The main direction of China’s participation in global supply chain governance
Text/Li Wenfeng Researcher, China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Light Industrial Crafts
In today’s world, economic globalization is still an irreversible trend of the times, and the cross-border flow of production factors such as personnel, capital and technology has become the norm, and it has continuously evolved in the form of global industrial chain, supply chain and value chain. With the rapid development of Internet and digital technology and deep integration with industrial chain and supply chain, the global supply chain is in a critical period of profound change. Grasping the historic opportunities brought by the construction, remodeling and innovation of global supply chain, actively participating in the cooperation of global industrial chain, crossing the gap of global supply chain transformation and upgrading, and further moving towards the high-end of global value chain are strategic choices for high-level opening and high-quality development.
I. New Trends and Features of Global Supply Chain
At present, the most prominent feature of global supply chain construction, remodeling and innovation is digitalization. The deep integration of Internet, Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence, 5G, blockchain, cloud computing technology and supply chain has promoted the flexibility of supply chain for customer needs, pushed the intelligence of supply chain to extend from front end to back end, and the organizational form has evolved from chain structure to platform and grid. Digital intelligence technology not only promotes the globalization of supply chain, but also supports the parallel development of regionalization. The externalities released by global supply chain are closely related to more and more public interests, and green supply chain has become the consensus and action of all parties.
1. Digitization.The WTO research report points out that the traditional supply chain management is a linear model from suppliers, manufacturers, distributors to consumers, and digital technology is transforming it into a holographic flow (multi-directional flow of integrated information) model. A large number of multinational companies have invested heavily in developing Digital Supply Chain and applied digital technology to global supply chain. The digitalization of supply chain runs through the whole process of R&D, design, procurement, production, logistics and marketing. According to the report of Alibaba Cloud Research Center, the digitalization of retail industry is expected to reach 70%~80% in the next 3-5 years. With the application of industrial Internet, industrial software, intelligent robots and other technologies and equipment, digitalization is extending to industrial manufacturing, which will greatly improve the efficiency of supply chain. According to some enterprise cases, digitalization of workshop can improve production efficiency by 20%~40%. Traditional supply chain needs 8~12 months to develop a series of products, while digital means shorten the research and development cycle to one week. According to the report of McKinsey Global Institute, by 2030, the digital driving force of disintermediation, decentralization and dematerialization will create 10%~45% of the total revenue of the industry.
2. Intelligent.The development from digital supply chain to intelligent supply chain and even intelligent supply chain is a great change in the structure and mode of production organization. In 2019, Gartner proposed eight strategic supply chain technology trends, arguing that artificial intelligence and algorithms have become the brains of smart supply chains, and advanced analysis has laid the foundation for the digital transformation of supply chains, which will have a subversive impact on traditional supply chains. According to the latest survey by Deloitte, China’s manufacturing industry is on the eve of the large-scale application of artificial intelligence, and 93% of the enterprises surveyed believe that artificial intelligence will become the key technology for global manufacturing growth and innovation. Gartner predicts that by 2020, there will be 26 billion Internet of Things devices, 6.4 billion data communicators and 12.86 billion Internet of Things sensors and devices in the world. By the end of 2022, 85% of large and super-large organizations will deploy some form of robot process automation (RPA), and at least 30% of jobs in 60% of the world can be fully automated. According to McKinsey’s data, more than 70% of the world’s top 500 companies are using RPA. The application of Internet of Things and artificial intelligence technology has promoted the optimization of supply chain management. From R&D, procurement, production to logistics and marketing, the whole business process is "visible with eyes, smarter with brains, and more flexible with hands", realizing visualization, perception and adjustment. In the future, the supply chain will have more autonomy and foresight in the face of increasingly complex and uncertain environment.For example, Otto, a German e-commerce company, has developed an intelligent system, which can analyze 3 billion transactions and 200 variables, and predict the sales volume in the next 30 days with an accuracy of 90%.
3. Flexibility.Traditional supply chain management pays attention to the supply-side factor configuration of "Mr. Postpartum Sales", and its process optimization design is often based on the principle of optimal cost, mass production and mass marketing. Flexible supply chain management is demand-driven, transforming from "cost center" to "opportunity center", taking better meeting consumers’ needs as the starting point and accurately grasping consumers’ behavior preferences. According to consumers’ needs, wishes and preferences, we will conduct accurate marketing, centralize the fragmented order information, carry out "flexible production", and deliver customized products or services to consumers as soon as possible. The rapid development of Internet technology and the wide application of digital tools and big data analysis systems have promoted information exchange, business contacts and fast payment, shortened the distance between suppliers and distributors and consumers, and made personalized customization, decentralized procurement and small batch production a new trend. In the field of fast-moving goods and fashion goods, the characteristics of "small order, multiple varieties and fast turnover" are more prominent. The online order of leisure clothing brands such as H&M, Zara and Uniqlo takes 7-10 days from the time when consumers click to buy it to the time when it is delivered to the factory. The rapid response speed to customers is 10 times that of the traditional clothing supply chain, and the cooperative outsourcing factory must also adapt to the rhythm of rapid order arrangement and rapid production. The flexible trend of China’s footwear supply chain is also accelerating, relying on big data platform to collect and analyze footwear samples, using 3D technology to develop footwear samples, and marketing through the Internet.It meets the diversified, personalized and fashionable needs of consumers.
4. Platformization.Over the past decade or so, based on the wide application of modern information, Internet and big data in the global supply chain, the organizational form of supply chain has changed from chain-oriented to platform-oriented and a number of platform-oriented enterprises have emerged for supply chain clients, such as Amazon, Alibaba, Tencent and eBay. At present, technologies such as data intelligence, supply chain integration, industrial software, and smart factories are gradually maturing, and the manufacturing of supply chain has undergone profound changes of platformization, which will give birth to a number of "super workshops", "super factories" and "super warehouses" based on industrial Internet and Internet of Things. The application of blockchain technology in the future will form a new development boost for platform-based enterprises. Based on the advantages of safety, trust, traceability and controllability, the whole supply chain process will become credible and transparent by creating a safe and transparent ledger system and integrating relevant stakeholders such as manufacturers, retailers, logistics service providers and regulatory agencies into the same platform management. For example, the TradeLens transportation platform jointly developed by shipping giant Maersk and International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is a digital transportation solution based on blockchain technology. Up to now, nearly 100 partners from all over the world have joined the platform, providing nearly half of the data of global seaborne container cargo. The handling capacity of shipping documents has been reduced by 10 times, and the transportation time has decreased by 40% on average. The platformization of global supply chain has promoted the integration and integration of information, personnel, resources, capital and other elements from cross-domain, cross-regional and cross-border levels, with platform-based enterprises as the core and radiating a large number of upstream and downstream enterprises.It has promoted the scale, clustering and specialization of the industry and innovated the global supply chain ecology.
5. Go green.Global supply chain itself is a cross-border and cross-domain ecosystem, which has great external spillover effect and is closely related to public interests. As early as the 1970s, some scholars began to consider the impact of supply chain on the environment, and then concepts such as green procurement, green supply chain and green design were put forward one after another. Green supply chain management focuses on sustainable development, and comprehensively considers the impact of supply chain on ecological environment, such as avoiding waste of resources, degradable and recyclable means of production, safe and comfortable working environment, organic and healthy products, and product recycling. Nowadays, from green design, green procurement, green production to green logistics, green packaging, green sales, green recycling and disposal, green concepts and green management have spread throughout the entire operation process of the supply chain. In practice, enterprises all over the world generally implement the international green requirements and standards of global supply chain, requiring their suppliers to participate in ISO14000 series standard certification and fulfill their social responsibilities. For example, the United States General Electric (GE) began to implement the green supply chain project in China in 2004, with more than 4,500 suppliers participating in it for more than ten years and solving about 16,500 environmental protection problems.
6. Regionalization.As an organizational form of international industrial division, global supply chain has further evolved and developed with the deepening of international division of labor. On the one hand, the characteristics of global mobility of people, global distribution of resources, globalization of knowledge and market determine the globalization of supply chain links, including R&D design, procurement, production and processing, marketing, etc., and the basic pattern and development trend of global value chain and supply chain division of labor have not changed fundamentally. For example, in many fashion industries of shoes, clothing and handbags, the material procurement comes from Japan and South Korea, the design comes from the joint participation of designers from all over the world, the production is spread all over developing countries such as Southeast Asia and South America, and the distribution centers are located in major target markets such as Europe, America, China and Japan. On the other hand, with the strengthening of the global supply chain reshaping power, the regionalization attribute has become increasingly prominent. According to the report of McKinsey Global Institute, between 2013 and 2017, the proportion of interregional trade in total global trade in goods increased by 2.7 percentage points. The high-end links of the global supply chain gradually gather in developed countries such as the United States and Europe, while the low-end links flow to countries and regions with more intensive labor, richer resources and lower costs. Among them, the industrial transfer of processing and assembly links from China to Vietnam, Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries is representative. These factors include technological innovation, environmental pressure, labor cost and so on, and are also closely related to the adoption of tariff measures by the United States and other multinational companies to encourage manufacturing to return and rebuild global supply chains. At present, the United States has abandoned WTO rules and signed separate agreements with relevant countries and regions, coupled with factors such as Britain’s formal decoupling from the European Union.Although the long-term basic trend of supply chain globalization remains unchanged, the regionalization trend of supply chain reconstruction deserves attention.
Second, the main direction of China’s participation in global supply chain governance to promote high-level openness
Guided by the "Belt and Road" construction, cultivating new advantages in international economic cooperation and competition, promoting coordinated and balanced development of foreign economy, promoting the formation of a new regional all-round opening pattern and improving the open economic system are the new goals and tasks of China’s opening up in the new era. Grasping the development trend of global supply chain, actively participating in global value chain cooperation and playing an active role in the process of building, reshaping and innovating new global supply chain are not only successful experiences proved by practice, but also the inevitable choice for enabling high-level opening in the new era.
(1) Promote high-level cooperation in value chain, industrial chain and supply chain in the construction of the "Belt and Road"
The "Belt and Road Initiative" is a joint effort of countries along the route to build a global or regional modern new supply chain system with a view to win-win development, which reflects the unanimous will of all parties involved, benefits countries and regions along the route, and will stimulate huge radiation and inclusive effects. It is the proper meaning of the "Belt and Road" construction to implement the five links of "policy communication, facility connectivity, capital financing, smooth trade and people’s hearts". Five links should be promoted accurately at macro, meso and micro levels. At the macro level, government policies, cooperation mechanisms and other public goods and services of countries along the route are crucial, and they are the leaders and promoters of building the "Belt and Road" value chain; At the meso level, according to the advantages and needs of all parties, we should build an industrial chain system with smooth factor resources and complementary market demand; At the micro level, in accordance with market principles, international rules and cooperation agreements, we advocate the participation of powerful and operational enterprises at home and abroad, and form a new supply chain system with technology leadership, industrial support, process coordination and complete facilities.
The construction, shaping and innovation of "One Belt, One Road" value chain, industrial chain and supply chain is a brand-new and high-level open cooperation, with a high starting point, a vast territory and multiple elements flowing, which is not only driven by the internal demand of the market, but also initiated by the government. It is necessary to actively apply new technologies such as the Internet, the Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain to promote the construction of an information-based, digital and intelligent new supply chain system in countries along the route; Pay attention to the sustainable development of the "Belt and Road" construction, take into account public interests, amplify external positive effects, and build a green supply chain system; Take advantage of the opportunity of reshaping the international supply chain and transferring traditional industries to carry out international capacity cooperation among countries along the route, guide the transfer of international industrial chains and supply chains to countries along the route, and promote the participation of countries along the route in the global supply chain system; Take advantage of national hub cities or ports along the route, cultivate a number of supply chain cooperation platforms with global or regional influence, and form a number of supply chain functional clusters with R&D, procurement, production and processing, logistics and distribution, marketing and other processes.
(2) Cultivate new advantages in international economic cooperation and competition.
Indicators to measure a country’s ability to participate in international economic cooperation and competitiveness can include both macro and micro levels. At the macro level, OECD and WTO put forward the participation index of global value chain (GVC), the production link index of GVC and the final demand distance index of GVC, so as to comprehensively measure the depth and breadth of a country’s participation in global value chain and its position in the value chain. As for the enterprise level, many studies believe that the global supply chain operation ability of enterprises can be measured from the aspects of procurement, R&D, design, channels, brands, informationization and Internet application. Developed countries have long occupied the commanding heights in the fields of global value chain segmentation such as R&D, technology, manufacturing and channels, mainly due to the global supply chain system and strong operational capabilities built by many multinational companies.
After years of development, China has become an important participant in the global value chain. Whether it is traditional labor-intensive industries such as textiles or machinery, electronics and equipment industries, it is the largest supplier and the largest market in the world. Electronics, machinery and equipment account for 17% ~ 28% of global exports; Furniture is 26%, and textiles and clothing are 40%. However, a large number of intermediate products still need to be imported, especially new materials, key parts, core processes and technologies. In the field of integrated circuits and optical equipment, for example, the import value is as high as five times the domestic output value. China enterprises’ own brands have the ability to operate channels abroad, but few can provide a package of service solutions. A large number of cases show that to move towards the middle and high end of the global value chain, there must be a market mechanism and environment to encourage competition and encourage innovation, and there must be internal innovation power from enterprises. Nowadays, enterprises with modern supply chain concepts and thinking, advanced layout and application of new supply chain technologies have the best chance to become the "chain owner" of global supply chain and form an ecosystem with the leading ability of global value chain. At present, it is a technical window period in which information, digital and intelligent technologies are widely used, and it is also a historical window period in which technological innovation and management model innovation are strongly encouraged, the gap of supply chain upgrading is bridged, and new advantages of international economic cooperation and competition are formed.
(3) Promoting the balanced development of foreign economy.
Promoting the benign interaction between domestic and international markets, deep integration of domestic and foreign trade, relatively balanced import and export, coordinated development of trade in goods and services, linkage between production and trade, and two-way flow of "bringing in" and "going out" are the inherent requirements for the transformation of development stage, optimization of industrial structure and high-quality economic development in the new period, and also the important focus of institutional mechanism model innovation and high-level opening. The global supply chain based on international deep division of labor not only has the natural mechanism of imbalance adjustment, but also has the function of optimal management and model innovation in promoting factor flow, market integration, smooth trade, format compatibility, link coordination and process linkage. In view of the state that there are many import links, many import barriers and scattered import subjects, we should focus on improving the management of import supply chain, encourage powerful enterprises at home and abroad to build an import supply chain system with high degree of organization and strong operational ability, promote import facilitation, stimulate the potential of domestic import demand and expand imports. Encourage powerful export-oriented enterprises to look inward, take advantage of their R&D design, mass production and quality control, open up domestic market channels, and provide high-quality and cheap products and services for domestic consumption upgrading; Encourage inward-looking enterprises to "go global", extend the advantages of technology, service, brand and channel formed in the domestic market overseas, and realize the transformation from domestic supply chain to global supply chain. Actively introduce mature distributors from developed countries, and improve the organization and modernization level of domestic procurement, logistics and distribution systems through learning effects.Take the initiative to grasp the strong momentum of global supply chain informatization, digitalization, intelligence, flexibility and agility, seize the opportunity of the rapid development of modern producer services such as digital trade, service outsourcing, modern logistics and internet marketing, develop a new international supply chain service and supporting system with strong driving force and wide radiation, and promote the leap-forward development of service trade.
(D) the formation of a new pattern of regional all-round opening.
China has a large population and a vast territory, and the gap between regions has existed for a long time. Promoting the coordinated development of the open economy in the eastern, central and western regions is an inevitable requirement for implementing the new development concept and achieving high-quality development in the new period. The eastern coastal areas participated in the global value chain and the supply chain started early, and a number of export-oriented industrial processing clusters have been formed. In the new era, the eastern coastal areas have fully participated in international economic cooperation and competition, changed from participants in the global value chain to builders and leaders, changed the driving force of industrial growth, crossed the gap of transformation and upgrading, and the basic conditions for development are relatively mature. To implement the coordinated development strategy of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area strategy and the Yangtze River Delta integration strategy and build a dynamic world-class industrial cluster and urban agglomeration, we should not only benchmark the internationally developed industrial cluster, Greater Bay Area and urban agglomeration, but also connect with the international high-standard investment and trade rules system, encourage top multinational companies to set up "brains" centers responsible for supply chain operation and management, become a new driving force for the development of international trade and modern service industries, and take the lead in the process of building, reshaping and innovating modern global supply chains. The central and western regions participated in the global value chain, the supply chain started late, and the participation was low. The original supply chain system was weakened, broken or even disappeared due to the double loss of factor resources and markets. According to the international and domestic experience, to promote the inland opening of the central and western regions and form a new growth pole of the open economy, first, we must cultivate leading enterprises with core competitive advantages and stable market demand, and drive upstream and downstream enterprises to form industrial clusters. Second, we should focus on industrial chain, supply chain and technology chain.Smoothly connect the information flow, logistics, people flow and capital flow at home and abroad, change the status of information islands, resource islands and industrial islands, cultivate an industrial supply chain system facing domestic and foreign markets, form an industrial ecosystem, and amplify the radiation effect. Third, we should seize the opportunity of reshaping the current international supply chain and industrial transfer, take the initiative to undertake the production and processing links of textiles, electronics and other industries, and form a number of export-oriented industrial clusters. Fourth, we must build a stable order demand. Take demand management measures, strengthen support for the central and western regions in integration of defense and civilian technologies procurement, government procurement and other fields, develop import substitution, and guide the decentralized distribution of supply chains. Key port cities and border cities along the border are important nodes in the construction of "Belt and Road" and internal and external connectivity. Relying on border economic cooperation zones, cross-border economic cooperation zones and pilot free trade zones, we can build a number of supply chain services and supporting fulcrums with industrial characteristics and integrating procurement, processing, logistics, distribution and other functions.
(5) Improve the new open economic system.
High-level opening is an opening of system, rules and management mode, and constructing and perfecting a new open economic system is the essence. The essence of global supply chain is the global flow of production factors, and it is a cross-border multi-directional, multi-channel and multi-frequency flow. The wide application of emerging information technology has accelerated this trend. Generally, there are hundreds of enterprises participating in the global supply chain, which are scattered all over the world. Its operation process must require consistent business rules and business environment. If the business environment is very different, the layout and normal operation of the global supply chain will be difficult. The general rules, standards and modes of global supply chain operation reflect the characteristics of marketization, specialization and globalization, and multinational companies are the initiators, promoters and leaders in many fields. Further reducing the tariff rate, reducing the barriers to trade in services, protecting intellectual property rights, avoiding compulsory technology transfer, and creating a business environment that conforms to marketization, rule of law and internationalization are in line with the needs of multinational companies to expand their value chain and supply chain to China, and are also the direction of China’s efforts to build an open economic system. Conforming to the development trend of global supply chain, promoting the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment is also logically consistent with building an open new system that conforms to the high-quality development of China’s economy. China’s initiative to sign the FTA agreement and fulfill its commitment to higher standards of openness can form an innovation force for domestic institutions and mechanisms; Setting up a pilot free trade zone, building a free trade port and implementing a negative list system are active opening measures to benchmark international high-standard rules. Promote the openness of systems, rules, standards and management,It is necessary to further participate in the international cooperation and governance of global value chains and supply chains, put forward the China issue, and realize the co-construction and sharing of global value chains and supply chains.
Third, the supply chain gap that China needs to cross at present
In recent years, China’s efforts to participate in the global supply chain and move towards the high end of the global value chain have achieved remarkable results, but compared with the new global supply chain, there is still a big gap and many gaps need to be crossed.
1. To be wise, we need to cross the digital divide.
The new supply chain characterized by intelligence and intelligence is iterating over the traditional supply chain, and the core competitiveness of the supply chain will depend on the digital application. The digitalization of China’s supply chain started early, and there are a number of leading enterprises in the field of digital application. Huawei, Midea, Haier, Lenovo and other enterprises are representatives of the successful transformation of supply chain digitalization management. However, on the whole, the construction and innovation of Chinese enterprises’ digital supply chain still lags behind that of multinational companies in developed countries, and there are still very few enterprises that truly realize the digital management of the whole process. Some institutions and enterprises don’t even have ERP systems, and a lot of data processing depends on Excel. Insufficient infrastructure support in the digital field, weakness of key technologies such as operating system and industrial software, lack of mature solutions, and high input cost have caused many traditional enterprises to be unable and afraid to digitize.
2. To go up, we need to cross the technology gap.
At present, China’s manufacturing industry has the most complete industrial chain in the world, and its manufacturing and trade scale ranks first in the world, and individual industries and products are already in the high-end position. According to the analysis of China Academy of Engineering, China’s leading industries in the world include five categories, such as communication equipment and household appliances, and six categories, such as aerospace equipment, which are at the advanced level. However, the basic pattern of international industrial chain, value chain and supply chain division of labor has not changed. The United States is the center of global scientific and technological innovation, and Japan and Europe are representatives of high-end manufacturing. China is still in the process of moving from low-end to high-end, which is highlighted by the lack of a large number of leading enterprises with technological core competitiveness and the lack of control over global supply chains. China’s technology integration and innovation ability is outstanding, but its original innovation and application ability need to be improved. There is a big gap between 10 industries such as high-end CNC machine tools and robots and the world level, and the gap between five industries such as integrated circuits and special equipment is even greater. Semiconductor materials and equipment, core electronic components, high-end chips, basic software and database management systems are highly dependent on foreign countries, such as servo motors, reduction gears and control systems required for robot manufacturing.
3. Going abroad requires crossing the service gap.
China’s enterprises "going global" have formed a certain scale and influence, but the operational capacity and service level of comprehensive foreign economic and trade service enterprises are relatively weak, and most of them are engaged in low-end service links in the value chain, and there is a certain gap in providing package solutions, cooperation between upstream and downstream enterprises and supporting services. Many enterprises have strong OEM production capacity, but they can’t grasp the custom culture, business practices and fashion trends of the target market or the host country, and can’t accurately meet the needs of consumers in design, marketing and channels. The proportion of self-owned brands successfully expanding channels in developed economies in Europe and America is still low. Enterprise operation management and service can’t keep up with the cross-border mobile allocation needs such as information, capital, logistics and personnel, and there is a lack of effective coordination between upstream and downstream enterprises, which leads to a lack of supply chain flexibility. The labor productivity of China’s service industry is only 20%~50% of the OECD average. Due to the restriction of service quality and service ability, some sub-sectors such as information, consulting, law, finance and finance lack competitive advantages, and it is difficult to provide supporting support for "going out".
4. Going inward requires crossing the business gap.
The breadth and depth of China’s vast inland areas in the central and western regions participating in the global supply chain are relatively low, which is closely related to the business environment. After years of development, China’s state-owned business environment has been greatly improved. The global ranking of business environment has jumped from 78 in 2017 to 31 in 2019, ranking among the top ten economies with the greatest improvement in business environment for two consecutive years. However, there is regional imbalance in the improvement of business environment. Compared with the eastern region, the infrastructure in the central and western regions is backward, the location is remote, the cost of logistics, communication and land is high, and there are many objective constraints. The gap in the soft environment such as market access, talent environment, SME financing, intellectual property protection, transparency of law enforcement and contractual spirit is even greater. The midwest participates in the global supply chain and undertakes industrial transfer. Facing the fierce competition and foreign trade barriers in Southeast Asia and other regions, it not only depends on the low value of labor and resources, but also needs to work hard to improve the soft business environment.
5. To benefit, we need to cross the governance gap.
It is a common challenge for the international community to improve global supply chain governance to enhance social well-being in various countries and regions and benefit more enterprises, consumers and social groups. On the one hand, based on its market characteristics, global supply chain may bring externalities such as monopoly, environmental pollution and the gap between the rich and the poor. Some Internet platform-based enterprises ignore social responsibility and lack the threshold for product quality and intellectual property protection, which damages the interests of related enterprises and consumers’ rights and interests. Global supply chain emphasizes compliance operation, and for chain enterprises, it must pass the certification of environment, quality and standards to reduce negative external effects. On the other hand, improper government intervention will distort the supply chain. Some governments unilaterally adopt trade protection measures such as increasing tariffs, which leads to trade disputes and impacts the normal operation of global supply chains. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen mutual consultation and resolve differences. In addition, public health, natural disasters, climate change and other common challenges faced by human society also require governments to strengthen international cooperation in supply chain governance.
Fourth, improve the level of China’s participation in global supply chain governance
Digitalization constitutes the core feature of global supply chain construction, reconstruction and innovation, industrial transfer reflects the direction of global supply chain reconstruction, and multinational companies bear the core competitiveness of global supply chain. China should actively adapt to the new trend of digital development of global supply chain, build a digital supply chain system according to the situation and cross the digital divide; Promote technological innovation, operation mode innovation and format innovation, and cultivate core enterprises with control ability, operation ability and configuration ability in the global industrial chain; Meet the challenges brought about by the reshaping of the global supply chain, give and take, and guide industrial transfer in an orderly manner; Strengthen the strategic support and guarantee of the new supply chain; Actively participate in global supply chain governance and realize joint construction, operation and sharing.
(1) Comply with the new trend of digital development of global supply chain, build a digital supply chain system according to the situation, and improve the breadth and depth of participation in global supply chain.
At present, the international community and governments all over the world have promoted digitalization to an important strategic level. For example, in February 2020, the European Commission issued a digital transformation plan, including the European Data Strategy and the White Paper on Artificial Intelligence. Design and development, supplier selection, material procurement, production control, logistics distribution, distribution channels and other supply chain fields have great space for digital development. It is necessary to promote the deep integration of Internet, Internet of Things, blockchain, big data, artificial intelligence and 5G technologies with the global supply chain, vigorously promote the application of digital technologies such as intelligent machines, man-machine collaboration, cloud office, digital signature, mobile payment, and identity authentication, and create digital functions that are visual, traceable, predictable, and responsive, so as to realize the transformation of traditional supply chain operations from serial to parallel, and from chain to network. Promote digital construction from the sales end to the supply end of the supply chain, and run through all links of the whole process, including digital planning, digital precision marketing, digital design, digital procurement, digital production, digital logistics, digital operation and quality management, and promote the development of digital formats such as digital trade, digital outsourcing and digital services. The construction of digital supply chain requires large capital investment, long construction period, difficult integration and high technical threshold. It requires not only enterprises to have digital planning, investment strength and management ability, but also the government to provide public services for the construction of digital supply chain, implement comprehensive policies to promote the digital development of supply chain, and improve the basic research and development level and large-scale application ability of digital technology.
(2) Grasping the new opportunities brought by the construction and innovation of global supply chain, promoting technological innovation, operating model innovation and format innovation, and enhancing global supply chain management capabilities.
There are differences among enterprises, there are opportunities for industries, and there are ups and downs in the supply chain. Innovation is the driving force to keep growing. Give full play to the role of supply chain innovation in resource allocation, factor flow and efficiency improvement, and strive to improve operational functions such as planning, layout, integration, optimization, evaluation and guarantee, so as to realize the synergy of industrial chain, the leading role of value chain and the smooth supply chain. Enterprises are builders, remolders and innovators of global industrial chain, value chain and supply chain. Seize the new trend of global technological change, take enterprises as the main body, take the market as the guidance, and take the government as the guidance to develop, excavate and break through the "unique technology", "neck-stuck technology" and key intermediate products in the global industrial chain and cross the technical threshold. Seize the new trend of global economic informatization, encourage lean management, quick response, comprehensive services, solutions and other operating modes to transform into digitalization, intelligence, platformization and networking, and promote a group of enterprises to become the benchmark of digital, intelligent, flexible and platformization operation of supply chain through online and offline integration and front-end and back-end integration, and upgrade from 1.0 to 2.0 or even 3.0. Follow the new characteristics of global industrial division of labor, promote the integration and linkage of production and trade, domestic and foreign trade, trade in goods and services, import and export, trade and investment, domestic and international links, and physical processes and digital processes, and realize the transformation from chain participants to chain operators, and from business contractors to business organizers, thus forming a group of core enterprises with control ability in the global industrial chain, operational ability in the global supply chain and configuration ability in the global value chain.
(C) to meet the challenges brought about by the reshaping of the global supply chain, seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, give and take, and guide industrial transfer in an orderly manner.
Developed countries, such as the United States, have taken measures to attract manufacturing backflow, which has structural and phased characteristics, and the outflow trend has not slowed down, and the actual effect is not obvious. The reshaping of global supply chain based on cost, safety and technological changes is a common opportunity and challenge faced by all countries. The key is to seize the opportunity and take the initiative. The COVID-19 epidemic has intensified the reconstruction and decentralized distribution of the global supply chain, and the competitive pressure faced by China in moving towards the middle and high-end links is even more significant. At the same time, the risk of supply chain relocation is increasing. Relying on China’s solid industrial system and huge market advantages, we should encourage international advanced supply chain links and business processes to take root in China and form a digital and intelligent industrial cluster; Actively participate in FTA negotiations on high-standard rules and issues, negotiate and sign bilateral agreements, and create a regional integration ecosystem with strong complementarity, great mobility and deep integration. We will continue to encourage domestic advantageous industries, enterprises, projects and services to "go global", carry out international capacity cooperation in light of the needs of the host country, and drive the industrial chain and supply chain to extend overseas. Although the processing and production of some traditional textile industries have been transferred to Southeast Asia, the overall carrying capacity is limited, and the production, processing and supporting capacity in China is still huge. It is necessary to give full play to the traction and networking effect of industrial chain and supply chain, encourage the upstream and downstream links such as R&D and design, key materials, production equipment and marketing services to deepen the local land, expand the trade of intermediate products, and realize the transformation from an intermediate importing country to an intermediate exporting country. Improve the service environment of business and government affairs,Orderly guide the industries in the eastern coastal areas to move inland in the central and western regions, cultivate a distributed supply chain system that faces both international and domestic markets and institutional procurement, and avoid large-scale relocation of the supply chain.
(D) Strengthen the strategic support and guarantee of the global supply chain
Based on the concentration and radiation of global supply chain, European and American countries have upgraded it to the strategic level as an asset that is vital to national security. In 2012, the United States issued the Global Supply Chain Security Strategy, with the strategic goal of promoting efficient and safe transportation of goods and cultivating flexible supply chains. In 2015, the United Kingdom issued the "Strengthening the Government and Action Plan of British Manufacturing Supply Chain", focusing on supporting supply chain innovation, upstream and downstream cooperation, supply chain financing, and flexible security. Germany will build an intelligent supply chain as an important content of Industry 4.0. The Chinese government attaches great importance to the development of modern supply chain. In 2017, the General Office of the State Council issued the Guiding Opinions on Actively Promoting the Innovation and Application of Supply Chain, which provided institutional guarantee and policy support for participating in global supply chain cooperation. The COVID-19 epidemic has posed a great challenge to the normal operation of the global supply chain, and also exposed the crux of the lack of flexibility of the supply chain system. It is necessary to continue to dynamically improve the guarantee and support system and mechanism, break through the technical bottleneck, consolidate the process synergy gap, and make up for the shortcomings of operation and management. Efforts should be made to build an emergency supply chain system. According to the principle of decentralized layout and upstream and downstream coordination, an optimized catalogue of strategic materials and suppliers should be set in different levels to build a supply chain in integration of defense and civilian technologies and improve its response ability to major emergencies and disasters. Do a good job in the talent reserve and use of the global supply chain, and focus on cultivating professionals and applied talents in the fields of information technology, applications, Internet, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and operation management.
(E) Participate in global supply chain governance and realize joint construction, operation and sharing.
The economies, industries and enterprises in all countries and regions of the world have formed a situation of "you have me and I have you" through the global supply chain, and all the glory will be lost. The global supply chain brings externalities such as market monopoly, environmental pollution and income gap, and the market distortion caused by the intervention of governments in the global supply chain requires the cooperation of governments and institutions to jointly promote the improvement of global supply chain governance. It is necessary to make use of the international cooperation platform, strengthen the understanding and coordination of supply chain industrial policies, implement neutral policies in line with international multilateral rules, create an international fair competition environment, promote the joint participation of global supply chains, and realize the common sharing of global value chains. Make use of multilateral trade organizations to strengthen the negotiation of international rules such as digital trade, gradually establish a mutually recognized supply chain standard rule system, improve the consistency of rules and standards in various countries, take measures to eliminate or reduce supply chain barriers, solve bottlenecks in supply chain links with many trade links, long trade time and high trade costs, and promote customs clearance, inspection and quarantine, transportation logistics, e-commerce and other conveniences. In order to cope with emergencies and major disasters, countries should be encouraged to cooperate and jointly build a global emergency supply chain system. Supervise all kinds of enterprises participating in the global supply chain to fulfill their social responsibilities, advocate green supply chain, implement green management in the whole process of procurement, production, logistics, sales, consumption and recycling, promote ecological labeling, avoid excessive packaging, waste dumping and pollution leakage, and realize the supervision of the whole life cycle of supply chain.