Small and medium-sized business owners must know: Where is the official free think tank?

Hello everyone, this is a hard-core science popularization dedicated to all small and medium-sized business owners and entrepreneurs. Do you often feel lonely? The company's decisions are handled by one person, and when encountering policies, they cannot understand them, they cannot find ways to raise funds, and they cannot figure out the direction for transformation. Training institutions and consulting companies on the market often charge tens of thousands, but the effect is like opening a blind box. Today, we are going to reveal a "treasure" that you may have missed-an official free consulting service agency for small and medium-sized enterprises. They do not sell courses or sell. Their core task is to help you solve problems and help you develop. In this issue, we will make it completely clear: Who are they? What can I do for you? and how you can use them efficiently.

First of all, we must establish a recognition: the national level is very concerned about the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and has established a complete public service system to support it. The top-level representatives of this system are national-level associations such as the China Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Association. It is not an ordinary non-governmental organization, but a 5A-level national-level association approved by the State Council and managed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It bears the gold-lettered sign of the "National Public Service Demonstration Platform for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises". You can understand it as a huge and authoritative "central kitchen of enterprise development resources", which brings together various raw materials such as policies, funds, technologies, and experts.

But the question arises. This "central kitchen" is in Beijing. How can my companies in Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Suzhou eat hot "dishes" that suit my local tastes? Here's the key: You need to find the "specialty restaurant" set up by the Central Kitchen in your area, which is its local representative office or service center. The role of these local institutions is to localize and accurately distribute national-level resources.

Taking the Yangtze River Delta region as an example, the Shanghai Representative Office of the China Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Association is such a "specialty restaurant" that will open at the end of 2023. It is based in Shanghai and radiates to the entire Yangtze River Delta. Its advantage lies not in the invention of new resources, but in deep operation and precise matching. It has formed a "Star Chefs Group"(expert think tank) with more than 30 people, covering big names in industry, finance, law, technology and other fields. At the same time, it has established a stable supply chain with 28 high-quality suppliers (ecological partners) such as Baidu AI and Guangfa Bank Shanghai Branch. When you need it, it can quickly call these resources to customize a "good dish" for you.

Next, there are dry goods. What specific problems can this official "think tank" help you solve that give you headaches? We summarize it into four core battlefields:

First Battlefield: Help you win the title of "Specialized, Specialized, Special and New". Many technical bosses know that "specialization, specialization, innovation" is a good thing, with subsidies, brands, and order tilt, but they are confused when they see complex application forms. The services of official agencies go far beyond telling you when to declare. Take the Shanghai Representative Office's practice as an example. It will send experts to your company to conduct a "pre-physical examination", starting with hard indicators such as the number of intellectual property rights, the proportion of R & D investment, and product market segmentation ranking to tell you that you are still far from the standard. How far and where are the shortcomings? Then I will help you formulate an improvement plan that will last for months or even a year, and will help you prepare your application materials. This kind of service is equivalent to equipping you with a "specialized, specialized and innovative" full-time training partner, which greatly improves the success rate.

Battlefield 2: Help you with digital transformation. You may want to go to ERP and use AI for quality inspection, but you are afraid of choosing the wrong software and losing your investment. The role of the official platform is to reduce your trial and error costs and risks. They regularly organize free AI tool training and digital transformation salons, so that you can experience and learn first. More importantly, they can help you connect with technology manufacturers like Baidu AI, get more favorable solutions and more reliable technical support; and even link banks to apply for "digital transformation special loans" with lower interest rates. The advice they provide is a combination of technical feasibility and financial feasibility.

Battlefield 3: Help you go to sea safely. Want to expand overseas markets, but you are worried about language barriers, laws and regulations, and difficulty collecting payment? The official platform is your most reliable "sea navigator". Relying on the association's global network, they can connect you with chambers of commerce, law firms, and accounting firms in target countries. You can ask for a range of specific questions from company registration, tax planning, product certification to labor law compliance. They will also organize overseas market inspection missions and online matchmaking meetings to allow you to directly contact potential customers and partners, so as to prevent you from fighting alone abroad and paying tuition fees.

Fourth Battlefield: Help you deal with new green regulations. If your customers are major international manufacturers such as Apple and Tesla, or you want to enter the EU market, then ESG reporting and carbon footprint verification are the unavoidable threshold. What should I do if I don't understand it? The official platform can organize professional third-party verification agencies to conduct popular science training and teach you hands-on how to establish an internal carbon data management system and how to compile an ESG report that conforms to international standards. At the same time, it can also help you connect with new financial instruments such as "green bonds" and "carbon neutral loans", turning environmental protection investment into financing advantages.

So, how do you connect and use these services? The process is actually smooth. Generally, you can search "China Small and Medium Enterprises Association Shanghai Representative Office" to find its official website or Weixin Official Accounts, which will have the latest event notices and service entrances. You can sign up for offline lectures and private board meetings that you are interested in. This is a good opportunity for face-to-face consultation. You can also submit your specific questions directly via the phone or online form. Their service team will conduct a preliminary analysis. If the problem is complex, a temporary expert team will be formed for you to provide in-depth answers, and a list of available resources will be attached.

Finally, I will give you three advice to avoid pitfalls to teach you to identify truly reliable official service agencies: look at the "license plate", whether it has official certifications such as the "National Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Public Service Demonstration Platform"; second, look at the "team", whether the service personnel are administrative clerks or industry experts with practical experience; third, look at the "case", whether the true story and effectiveness data of the service company have been published. Like the Shanghai Representative Office, it can hold more than 100 events and serve more than 5000 companies within one year of its establishment. Its service capabilities and activity can stand the test.

All in all, on the challenging road of starting a business and operating a business, you don't have to carry out the burden alone. Making good use of these official free "think tanks" that are rooted in you is equivalent to hiring an "external board of directors" with strong back-office resources for your company. They can help you interpret policy trends, link industrial resources, and avoid business risks. They are one of the most trustworthy partners in helping small and medium-sized enterprises move towards high-quality development. Get into action quickly and find and connect to this "treasure" institution in your area!