News

CATHAYA: Navigator of Silk Industry, Creator of Quality Life

Time:2020-09-03 Source:ISU Secretariat

   

Cathaya, which is a leading enterprise of silk product export, the sponsor and chairman unit of International Silk Union (ISU), now has 4 business units, 5 garment export divisions, more than 20 subsidiary companies, and nearly 10,000 employees. Its annual sales revenue exceeds RMB 10 billion, and the export-import volume totals about USD 1 billion. Meanwhile, Cathaya Group ranks among the top 500 foreign trade corporations in China, and the top 500 service corporations in China. 

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In 2017, Cathaya Group made a forward-looking development strategy around the theme of “Business Model Innovation and Strategy Breakthrough Under the New Normal”. Through refined practice and management for more than three years, Zhang Guoqiang, chairman of the board of Cathaya, grasped the development direction from the strategic perspective, and led the team to guide the operation management and industrial layout and fully implement every project and plan, striving to realize the “Navigator of Silk Industry, Creator of Quality Life”.

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Leaders including Hu Chunhua (vice premier of the State Council) and Che Jun (former secretary of Zhejiang provincial Party Committee) visited Cathaya in July 2018.

Keep up with the times, and adjust the system in the development process

Cathaya Group is the successor of China Cocoon Silk Corporation Zhejiang Branch that was established in 1950. In 1985, Zhejiang Silk Group Corporation was founded, which radically changed the situation where Zhejiang silk industry was under disunified management. In 1994, Zhejiang Silk Group was founded, forming the collectivization development trend. In 2002, Zhejiang Cathaya International Co., Ltd. was set up, which became a business group of mixed ownership after undergoing reform of property right system in 2008. Thereafter, to adapt itself to the market economy system, Cathaya has worked out a modern path of business management and market competition participation through autonomous management and by assuming sole responsibility for profits and losses. 

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2019/2020 annual working conference

Through 70-year efforts despite of wind and rain, Cathaya Group has grown into a stock-holding business group of ownership diversification specializing in silk textile, combining agriculture, science, industry and trade, and promoting both domestic trade and foreign trade. So far, it has established economic and trade cooperation relationship with over 1500 companies from more than 100 countries or regions, and built strategic cooperation relationship with some world-renowned enterprises like Uniqlo, Hugo Boss, Itochu, and Ratti. Besides, it also has become the manufacturer and supplier of many famous brands in the world. 

In 2015, the Economic and Information Technology Commission of Zhejiang Province set up a task team for special research on the development of silk industry in Zhejiang province, and it was found that five Zhejiang enterprises ranked top ten silk enterprises nationwide, including Cathaya Group, Wensli Group, High Fashion Corporation, Jiaxin Silk Corporation, and Babei Group. Cathaya Group realized sales revenue of RMB 5.5 million in 2014, becoming the largest silk enterprise in China. 

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Cathaya weaving base

Practice market-oriented employment system, and improve standardized management level

A positive management philosophy is indispensable to steady and healthy development of an enterprise. Since the release of new development strategy, Cathaya has been making efforts to create organizational culture, for the target of promoting enterprise cognition, growth capacity, competitiveness, executive force and penetration, harmonizing with the time, industry, partners, enterprises, employees and itself, and practicing the core corporate values of “good faith, kindness, pragmatism, and gumption”. 

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In the aspect of talent development strategy, Cathaya aims to build an international young specialized and professional talent team. It plans to actively attract professionals from different industries via a market-oriented employing system, and recruit management trainees from excellent colleges and universities, so as to strengthen and optimize the group's talent team and structure. It lays emphasis on construction of a young talent team. As of June 2020, the average age of the employees in the headquarters of Cathaya was 38.85. It is determined to have all staffs perform their own functions with well-defined power and responsibility and work effectively in reliance on their specialized knowledge and skills by building a professional team.


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Zhang Guoqiang   chairman of ISU, chairman of the board of Cathaya

Nowadays, enterprises are competing with each other in management and executive force. The structural opportunity era has already gone. We should learn to seek benefits via good management.


Zhang Guoqiang advocates putting the group under standardized management, and requires work institutionalization, processization and informatization, to enhance the Group Operation and Specialized Division. Every employee and every managerial position of Cathaya can affect the sustainable development of the group. Thus, every person of the group from senior management and middle management and to common staffs should shoulder their own responsibilities and missions. By virtue of unified standardized management, Cathaya’s staffs give play to their professional skills via concerted efforts, and weigh things and arrange work logically, which helps improve the group’s management level and risk prevention consciousness, and promote the groups’ steady and healthy development. 

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Cathaya Yunnan Silk Textile Industrial Park

Build a whole industry chain of silk textile, and create a quality life of silk

In the process of industrial development and transformation, Cathaya has been continually expanding and optimizing industrial distribution and making efforts to build a whole industry chain of silk textile. So far, it has succeeded in forming a whole industry chain development pattern that integrates mulberry growing, silkworm raising, silk reeling, weaving, printing and dyeing, clothing production and trade. To boost conventional industries, several bases have been built on the front-end of the industry chain, including Baoshan base in Yunnan, Haining base in Zhejiang, and Myanmar base. Baoshan base is intended for building a high-end cocoon silk base, Haining base for building an experimental base for scientific research innovation, and Myanmar base for substituting poppy cultivation in Northern Myanmar with mulberry growing and silkworm raising. Under the guidance of the national strategies of “Poverty Alleviation” and “East Sericulture Shifting to West”, Cathaya actively shoulders the heavy responsibility of helping poverty-stricken areas in poverty alleviation. 

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Cathaya Yunnan Baoshan bas

Focusing on new silk industry, Cathaya invests to construct the International Silk Town in Chang’an Haining of Zhejiang Province, to create a demonstration area of production-city integration, integrating industry, research & development, incubation, demonstration, experience, life and supporting facility. Centering on big textile industry chain, Cathaya also invests to construct Cathaya Yunnan Silk Textile Industrial Park in Dehong Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan, which is expected to put into operation at the end of the year. Besides, to cope with uncertain factors like reverse globalization flexibly and make full use of tariff preference of trade in overseas stations, Cathaya plans to construct a global industry chain in the next step. The production base situated in Lweje of Myanmar is going to be put into operation at the end of the year, which mainly covers knitting goods, woven fabrics and medical textiles. 

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Cathaya printing and dyeing base

To create a silk quality life, Cathaya has committed itself to the research, development and management of fabric varieties, comprehensive health products and brand building for a long time.

Concerning development of fabric varieties, Cathaya has developed a series of new silk products of special structure and texture via mathematical modeling and computer intelligence technology, such as cathaya satin, silk cvt satin, jacquard fabrics, and interwoven fabrics; created silk fabrics of hyaluronic acid silk series by means of finishing after spinning with TASTEX technology; improved the appearance, luster and skin feeling with fibroin nano welding technology and process of pad dyeing and fumigation.  

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Hyaluronic acid silk pillowcases

About development and research of comprehensive health products, it is capable of extracting 99.9% silk fibroin, and owns patent barriers domestically, which is widely applied in suture line, filling skeleton, stable normal temperature vaccine, drug sustained release, tissue repair, skin beauty, and functional food. The group also has reached cooperation with Professor David Lee Kaplan team at Tufts University to jointly build an international research center in Haining that devotes to promoting the patent of silk fibroin in China. 

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In respect of brand building, it mainly operates three brands, namely Cathaya, Jinglun Tang, Seeler. The brand of Cathaya provided customized national gifts for Beijing Olympic Games, Shanghai World Expo, World Internet Conference, G20 Summit, and the first China International Import Expo in succession. Jinglun Tang positions itself to focus on Chinese traditional culture, explore interesting ideas, and make silk cultural products of noble quality and elegant taste with great originality and in special art perspective. Seeler is positioned to be of elegant, urbanity and exquisiteness and cater for the personal taste and needs of dressing in different occasions of urban women. 

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For seventy years, with a determination to inherit and development silk industry, Cathaya Group goes with the tide, comprehensively strengthens strategic cooperation in the industry, expands effective investment, increases efforts in research, development and innovation of products, and devotes itself to building a whole silk textile industry chain. It always remains true to the original aspiration and forges ahead, and strives to make silk industry larger and more competitive, to enhance the international influence of Chinese silk.