Investment promotion strategies must be tailored to each city. The approach to attracting investment naturally varies greatly across cities of different tiers.

In the article "Analysis of Experiences from 20 Cities: How Should Provincial Sub-Central Cities Attract Investment?", the author analyzed the investment promotion strategies of provincial sub-central cities.

However, when focusing on third- and fourth-tier cities and below, it becomes clear that their advantages in terms of resources, geographical location, and economic development are not particularly prominent.

In the fierce competition for investment, how can these cities break through?

The transition from attracting any investor to attracting major investors is not an overnight process; it requires a practical approach grounded in long-term planning.

This article explores potential pathways for investment promotion in third- and fourth-tier cities.

01 Define Your Positioning and Leverage Your Strengths

It must be acknowledged that first-tier cities do indeed possess unique advantages in terms of industrial and capital concentration. However, this does not mean that third- and fourth-tier cities have no path forward.

Every region possesses unique resources and potential; the key lies in how to uncover and utilize them.

Third- and fourth-tier cities can start by leveraging their local culture, historical heritage, natural resources, and demographic structure to identify a development path that truly suits them.

In this process, it is essential to monitor national industrial trends and future developments, gain insight into emerging trends, and keep pace with the times.

At the same time, they must conduct a thorough analysis of their comparative advantages: whether these lie in abundant raw materials, stable energy supplies, low labor costs, convenient transportation, affordable land, or the existing clustering effects of industrial chains.

For example, resource-based cities such as Ordos, Yulin, and Karamay possess inherent advantages in coal resources; cities like Xuzhou, Xiangyang, and Jiujiang boast relatively well-developed transportation networks; while remote and underdeveloped regions benefit from lower land prices, among other factors.

Moving forward, third- and fourth-tier cities need to build on these strengths to implement differentiated investment promotion policies.

In this process, they must learn to pursue a differentiated development strategy, avoiding competition with leading cities for high-quality and popular industries, and instead turning their attention to investors whose projects truly align with the city’s positioning and can take root and thrive in the local area.

At the same time, they must devote significant effort to improving the business environment, creating a favorable ecosystem where enterprises are willing to come, stay, and thrive.

Only when enterprises can truly take root, grow, and thrive here will the results of investment promotion efforts be fully realized.

02 Capitalizing on the Momentum: Facilitating Industrial Relocation

Many third- and fourth-tier cities are driving their own development by absorbing industrial transfers from the eastern regions.

Today, with the slowdown in exports and investment, coupled with the surging demand for land in first-tier cities, the trend of industrial spillover is becoming increasingly pronounced.

Faced with this situation, third- and fourth-tier cities must skillfully ride the wave and embrace the tide of industrial transformation with a more proactive attitude.

In this process, land has undoubtedly become a trump card in the hands of third- and fourth-tier cities.

Tier-one cities hold advantages in policy support, financial backing, supporting infrastructure, and industrial chains. As industries continue to expand, the demand for land has surged.

Against this backdrop, the one thing they lack is land. And this is precisely where third- and fourth-tier cities hold the advantage.

So, how should third- and fourth-tier cities effectively play this “land card”?

First, they must strengthen land planning and reserve efforts, setting aside sufficient development space to accommodate industrial relocation from first-tier cities.

In particular, they must coordinate the allocation of construction land for major projects to ensure priority allocation of land quotas.

At the same time, innovating land use methods is also a critical component. By increasing the utilization rate and floor area ratio of existing industrial land, every inch of land can be leveraged to generate maximum economic benefits.

This approach not only meets industrial land demands but also effectively reduces land costs for enterprises, thereby enhancing the city’s appeal.

In fact, some cities have achieved significant results through land-based investment attraction strategies.

For example, Heyuan City in Guangdong has successfully attracted well-known enterprises such as ZTE Corporation through strategic land planning and utilization.

03 Industrial Chain Investment Promotion: Creating an Industrial Hub

In an era where major cities pursue comprehensive, large-scale development, how can smaller cities—lacking advantages in urban scale—chart a distinctive path of “small yet exquisite” development?

The answer lies in targeted investment promotion focused on industrial chains.

To illustrate this point, let’s examine two case studies: Quzhou and the Pingyuan Urban-Rural Integration Demonstration Zone in Xinxiang City (hereinafter referred to as the “Pingyuan Demonstration Zone”).

First, let’s look at Quzhou, which has established a comprehensive mechanism for industrial chain research and promotion, carefully planning its development around six flagship industrial chains.

By leveraging the leading-enterprise effect, they have achieved the extension and expansion of industrial chains.

Zhongtian Dongfang Fluorosilicon Company is a prime example.

This enterprise not only possesses strong capabilities of its own but also leverages its abundant resources to attract surrounding enterprises to establish operations here. Today, Quzhou’s organosilicon industry has gained significant momentum, with a monomer production capacity of up to 300,000 tons and nearly 50 types of downstream products.

In addition, they have targeted weak links in their dominant industries for precise investment promotion.

For example, the introduction of Changzhou Aoshou New Materials Co., Ltd.—with its 118,000-ton-per-year project for fine chemicals used in integrated circuits—has filled the gap in functional chemicals within Zhejiang Province’s electronic chemicals industrial chain and formed a complete industrial chain in collaboration with the province’s integrated circuit enterprises.

Turning to the Pingyuan Demonstration Zone, they have seized the major opportunity presented by the “Central Plains Agricultural Valley” initiative. Focusing on six high-end agricultural sectors—modern seed industry, smart agriculture, biotechnology, intelligent equipment manufacturing, deep processing of agricultural products, and cold-chain logistics—they are striving to explore a new path where agricultural modernization leads high-quality development.

In this process, they have skillfully leveraged the external resources of Guchuan Lianxing to conduct on-site surveys to assess their current capabilities, map out precise industrial investment attraction strategies, and formulate targeted investment attraction plans.

At the same time, leveraging the resources of GuChuan LianXing’s database of over 116,000 real projects, they have precisely screened highly compatible projects nationwide, significantly improving the efficiency of investment attraction and corporate site selection, and successfully attracting numerous high-quality projects to settle there.

This demonstrates that industrial chain-based investment promotion is becoming a key strategy for small cities to achieve clustered industrial development and establish themselves as industrial hubs.

04 Enhancing the Industrial Ecosystem to Create a Strong Investment Magnet

In addition to leveraging their own strengths, third- and fourth-tier cities can also focus on shaping their industrial landscape, which is another key factor in attracting corporate projects.

In this regard, Yibin, Sichuan, serves as a prime example.

This city, which once relied on traditional “black and white” industries, has now been completely transformed.

It has successfully moved beyond the narrow profile of a traditional resource-based city, shifting toward emerging industries represented by “blue and green”—namely, the digital economy and the new energy sector.

It is precisely these two major industries that have driven Yibin’s high economic growth. Particularly in the new energy sector, the city has not only successfully attracted industry giants like CATL but has also achieved a market scale of over 100 billion yuan in the power battery industry.

Yibin’s success lies not only in its unique geographical advantages and policy support, but also in its carefully planned industrial ecosystem.

As early as 2016, Yibin recognized the opportunities in the green energy sector and resolutely committed to the power battery industry.

This move not only allowed Yibin to gain a firm foothold in the global wave of green development but also laid the foundation for the city’s future industrial transformation.

Shortly thereafter, in 2017, Yibin decisively allocated one-tenth of its annual fiscal revenue to acquire a 51% stake in Kaiyi Automobile, a subsidiary of Chery Group, and relocated its production base to Yibin.

In the same year, the successful introduction of two upstream projects—Liba New Materials and Guangyuan Lithium Battery—further enhanced the layout of the power battery industrial chain. As these projects took root, they propelled Yibin’s power battery industry toward cluster-based and high-end development.

It is precisely the cumulative effect of this series of carefully planned strategies and pragmatic measures that has made Yibin’s industrial ecosystem increasingly robust, attracting a wealth of advanced technologies and top-tier talent.

Today, this vibrant region has become a new hub for the green energy industry, attracting the attention of countless investors.

The industrial “siphon effect” is vividly demonstrated here: as the ecosystem matures and the platform’s capabilities improve, enterprises and projects continue to settle in, and the industry naturally flourishes.

For third- and fourth-tier cities across the country, establishing a robust industrial ecosystem can create a powerful magnet for investment, drawing a steady stream of enterprises and projects.

In this way, they will surely seize the initiative in the new round of industrial development and achieve economic takeoff.