The Qixi Festival is associated with the love legend of "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl."

Couples in love and married couples alike make plans to spend this most romantic of traditional festivals together.

Attracting investment is much like dating: some projects can build a lasting relationship with a region, while others are like “bad boys” who never see a relationship through to the end.

To ensure that every project “match” leads smoothly to a happy future, we’ve summarized the four main reasons for project “breakups.” We wish all investment promoters and their chosen enterprises “happily ever after.”

It’s All the Policy’s Fault

When it comes to local investment promotion and corporate site selection, there’s one topic neither side can avoid: preferential policies.

Today, many regions still focus heavily on promoting preferential policies when dealing with companies. It seems as though the competition for investment between cities and towns has become a “battle” over the generosity of these incentives.

Whenever a project fails to materialize, the blame is often placed on “our policies not being as good as others’.”

This statement certainly held true two or three decades ago. Preferential policies could create a “policy haven,” providing enterprises with a certain degree of leeway and protection to allow them to gradually grow.

However, in today’s investment promotion process, preferential policies no longer play a decisive role. At best, they serve as a “match” to ignite the flame; whether that “fire” burns brightly depends on the quality of the “firewood”—namely, the industrial foundation, supporting services, and business environment.

As investment promotion has evolved, preferential policies have become almost a “standard feature” for local governments, resulting in severe homogenization. With an increasing number of similar policies and a scarcity of high-quality projects, the supply-demand balance has become severely skewed.

Policies are no longer the “lifeline” for investment promotion. The current and future direction and trend in investment promotion lies in conducting comprehensive analyses of local industrial structures, optimizing the business environment, and leveraging differentiated advantages.

Changing Their Tune Once They’re On Board

As localities work to optimize the business environment and promote the long-term development of enterprises, approaches such as “tailored policies for each enterprise” and “case-by-case deliberation” have become key tools for governments in attracting businesses.

Some governments offer relatively “lenient” conditions and environments to enterprises, even allowing projects to “get on board first and sort out the details later.”

However, once enterprises have invested real money into construction, situations arise where, for various reasons, they are unable to “pay the fare.” The original “leniency” turns into immediate trouble due to the government’s “change of heart,” frequently obstructing project construction and production.

During the project negotiation phase, if the coordination mechanism between investment promotion departments and relevant agencies is not sufficiently mature, a situation where “one side is enthusiastic while the other is indifferent” may arise; during the construction phase, if local leadership changes occur, phenomena such as “transfer of responsibilities” or “new officials not honoring past commitments” may emerge…

All these factors can potentially derail a project. Only by properly addressing historical issues in accordance with the law and implementing sound current management can private enterprises shed their mental burdens and move forward unencumbered.

Investment promotion personnel play a crucial role in this process; by actively identifying pain points and bottlenecks, they can collaborate with various departments to swiftly resolve issues for enterprises.

Focusing on the “sesame seeds” while neglecting the “melons”

“Focusing on the big picture without neglecting the details,” “pursuing new opportunities without forgetting existing ones,” “prioritizing internal matters without overlooking external factors,” “advancing projects while improving the business environment”…

Investment promotion professionals must possess a “well-rounded mindset” to effectively and thoroughly carry out local investment promotion efforts.

"Focusing on the big picture without neglecting the small" means balancing the recruitment of major and strong enterprises with the development of small products into large industries. Leading enterprises and top-100 companies are the skeletal framework of a region’s industrial development, while small and medium-sized enterprises are like the vascular system—both are indispensable to regional growth.

Balancing internal and external efforts—"focusing on the internal without neglecting the external"—is a crucial approach for regional development that relies on two legs. When it comes to investment promotion, people tend to look "out the window." Once the desired project—the "son-in-law"—is brought in, there is a risk of neglecting or mistreating the "son."

While new projects are provided with resources, land, incentives, and supporting infrastructure, local enterprises are often denied the same treatment. Gradually, local enterprises lose their competitive edge and may end up relocating elsewhere.

However, new projects eventually become established enterprises, and this cycle repeats itself. It is akin to filling a pool while simultaneously draining it—making it difficult to ever fill the pool to capacity.

Unable to Escape the Industrial "Vortex"

Today, technological innovation has the potential to drive the formation of new industries. Localities everywhere hope to seize these new industrial opportunities, leveraging the time lag to establish a competitive edge in emerging sectors and trends.

However, just as Wang Baoqiang alone cannot represent all extras becoming Best Actor winners,

New opportunities also bring new risks. If we become overly fixated on pursuing what is “new” and “trendy,” we may overlook the actual industrial foundation and structure of the region, thereby falling into an industrial development “vortex.”

Alignment with or similarity to the local industrial foundation is the cornerstone of developing new industries.

After local governments allocate preferential policies, funding, land, and other resources to projects, enterprises often fail to integrate into the local industrial chain. Consequently, investments fail to translate into timely returns, leading to the idling of prime land. This results in a situation where neither the enterprises nor the local government achieves a win-win outcome.

Consistent industrial policies are the driving force behind sustained industrial development.

When an industry is in its infancy or just beginning to take shape, a sudden shift in local policy can easily stall project investment and supporting efforts, or even cause the project to “fail” due to missed development opportunities.

In Conclusion

The key to attracting investment and optimizing the business environment lies in people. The professionalism, attitude, and dedication of investment promotion staff largely determine whether a successful partnership with a project can be forged.

When issues arise in this “courtship,” the key is to promptly identify the problems, address them effectively, and resolve them—only then can the partnership be strengthened, ultimately leading to the signing of the agreement and the successful implementation of the project.