In some business parks, the investment promotion team ends up taking on property management duties.

Security guards stand at the gate checking visitors, the finance department sends out monthly rent reminders, and the maintenance team only shows up when a circuit breaker trips.

But if you ask, “What orders have the companies in the park recently secured?” or “Which links are missing in the industrial chain?”, they’ll mostly give vague answers and be unable to provide specifics.

When a company’s lease expires, it moves out; the park then recruits a new one, only for that new company to leave when its lease ends.

The park resembles an “empty shell” that can never be filled, trapped in a vicious cycle of “recruitment—churn—recruitment.”

It’s time to change the mindset behind industrial park operations.

01 From a Rent-Collection Mindset to an Industrial Mindset

In many places, building an industrial park simply means fencing off a few plots of land, constructing a few factory buildings, and then sitting back to collect rent—what we commonly call the “landlord mindset.”

In the eyes of such parks, operations amount to little more than collecting rent and managing property. As for how to provide services to enterprises, foster collaboration among them, ensure their survival, or build a thriving industry—these are largely outside their scope of consideration.

The data has long sounded the alarm!

In industrial parks across cities like Beijing and Shanghai, rents have been slashed time and again, yet vacancy rates have not followed suit. A model reliant solely on rental income is unsustainable.

Rent-dependent parks mostly provide only basic property management services, lacking the support needed for business growth, such as business incubation and financing connections.

As a result, not only are initial construction investments not recouped, but an industrial ecosystem cannot be built either.

Ultimately, they become increasingly reliant on rent and increasingly passive, creating a vicious cycle of “attracting tenants—failing to retain them—and attracting new ones.”

Attracting businesses is not simply about “selling factory space or leasing floor area”; the core lies in helping companies calculate their “growth equation”—that is, whether they can grow here and whether they can make a profit.

With industries evolving so rapidly today, companies moving into a park want more than just a place to work and produce; they seek technical support, help finding markets, and talent development—in short, comprehensive assistance.

Yet many parks have failed to keep pace with these changing demands. Their operational services remain stuck in old ways, unable to create greater value for enterprises—so naturally, companies are unwilling to stay long-term.

The core of an industrial park is the industry itself, not the “park.”

It should not merely be about “slapping an industrial label on factory buildings,” but rather serving as a connector in the industrial chain, linking upstream and downstream resources.

If the focus is solely on “how to maximize rent revenue” rather than “how to help companies increase profits,” then even the finest facilities will amount to nothing more than commercial real estate disguised as an industrial park.

From an operational perspective, attracting businesses, retaining them, and serving them well is more important than anything else—this is the foundation for building an industrial ecosystem.

The operations mentioned here do not necessarily require high-end services; it is sufficient to first lay a solid foundation.

If a company needs to apply for government subsidies, assist them; if they need financing, help connect them with investors; if they need orders, help facilitate deals.

For example, as soon as a company raises a need, the park can present a pre-prepared solution. This kind of “proactive service” is far more effective than competing for projects by lowering rents.

Looking at the bigger picture, there are also product operations, space operations, service operations, asset operations, and industrial operations.

Furthermore, we must possess an industrial vision to help build a growth ladder for enterprises. Only when companies turn a profit will they be willing to renew their leases; only when the industry thrives will the park’s properties hold true value.

Local location advantages, mature supply chains, and a stable labor pool. These industrial chain strengths, built up over decades, are the advantages that should be leveraged most effectively.

02 From a Real Estate Mindset to an Ecosystem Mindset

Beyond the “landlord mindset,” there is another real estate mindset: focusing solely on speed—when can the investment be recouped? How long until it breaks even?

These questions have become the core of decision-making.

However, industrial development inherently requires long-term refinement. A real estate mindset tends to be “short-sighted,” fixated on short-term returns, and simply cannot wait for this process to unfold.

Furthermore, poorly managed industrial parks often lack an understanding of industrial ecosystems, mistakenly believing that simply “cramming” companies into the same park constitutes an “ecosystem.”

The result is that business recruitment devolves into a simple stacking of companies:

They focus solely on attracting companies, without considering whether they can operate synergistically. Once the companies arrive, they each go their own way, like a scattered bunch of sand; later, when attempting to build an industrial operations platform, the lack of a collaborative foundation makes it difficult to get started.

This model of investment promotion, which ignores corporate synergy, may indeed appear bustling at first due to high occupancy rates.

But eventually, it gets stuck in a cycle of “collecting rent, maintaining facilities, and resolving rent disputes,” gradually losing sight of the park’s value in fostering industrial growth.

How can we break this deadlock? The key lies in building an industrial ecosystem to transform the park into a magnet for resources. Specifically, three steps must be taken:

First, attract leading enterprises in the industry. By leveraging their appeal, encourage upstream and downstream supporting companies to cluster together and move in;

Second, establish industrial infrastructure such as testing centers and financing platforms, so that once companies arrive, they can handle all their needs in one place;

Third, regularly host technical seminars and supply chain matchmaking events to foster collaboration among enterprises, allowing resources to grow like a snowball.

Ultimately, it comes down to a symbiotic relationship where companies say, “You supply me with parts, and I provide you with support services,” working together to create a synergistic force.

The appeal of an industrial park has never relied on the presence of a single company, but rather on the overall ecosystem. As the concentration of the industrial chain increases, it becomes easier to attract companies; once they truly take root, they are unlikely to leave easily.

For local regions, the scarcest resource is actually the existing dominant industrial clusters and ecosystem.

Factors such as location, market access, supply chains, costs, production environments, and labor conditions are the true pillars supporting industrial development.

There is another key player: the investment promotion team.

In some regions, investment promotion teams are often staffed by personnel transferred from internal roles such as administration, finance, and engineering. This is particularly true for platform companies, most of which lack professional investment promotion experience and fail to keep pace with industry research.

If they cannot even grasp the core technological principles of high-tech enterprises, how can they accurately explain to companies “what our park’s advantages are” or “how much we can help you grow in the future”? And how can they truly convince companies to set up operations here?

To illustrate: a biopharmaceutical company needed guidance on filing for a customs special supervision zone. This involves policies from the General Administration of Customs, and the filing process is particularly complex. However, since most team members were unfamiliar with customs operations, they were unable to provide professional guidance to the company.

Therefore, investment promotion teams must address these capability gaps and strengthen their core competencies.

For instance, they must enhance their industry insight—understanding the connections between upstream and downstream sectors of the industrial chain and trends in cutting-edge technologies, while also thoroughly grasping the local industrial foundation to precisely match corporate needs.

They must also improve their analytical and decision-making capabilities, relying on data to screen target companies using tools such as industrial chain maps and corporate databases.

They must also strengthen professional service capabilities, providing one-stop support from contract signing to production launch, helping companies resolve challenges such as expediting approvals and coordinating resources, and effectively leveraging channel resources.

Ultimately, the key to park operations lies in “understanding the industry and fostering symbiosis.”

We cannot merely play the role of “collecting rent and managing property”; instead, we must become partners in enterprise development—we must be industry experts who genuinely help companies solve problems.

Only by dedicating ourselves to studying the industry and providing diligent service to enterprises can we transform the park from a simple gathering place for businesses into a growth engine capable of driving industrial development.