Sticking to the main business, strengthening the real economy, enhancing independent innovation, transforming the development mode, and constantly improving the quality, efficiency and core competitiveness of enterprises are among the key requirements put forward at the recent symposium on private enterprises. As an important achievement of China's reform and opening up, the private economy has flourished for over 40 years and has become an important engine driving high-quality economic development. From traditional fields such as agriculture, food and machinery to strategic emerging industries such as new energy, semiconductors and biomedicine, a large number of representative private enterprises have now emerged. These enterprises, driven by innovation and based on quality, have formed a multi-level and multi-dimensional industrial ecosystem, demonstrating strong resilience and vitality.
Quality as the foundation. In recent years, many private enterprises have promoted the upgrading of product quality by strictly controlling raw materials, optimizing production processes, and strengthening quality inspection and other links. For instance, Gree Electric Appliances has significantly reduced the defect rate of its air conditioning products by relying on intelligent production lines. Catl has significantly improved the accuracy of battery defect identification through its AI quality inspection system. Meanwhile, digital and intelligent transformation has become a key approach. Data shows that the number of industrial equipment connections in our country has exceeded 90 million sets. Efficiency improvement. Some private enterprises have demonstrated strong vitality and resilience by virtue of precise market positioning, efficient operation and management, and continuous product innovation. They have achieved high profit margins, continuously expanded market shares, and significantly improved profitability. In 2024, private enterprises among large-scale industrial enterprises across the country achieved a total profit of 2,324.58 billion yuan, with a growth rate higher than that of the overall large-scale industrial enterprises.
Core competitiveness is formed. Some private enterprises have strengthened technological innovation, brand building, etc., and have gained an advantageous position in the market competition. For instance, Huawei takes its strong R&D capabilities and technological innovation capabilities as the core competitiveness of the enterprise. Byd surpassed Tesla in both revenue and sales in the third quarter of 2024, thanks to its core technologies such as the Blade Battery and e-Platform 3.0.
It should also be noted that there are still some problems to be solved for the high-quality development of the private economy at present: The quality shortcoming still exists. Some private enterprises neglect product quality and brand building, and some traditional manufacturing enterprises lack a systematic quality management system. The high financing costs of private enterprises, coupled with the continuous increase in labor costs, have led to poor economic benefits for some private enterprises. The innovation capacity needs to be enhanced. Enterprises invest less in research and development and lack independent innovation technologies. Especially for some traditional manufacturing enterprises, they have long imitated the production of other pioneering enterprises and lack core technologies. It is urgent to cultivate an advantage in market competition. At present, China's economy is at a critical stage of transformation and upgrading. Economic growth has shifted from high speed to medium-high speed, with greater emphasis on the quality and efficiency of development. Private enterprises should adapt to the domestic trend of consumption upgrade, intensify efforts in product innovation, improve the quality of products and services, and meet consumers' diverse and personalized demands. The new round of technological transformation and industrial revolution has provided development opportunities for private enterprises, but also brought huge competitive pressure. Private enterprises should make efforts in strengthening brands, standards and technologies, and continuously enhance their core competitiveness in order to better participate in international competition.