July 10, 10:00 a.m., Ningbo Lishe International Airport.

Thirty-six representatives from foreign trade companies boarded Flight MU7101 for a direct flight from Ningbo to Budapest, Hungary.

This was the first chartered flight in the country specifically for foreign trade personnel.

The Ningbo government facilitated numerous aspects of the operation, including flight routes, passports, visas, and pandemic prevention measures; it also provided financial support for the charter flight costs.

There is an old saying in the foreign trade community:

One face-to-face meeting is worth a thousand emails.

According to incomplete statistics, during this trip aimed at securing orders and expanding markets, Ningbo’s foreign trade enterprises secured a total of $350 million in import and export orders.

This trip was well worth the effort.

It’s harder to spend money wisely than to earn it

Money and time are undoubtedly a person’s most precious resources.

The same holds true for local governments.

The difference is that when individuals invest money and time, they do so primarily to maximize their own interests. Local governments, however, must create a high-quality environment to foster the development of both people and businesses.

Therefore, learning how to spend money and time wisely is crucial.

The Ningbo government’s chartered flights to send entrepreneurs abroad for business negotiations are a prime example of this.

First, they have the courage to spend money.

Spending money is harder than earning it, because spending it effectively, achieving results, and ensuring efficiency is a far more sophisticated skill.

Second, having the courage to take the lead and assume responsibility.

Chartering a flight to send entrepreneurs abroad is not as simple as it sounds.

Coordinating flight routes, passports, visas, epidemic prevention, quarantine, and numerous other procedures requires communication and collaboration across multiple departments and stages.

Especially amid the severe and complex pandemic situation, unforeseen risks have deterred many.

Yet the Ningbo government pulled it off—a truly remarkable feat.

Moreover, it is not just Ningbo; the spirit of initiative and entrepreneurship is surging throughout Zhejiang.

▲ On February 22, 2020, the first chartered flight from Taizhou, Zhejiang, carrying returning company employees landed at the airport.

Evaluating performance based on output per mu, chartering flights to bring workers back to their jobs, and government compensation for loans under 100,000 yuan for college graduates who fail in their startups… Over the past two years, Zhejiang’s new policies have consistently led the nation, which speaks volumes in itself.

Ultimately, channeling limited financial and human resources into the most critical areas has generated a compounding effect.

In 2021, Ningbo’s total import and export volume reached 1.19 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.6%, making it China’s sixth “trillion-yuan foreign trade city.”

Chartering flights to send entrepreneurs abroad for business negotiations not only helps secure orders and expand markets, thereby stabilizing the foundation of this “major foreign trade hub,”

on the other hand, it helps build a brand reputation for being “business-friendly, supportive, and protective,” attracting more enterprises to develop in Ningbo.

The Politburo meeting on July 28 proposed: Adhering to the principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, we must prevent the spread of the pandemic, stabilize the economy, and ensure safe development.

Seeking progress while maintaining stability does not mean doing nothing.

As we enter a new stage of development, development remains the foundation and key to solving all problems.

It is evident that many regions continue to prioritize investment promotion as their “top priority,” viewing it as the lifeline of economic development.

In this regard, it is particularly important to learn how to allocate resources—both financial and temporal—effectively.

The "Top Priority" of Investment Promotion

How can we spend money more efficiently?

In my view, whether it be individuals, businesses, or the government, we should all adhere to this principle:

Any money or time that helps enhance core competitiveness should be invested. Conversely, such resources should be strictly controlled.

For example, a third-tier city invested 1.5 billion yuan to build a cultural park, but its total revenue over four years since opening has been less than 13 million yuan.

Had this money been used to attract investment and build competitive industries, the resulting economic and social benefits would have been worlds apart.

Attracting high-quality investment projects not only generates tax revenue but also attracts talent through job creation, thereby driving industrial development. Increased tax revenue and land-related fiscal income will further boost overall fiscal revenue, creating a virtuous cycle.

Industrial prosperity, coupled with a healthy and stable fiscal and financial system, is the key to enhancing core competitiveness across regions.

So, in the practical work of attracting investment, where should local governments allocate their funds?

Invest in Hiring “External Experts” and “Coaches”

Strengthening the Professional Capabilities of Investment Promotion Teams

Renowned business management professor Warren Bennis has argued that employee training is the strategic investment with the lowest risk and the highest return for a company.

With economic development and social progress, the demands placed on people are becoming increasingly high and constantly evolving, and the relationship between people and their tasks often exists in a dynamic state of tension.

To resolve this contradiction, we must rely on two approaches: first, personnel mobility—that is, “selecting the right person for the job”; and second, employee training—that is, “making the person fit for the job.”

Although local governments differ from businesses, top-tier talent remains scarce, and the majority of investment promotion teams are made up of ordinary people.

An employee who performs well this year may fall behind next year if they do not continue to learn, making it impossible to communicate effectively with entrepreneurs.

Although each individual’s level of knowledge and ability varies, they all form the foundation of investment promotion work, and their importance goes without saying.

Therefore, engaging professional trainers or firms—essentially investing in “external expertise” or “coaches” to empower every employee—is undoubtedly an excellent choice for maintaining the investment promotion team’s competitive edge.

Of course, an even better approach is to identify outstanding talent across all departments within the team, have them document their investment promotion methodologies, and use these systematic frameworks to guide everyone toward continuous improvement.

Such mentors should naturally receive greater resource allocation, whether in the form of financial rewards or better career opportunities.

Investing in Industry Consulting

Building a Healthy Industrial Ecosystem Early On

Amid the tide of market-oriented reforms, economic development zones across the country have taken the first step toward “de-administration” by adopting the “Management Committee + Company” model.

Since the goal is to unlock potential through institutional and systemic innovation, we should benchmark against leading enterprises to see how they allocate their resources and time.

It is reported that nearly 100% of Fortune 500 companies have engaged management consulting firms, and their expenditures in this area are substantial.

Take Huawei as an example: it is precisely because consulting firms such as IBM, Accenture, PwC, and Hitachi Consulting helped build its process systems in R&D, supply chain, and marketing that the company now possesses the combat effectiveness of 200,000 employees moving in unison and pulling together toward a common goal.

Entrepreneurs are not born managers; during critical stages of corporate development, they often face challenges in judgment and decision-making.

Local government leaders are not naturally gifted at attracting investment either, but to fulfill their duty of “serving the people and benefiting the region,” they must lead by example and firmly grasp the “bull by the horns” of investment promotion.

▲ In recent years, many top officials have transformed themselves into “city ambassadors,” “industry chain leaders,” or even “front-line service providers,” driving investment promotion efforts from the highest levels to achieve new breakthroughs.

However, investment promotion is a complex and highly competitive systemic endeavor that requires both high-level coordination and seamless collaboration across all levels.

Top leaders must not only oversee the overall direction but also ensure effective implementation.

Especially during the early stages of market-oriented reform in investment promotion, collaborating with experienced third-party organizations to gather diverse perspectives will help establish a scientific and effective industrial ecosystem at an early stage.

Professional industrial consulting firms can play three key roles:

1. Test the waters: Assist in conducting feasibility studies when formulating industrial plans or planning industrial transformation and development to mitigate decision-making risks.

Before launching investment promotion efforts, numerous issues must be resolved.

How should we analyze the direction of industrial development and define the industry’s positioning? How can we integrate the regional industrial foundation to formulate an investment attraction strategy for the industrial chain?

These all require precise decision-making, and the more rigorous the basis for these decisions, the more advantageous it is.

Generally, governments and industrial parks have their own judgments regarding the overall direction. However, when it comes to selecting specific sub-sectors, they often hesitate or, even if they have options, cannot verify their viability.

In such cases, professional industrial consulting firms can utilize scientific methods—such as data analysis and market research—to help clarify industrial positioning, formulate industrial plans, and establish investment attraction strategies, thereby reducing decision-making risks.

2. Providing timely assistance: When investment promotion efforts encounter difficult problems, professional analysis can help identify the root causes.

For example, many regions face the challenge of revitalizing idle factory space.

The root cause is often that no industrial planning was conducted at the outset of the park’s development, or that the industrial plan did not align with actual conditions, and the factory buildings were not designed to meet corporate needs—resulting in a struggle to attract investment.

This leaves industrial parks with only one option—

Recognize the problem, redefine the industrial positioning, and re-establish an investment attraction strategy based on the industrial chain, then stick to the plan until completion.

In such situations, relying solely on internal research and learning may mean missing the optimal window of opportunity. Hiring external talent may not yield immediate results and entails significant costs and risks.

Professional industrial consulting firms, however, can use specialized analysis to help the park identify the root causes and navigate out of this quagmire.

3. Adding value: When it is necessary to “make room for new industries” to improve output per mu, explore pathways and provide feasible solutions.

Zhejiang’s pioneering “output per mu” performance evaluation system has been adopted by major economic provinces such as Jiangsu, Shandong, and Henan, becoming a new trend in regional economic development.

Whereas scale was once king, now output per unit is king.

Using per-mu output as an evaluation criterion effectively accelerates the pace of “replacing old industries with new ones,” thereby unlocking the true value of the land.

However, the decisions regarding what to “clear out” and what to “replace” must not be made on a whim.

Professional industrial consulting firms can assist industrial parks in developing feasible “replacing old industries with new ones” plans through in-depth research and scientific analysis.

Investing in Innovation of Investment Promotion Models

Keeping Pace with the Times, Building Momentum for Surpassing the Competition

There was a time when “poaching-style investment promotion” was all the rage.

Investment promotion staff would travel directly to cities where foreign investors congregated to snatch up resources—going to great lengths to obtain contact information and hotel details, or even staying in hotel lobbies, ready to “swoop in” on foreign investors conducting site visits.

Combined with low land prices and other incentives, foreign investors were indeed lured away in this manner.

Later, cities began emulating Suzhou’s “door-to-door investment promotion” approach.

Investment promotion offices were established across various regions to collect information on companies’ relocation needs and report it upward. Investment promotion departments would then dispatch dedicated staff to “knock on doors” and visit each company individually, matching their needs to secure investment.

Today, with the development of big data technology, “Internet Plus” has propelled investment promotion to new heights.

By analyzing and leveraging massive amounts of data on project location preferences and industrial relocation trends, “Internet Plus Investment Promotion” is shifting the process from “searching for a needle in a haystack” to “precision targeting.”

In early 2020, the Ministry of Commerce officially issued a notice supporting localities in actively engaging in commissioned investment promotion and organizing diverse investment promotion activities.

Partnering with market-oriented investment promotion agencies is undoubtedly an effective way to embrace change and drive innovation in investment promotion models.

To achieve high-quality development, we must forge ahead with the spirit of “the brave prevail when paths converge,” overcoming obstacles and continuously optimizing investment promotion methods.

Even if breakthroughs are not immediately achieved, persistent innovative thinking will enable us to keep pace with the times and build momentum for future success.

Innovation is the primary driving force of development, and this holds true in the investment promotion industry as well. Technological and conceptual revolutions will inevitably trigger massive transformations in the sector.

Investing time and resources in the unchanging trends of the future is never a mistake.

Only by knowing how to spend money can one become increasingly wealthy.

On July 1, 2019, the “Regulations on Government Investment” officially came into effect.

Over the past three years, 17 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions have issued follow-up documents, effectively regulating the use and outcomes of government funds.

On the other hand, the ups and downs of the pandemic over the past two years have also placed significant fiscal pressure on local governments.

In this year’s Government Work Report delivered at the Two Sessions, the Premier stated that “both the central and local governments must take the lead in tightening their belts.” This is not mere rhetoric, but concrete action.

However, strictly prohibiting “extravagance” does not mean “holding back.”

An effective government must dare to spend and know how to spend.

Epidemic prevention and control concerns the lives and health of the people—this money must be spent.

Rail transit construction is vital to citizens’ mobility and economic development, and is closely tied to a city’s core competitiveness; this money must also be spent.

Similarly, as the lifeline of economic development, attracting investment is crucial to a region’s industries, employment, and tax revenue; investment in this area is equally vital.

However, when it comes to the specifics of how to spend this money, opinions may vary.

Earlier, Suzhou invested 30 million yuan in urban planning, which not only laid out the blueprint for today’s Suzhou Industrial Park but also earned the city the title of “China’s Number One Industrial City.”

Later, Hefei placed its bets on BOE and NIO, successfully charting a path for “capital-driven investment attraction” and cementing its reputation as “the most formidable venture capital hub.”

Their “bold” investments are grounded in in-depth analysis and scientific validation of the current state and future prospects of industries, sectors, and enterprises—all representing well-considered, targeted efforts.

Therefore, knowing how to spend money is truly a sophisticated skill.

Amid this period of major transformation, which local governments will be able to manage their finances prudently, ensuring that funds are spent effectively, yield tangible results, and maximize efficiency?

We’ll have to wait and see.