Nine out of ten projects fall through, so it’s no surprise when someone poaches talent.

When it comes to the “difficulty in implementing” investment projects, there is no shortage of reasons for the “difficulty.”

Each reason could be summarized as a “lesson learned.” The key is to identify the “bottlenecks” hindering project implementation.

When investment projects “vanish,” it boils down to just a few reasons. We all understand the principles, so why do we still struggle with investment promotion?

Good projects face many hurdles, with twists and turns at every turn. Is implementation difficult because there are too many loose ends? How to resolve these worries? The only solution is...

Corporate investment faces hurdles, waiting for approval from higher-ups

Companies looking to invest cannot secure suitable land or agree on factory construction terms, yet they receive the response: “We need to seek approval from higher authorities.”

Time is money. Companies feel the local government lacks sincerity, while the local government believes the companies aren’t in a hurry to invest. Back and forth, and the project “disappears”…

Success is measured by “timeliness”; a strong sense of urgency leads to high efficiency in investment promotion.

Let’s look at two “lunch meetings” to get a taste of Hefei’s efficient investment promotion.

Last year, the Youpao New Energy Vehicle project took just 102 days from formal negotiations to the arrival of investment funds—the “Fei Xi Speed” left the company deeply impressed.

During this period, the company and local government leaders shared only “two boxed-lunch meetings.” Why did these “two boxed-lunch meetings” leave such a lasting impression on the investors?

Regardless of a project’s scale, what truly convinces entrepreneurs to stay is not the “boxed meals” themselves, but the local government’s high priority on strategic emerging industries and its efficient execution.

Investment promotion strategies have, in essence, evolved into service-oriented strategies focused on facilitating project implementation. It can be said that only those who approach matters from a perspective of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation can earn the trust of enterprises.

Slow project implementation leads to constant travel for visits

“We host over a hundred investment promotion groups a year and receive out-of-town delegations almost every day,” said a business leader from a coastal region.

Some companies have even established dedicated investment promotion offices, assigning permanent staff to handle these tasks—an invisible increase in operational costs that has become a new burden.

Since the beginning of this year, with central and western regions moving eastward and eastern regions expanding overseas—through inspection tours, promotional events, and seminars—the scale of investment promotion appears large, the formats innovative, and the frequency high. Yet, the details remain ambiguous.

How far is it from the port? Land quotas, energy consumption quotas, water usage quotas—these may still be in question during the investment promotion process, and officials often cannot provide clear answers when enterprises inquire.

Project implementation moves at a snail’s pace, yet officials speak eloquently when asked for reasons. During the process, projects simply “disappear”...

In recent years, there has been a constant emphasis on “going out” to attract investment from developed cities. However, simply replicating “high-tech” industries has ultimately resulted in deserted industrial parks, with only a handful of companies actually engaging in production and operations.

With the introduction of the “Dual Carbon” strategy, the development of wind and solar power projects has essentially become a “red ocean.” In regions with favorable wind resources and sunlight conditions—especially those with additional advantages in land availability and policy support—projects flock in droves.

During the investment promotion process, many localities have adopted a “door-to-door” approach to courting such projects. While this may appear to cover a wide range of potential partners, very few actually materialize into concrete projects.

Before a company settles in, it must plan carefully before acting, conducting in-depth research and investment analysis. Investment promotion should be guided by planning, not the other way around.

Of course, even with this approach, a series of challenges will still arise. Government and enterprises must reach a consensus on key issues before signing agreements. Even if difficulties arise later, companies will be more receptive to them, thereby preventing a disconnect between investment promotion and project implementation.

One Administration Attracts Investment, Three Administrations Provide Support

There was a project where “one administration attracted the investment, but three administrations provided support.” For a project involving an investment of tens of billions of yuan, the government committed to providing support for five consecutive years.

However, after the project was implemented, it made no contribution to the local fiscal revenue, yet the government still had to allocate substantial funds for incentives and subsidies.

In the past, when dealing with projects, officials spared no effort in promoting local preferential policies, repeatedly negotiating with investors over tax rebates, subsidy amounts, and what conditions were still lacking...

Moreover, as “insiders,” we often focused solely on a project’s revenue and tax contributions. When these metrics couldn’t adequately evaluate early-stage startups, such projects would simply fade away over time.

How many companies, in pursuit of various subsidies and incentives—merely to “get by” initially—chose the wrong location, only to end up as abandoned projects that eventually “disappeared”…

During the investment promotion process, many localities fail to take proactive measures or plan ahead to ensure that projects will “thrive” after they are established.

To put it plainly, when it comes to policy, it is better to introduce three to five useful measures than to issue twenty or thirty vague provisions.

Conversely, some policies are largely similar, failing to meet the needs of manufacturing enterprises and failing to send a positive signal encouraging private investment.

Furthermore, some localities face heavy debt repayment pressures, reduced ability to allocate funds, and lack the economic strength to fully implement policies. This not only dampens the enthusiasm of private investors but may also cause projects that should have been implemented to “vanish.”

Furthermore, under a market economy, enterprises are the primary participants in market competition and are most sensitive to market information and shifts in demand.

In contrast, the government often lags behind in information dissemination, and the industrial policies it formulates may fail to keep pace with market changes. This makes it difficult for enterprises reliant on industrial support policies to succeed in market competition.

High Overseas Expenses and Full-Scale Investment Promotion

The county’s investment promotion budget has risen to 200,000 yuan; a single trip to Beijing or Shanghai by a group of over a dozen people costs tens of thousands of yuan, with non-economic departments also participating—this is a true reflection of investment promotion efforts in a certain county.

Especially in areas with scarce local resources and poor endowments, a “cast-a-wide-net” approach is adopted to actively foster a strong atmosphere of large-scale investment promotion. In some places, to drive the comprehensive rollout of investment promotion efforts, the so-called “mass investment promotion” approach is often implemented.

This is particularly true in economically underdeveloped areas. Lacking essential resources—such as investment projects, specialized talent, infrastructure funding, and think tank insights—these regions have failed to develop effective investment strategies. Instead, they blindly “cast a wide net” in search of projects.

Wave after wave of investment promotion teams spend year after year traveling far and wide, each trying their own methods, but the result of this “mass investment promotion” is high costs, limited effectiveness, and numerous drawbacks.

Conversely, amid this “human wave tactic,” projects have “vanished”...

The root cause is that not everyone is capable of investment promotion. When tasks are assigned but results fall short of expectations, non-specialized personnel—lacking the necessary professional skills and tools—are unable to complete the investment promotion cycle.

To put it another way, does “mass investment promotion” require setting aside one’s primary job duties? Of course not; rather, it means performing one’s primary duties while supporting investment promotion efforts.

In practice, the approach should emphasize “fundamental steps combined with methods and strategies,” advancing in a step-by-step manner. Without a solid foundation, investment promotion is nothing but a pipe dream.

Deciding where to promote a project first and which alternative locations to target is a process that requires careful consideration. This involves paying close attention to the project sponsor’s expectations or guiding potential investors in advance, conducting a thorough analysis of comparative advantages, and highlighting the unique strengths of each location.

Only by truly understanding the fundamental reasons behind a project—and whether the company’s demands align with its motivations—can we determine whether the project has a genuine chance of being implemented or if the investor is merely testing the waters.