The city of Zibo, located in East China's Shandong province, currently has 65 so-called national "little giants" – top-performing and dynamic smaller companies – ranking it number one in the region, according to the most recent data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The term little giants refers elite small and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in niche markets, are high growth and boast cutting-edge technologies.
Zibo's manufacturing industry has particularly strong foundations. Over 90 percent of its 65 little giants are engaged in the sector, including the Taibao Group and the Shandong SMA Pharmatech Co Ltd.
A technician checks a production line that is being operated by the Taibao Group. [Photo/zbnews.net]
The Taibao Group, which is the largest of them in Zibo, is a world-class information and anti-counterfeiting product manufacturer in Asia – with an annual output of around 15 billion units. Innovation is said to be the key to the Taibao Group's success and the company has registered 855 technology patents to date, with 280 of them being invention patents.
An exterior view of Shandong SMA Pharmatech Co Ltd's plant in Zibo. [Photo/zbnews.net]
Another Zibo little giant is Shandong SMA Pharmatech Co Ltd, a leading anti-tumor production process solutions provider, which has had a compound growth rate above 30 percent in recent years.
It also attaches great importance to research and development. The average R&D spending per year by SMA Pharmatech has reached more than 5.2 percent of its total operating income and the group's total investment has topped 34 million yuan ($5.05 million) over the last three years.
To support the development of little giants, policies have been issued from the national to the provincial level. For example, Shandong province issued grants and subsidy standards and support policies in April and gave national little giant enterprises one-time grants of 2 million yuan each.
Furthermore, Zibo has led the way to get more financial support for its specialist and niche businesses and the 65 Zibo-based national little giant enterprises are widely seen as being great examples for other small and medium enterprises to follow.
