From November 9 to 10, the World Economic Forum first debuted in Guangzhou. More than 200 Chinese entrepreneurs, high management of multinationals in Greater China, famous international scholars and officials from related ministries and commissions of China got together in Guangzhou to attend the Business Roundtable of the World Economic Forum, which was held in South China for the first time. The Guangzhou-based enterprises, which attended the roundtable, play an important role in the fields they are engaged in. Of them, there are airline with passenger capacity that ranks first in Asia, auto corporation that ranks top nationwide in terms of growth, and UAV enterprise that ranks among world’s top three innovation companies. These enterprises provide great support for Guangzhou’s construction of “hub-type city”, “central city” and “innovative city”.

 

Guangzhou Port (shipping hub):

 

One of China’s most important ports for foreign trade

 

The century-old Guangzhou Port has been one of the start points of the Maritime Silk Road since the ancient times. Today, it has become the largest comprehensive hub with the most integrated functions and the greatest influence in South China. It meets international norms in terms of production capacity and serves as an important hub of the national comprehensive transportation system. The Guangzhou Port now has 150 shipping routes, including 67 for foreign trade and 83 for domestic trade. It is an access to the sea in the Pearl River Delta economic area as well as one of China’s most important ports for foreign trade.

 

From January to August, under the circumstance with continuous macro-economic downturn, Guangzhou Port Group kept on a growth and made remarkable achievements. The total cargo throughput reached 267.959 million tons, up 4.2% year-on-year; the total container throughput reached 10.208 million TEUs, up 6.2% year-on-year.

 

 

China Southern Airlines (air transport hub)

 

Ranking first in terms of fleet scale and passenger capacity

 

China Southern Airlines, based in Guangzhou, has the biggest fleet and largest annual passenger throughput in Asia. Its air route network starting from Guangzhou has covered 51 cities of 28 countries and regions in Europe, Asia, Oceania, North America and Africa.

 

Currently, China Southern Airlines has more than 660 airplanes for passenger and cargo transportation, ranking first in Asia and fifth in the world in terms of the scale of fleet. In 2015, the passenger throughput of China Southern Airlines exceeded 110 million person-times, ranking first in Asia and third in the world. The same year, China Southern Airlines had 195,000 flights in operation, serving 25.2 million passengers. Of them, there were 46,000 international flights, serving 6.56 million international passengers, respectively up 26.5% and 14.9% year-on-year.

 

EHang UAVs (science and technology innovation hub)

 

Ranking among top three worldwide in terms of UAV development

 

EHang is a world leading company engaged in science and technology development related to smart aerial vehicles. It is based in Guangzhou and has branches in California (USA), Dusseldorf (Germany), Beijing and Shanghai (China). More than two years ago, it was just a small company consisting of five staff members. Now, it has had more than 300 staff members and 35 off-line experience shops all over the world.

 

Different from manufacturers of small aircrafts for aerial photography, EHang has obvious advantages in the field of manned crafts. At the International Drone Conference and Exposition 2016 held in Las Vegas, EHang showed the EHang 184 Low Altitude Autonomous Aerial Vehicle. An American bio-tech company ordered 1,000 such aerial vehicles for delivering human organs to designated sites for transplantation. EHang was honored by Fast Company magazine as one of the Global Best Innovative Companies in 2016. It also ranks among the top three of global UAV enterprises.

 

GAC Group (manufacturing center):

 

Ranking first among top 10 Chinese auto groups in terms of growth

 

The auto industry has been a pillar industry of Guangzhou. GAC is a local leading enterprise established in 1997. Since 2013, it has been on the Fortune 500 list for four consecutive years. In 2016, it took the 303^rd place on the list. The sales of autos increased from 740,000 in 2011 to 1.3 million in 2015, with compounded annual growth rate of 15%, eight percentage points higher than the industry’s average growth rate.

 

In 2015, GAC, with about 60,000 employees, manufactured 1.27 million finished autos and sold 1.3 million ones, with total sales of RMB216.4 billion. In the first eight months of 2016, it totally sold about one million autos, up 30.4% year-on-year, while the average increase of the industry was 19%. With such a growth, GAC ranks first among the top 10 Chinese auto groups.

 

Zurich Insurance (financial center):

 

Century-old Swiss insurance giant

 

Zurich Insurance (Guangdong) is another branch of Fortune 500 company to be located in Guangzhou. As a Swiss insurance giant, Zurich Insurance Group has strong financial strength, which is rated as “AA-” and AM Best “A+” by authoritative international rating agency Standard & Poor's. Financial report showed that, in the first half of 2016, Zurich Insurance’s general operating profit from insurance business had an increase of 3%, reaching USD1.2 billion.

 

Zurich Property Insurance (China) Co., Ltd was established in 2013 based on the restructuring of Zurich Insurance (Beijing). It is a branch of Zurich Insurance Group in China. Zurich Insurance (Guangdong), for which preparation for establishment is being made, will be the third branch of Zurich Property Insurance (China) and the company’s first branch at provincial level. It will be one of the milestones for the development of Zurich Property Insurance (China).

 

Grandview Mall (business and trade center):

 

Ranking third nationwide in terms of sales

 

Guangzhou has been famous as a city of business for centuries. The Tianhe Road business circle, located at the new central axis of Guangzhou, is less than three kilometers long. However, the sales here reached more than USD133 billion (about RMB800 billion) last year. Every day, more than 1.5 million people visited here, and on holidays and festivals, more than four million people visited here. As the biggest shopping mall in the Tianhe Road business circle, Grandview Mall covers total building area of 420,000 square meters and is the first national AAAA-class commercial tourism destination in South China. 

 

Data of the Tianhe Road Chamber of Commerce indicated that, in 2015, the total sales of commodities at this business circle reached RMB890 billion, while the total retail sales of consumer goods exceeded RMB54 billion. Guangzhou has three shopping malls ranking among China’s top 10 shopping malls in terms of sales. Of them, Grandview Mall ranks third in China and first in Guangzhou.

 

YY Inc. (innovation in communications):

 

140 million monthly active users

 

YY Inc., established in April 2005, is China’s first operator of integrated communication business. It is engaged in development of webcasts to provide team talk services for global users. It is now one of China’s leading Internet audio and video platform suppliers. The YY Voice, Duowan Games, YYLIVE, YY Education and Huya Live, which are familiar to the users, are all produced by YY Inc. Currently YY Inc. has 1.3 billion registered users, including 140 million monthly active users. With a fast development, YY Inc. has become a leading enterprise in the industry. It was listed at NASDAQ in 2012. In the fiscal year of 2015, it operating income reached RMB5.8972 billion, up 60.3% over that of 2014 (RMB 3.6784 billion).

 

Netease (portal web innovation)

 

Leaving the other three portal webs far behind in terms of growth

 

Netease was established in June 1997. So far, it has developed from a team consisting of more than ten members to one with more than 8,000 staff members all over the world. In June 2000, it was listed in the United States. The Netease Building covers total office area of more than 20,000 square meters, with more than 2,000 staff members working in it. Compared with other portal webs established during the same period, Netease has been keeping a low-profile style, manifesting the practical style of the people of Guangzhou. The financial report on the second quarter of this year made an impression: operating income of RMB8.953 billion, up 96% year-on-year; net profits of RMB2.721 billion, up 91% year-on-year. In terms of the growth of operating income and profit, Netease has left the other three portal webs far behind.

 

The Email.163.com, Game.163.com and News.163.com of Netease have become well-known brands among the Chinese netizens. The business of games serves as a pillar business for the earnings of Netease. In 2015, the total operating income of Netease reached RMB22.803 billion, including RMB17.314 billion from games.

 

Vipshop (innovation in e-business)

 

China’s third biggest e-business operator, with profits for consecutive 15 quarters

 

Established in 2008 in Guangzhou, Vipshop mainly deals with on-line marketing of discount commodities of famous brands, including clothes, shoes, bags, cosmetics, products for mothers and babies, and household products. On March 23, 2012, Vipshop was listed at NYSE, the United States. So far, it has become the biggest e-business operator providing special offers in the world and China’s third biggest e-business operator. In 2015, Vipshop realized annual net operating income of RMB40.2 billion, up 74% year-on-year.

 

Up to June 30, Vipshop hit a new record by earning profits for 15 consecutive quarters. The latest financial report indicated that, in the second quarter of this year, its total net operating income reached RMB13.44 billion (equal to about USD2.02 billion), up 49% year-on-year.

 

Source: Translated from Invest Guangzhou, November 10, 2016