Sustainable Development Remains Challenge for China’s Consumer Goods

China’s consump- tion continues to grow steadily in this year， driven by the adjustment of the economic growth model， increases in household income， development of technology， acceleration of urbanization， consumption upgrades and the government policies to stimulate consumption. Yet it still remains a challenge for China’s consumption if it wishes to achieve sustainable development.

“Along with the global economic integration， China’s consumer goods should keep abreast with the global trend such as green strategy， lowcarbon development or even intelligent development，” said Gao Yanmin， deputy director of the Consumer Goods Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology(MIIT) at the Economic and Information Annual Forum 2011 on Dec. 17th.

“The trend has brought great significant changes to the development environment of China’s consumer goods， meanwhile unprecedented pressure and challenges. To maintain the comparative advantage of China’s consumer goods， China needs to adjust the product mix， improve the ratio of high-quality work force， break through the production model of low added value and develop knowledgebased and high value-added smart consumer goods，” Gao added.

According to Gao， green manu- facturing can be a key solution for the sustainable development for China’s consumer goods， as environmental issues have become the focus of the world. The manufacturing industry calls for green materials， energy， technology and design to make green products which help to protect the environment and improve resource efficiency. Only in this way can enterprises avoid being eliminated from the fierce competitive international market.

Design innovation is another assurance of such sustainable development. Apart from technology innovation， enterprises should strive for design innovation and attach great importance to its value. In terms of products， design innovation can be the most effective as it has quick effect though with low investment. Industrial design is an import part of design innovation which can increase products’ life cycle. The most notable case is Apple’s products which set a good example.

Brands are a signal of a product’s additional value. China’s consumer goods brands do not match the influence of its manufacturing in the world， with most of the products in the lowend of the value chain. However， to breed a world class brand is never an easy task. Hierarchical management is necessary for some enterprises in order to meet the differentiation of market demand with high-end or low-end products.

Moreover， there should be some transformation for the enterprises. First， they should shift to seek brand influence rather than market share. Second， they should invest more in environmental protection. Third， they ought to focus on the combination of technology innovation and model innovation instead of only on the former. Fourth， they should set uniform quality standards for their products whether for export or the domestic market. Last but not least， they must value good faith and shoulder social responsibilities， said Gao.