Innovation is the name of the game

Camda's stronger performance in tapping overseas markets over the past few years mirrors companies in Dongguan that have gone through the painstaking process of upgrading their products by investing more in technology and innovation to maintain growth.

The transformation of high-tech industries over the past few years, done in conjunction with domestic and international science and technology companies, has helped the city upgrade its traditional industries and increase its exporters' competitiveness, sources with the Dongguan Economy and Information Bureau say.

The city's industrial output and trade has held up since the global financial crisis in 2008, says Xian Zhou'en, director of the Dongguan Economy and Information Bureau.

The value of Dongguan's trade was $153 billion last year, 5.9 percent more than in the previous year, the Dongguan Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau says.

The city's exports rose 6.8 percent to $90.86 billion last year. Exports of high-tech products from the city rose to $33.6 billion, an increase of a little more than 13 percent, representing an increased proportion of all exports, sources with the trade and economy bureau says.

"A growing number of traditional manufacturers in Dongguan have also started to upgrade their businesses since 2008," Shen says. "They have become successful overseas."

Like Camda New Energy Equipment earlier, as many as 200 companies in Dongguan were making only diesel-powered generation equipment over the past decade, Shen says.

"But fewer than 20 such companies survived the global economic downturn. Those that did not quickly adopt an upgrading approach have dipped out of the international market because of a lack of competition," Shen says.

Xian of the Dongguan Economy and Information Bureau attributes the increased trade to Dongguan's efforts to transform its economy from one with labor-intensive processing trade and manufacturing to one in which the focus is on advanced technology and innovation.

"We have not seen a big round of business closures since 2008 when the global economy downsized," Xian says. "Instead, a growing number of high-tech businesses have emerged in recent years. Many traditional exporters have transformed to ODM (original design manufacturing) and OBM (original brand manufacturing) companies, helping us better cope with the global economic downturn."