Tales from the Development Frontier
His success has resulted from his diligence, his keen eye for market trends, and support from an overseas partner. The company has benefited from reforms that liberalized the market and opened it to foreign investment, providing access to capital and entrepreneurial skills.
Jiangxi Youjia Food Manufacturing Company Ltd., Jiangxi Province With few resources beyond entrepreneurial spirit, many Chinese have ventured into the market and built their own enterprises—often after countless failures—by mastering entrepreneurial skills and the workings of the market through trial and error. Wu Youjia, the owner of Jiangxi Youjia Food Manufacturing Company Ltd., is one of the grassroots private entrepreneurs who have driven the development of south China and turned the region into a global powerhouse in light manufacturing. As China’s living standards and incomes have risen, so has the country’s demand for higher-quality food products. In 2011, annual per household food spending totaled Y 2,107 ($326) in rural areas and Y 5,506 ($852) in urban areas, up 181.3 and 188.9 percent, respectively, from 2005.3 The snack food market has expanded even more quickly, registering sales of Y 96 billion ($14.9 billion) in 2011, up from Y 22.8 billion ($2.8 billion) in 2005 (figure 4.3).
Figure 4.3 Growth of the Snack Food Industry, China, 2005–11 120 yuan, billions
188
96
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60 40
22.8
29.6
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20 0 2005
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Source: China Food Industrial Net website [in Chinese], http://www.shipin588.com/news/show-32920.html.