Chinese entrepreneurs must be bold and innovate

Editor's Note: Now China is bidding farewell to its economies of scale, Chinese entrepreneurs must get rid of their dependence on market size and macro policies, and take the initiative to innovate and be bold. 21st Century Business Herald comments:

Since China launched its reform and opening-up in the late 1970s, the country has produced three generations of entrepreneurs－those from the workers and farmers in the 1980s, civil servants who quit their jobs, retired soldiers and some intellectuals in the 1990s, and returnees from abroad in the 21st century.

But they have all lacked global vision, and have on the whole mostly been content with cultivating their businesses at home, as the more than 40 years of remarkable growth of the Chinese economy has instilled a misperception in their minds that, given the potential of the Chinese economy and market, simply enlarging their business scale in their respective fields is enough to ensure the sustainable development of their business while helping them avoid risks.

They spend more time and energy studying the Chinese government's periodic macro control and adjustment of the national economy, than thinking about research and development, as the government's behavior invariably contains speculative opportunities, which further discourages them from leaving their comfort zones.

But with the periods of macro control now becoming much shorter and containing more uncertainties than before, after China has been integrated into the global economy, these businesspeople have had to change their operation models, which is in fact the core of the country's industrial upgrading and economic restructuring.

Although some are still bent on following the government to chase quick and easy money from short-term speculation on government subsidies and some fleeting investment opportunities created by some industrial policies, it is increasingly a consensus that the government will surrender its dominance of the economy to the market. And the trade war with the United States and the downward pressure mounting on the economy have further squeezed the speculative space for them.

Now is the time for the Chinese business community to demonstrate more entrepreneurship and courage by diverting its attention to the global market and innovation. Only after the majority of them get rid of their habitual reliance on the government's macro control policies and the scale of the Chinese market, can the nation have enough confidence in the future of the economy.