digital transformation; externally, they expand into the international market through new forms such as cross-border e-commerce and service trade. Policy-supported overseas cooperation parks and standard recognition mechanisms further mitigate global operational risks for enterprises. This "domestic-foreign linkage" development model not only consolidates the central role of the private economy in the domestic cycle but also enhances its strategic depth in participating in international competition.

Chinese private enterprises, leveraging their resilience, policy adaptability, and precision in market expansion, are poised to continue thriving in the global economic landscape. With ongoing policy support and the deepening of internal innovation, their competitive advantages will undoubtedly contribute to further economic transformation and global development.