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Producer Services Industry New Star in the Capital Economy

At Nokia’s manufacturing base in the Beijing Economic–Technological Development Area, tens of thousands of mobile telephones, each with hundreds of parts, are produced every day. Peak efficiency is achieved because Nokia has put a “zero storage” plan in action, not because it maintains a high inventory of spare parts.

But how does the company ensure that the right part is available to the production line at the right time? The answer lies in the company’s reliance on complete, punctual logistics services, one among the six new categories of industrial producer services now getting development attention in Beijing.

In The Outline of the Eleventh Five-Year Program for the National Economic and Social Development in Beijing, the modern logistics, commercial trade and related services, information services, finance and insurance, and the modern convention and exhibition industries are defined as focuses for development. All are major components of an efficient producer services industry.

Producer Services Industry: Ideal Choice for Beijing

The producer services industry, as its name suggests, refers to services needed in the process of production rather than in final consumption.

According to Liu Shaojian, associate professor of the Policy Research Bureau at Beijing Municipal Government, the producer services industry has special advantages that coincide with the special characteristics and structural-upgrading needs of China’s capital city.

The most distinct feature of the producer services industry is its tendency to easily expand, according to Liu Shaojian. “It is easy to understand that consumer-service providers need to engage in direct contact with their consumers to achieve a correct balance in supply and demand. However, the producer services industry can provide services without even knowing who the end users are.”

“For example, we all know that New York is a global financial centre. It provides financial services to global customers. Its services transcend the boundaries of country,” said Liu. “But if you run a restaurant in Beijing, there is no way that you could serve food to people living on the other side of the world unless they come here.”

The traditional consumer services industry has its limits due to geographic or cultural limitations, but the producer services industry is not limited that way; that’s one of the reasons why Beijing has put greater emphasis on its development, said Liu.

What’s more, the producer services industry, in general, has higher profit margins and lower labour costs. In the 1980s, producer services sectors in developed countries enjoyed an average profit margin of 10 percent, while that for the consumer services industry was 4 percent. And the financial, transportation, postal and other producer services sectors require fewer employees for per unit growth in gross domestic product than consumer services such as wholesaling, retailing and catering.

Beijing is a leader in the overall economic development of the country, its transition from an industrial centre to a services-oriented centre is a natural development, Liu said.

Good Base of Growing

Although services has been a focus for development for only a short time, the producer services industry in Beijing has been flourishing for some time. Statistics show that the producer services industry accounted for about 53 percent of the services industry activity in the capital in 2006. High-end sectors that provided services to the whole nation were prominent nationwide: in 2006, the financial and insurance and postal and telecommunications sectors of Beijing held 40-percent and 82-percent shares of the services industry market, and these figures are likely to grow.

However, Beijing still lags behind developed countries in its development of producer services. The modern services industry accounts for more than 80 percent of industrial activity in big cities like New York, Paris and London; in Hong Kong, 86 percent of the city’s revenue is derived from the services industry. The corresponding figure exceeded 70 percent for Beijing in 2006; indicating that there is great potential in the sector.

Beijing is an ideal harbour for developing the producer services industry, Liu said. “Of course, the most prominent advantage of Beijing is its abundant pool of talent, and as the capital city, Beijing has inherited lots of irreplaceable resources from the planned economy such as four State-owned banks, lots of headquarters of State-owned enterprises and State and municipal-level research and development institutions.”

Problems still exist. Many State enterprises undervalue outsourcing and still use their own divisions or affiliated companies to provide non-core services. Further, government procurement is usually limited to government-sponsored institutions or subsidiaries, leaving private service providers with few opportunities. Large-sized private companies dedicated to providing producer services haven’t emerged quickly enough. And small-and-medium-sized companies cannot fulfil the high-end demands of clients. With the opening up of China’s services industry, many international companies have come to the domestic market, bringing with them more advanced concepts and much higher standards, thereby placing less-efficient domestic companies in a less favourable position in relentless competition.

In its initial stage of development, unfair competition hinders the industry and its development. The industry lacks clear standards and regulations; prices have become the only standard measure; some enterprises rely heavily on governmental departments too, having no incentive to develop new clients while trying to put other competitors into an unfair position, according to Liu.

The lack of a complete credit system is another restraint, because most producer service providers have fewer fixed assets than required. Infrastructural deficiencies in Beijing, such as traffic congestion and unsatisfactory air quality, have caused some highly qualified personnel to shun living in the city.

International Giants in Beijing

Among the world’s top-500 companies, the name PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) can be found in the annual reports of at least eight of every ten companies. In China, PetroChina, the Bank of China, China Unicom and many other giants have chosen PwC as a partner. The globe’s largest accounting firm includes nearly all the major enterprises in the manufacturing industry in its client network. With the rapid growth of China’s manufacturing sector, PwC, as a producer service provider, has secured a remarkable share.

“China is our fastest-growing market,” said Samuel A. DiPiazza, CEO of PwC, in an interview. He is especially optimistic about the Beijing market. “Beijing holds the largest share of our business in China. Many of our important clients, such as China Netcom and China Unicom are based in Beijing. I believe that during the next ten years, our business in China will maintain its strong momentum.”

Beijing has provided PwC with unparalleled room to grow, and its clients are no longer limited to companies. PwC advised the Olympic Bidding Committee during its bidding for the Olympic Games in 2000; it also acted as financial advisor for five of the Olympic venues in their legal representative biddings; in April 2007, PwC became the official accounting services provider for the 2008 Olympic Games. With the Olympics approaching and with the expansion of the producer-services market here, PwC will have even more opportunities in the future.

Mckinsey & Company (M&C) is another international producer service provider that has benefited from the Chinese market, as an advisor on enterprises’ financial matters,

M&C provides consultancies related to the initial public offerings of domestic companies on the overseas market, from strategic planning, assessment of the timing and structure of the listing, to the IPO process and management after a listing.

Aside from IPO advisories, M&C is also engaged in private placement for some high-tech enterprises. The company plays an important role in cross-border mergers and acquisitions by helping domestic companies find good partners overseas.

M&C’s China business has boomed over the past 10 years or more since it entered the Chinese market. In return, it also brings to China its professional expertise, experience in management and corporate culture, which will shed some light on the development of local producer-services providers.

北京缔造生产性服务业之都

文/刘声

在北京亦庄的经济技术开发区的星网工业园，诺基亚在园区内形成了一条严密的产业链，来自世界各地的配套供应商聚集于此，从手机生产所需要的机壳、键盘到内部的电池、屏幕，在统一的调度下，实现了各个环节零部件生产的“零库存”。“零库存”状态的出现，使各企业将生产过程中的仓储费用降到了最低。实现这一理想状态，依赖于强大的物流服务支持。

在北京，企业对生产性服务业的依赖远不止于此，在国际贸易、信息服务、金融保险、现代会展以及中介服务等领域，专业化的服务需求日益扩大。北京市统计局数字显示，北京三次产业结构比例从2006年的1.3：28.7：70变化为2007年前三季度的1.1：27.2：71.7。其中，生产性服务业在第三产业中所占的比重从2006年的超过50%上升到2007年前三季度的超过55%。以上数字不难看出，生产性服务业不但已成为北京现代服务业发展中的中坚力量，其发展速度还直接影响到北京产业结构的升级，展现出的市场需求和活力更印证了世界著名生产服务性企业落户纷纷京城的原因。

什么是生产性服务业

《北京市十一五规划》提出要大力拓展现代物流业、国际贸易业、信息服务业、金融保险业、现代会展业和中介服务业等生产性服务业。生产性服务业是现代服务业的重中之重，发展现代服务业要以生产性服务业为突破口。

生产性服务业是指直接或间接为生产过程提供中间服务的服务性产业，也可以说，是为生产者提供服务的产业，它不直接参与生产或者物质转化，但又是任何工业生产环节中不可缺少的活动。

生产性服务业主要涉及信息收集、处理、交换的相互传递、管理等活动，其服务对象主要是商务组织和管理机构，其范围主要包括仓储、物流、中介、广告和市场研究、信息咨询、法律、会展、税务、审计、房地产业、科学研究与综合技术服务、劳动力培训、工程和产品维修及售后服务等。目前，各国对生产性服务业划分的标准还不统一，但普遍认为交通运输、现代物流、金融服务、技术研究与开发、信息服务和商务服务等行业构成生产性服务业的主体。

生产性服务的发展与社会生产力的发展及科技进步密不可分。发达国家的实践经验表明，发展生产性服务业能够细化和深化专业化分工，降低社会交易成本，提高资源配置效率，在现代经济发展中具有不可替代的作用。目前，生产性服务业已成为许多西方发达国家的支柱产业，在世界经济发展和国际竞争中的地位日益显著。在中国，生产性服务业还处于起步阶段，相对滞后。以生产性服务业为突破口来促进中国现代服务业的加快发展，对于提升国家第一、二产业竞争力，增强现代服务业对制造业的渗透力，促进经济社会和谐发展和落实科学发展观有着重要的意义。

北京发展生产性服务业的优势

北京在发展生产性服务业方面具有得天独厚的人才优势和资源优势。北京市政府研究室副研究员刘绍坚在接受本刊记者采访时说：“人才是发展生产性服务业的核心要素，而北京作为中国高等院校最为集中的地区以及中国的技术创新和研发中心，人才优势十分明显。同时，北京作为首都，聚集了众多国家决策机构和数量庞大的国有企业总部，迅速崛起的金融街、北京商务中心区、中关村科技园区、北京经济技术开发区等吸引了众多世界500强企业和跨国公司研发中心、地区总部，这些都为北京发展生产性服务业提供了丰富的、可持续发展的资源优势。人才优势和资源优势无疑为北京发展生产性服务业提供了的基础条件。”

北京市生产性服务业发展现状

尽管优势十分明显，但是与西方发达国家的一些大型国际化都市相比，北京还存在一定的差距。据刘绍坚介绍，现代服务业在纽约、巴黎、伦敦等发达城市所占的产业比重都在80％以上，香港的现代服务业所占比重已达86％以上，而北京的现代服务业比重尽管在国内处于领先水平，但也只是刚刚突破70％。通过对比可以明显看出，北京的现代服务业还有很大的发展空间和提升潜力，而支撑北京现代服务业半壁江山的生产性服务业，无疑将在现代服务业发展过程中表现出更强劲的动力。

目前，北京在全国的金融、保险、通讯、邮政、信息传输等生产性服务业领域占据着主导地位。2006年的统计数字显示，北京的金融保险业在全国所占比重接近40％，通讯邮政业约占82％，信息传输服务业约占46％。随着北京的经济结构由制造业向服务业转型的速度不断加快，上述比例还会进一步增长。

只要有制造业的地方就需要生产性服务业。中国正处在工业化的中期阶段，工业化过程中制造业的增长需要生产性服务业的拉动。有关专家指出，中国工业化进程的需求将拉动并促进北京市生产性服务业的高速增长。而生产性服务业的辐射性使北京的生产性服务业近足以辐射“中国经济增长第三极”的环渤海经济圈，远则可以辐射全国。

为什么要发展生产性服务业

发展生产性服务业是提高企业竞争力的有效手段。随着经济全球化趋势的不断发展，传统的企业与企业之间的竞争正逐渐演变为以核心企业为主导的供应链与供应链之间的竞争，而供应链中最为重要的是围绕核心企业、服务上下游、起着关键连结作用的生产性服务企业。换句话说，企业在市场中的竞争能力，同为其提供配套服务的生产性服务业的发展水平有着密切关系。

发展生产性服务业是推动产业结构优化升级的必然选择。大力发展生产性服务业，不仅能改变中国服务业发展相对滞后的局面，促进三次产业协调发展，而且生产性服务业中研发、设计等部门的发展，能够加快传统工业的技术进步步伐，提高关键零部件的开发和生产能力，不断提高中国传统工业在全球产业链条中的位置，从而提升中国工业的整体素质。

发展生产性服务业是转变经济增长方式的重要途径。新型工业化道路的一个重要特征就是以信息化带动工业化，其实质是将信息技术广泛应用和渗透到工业生产的各个领域和环节。这在一定意义上就是在工业领域应用信息技术并发展工业信息服务。新型工业化道路的另一个特征是它必须以科技进步为动力、以提高经济效益和竞争力为中心，而这一目标的实现同样离不开高质量的研发设计以及技术服务、商务服务、金融服务等现代生产性服务。

服务业“巨头”在北京

上个世纪90年代以来，越来越多世界著名的服务业企业先后来到中国落户北京，为中国的工业化进程起到了有效的促进作用，更为北京向现代服务业快速转型提供了很多值得借鉴的经验。

在世界500强企业中，平均每10家公司至少就有8家的年报中可以找到“普华永道”的名字。在中国，中石油、中国银行、中国联通、盛大网络这些企业，在赴境外上市时也会选择给自己的财务报表盖上普华永道的印记。在审计这个靠信誉生存的行业里，普华永道几乎就是“诚信”的代名词。现在，这家全球最大的会计师事务所已经将中国几乎所有涉及生产制造的行业全部纳入它的服务巨网之中。在中国内地制造业产业高速发展的过程中，以支持第二产业发展的“生产性服务业”为主业的普华永道，从中获利颇丰，可谓赚得盆满钵满。

“中国是我们增长最快的市场”，普华永道全球首席执行官沈德培在一次接受采访时，很明确地表达了他对中国和北京市场的信心，“北京的业务比例是中国区最大的，我们的很多大客户，例如网通、联通都在北京。在未来的10年中，我相信在中国的市场会迅速发展，我们的业务增长量将更加巨大。”正如沈德培所言，十几年来普华永道在中国的市场越做越大，在能源和矿产、消费品和工业产品、电信、信息、媒介及娱乐、金融业和服务业等行业，都占有可观的市场份额。到目前为止，普华永道为中国市场提供的服务主要有两大类：审计及商务咨询服务和税务及法律服务，其中包括诸如企业财务管理、法规报告、股东权益及技术难题咨询、税务解决方案、有效率的税务申报、建议制定税务政策等等。

北京为普华永道提供了无与伦比的发展空间，普华永道的服务对象早已不限于企业范围，2000年北京申奥期间，普华永道与奥申委紧密合作，为奥申委提供相关的财务咨询服务。2001年，普华永道又为北京市五项新建的奥运场馆，包括“鸟巢”项目的法人招标提供了财务顾问服务。2007年4月，普华永道成为北京2008年奥运会会计服务供应商。

麦肯锡来到中国已经超过了14年，在中国，麦肯锡的主要业务之一是为中国境内企业提供海外上市的咨询服务。麦肯锡给中国企业带来的不只是上市、融资、投资、管理等咨询业务，真正让中国内地企业长期受益的，是麦肯锡的制度和文化。麦肯锡认为，90%的知识都在大家的脑子里，最重要的是建立知识共享的制度和文化。所以麦肯锡有一个文化叫“百分之百的立方”，就是用百分之百的时间把百分之百的知识传递给百分之百的客户。

成立于1948年的万宝盛华是全球知名的中高级人才推荐、专业人才推荐、人才派用的领导品牌，以人才招聘、培训、供应而名闻全球。在《财富》美国100强中，98%的公司都是它的客户，而在《财富》全球500强中，它的客户也已经达到91%。万宝盛华所经营的业务，从其本质上来讲一直以来就肩负了一定社会的责任。万宝盛华选择中国的主要原因自然是由于中国的劳动力市场前景广阔。通过市场调查，万宝盛华发现，中国的就业前景指数百分比很高，表示市场上的确存在人才供应不足的情况，同时供给面和需求面之间存在落差，其主要原因是由于企业对求职者技能层面的供需上存在落差，求职者的技能水准不能达到企业的需求。而这种落差对万宝盛华来说却意味着其机会的来临，万宝盛华在中国人力资源市场上大展拳脚的时机已经完全成熟。而北京蓬勃发展的经济状况和日益发达的现代服务业市场，也为万宝盛华这些服务业巨头提供了广阔的市场空间和不可多得的拓展机遇。

亟待解决的问题

北京已经具备了发展生产性服务业的诸多有利因素，但是应该看到，目前也存在一些问题。

据刘绍坚介绍，北京生产性服务业的需求还有待进一步挖掘。计划经济体制下聚集在北京的很多中央企业总部是发展生产性服务业不可或缺的资源优势之一，服务需求开始逐步释放，但是北京市属国有大型企业服务外包意识并不强，许多服务需求还是通过内设部门或下属子公司提供。北京的跨国公司地区总部的数量尽管也相当可观，但主要从事政府公关、媒体策划等业务，没有真正意义上的运营、资本操作业务，呈现明显的“空心化”现象，对生产性服务的需求不足。

从供给角度看，由于大部分生产性服务业在中国还属于新兴行业，相对于市场需求而言，供给不足。由于新兴行业市场成长快，服务标准不一，缺乏能够提供优质服务的大型企业，大部分中小企业难以满足客户高标准的服务需求。尤其是在中国服务业逐步对外开放的进程中，国际知名服务业企业纷纷进入中国，使得竞争中的内资企业处于明显劣势。