The flooring industry is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises. Compared with large enterprises that invest tens of millions in research and development, publicize technological innovation, and vigorously develop the market, small and medium-sized enterprises have no competitive advantage. In the current flooring market, most small and medium-sized enterprises can only survive in the cracks of the market by relying on low-price strategies, but nowadays, low prices are becoming increasingly difficult to please consumers. Seeing that small and medium-sized flooring companies are about to be put into the "cold palace" by the market, what is the specific problem?
Due to the pursuit of short-term interests and other reasons, small and medium-sized enterprises are unwilling to invest too much talent and material resources in research and development, and are constrained in the development process and have weak risk resistance. From the perspective of development strategy, some companies specialize in low-end products and completely copy and imitate. From the perspective of technological innovation, companies lack innovation and are not willing to invest in innovation. From the perspective of development planning, they are more blindly obedient and lack self-awareness. From the perspective of enterprise scale, they are mostly small-scale production and manufacturing due to funding constraints. The problems faced by SMEs in the process of development are mainly manifested in the following points:
(1) The high-end links of the industrial chain are relatively weak, and the added value of products is low. SMEs are in the middle part of the "smile curve" of the value chain, and the added value of products is relatively low. Due to the low entry threshold of the middle and lower reaches of the flooring industry, a large number of private capitals have entered in the past few years, resulting in a large number of enterprises, uneven development scales, serious homogeneity, and mainly relying on low-price competition, which has led to a rapid reduction in the industry's profit margins.
(2) SMEs lack brand awareness and have unclear brand positioning. SMEs do not have a comprehensive and systematic brand planning, do not effectively integrate corporate brand resources, and are out of touch with the market, which leads to consumer confusion and dissatisfaction. Most SME brands are still in the development stage, and their positioning is relatively vague. Either the brand positioning entry point is deviated, or the brand positioning scope is too broad, or the brand is not targeted at consumers, or the brand positioning lacks a unified overall planning. The brand characteristics are generally blurred, making it difficult to highlight their differentiated advantages and lacking sustainable competitiveness in the market.
(3) The research and development foundation of SMEs is relatively weak, and their technological innovation capabilities are relatively insufficient. Most small and medium-sized enterprises are mainly engaged in production and processing, with insufficient technical support, mainly pursuing short-term interests, less investment in innovation and R&D, and a large gap between their R&D capabilities and international standards. Most patent applications are for utility models, while inventions are mainly secondary development. The proportion of original inventions is not high, and core technology patents are controlled by countries such as Japan, the United States, and Europe.
(4) Lack of professional talents, making it more difficult to attract talents. There is a shortage of high-level professional talents, insufficient technical R&D talents, insufficient development potential, and a lack of middle and senior backbone talents, senior technicians, and skilled workers. At the same time, the flooring industry has become less attractive to talents, making it more difficult to attract high-quality talents.
(5) Leading enterprises have not yet been formed, and the driving role of large enterprises is not enough. The flooring industry lacks leading enterprises that can "call the world to respond" in all links of the industrial chain, lacks competitive products and core competitiveness, and lacks sufficient guidance on the future direction of industrial technology development. Therefore, the overall strength of the flooring industry is not strong, its competitiveness is not great, and the advantages of cluster effects have not yet been properly reflected.
(6) Small and medium-sized enterprises have poor financing channels. The main problem that SMEs currently face in financing is that they are mainly short-term loans, with fewer long-term loans, and a considerable number of enterprises do not have qualified mortgage assets. In addition, there is serious information asymmetry between SMEs and lending institutions, and the loan transaction costs of SMEs are high and the scale effect is low. The transaction procedures for SME loans are complicated, the positioning of financing intermediary organizations is inaccurate, and there is a degree of disconnection between the business connection between intermediary organizations and financial institutions.
(7) Ineffective allocation of industry resources, social publicity and demonstration guidance are insufficient. There is a lack of effective communication channels between industry, academia and research, and a lack of effective interactive contact mechanisms between social scientific and technological resources and enterprises. Large-scale equipment such as R&D and testing cannot be shared, and the information flow between government and enterprises needs to be strengthened.
