Growth in Gulou - New location for 'China Headquarters' Go back »

2008-10-24 | Nanjing















A bird's eye view of Gulou district of Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province. The district is attracting more and more company headquarters.

 

Nanjing now ranks fifth among the nation's 35 major cities in the capacity to develop a headquarters economy, according to local statistics. In a bid to attract yet more companies, Gulou district has adjusted its economic and industrial structure.

 

Although Gulou covers an area of less than 27 sq km, an area which amounts to only a tenth of Nanjing’s total area, Gulou accounts for nearly one-third of the city’s revenue – this means it ranks first Nanjing’s six urban districts. "One of the most important reasons (for high revenues) is that we have focused on the development of the headquarters economy," said Bao Yongan, district Party secretary. "The headquarters economy also boosts development of the modern services industry in the city, which is an important part of our strategy to optimize our industrial structure," he added. Over recent years, we have seized the opportunities associated with the trend for big domestic and international companies to move their headquarters to secondary cities in the country," he said. "Through our efforts, a large number of companies have set up their regional headquarters, research and development (R&D) centers and sales operations in Gulou district," Bao said.

 

Bao said that as the prime central district, Gulou is Nanjing's political, cultural, scientific and economic center. He cites strong human resources as the key to the areas success, a result of the 20 universities with more than 70 various research institutes and over 100,000 professional technicians in the district. More than one-third of its residents have a college-level education, he said.

 

Gulou is placing a priority on the development of hi-tech, modern services and cultural industries. Four industrial clusters are now taking shape in Gulou - headquarters finance, business and commerce, R&D and culture-related enterprises. To accommodate the trend of localization in production, R&D and sales by international companies, Gulou has teamed with Lishui country in Nanjing's suburbs to establish an industrial base. "It will help to absorb some production operations of companies not suitable for the city centre," Bao said.

  While promoting the introduction of the international companies, Gulou continues to embrace local enterprises. "We offer support and encouragement in policies, land use and service to local companies," said Xu Suning, head of Gulou district.

Provincial pillar companies like home appliances sales giant Suning, major salt producer Jiangsu Salt and the Jiangsu provincial publishing house are well established in Gulou, creating a "brand effect" for headquarters of local companies.

On the international front, more than 40 multinationals including European Chamber members BSH-Siemens, Allianz, Sofitel now have national or regional headquarters in Gulou.


In financial services, European Chamber members AIA, KPMG China, Deloitte and Standard Life have a presence in Gulou. A network of professional firms providing audit and tax services, will also be stationed in the district, Xu said.

To facilitate the arrival of these headquarters, Gulou offers "one-stop" services. Last year, headquarter operations notched up revenues of 1.92 billion yuan, accounting for more than 40 percent of the district's total revenue. That is almost three times the number in 2004, when headquarters operations contributed 670 million yuan to local revenue. "Years of practice shows that our strategy to attract headquarters is effective," he said.