A summary of the theory of national competitive advantage
Michael Porter believes that it is impossible for a country to make all enterprises and industries have international competitive advantages, and the comparison of national competitive advantages should be investigated from the perspective of industries. He attributed the factors that determine a country's competitive advantage to production factors, demand factors, related supporting industries, enterprise strategy, structure and competition, government role, opportunities and so on. On this basis, he constructed a "diamond model" of national competitive advantage. In the book National Competitive Advantage, Porter not only discusses the applicability of this theory to manufacturing industry, but also discusses its applicability to service industry. In this case, the author believes that this theory can also be applied to the consulting industry as an important branch of the service industry, especially the four elements of production factors, related supporting industries, government role and opportunities are particularly important to improve the competitive advantage of the consulting industry:
(1) If a country wants to gain a competitive advantage, the advanced factors are far more important than the primary factors. As a senior factor, consulting talents are the key to the core competitiveness of consulting industry. The United States has a strong international accounting industry and management consulting industry, mainly relying on a considerable number of MBA graduates, so large-scale postgraduate business training is rare in other countries.
(2) If a country's industry wants to gain a lasting competitive advantage, it must obtain the support of related industries with international competitiveness at home. It is precisely because of the rapid development of information technology and high-tech industries that the consulting industry in the United States developed rapidly from the 1950s to the mid-1970s, with an annual growth rate of about 33%.
(3) The government can create a competitive advantage through policy regulation. The American government regards the consultation procedure as a legal procedure in the decision-making process, requiring that major decisions and large-scale projects must be consulted and demonstrated; Britain helps consulting companies to develop overseas business in various ways. Thanks to the support of policies, both Britain and the United States have their own obvious competitive advantages.
(4) It is very important to seize the opportunity to develop a country's consulting industry. Western capitalist countries seized the opportunity of reconstruction after World War II and promoted the rapid development of consulting industry.
Second, the competitive advantage analysis of China consulting industry
1, from the industry competition index analysis
Trade competition index refers to the proportion of the balance of import and export trade of a product in a country to the total import and export trade of that product, that is, trade competition index = (export-import)/(export-import). According to the statistical yearbook of China over the years, the consulting service export, consulting service import and trade competition index from 1997 to 200 1 China are shown in table 1. It can be seen that the competition index of consulting industry in China is negative in recent years, which shows that the competitiveness of consulting industry in China is not strong and the overall level of consulting industry needs to be improved urgently.
2. From the analysis of the proportion of consulting industry in GDP
Taking Shanghai, where the consulting industry is relatively developed, as an example, according to the relevant data of Shanghai Statistical Yearbook in 2000 and 20001,it can be seen that the percentage of consulting industry in GDP has greatly increased from 1990 to 20 days, but overall, the percentage value is not large, and it has remained at 1. 15% in the last two years.
Judging from the national situation, the situation is even more severe. Relevant statistics show that China's GDP in 2000 was 8,940.36 billion yuan, but the turnover of consulting industry was only nearly 1000 billion yuan, and the proportion of consulting industry in GDP was only 0. 1 1%. This shows that the consulting industry in China is young.
3. From the analysis of industrial concentration
1999, there were130,000 consulting companies registered in China, but less than 100 companies actually engaged in consulting business and had certain strength and popularity in China. It can be seen that although there are many consulting companies in China, they do not represent the industrial scale, and the consulting industry is in a state of "small, scattered and weak". From 1995 to 1996, the total annual consulting income of the top 40 consulting institutions in the world is $27.3 billion, accounting for about 37% of the total global consulting income, and the average annual operating income of each consulting institution is $720 million.
Third, the enlightenment to the development of consulting industry in China
1, improve the quality of consultants
Talent is the key to the development of consulting industry, but the quality of consultants in China is uneven, there are few professionals and compound talents, especially those with real consulting experience. In order to improve the quality of consultants as soon as possible, we should take the following measures:
(1) Establish a strict qualification system, set up specialized consulting personnel qualification examination institutions, supervision institutions and evaluation institutions, hold relevant certificates, and distinguish the qualification grade and qualification scope, so as to finally realize the specialization and standardization of consulting personnel in China.
(2) Improve the social status and reputation of consultants, increase the income of employees, improve the charm of consulting industry from all aspects, and attract outstanding talents to engage in professional consulting work.
(3) Strengthen the training of consultants and the training of follow-up talents. Consulting industry requires employees not only to have high professional standards, but also to be familiar with relevant legal, psychological, social and scientific knowledge, to have strong language expression ability and agile thinking ability, and to bear legal and social responsibilities. This requires a perfect training mechanism to help consultants constantly improve their ability and quality and better serve the society. In addition, we must also pay attention to the follow-up training of consulting professionals, and suggest setting up consulting majors in colleges and universities, which can not only alleviate the current shortage of consulting professionals, but also meet the future demand for consulting professionals.
2. Increase government support.
The development of consulting industry can not be separated from the support of the government. Our government has issued a series of related policies to promote the healthy and rapid development of the consulting industry. For example, 1992, the State Council promulgated the "Decision on Accelerating the Development of the Tertiary Industry", clearly proposing to accelerate the development of consulting services such as accounting, law and scientific and technological consulting; 1999 In the Decision on Strengthening Technological Innovation, Developing High-tech and Realizing Industrialization, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council further emphasized the need to vigorously develop intermediary service institutions and actively develop information consulting services to provide business management, marketing, information, finance, finance and legal services for enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, which marked that the consulting industry in China has entered a new era. Nevertheless, China's consulting industry is still in a weak position in the international market, and it needs to further increase its support:
(1) Accelerate the legislative work of the consulting industry and take the consulting procedure as a legal procedure in the decision-making process.
(2) Establish a unified and effective trade association and improve its supervision and service functions.
(3) adopt a series of encouragement policies, give preferential treatment in credit and finance and taxation, and set up consulting fund at an appropriate time to provide financial support for the development of consulting industry.
3. Strengthen the development and utilization of information resources.
The industry closely related to the consulting industry is mainly the information industry. Today, with the rapid development of information technology and high technology, how to obtain, process and utilize information timely and accurately has become one of the most important issues in the decision-making of consulting industry. However, the limited information resources in China are not fully utilized, and most of them are controlled by government agencies, which affects the quality of information products. To this end, the following work needs to be done in the future:
(1) Establish and improve the systems and regulations for information release, collection, sorting, screening and classified management, strengthen the database management of information, realize the sharing of information resources and improve the utilization efficiency, establish information circulation channels, and provide a strong foundation for smooth negotiation.
(2) Consulting companies should improve the internal management information system, establish a database of consulting cases, strengthen cooperation with professional market research companies, obtain first-hand market information, and provide strong support for their own solutions.
4. Seize the opportunity and meet the challenge.
Taking Shanghai as an example, this paper examines the changes of China's consulting industry in the past year. According to the statistics of Shanghai Consulting Association, in 2002, the number of local professional consulting institutions in Shanghai decreased to 1.500, a decrease of 7%. However, the total consulting income will exceed 7.5 billion, an increase of 8.6%. According to the statistics of the Municipal Foreign Investment Committee, in the 20 years before his death, Shanghai * * * approved more than 900 foreign-funded consulting institutions, and in just three months after his death, the number of newly approved foreign-funded consulting institutions exceeded 1000, exceeding the sum of the previous 20 years. The "one increase and one decrease" of the two sets of data objectively reflects the development and changes of Shanghai consulting market in the past year. "Increase" reflects the unprecedented competition in Shanghai consulting market. Foreign consulting institutions are optimistic about the huge potential of China consulting market and quickly occupy the market. The "reduction" reflects that the local consulting industry in Shanghai is developing in a healthy direction through self-adjustment in the fierce market competition, especially under the pressure of foreign consulting institutions.
From this perspective, after death, both opportunities and challenges will exist in China's consulting industry. Despite the fierce competition in the consulting market and the obvious advantages of foreign-funded consulting institutions, China consulting institutions still have opportunities and space for development. We should proceed from reality, take active and feasible measures, seize the favorable opportunity of the development of local consulting industry, improve the overall level of consulting institutions in China as soon as possible, and strive to continuously enhance the competitive advantage of China's consulting industry.
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