The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to "enhance the resilience and safety of industrial and supply chains". Since the 1990s, the division of labor in the global industrial chain has been playing an increasingly important role. How to integrate into the global industrial division system and continuously improve the modernization level of domestic industrial chain and supply chain has become a major problem faced by developing countries in the process of modernization. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people have successfully embarked on a Chinese-style modernization path, which has expanded the path for developing countries to participate in the division of labor in the global industrial chain. Summarizing the successful experience of upgrading the modernization level of the industrial chain and supply chain in the past will help strengthen the weak board and the forged long board, and further improve the toughness and safety level of the industrial chain and supply chain.
1. Actively cultivate the core industrial chain and key links, and constantly improve the modernization of industrial chain and supply chain
The modernization of China's industrial chain supply chain is pushed forward with constant expansion and opening-up. Since the reform and opening-up, our country has played its comparative advantage, seized the opportunity of global industrial division of labor remodeling and adjustment, integrated into the global industrial division of labor system, and rapidly increased the competitiveness of the industrial chain supply chain. Later, with the rise of labor cost and the aggravating of resource and environment constraints, innovation and domestic demand gradually improve the role of promoting the modernization of industrial chain and supply chain. Our country increasingly attaches importance to actively cultivating core industrial chain and key links by combining its own advantages, and promotes the modernization level of Chinese industrial chain and supply chain.
According to the early western modernization theory, developing countries should completely rely on other developed countries to achieve modernization. The reason why developing countries lag behind is that they are in traditional society. Only with the help of external forces of developed countries, that is, they must rely on external markets, can these countries get rid of traditional constraints and embark on the road of modernization. But the fact is that no developing country has succeeded in modernization by relying solely on the aid of developed countries and relying on external markets. Some Latin American countries used to resort to import substitution behind closed doors and relying entirely on their own markets, but they did not succeed. Practice has proved that in the context of the global industrial chain division of labor, it is impossible for developing countries to realize the modernization of industrial chain and supply chain, no matter whether they adopt export-oriented strategy or import-substitution strategy, if they do not put the modernization of industrial chain and supply chain on the basis of their own strength, build their own advantages and enhance their capacity for independent innovation. In the process of promoting the modernization of the industrial chain and supply chain, China has put emphasis on improving its own ability and level, constantly improving the level of self-reliance in science and technology, and constantly improving the self-innovation ability and level of enterprises. The modernization level of the industrial chain and supply chain has been continuously improved, and the resilience and security level of the industrial chain and supply chain have been continuously enhanced.
2. Promote the integrated development of large, small and medium-sized enterprises, and work together to improve the resilience and safety of industrial and supply chains
Enterprises are micro subjects of the industrial chain and supply chain. There are both large enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises in the industrial chain. Since the 1990s, multinational corporations have become the main force promoting the division of labor in the global industrial chain. Due to the cost, resource factors, market, strategic needs and other aspects of consideration, transnational corporations conduct global distribution of their business activities. In the process of layout, transnational corporations try to promote the construction of a hierarchical industrial chain and supply chain system. In this hierarchical system, transnational corporations control the core competitive advantages and key links and occupy a dominant position in the industrial chain and supply chain, while most small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries are in a subordinate position. This kind of unequal relationship in the industrial chain and supply chain leads to the disadvantage of small and medium-sized enterprises in the distribution of benefits. In the process of upgrading the modernization level of industrial chain supply chain, we constantly promote the integrated development of large, small and medium-sized enterprises. By accelerating technological innovation, sharing the mode of integration and optimizing the development environment, we promote the sharing of production factors between large enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises, and establish the leading enterprise or key link leading enterprise to combine the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain and the horizontal similar enterprises. The new form of industrial organization, which aims at improving the ability of industrial innovation, supply chain unimpeded and market expansion, realizes the integrated development and common development of large, small and medium-sized enterprises.
In 2018, The State Council issued the Opinions on Promoting High-quality Development of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Building an Upgraded Version of Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation, which clearly put forward the establishment of an integrated development platform for large, small and medium-sized enterprises. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council issued the Three-year Action Plan to Promote Integrated Development of Large, small and Medium-sized Enterprises. In 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance and other departments issued the Guidelines on Accelerating the Cultivation and Development of high-quality Enterprises in the Manufacturing industry, proposing to accelerate the cultivation and development of specialized and special "little giant" enterprises, individual champion enterprises in the manufacturing industry and industry chain leading enterprises, so as to build a gradient cultivation pattern of high-quality enterprises. In 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology launched the first batch of industrial chain and supply chain ecological system construction pilot work, requiring pilot cities to promote the formation of a collaborative, competitive, cooperative and symbiotic ecological development pattern of leading enterprises and supporting enterprises through mechanism innovation, factor clustering, platform building, data intelligence empowerment and policy support. A series of policy measures to support the integrated development of large, small and medium-sized enterprises have produced positive results. They have not only further improved the resilience of the industrial chain and the modernization of the industrial chain and supply chain, but also promoted the development of a modern industrial system through the upstream and downstream linkages of the industrial chain.
3. Enhance the green and low-carbon development capacity of industrial chain and supply chain, and promote harmonious coexistence between man and nature
Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, our country has continuously improved the green and low-carbon development ability of the whole domestic industrial chain, which has effectively promoted the modernization of the industrial chain and supply chain. In 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments issued the Guidelines for the Construction of Green Manufacturing Standard System, incorporating the green supply chain into the green manufacturing standard system. In the same year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Notice on Building a Green Manufacturing System to promote the green development of upstream and downstream enterprises in the automobile, electronic and electrical industries. In 2017, The General Office of the State Council issued the Guiding Opinions on Actively Promoting the Innovation and Application of Supply Chain, clearly advocating the construction of green supply chain. In 2021, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments jointly issued the Notice on the Establishment of National Supply Chain Innovation and Application Demonstration, guiding and urging enterprises to choose green suppliers and implement green procurement, and actively building green supply chains for key industries. The Ministry of Commerce and other departments issued the Work Standards for the Establishment of National Supply Chain Innovation and Application Demonstration, which clearly requires demonstration cities and enterprises to play a leading and exemplary role in accelerating the green development of supply chain.
The realization of green and low-carbon development of industrial chain and supply chain has become a common requirement for global development. However, in the context of the division of labor of the global industrial chain, the realization of green and low-carbon development is faced with a series of difficulties due to the coordination between diverse interest subjects and upstream and downstream links. In the early stage of the division of labor of the global industrial chain, with the improvement of environmental requirements in developed countries, transnational corporations often transferred production activities with large resource consumption and high environmental pollution to developing countries. However, with the growing global voice for green and low-carbon development, transnational corporations gradually incorporated green standards into their supply chain system, and a number of small and medium-sized enterprises were excluded from the green supply chain system. As a result, the green and low-carbon development of its industrial chain and supply chain is confronted with technological constraints. When our country is improving the modernization level of supply chain of the industrial chain, by playing the leading and demonstration role of demonstration cities and demonstration enterprises, play the leading role of core leading enterprises, promote green and low-carbon management of the whole life cycle of the products, promote green and low-carbon regulation of the supply chain, promote the construction of green and low-carbon logistics system, promote the cultivation of green consumer market. Promoting the construction of reverse logistics system, shaping the green and low-carbon systematic capacity, promoting the link of the whole chain, all-round improvement and multi-agent collaboration, embodies the essential requirements of Chinese modernization for promoting harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
4. Maintain the public good nature of industrial chains and supply chains, so that the fruits of development will benefit people of all countries
China is committed to maintaining the public good nature of its industrial chain and supply chain, ensuring the security and stability of its own industrial chain and supply chain, and deepening international cooperation on industrial chain and supply chain with concrete actions to bring more benefits to people around the world.
Since the 1990s, changes in productivity factors such as the development of information technology and the decline of transportation costs have promoted the deepening of international division of labor, the increasingly complex division of industrial chain, the supply chain beyond national boundaries, and the deepening of the mutual nesting and mutual influence of economic relations among countries. Problems in one country's industrial chain and supply chain will inevitably affect other countries and even spread to the whole world. Problems in some links of the industrial chain and supply chain will inevitably cause chain reactions in the whole chain, and the public goods attribute of the industrial chain and supply chain will become increasingly prominent. However, the global industrial chain and supply chain governance system is affected by zero-sum game and Cold War mentality, and the global will and ability to jointly safeguard the public goods of industrial chain and supply chain are not strong. One of the main causes of the increasing instability and uncertainty of the current global industrial chain and supply chain is that the public goods attribute of the industrial chain and supply chain is not fully maintained in the process of building the global governance system of the industrial chain and supply chain. Especially in recent years, under the pretext of safeguarding so-called "national security", the US government has comprehensively promoted the so-called strategy of "enhancing supply chain resilience". By taking advantage of its structural advantages in some industries, the US puts its interests above those of other countries, prioritizing the benefits of global industrial division of labor to the US, and artificially destroying the public goods attribute of the industrial chain and supply chain. The stability of the global industrial chain and supply chain will be affected. China is firmly committed to maintaining the public goods nature of its industrial chain and supply chain, which conforms to the objective law of productivity development and reflects the essential requirement of Chinese modernization for the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Source: Guangming Daily