Lessons from Xiaomi’s Development: What Instrument and Meter Manufacturers Should Pay Attention To (Part 2)

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　　The first two articles mainly discussed the key factors behind Xiaomi’s success. In fact, no company experiences a smooth path in its development process, and Xiaomi is no exception. And the mistakes that Xiaomi has made in the past can also provide valuable lessons and insights for instrument and meter manufacturers. http://www.levelmeter.cn/uploads/image/20180607/1528365935.jpg 　During Xiaomi’s rapid growth, it managed to gain a significant advantage in the market thanks to its high cost-performance ratio. However, in 2016, the company faced a serious crisis as smartphone sales dropped sharply. Only after conducting research did Xiaomi realize the lack of communication with its customers. In the face of these challenges, Xiaomi made rapid adjustments, and soon after it began to develop its offline platform, Mi Home, adopting a strategy that combined online and offline operations. Currently, Xiaomi Home stores in the mainland have reached 331, and sales of their products have also seen a sharp increase. 　　For instrumentation companies, the importance of customers is self-evident. The relationship between customers and businesses is one of mutual promotion and a cooperative partnership based on mutual benefit. Beyond the partnership, customers hold significant value for instrument manufacturers as well. Customers themselves represent a free form of advertising resource; many users prefer to listen to their friends’ opinions when choosing products, as they find it more reliable than advertisements. Therefore, whoever improves their relationship with customers first gains an advantage and wins over the market and those customers. 　　Communication, especially face-to-face communication, is an important way for instrumentation companies to achieve long-term development in their relationships with customers. These days, many instrument and meter manufacturers also choose to participate in important trade shows in order to showcase their brand image and advanced technologies to customers. For example, the 19th China International Environmental Protection Exhibition held in Shanghai recently attracted thousands of such companies to take part. 　　In addition to strengthening communication with customers, a company’s development also relies on a unique corporate culture. One of the important images of Xiaomi in the minds of users is that it has broken the monopoly of foreign smartphone companies in the domestic market, providing users with more choices and indirectly contributing to the development of the domestic smartphone industry. 　　The same is true in the instrumentation industry: many large foreign companies have technological advantages in China. Since China’s manufacturing sector started developing later, it falls short of foreign counterparts in many aspects; therefore, there is an urgent need for leading enterprises to strengthen research and development in order to continuously improve production standards. 　　Although China’s instrumentation industry has a large scale of development, it still lags behind foreign companies in terms of core technologies. Recently, the ban imposed on ZTE is a significant example; although ZTE has now had the ban lifted, it had to pay a fine of one billion dollars, an additional four hundred million dollars in fees for third-party custody, and comply with other unfair conditions. 　　Among the thousands of instrument and meter manufacturers in the country, many have also taken notice of this issue. As a leading enterprise in the field of monitoring equipment, Focus Technology has been increasing its investment in research and development, with expenditures in this area being among the highest in the industry. The technical gap between its products and those of international counterparts has become very small; in fact, some of its products even surpass foreign instruments in terms of performance. The process of replacing imported products with domestic alternatives continues unabated. 　　With the development of the internet and public opinion, building a brand image is crucial for a company. An enterprise that focuses on research and development as well as ensuring product quality, constantly working to increase the use of domestic components in order to break foreign monopolies, has a more credible image in the market. 　　During the development of a company, it is easy to encounter various problems; only by objectively analyzing the company’s situation can sustainable growth be achieved. Faced with the current problems in China’s instrumentation industry, it is only through continuous efforts by the companies in this sector that we can contribute to the development of a strong manufacturing nation and make the instrumentation industry stronger.