German Business in China – Greater Shanghai Innovation Survey 2018/19
Increasing priority for innovation
How do you prioritize innovation in your Chinese entity for the next three years?
42%
58%
2017 2018
25%
25%
24%
14%
8%
3%
Top priority Top 3 Top 5 Not a priority
Innovation is the top priority for 25% of surveyed manufacturing companies and among
the top three business priorities for another 58%. The portion of companies counting
innovation among their top three priorities increased by 16 percentage points compared
to 2017.
The survey results show no correlation between innovation prioritization and innovation
performance, allowing the conclusion that Top Innovators do not perform better in
innovation simply because innovation takes a higher priority in their organization.
Innovation as an important differentiator
92% of surveyed manufacturing companies are
in China to gain market access (vs. 59% to gain
access to skills and knowledge and 43% to gain
access to low cost labor). These market-seeking
manufacturing companies face particular
pressure stemming from the market size and the
distinct market conditions. Many of the survey
respondents perceive the market as fast
changing and unpredictable, meaning that their
customers show rapidly changing product
preferences (71%) and tend to look for new
products all the time (65%), which forces
companies to innovate more.
How important are the following
reasons for your entity’s presence
in China?
92%
Access to
market
59%
Access to
skills and
knowledge
43%
Access to
low cost
labor
20