On average, China’s industrial enterprises are relatively small, and, although its industrial labor productivity (real manufacturing value added per employee) has improved over the last decade, it remains much lower than that of developed countries – just 4.4% of America’s and Japan’s productivity, and 5.6% of Germany’s. And the “pauperization” phenomenon – in which companies must adjust their commercial strategies to cope with an impoverished consumer base – is increasingly affecting traditional industries, further undermining China’s capacity for sustainable development.