Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma, who was one of the first to voice his opinion on the "winter" in China, added to his views by stating that a new business civilization would be born after the financial storm. Historically, every major economic crisis has meant the establishment of a new order.
The economic crisis led to the bankruptcy of one-third of Wenzhou's export-oriented manufacturing enterprises. As Wenzhou people say, most of these enterprises are small-scale, with low capital investment, few foreign customers, and small transaction amounts. Therefore, when importers encounter crises, they are the first to be eliminated because the foreign market is affected by the economic crisis, leading to reduced transactions and decreased order demands. So, why are there so many small enterprises in Wenzhou? Perhaps it’s because “small boats can change direction easily.” After the reform and opening up, Wenzhou adopted a unique development model, achieving rapid economic growth. Wenzhou mainly concentrated on producing light industrial products as production units based in villages. This method allowed Wenzhou to gain scale benefits in the production of labor-intensive light industrial products. These small enterprises do not have an unwavering attitude within the industry; they rise when opportunities arise, transform when there are no opportunities, make profits when possible, and avoid being trapped when not profitable. Due to its narrow land area and large population, some Wenzhou people began migrating across the country from early on, and later they became the links in building Wenzhou's light industrial product distribution network.