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1.0 Introduction介绍
宁波环球儿童用品有限公司（以下简称宁波环球）是以汽车儿童安全座椅为核心产品，集研发、制造、销售、服务于一体的国家级综合性高新技术企业，成立于年。2008年注册资本260万元（人民币，下同），总资产约3500万元，员工260人（水地信贷，2018年）。凭借其专业水平和成熟的技术，公司已成为中国最具实力的儿童座椅生产企业之一。近五年的年销售额约为7000万元。
根据中国政府的《大中型企业分类标准》，在工业行业中，中型企业的标准必须满足员工人数在300人以上，销售额在3000万元以上的标准。资产4000万元以上，不达标企业为小企业（denkena、dittrich、stamm，2018）。宁波环球虽然年销售额超过3000万，但员工和企业资产的数量都低于中型企业。因此，按照中国政府的标准，公司是一家小型企业。
本文的研究目的是探讨宁波环球小企业管理的特点，指出小企业在成长过程中遇到的问题以及如何解决这些问题。
Ningbo Global Kid products Co., Ltd. ((hereinafter called as Ningbo Global) is a comprehensive national high-tech enterprise that integrates research, development, manufacturing, sales, and service with automotive child safety seats and takes it as its core products, the company was established in 2008 with a registered capital of 2.6 million yuan (RMB, similarly hereinafter), total assets of approximately 35 million yuan, and 260 employees (Shuidi Credit, 2018). With its professional level and mature technology, the company has become one of the most powerful companies in China in which child car seats are produced. Its annual sales in the last five years were around 70 million yuan.
According to the Chinese government's criteria for the classification of large and medium-sized enterprises, in the industrial industry, the standards for medium-sized enterprises must satisfy the standard that the number of employees is 300 or more, the sales is 30 million yuan or more, the total assets is 40 million yuan or more, and enterprises which fail to meet the standard are small enterprises (Denkena, Dittrich and Stamm, 2018). Although Ningbo Global has annual sales of more than 30 million, the number of employees and corporate assets are all lower than those of medium-sized companies’. Therefore, the company is a small enterprise according to the standards of the Chinese government.
The research aim of this study was to discuss the characteristics of small business management of Ningbo Global to point out the problems that small businesses encounter in the process of growth and how to solve the problems.
2.0 Literature review文献综述
启动策略
2.1 Start-up strategy启动策略
小企业的创业战略不仅关系到小企业能否在公司诞生的早期阶段生存，而且对公司未来的经营产生更为重要的影响。一般来说，小企业的创业策略包括五种：从头开始创业、收购现有企业、收购特许经营权、管理层收购、管理/发展家族企业（Laari Salmela、Mainela和Puhakka，2017年）。从无到有的起步要求市场仍处于自由竞争阶段，中小企业可以有更多的机会参与竞争，市场上没有强大的垄断资本和公司，这对中小企业的发展具有阻碍作用。同时，这种创业战略对创业者的人才、资金和技术资源需求相对较少，但创业者往往需要花费更多的精力和时间才能成功。
购买特许经营权需要小企业在购买良好的特许经营权之前在早期阶段拥有更多的资金（Laari Salmela、Mainela和Puhakka，2017年）。同时，公司在长期发展过程中可能会受到特许经营限制。没有完全独立的发展方向决策权。这种创业战略的优势在于，它可以帮助小企业更快地获得资源，并在产品、渠道、促销、研发、品牌推广等方面提供帮助。小企业可以更快地取得成功。
Start-up strategies of small business are not only related to whether small business can survive in the early stages of the company’s birth, but also have a more important impact on its future operations. In general, start-up strategies of small business include five types: start-up from scratch, buying an existing business, buying a franchise, management buy out, managing /developing the family business (Laari-Salmela, Mainela and Puhakka, 2017). Start-up from scratch requires that a market is still in the stage of free competition, SMEs can have more opportunities to participate in competition, there is no strong monopoly capital and companies in the market which have a hindering effect on the development of SMEs. At the same time, this kind of start-up strategy requires relatively few talents, funds, and technical resources for entrepreneurs, but entrepreneurs often need to spend more effort and time to succeed.
Buying a franchise requires small businesses to have more funds in the early stage before they can purchase good franchise rights (Laari-Salmela, Mainela and Puhakka, 2017). At the same time, the company may be subject to franchise restrictions during the long-term development of the company. There is no complete independent decision-making power for its own development direction. The advantage of such a start-up strategy is that it can help small businesses to get faster access to resources and help in products, channels, promotions, research and development, branding, etc. Small businesses can achieve success faster.
Buying an existing business also requires small businesses to have more funds in the early stage before they can purchase a good existing business (Laari-Salmela, Mainela and Puhakka, 2017). The advantage of this starting strategy lies in the ability to use management, products, and technologies, channels of existing business to achieve the rapid development of the company, in the future development process, it has more fully independent decision-making power.
Advantages of management buy out lie in that, for entrepreneurs, on the one hand, they can use the original company's various resources to achieve the company's rapid development, and on the other hand, as the entrepreneurs are the original company's managers, they can be better evaluate risks and utilize various resources of the original company (Laari-Salmela, Mainela and Puhakka, 2017). The disadvantage of this starting strategy is that entrepreneurs are required to have enough money to make acquisitions.
Advantages of managing /developing the family business include that corporate management has a better sense of belonging, has a strong common goal to quickly make decisions and implement changes (Laari-Salmela, Mainela and Puhakka, 2017). However, the problem is that when family-owned companies rely too much on family members, they cannot make good use of talents outside the family. The problem of succession of the companies is also more difficult to be solved.
Start-up strategies of the above types of small businesses have their own advantages and disadvantages (Kuester, Konya-Baumbach and Schuhmacher, 2018). An entrepreneur of a small company needs to consider not only its own circumstances, such as whether it has sufficient funds, technology, and channel resources, but also the market competition environment, such as: whether the market competition is free, whether there are monopoly companies hindering their own development. It is also necessary to consider whether they have the ability to make independent decisions in the future development process and whether they can obtain more resources for the development of enterprises.
2.2 Marketing strategy
Marketing mix refers to that enterprises are based on the needs of a target market, by comprehensive consideration of the environment, capabilities, competition, and the optimization and combination of various marketing factors (products, prices, distribution, promotions, etc.) that they can control to achieve better economic and social benefits (Yi, 2018). For medium and large enterprises, the theory and principles of marketing include: 4p, 4C, 4R, etc. However, Stokes and Wilson (2017) pointed out that constrained by their financial resources, technology, and channels, small companies have their own different characteristics in marketing mix strategy, thus they proposed 4Is marketing strategy, which includes the following four aspects (Stokes and Wilson, 2017). First, innovations, including to stock new lines, to have an access to new market segments by using particular services or improving existing services to old customers. Second, identification from a target market, small enterprises usually provide products, services to clearly identified groups of customers in a ‘niche' market. Third, interactive marketing, that is the ability to communicate or respond in a timely manner to individual customers. Internet technology can facilitate interactive marketing processes by remembering what a customer has said easily when it collects customer information online and communicating with customers more easily when they have complaint. Fourth, informal information gathering by using the network, Management of small enterprises can monitor a marketplace through informal networks, rather than formalized market research.
2.3 Analysis
The above literatures put forward suggestions on how small companies can reasonably establish start-up strategies and marketing strategies. This study analyzed the start-up strategies and marketing strategies of Ningbo Global based on the above literatures. However, it is worth noting that the above literatures and theories mainly discuss how small companies develop strategies in the early stages of development and with limited corporate resources. However, as small businesses grow, they will encounter many new problems. Under these circumstances, the above theories and literatures may not be able to better help small businesses to cope with the challenges. This study will explore what problems that Ningbo Global will encounter after its expansion, and how to solve these problems.#p#分页标题#e#
3.0 Methodology
Interview refers to the research method of understanding the psychology and behavior of interviewed people through direct interview with the interviewers (Rosenthal, 2016). In this study, it also uses interviews to collect information. The interviewed person was the manager of the company. The author contacted the manager via the phone with the author’s relative, who worked in the Ningbo municipal government to obtain the permission from the manager. The author has a telephone interview with the manager at the appointed time. The interview lasted about 20 minutes. The types of interview include three types. First is structured interviews, second is non-structured interviews, and the third is semi-structured interviews (Rosenthal, 2016). The characteristics of structured interviews include, the questions for all interviewees, the order and manner of asking questions, and the manner that interviewers use to record what the interviewees said are completely unified, however, such interviews are not conducive to interviewees’ express their true ideas and motivation freely (Goodell, Stage, Cooke, 2016). Non-structured interview means that interviewers and interviewees are free to talk about a topic, and there are no uniform requirements for the manner and sequence of questioning, the record of what they talk about, the external environment of the interview, etc., and they can be varied according to the actual situation of the interview. Such interviewing may result in that interviewees may talk too much which is not related to the topic to waste the time. In order to avoid the shortcomings of the above two types of interviews, the author took a semi-structured interview. Semi-structured interviews refer to that interviewees are interviewed according to an outline designed in advance, but they allow the respondents to talk freely to a certain extent (Rosenthal, 2016). The outline of the interview in this study is shown in Appendix 1.
4.0 Study on strategies of Ningbo Global
This study analyzed the start-up strategy and marketing strategy of Ningbo Global based on the interview records.
4.1 Start-up strategy of Ningbo Global
The start-up strategy of Ningbo Global is start-up from scratch. This is a reasonable choice for the founder based on their own situation and market environment. However, this start-up strategy has prevented it from obtaining more resources to help the development of the company. It took a long time to achieve breakthrough development. Ningbo Global was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang province in 1998. It took start-up from scratch as its strategy. The reason for why it took the starting strategy is that the entrepreneurs initially saw the potential of demand for children's car safety seats in various countries in the future, and car seats themselves have a huge value space, but at that time, China did not have such enterprises, and the entrepreneurs also lacked sufficient funds to purchase existing companies. At the same time, China’s economy was still relatively backward and the market was still in a stage of free competition. No monopoly would have an impediment to the development of SMEs, so they chose to start from scratch. Considering from the entrepreneurs’ own situation and the market environment at that time, the entrepreneurs chose the strategy of starting from scratch, which is very correct, but as Laari-Salmela, Mainela and Puhakka (2017) said that starting from scratch requires enterprises to spend more time to succeed. Ningbo Global was established in 1988, it launched the first seat: Mario, but the visibility and sales performance of the products in the industry was not high, until 2009, it obtained the opportunities of exporting child seats to Japan in the form of OEMs. In 2011, the products were approved by Shanghai FAW-Volkswagen as a supplier of original accessories for child seats. Since then, Ningbo Global has become a competitive manufacturer of child safety seats in China.
4.2 Marketing strategy of Ningbo Global
4.2.1 Innovations of Ningbo Global
Ningbo Global is a small company with limited research & development and innovation resources, talents. However, the company still attaches great importance to innovation. The company’s investment in innovation in the past five years has exceeded 8% of its operating income. 11% of its employees have been engaged in work related to product development. The company’s innovation is usually guided by consumer needs and local laws. The company understands customer needs and relevant laws and regulations of the local government for child safety seats through market reports, sales data, and ordering agents, and then uses this information in innovating, which enables the company's products to not only meet the needs of consumers better, but also enables the products to better meet the local government's legal requirements and avoid the losses brought by legal risks to the company.
4.2.2 Identification of target market of Ningbo Global
Ningbo Global takes child car seats as the main product, Europe and Japan as the target markets, which is based on the following three reasons. First, child car seat is an important equipment to protect children's physical safety while a car is in motion. Car seat is one of the most expensive components of car parts, and usually a car will not be equipped with a child safety seat. The seats need consumers to purchase separately. Therefore, child safety seat is a product with important functions, it is profitable and it has large demand. Therefore, Ningbo Global take child safety seats in cars as the company’s leading products. Second, the number of cars owned by Europeans and Japanese people is the largest in the world. A large number of children have to travel by cars. Parents have high awareness of purchasing child safety seats. Local laws stipulate that children must use child car seats, and there are strict requirements on the quality standards of child car seats. This shows that Europe and Japan have a greater demand for high quality child car seats. Based on the above two reasons, Ningbo Global takes children's car seats as its main product, Europe and Japan as its target markets.
4.2.3 Interactive marketing of Ningbo Global
Ningbo Global is subject to its own financial restrictions and has not invested a lot of money in advertising. Its marketing reflects the characteristics of interactive marketing. First of all, the company takes the internet as an important marketing channel. The company has established an official website, established a shop on Alibaba, and established its own social media. The company answers customers’ questions instantly through the internet, making it more clear to consumers that whether the company’s products are worth of purchasing. Then, the company recognizes the importance of maintaining customer relationships and increasing customer loyalty. It often uses social media to update product production, design information, share product market performance, and proactively contact customers to understand in what aspects they need the company to provide more help and improve products, through these measures to close the company's relationship with customers.
4.2.4 Informal information gathering through networks
In the initial stage of the company's establishment, Ningbo Global and other small Chinese companies also tried to use Alibaba and other online channels as a way to collect market information and customer information. However, as Ningbo Global was not well known. , it is difficult for it to find right customers. The company’s manager was previously also engaged in international sales of child safety seats in cars. He has a good relationship with sales channel distributors for child safety seats in Japan and Europe. The child car seats that he used to represent have been recognized by the partners for the reliable price and reliable product quality. Therefore, through his personal relationship, Ningbo Global obtained a small amount of orders from Japan and Europe at the initial stage. Although the first order quantity is small, over time, products and prices of Ningbo Global have been recognized by the buyers, it has received more and more orders.
5.0 Problems and suggestions
This study was based on the records of the interview to understand the new problems that Ningbo Global has encountered during its growth.
5.1 Problems
One of the biggest problems that Ningbo Global faces at present is a lack of sufficient market awareness. Although the products have entered the European and Japanese markets, it is mainly Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) for local products and it has less brand awareness. The reason for this situation is that in the past, the company failed to increase its brand awareness because of its lack of marketing resources and capabilities. However, with the increase in the company's production scale and technical strength, the company has been increasingly aware of that the lack of a brand with market influence is not conducive to its own development. For example, more and more companies are now engaged in the production of child car seats. Consumers are able to have more and more choices for the products. Because of lack of brand influence, consumers will choose products that have good brand awareness. All in all, the lack of influential brands has become one of the obstacles for the further development and growth of the company.
The second problem that Ningbo Global may encounter is that as the importance of child safety seats and the commercial value of child safety seats are increasingly valued, more and more large companies are beginning to get involved in the production of child safety seats, even some car manufacturers have also begun to produce these seats. For example: Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Honda are all involved in producing child safety seats. These manufacturers have the advantages in terms of technology, channels, and brand influence, which has brought great pressure to the future development of the company. #p#分页标题#e#
5.2 Suggestions
In the future, the company can adopt the following measures to increase its brand influence. First, it should invest appropriate funds in advertising on the Internet. Compared with TV commercials, costs for advertising on the Internet are less than advertising through other channels, such as TV. Second, they can actively participate in various trade shows and exhibitions, as well as public welfare activities. Every year, around the world, a large number of exhibitions on child safety seats are held. Participation in the exhibitions not only increases the influence of the products, but also contacts many middlemen, channel distributors, and even reporters, which can greatly improve brand awareness of the products. Participating in target market countries' public welfare activities, especially children's related social welfare activities will not only increase the exposure of the products, but also increase consumer trust in the brands of the products.
In order to better cope with the pressure brought by the strong competitors in the future to the development of the company, it can consider adopting the following two measures:
First, it should continue to attach importance to the quality of products, improving the technological content to improve the competitiveness of their products. Since the products aim at children, in the future, the design and materials of the child safety seats should be more reliable and more environmentally friendly. And the intelligentized design should not only ensure the safety of children, but also avoid affecting the health of children. It should respond to the strong competitors appearing in the market by improving product competitiveness. Second, the company can use the transfer of part of equity, by joint R&D, etc. to cooperate with some large-scale automobiles to establish business alliance relations, such that the products can be better accepted by the customers of its alliances, for example: it has been recognized by Shanghai FAW-Volkswagen as a designated supplier of child safety seats, and it needs to further strengthen cooperation with other companies with strengths.
6.0 Conclusion
The analysis results of this study showed that the start-up strategy and marketing strategy of Ningbo Global were relatively reasonable. This is an important reason for its becoming a successful small enterprise in China, but it is worth noting that as the company grows, it has encountered some new problems in its management and marketing. These problems cannot be solved effectively by relying on the original methods, the author proposed solutions to the problems of the company, including: an appropriate increase in its marketing resources, enhancing brand awareness, enhancing product competitiveness, increasing cooperation with other companies.
References
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Kuester, S., Konya-Baumbach, E. and Schuhmacher, M. C. (2018). Get the Show on the Road: Go-to-market Strategies for E-innovations of Start-ups. Journal of Business Research, 83(2), 65-81.
Laari-Salmela, S., Mainela, T. and Puhakka, V. (2017). Resolving the start-up identity crisis: Strategizing in a network context. Industrial Marketing Management, 11, 56-68.
Shuidi Credit. (2018). Credit Archives of Ningbo Global Kid products Co., Ltd. China Enterprise Credit Archives Center.
Stokes, D. and Wilson, N. (2017). Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship. Cengage Learning EMEA, 21, 8-25.
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Yi, Z. (2018). Chapter Five: The Marketing Mix and Branding. Marketing Services and Resources in Information Organizations, 49-57.
Appendix 1 Interview outline
1. How did your company start up?
2. How do you determine the target markets?
3. How do you communicate with consumers?
4. How do you carry out innovation?
5. How do you collect relevant information?
6. What are problems you have encountered during the development process?
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