Reform is the fundamental driver for China's economic growth. The innovative enterprise standard "forerunner" system has effectively promoted the transformation and upgrading of standardization work in enterprises, creating the market atmosphere of "looking to forerunners in production and consumption". This paper collected nearly 130 pieces of public opinion information on the enterprise standard forerunners in the first quarter of 2021, covering China Construction Bank, BYD, Gree and other renowned enterprises in a variety of sectors. Through analyzing publication channels and content of those information, it aims to facilitate the publicity and promotion of the "forerunner" system and increase social awareness of "high standards and high quality".
Since fully implemented in 2019 and optimized throughout 2020, the enterprise standard "forerunner" system has gained increasing influence and recognition. Especially, BTV, Sina.com and other influential media reported the 2020 Enterprise Standard "Forerunner" Conference and the release of forerunner name list, with 200 million viewers. CNIS recently collected and analyzed nearly 130 pieces of public opinion information on the forerunners in the first quarter of 2021, with the following findings.
First, most information was published in media websites, WeChat Official Account, and Apps. Mainstream media including Jinri Toutiao (literally Today's Headlines), Finance Station and Bai Jiahao all released news relating to the forerunner system.
Second, the information mainly focused on work progress, government support, sectoral support, local support and enterprise's publicity.
Work progress were mainly reflected by notifications and announcement of results. In view of WeChat's advantages in spreading information, relevant institutions released phased progress about the system via WeChat Official Account to advance its implementation.
Government support referred to national policies relating to the system. For example, documents issued by the central government, including opinions on improving consumption mechanism and boosting consumption potential, action plans of constructing high-quality market system, and opinions on advancing rural revitalization and accelerating agricultural and rural modernization, made clear implementing enterprise standard "forerunner" system and cultivating high-level enterprise standards in agricultural sector, which provided important policy basis for the implementation of the system.
Sectoral support was about how the forerunner helped promote the development of sector standards and quality. For example, China Automotive Engineering Research Institute Co., Ltd. (CAERI) undertook the responsibility of evaluating forerunners in the area of new energy vehicles and developed the association standard "forerunner standard evaluation requirements" for battery electric vehicles. The standard pointed out a direction for new energy vehicle enterprises to disclose standards, provided a basis for the evaluation of forerunners in the area and set a benchmark for high-quality development in the sector.
Local support referred to the efforts of local administrations for market regulation promoting the development of local enterprises by implementing the "forerunner" system.
Foshan city in South China's Guangdong Province had the largest number of enterprises listed in the forerunner list in 2020, boasting 95 forerunner standards in the past two years, which ranked first among all cities and regions across the country. Foshan government attached great importance to key economic areas, key sectors and key enterprises, implemented the forerunner system and encouraged the self-declaration and disclosure of 13,699 enterprise standards by 3,450 enterprises. The city specified the financial reward policies for those selected as national forerunner evaluation bodies in its document on providing incentives and support for improving the quality of industrial products.
For another example, Wuhu city of Southeast China's Anhui Province and Zhengzhou city, capital of Henan province in the Northern Central Region of China announced to respectively offer a reward of RMB 1 million and RMB 300,000 for enterprises recognized as national forerunners. Local governments have contributed enormously to the promotion of the "forerunner" system and injected strong impetus into regional economic development.
Enterprise publicity referred to the phenomenon that relevant enterprises participated in the forerunner work, thereby carrying out brand publicity. As enterprises generally recognize the value of the "forerunner" system, enterprises in the forerunner list seize this opportunity to intensify brand publicity.
For example, BYD, a leading new energy vehicle company, has tried to extend brand awareness and influence by stressing the fundamental role of R&D capability and experience sharing. Gree, a renowned household appliance enterprise, highlighted "forerunner enterprise" in its publicity. Their actions will certainly encourage more enterprises to disclose advanced enterprise standards and facilitate industrial transformation and upgrading.
Public information about the "forerunner" system in the first quarter of 2021 indicated that the system has been promoted at local, sector and enterprise levels, won general recognition and become an important tool for local administrations for market regulation to advance high-quality development. However, at the market level, less publicity was found, the forerunner label was less used and consumer awareness need to be improved.
Therefore, it is necessary to intensify the publicity of forerunner products and help consumers gain real benefits from the forerunner system, advancing the new development pattern.
