Entrepreneurs showing their business acumen amid economic challenges

Established entrepreneurs of East China's Zhejiang province are once again showing their business acumen as they adapt to the ongoing global financial turmoil.

From traditional sectors to emerging industries, a large number of companies in Zhejiang, China's most vibrant hub of private businesses, are seeking transformation and exploring more opportunities through innovation to stage a comeback for the real economy.

Defined as producing actual goods and services, "the real economy is fundamental to private businesses - it is our life and our roots", said Qiu Jibao, owner of Feiyue Group, a sewing equipment maker in Taizhou.

As a company heavily dependent on exports, Feiyue Group was just millimeters away from bankruptcy during the 2008 global financial crisis.

But the firm has redirected its development strategy into advanced equipment manufacturing and renewable energy, and reorganize the company.

Driven by innovation

Another example is Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceuticals Co, which now has a post-doctoral research center, an innovation facility - the Hisun Research Academy, with hundreds of talented people.

"No matter how well we made bulk drugs, we were just a foundry for foreign pharmaceutical companies because we were at the lower end of the industrial chain," said Bai Hua, chairman of the company.

"Domestic pharmaceutical enterprises should speed up their transformation to the higher end of the chain."

Hisun reports that it tripled business revenue in the domestic medicine market during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-10). Its products were also exported to the West.

During the 12th Five-year Plan (2011-15), the company plans to develop 12 new drugs, while its gene research has entered a "sprint stage".

In recent years, the company has invested more than 8 percent of its annual sales in research and development.

Global top pharmaceutical producer Pfizer inked a strategic cooperation agreement with Hisun on Sept 13 to found a joint venture.

The total investment hit $295 million, with Hisun holding a 51 percent stake.

Similarly as Hisun, Jiang Rui, vice-president of Kaishan Group, the largest air compressor manufacturer in China, shared his insight.

"When the technology is in the hands of others, no one will simply give it to you," Jiang said. "So we'll do it by ourselves."

In 2004, Kaishan Group decided to develop screw extruders, a core component of air compressors, with its patented technologies.

The group's first extruders were produced in 2007, breaking the technical monopoly of foreign enterprises.

Shifting focus

Extending the scope of the business is another approach, said Nie Zhonghai, chairman of Hangzhou Steam Turbine Group.

The leading industrial steam turbine producer is shifting its focus from manufacturing to comprehensive services, Nie said.

The company has nearly 80 percent of the domestic steam turbine market, but profit margins are being squeezed due to increasingly intense competition.

"We used to sell a single turbine for several million yuan," Nie said.

"But now we offer a full range of services including plant design and construction, equipment installation, maintenance and project trail operation - known as build-operate-transfer - worth tens of millions of yuan."

Going global

In an industrial firm in Israel, a top solar power generator is in work. One of the generator's researchers is Zhejiang-based Sanhua Holdings Group.

The nation's leading air conditioner accessory producer is focusing on overseas markets. Its throttle valve has occupied 60 percent of the world's market, but it is never contended with the honor, because it said Sanhua used to take the lead by its low cost, but it envisions to a steady growth by leading technologies in the world market.