Industrial success demands careful mix of conditions

Zhang said he hopes to float Eifesun within the next two years, and the plaza, he said, should offer a helping hand.

"We will start joint stock reform this year. Wenzhou Financial Investment Group promises to invest in our company to facilitate our reform. Wenzhou financial office has also issued a number of favorable policies," he said.

However, like many other booming areas in China, finding the best staff continues to be a problem for many in the area, sometimes a more serious problem than financing.

Houses prices in Wenzhou continue to soar, averaging 20,000 yuan per sq m, just slightly lower than the average 22,595 yuan in Shanghai, according to local statistics authorities.

A lack of proper educational resources and poor professional communication platforms can also scare off potential applicants.

As a company, the easiest solution is to offer higher salaries.

Eifesun's researchers - who take up 60 percent of the headcount - receive 18-month salaries, amounting to 150,000 yuan after taxation. Zhang claims they are "10 percent higher than any other company of its kind in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hangzhou".

For those who are not Wenzhou locals, the company also provides accommodation for researchers with degrees. For Wenzhou residents, postgraduates are given a 1,000 yuan bonus every month, and college graduates get 600 yuan. Shuttle buses take workers to and from work.

"I tell you what, you feel like an emperor working with Eifesun," Zhang said.

Wenzhou government introduced a policy of "retreating from the second industry and entering the third" at the beginning of last year, in an attempt to begin a large-scale industrial restructuring.

In Lucheng district, where manufacturers have traditionally clustered, e-commerce has become the first choice "third industry", said Yu Youhong, the deputy director of Lucheng commerce bureau.

Established at the end of December last year, its e-commerce industrial park has attracted investment of 200 million yuan, and now covers 100,000 square meters of the 900,000 square meters Lucheng industrial park.

Yu said the prospect of attracting more e-commerce interest is good.

Lucheng is known for the manufacture of small commodities including shoes, lighters and glasses, but it has established a solid base for its transformation into an e-commerce hub.

The turnover of Lucheng district's e-commerce sector last year accounted for 40 percent of Wenzhou's turnover, but further progress in the sector will be difficult.

Many companies in Wenzhou, such as Juyi Group, have been involved in e-commerce for a long time.

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