Amid intensifying competition for investment promotion, industrial parks have broken away from the old model of vying to offer preferential policies and slash land prices. So what can they do to attract and retain enterprises?
Centered on the work deployment of the “Enterprise Service Year”, Huaihua High-tech Development Zone addresses enterprises’ demands across their entire life cycle, rolling out a service framework that understands enterprises, fuels their growth and delivers heartfelt support. It has fostered a development ecosystem for attracting, retaining and nurturing enterprises, blazing a new path for the transformation and upgrading of investment promotion.
Bolstering Industrial Growth Through Superior Business Environment
Keeping abreast of the new landscape of investment promotion, the zone has shifted its work focus from policy concessions to high-quality services. Centering on the full chain of enterprise signing, site settlement and growth, it has pioneered a full-life-cycle service model for enterprises, steering investment promotion from a race over resource handouts to a race over service quality.
“This Enterprise Service Year is about delivering services that truly address enterprises’ core concerns,” a senior official of the zone stated. By prioritizing enterprises’ most pressing difficulties, streamlining service procedures and enforcing service accountability, the zone makes it easier for businesses to complete administrative formalities and pursue development with full peace of mind.
Since the start of this year, the zone has added 4 industrial enterprises above designated size and cultivated 10 provincial-level “specialized, refined, unique and innovative” enterprises. Market entities have maintained steady growth, industrial cluster effects have become prominent, and vitality for corporate development keeps surging.
One Unified Checklist for Full-Process, Traceable Targeted Services
Covering four major stages of enterprise development—investment promotion, approval services, project construction and business expansion—the zone has sorted out over 40 enterprise-related service items and formulated the Full-life-cycle Enterprise Service Checklist. The document clarifies responsible departments, handling standards and standardized tick-off fields.
Enterprises can clearly articulate their demands against the checklist, while relevant departments provide targeted matching services based on the document, completely resolving the long-standing issues of enterprises running between multiple departments and departments passing the buck.
Hunan Huami Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. is undergoing rapid expansion and needs intelligent robots to replace manual labor amid industrial upgrading. The zone responded swiftly by connecting the firm with technical partners. Upon project delivery, the company will cut labor costs by 1.5 million yuan, achieving multiple gains including lower expenses, higher efficiency and safer production.
Separate Dossier for Each Enterprise to Ensure Seamless Service Handover
Targeting three key milestones—project signing, construction commencement and operation launch—the zone has rolled out the “One Enterprise, One Dossier” management system, supported by standardized Handover Document Confirmation Forms. The forms specify responsibilities of both parties and handling time limits, requiring signed confirmation before handover to form a full-chain accountability mechanism.
Since implementation, the time frame from project signing to construction start has been cut by 30%, and the handover efficiency from construction to operation has risen by 40%. The drastically accelerated project rollout has delivered solid outcomes for the Enterprise Service Year initiative.
Prompt Response Mechanism for All Corporate Appeals with Closed-Loop Management
An innovative five-tier classification and closed-loop management system has been established for corporate demands. Appeals are categorized from Grade A to E based on complexity, with clear handling deadlines to guarantee every request receives feedback and proper resolution.
Since the mechanism was launched, average processing time for simple Grade D appeals has been shortened to within two working days, while the handling period for complex Grade C appeals has been halved. To tackle the widely reported financing difficulties facing enterprises, the zone classified the issue as Grade A priority. It coordinated with municipal financial authorities, compiled a brochure of loan products for enterprises’ full life cycle, built a bank-enterprise matching platform and hosted special forums. More than 20 enterprises have reached financing intentions with a total funding volume exceeding 100 million yuan, effectively alleviating corporate financial strains.
In the first half of this year, three rounds of full-coverage surveys were conducted to collect 73 corporate demands and suggestions. Twenty-five official assignment letters were issued, with a resolution rate of 82%. The zone has rapidly cleared hurdles for enterprises, allowing them to advance operations with light burdens.
Standardized Approval Roadmap to Further Boost Administrative Efficiency
A full-process approval flowchart for industrial projects plays on a loop on electronic screens in the government service hall for full visibility.
Through sustained procedure simplification and optimization, the statutory approval period of 180 working days for social investment construction projects has been reduced to just 36 working days, an 80% compression rate. A dedicated one-on-one assistance team delivers bespoke door-to-door services, drastically cutting travel burdens for enterprises and enabling smooth, hassle-free administrative processing.
Satisfaction Surveys to Measure Service Outcomes and Boost Reputation
Refined, thoughtful services have continuously enhanced enterprises’ sense of gain.
A special corporate service survey conducted in the first quarter of this year recorded an overall satisfaction rate of 96.89% among zone enterprises, up 3.2 percentage points year-on-year. The zone’s reputation for an outstanding business environment continues to grow.
Huaihua High-tech Zone’s vivid practice of advancing investment promotion transformation through business environment optimization fully proves that premium services constitute the core competitiveness for attracting, retaining and nurturing enterprises. The zone will further refine its full-life-cycle enterprise service system, faithfully implement the work arrangements of the Enterprise Service Year, and continuously polish its golden brand of a top-tier business environment.
(Translated by Tian Xia)