Ye said the company's globally recognized brand has helped it weather the recent storm of rising costs for labor and raw materials. CHINT posted a 26-percent increase in its second-quarter profit compared with the same period last year-an achievement that did not come easily, he said.

CHINT has manifested its innovative efforts not only in its products and technologies, but also in its managerial operations. It parted ways with its patchy family-controlled system in the early 1990s and later became a shareholding group in 1996. Company stakeholders rewarded outstanding employees with CHINT shares, thereby diversifying the ownership. By 1998, it had 107 shareholders.

More importantly, the company put capable non-shareholders in key management positions. The establishment of a board of directors, shareholders' meetings and a board of supervision brought the company even closer to becoming a modern enterprise.

Nan said a modern ownership and management system cleared the way for CHINT to unlock its growth potential. The previous family-controlled management, which smothered employees' initiatives, had lost pace with times, he added.

In recent years, CHINT has continued adopting other modern business practices to boost its production efficiency. In the past, company stakeholders always favored their cohorts when it came to choosing component suppliers; but now CHINT selects component suppliers through a competitive bidding process. This can reduce costs and put pressure on component suppliers to provide better products in a timely manner, Ye said.

Now CHINT is making preparations to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in a few years. Getting listed would help it further fine tune its production systems and provide additional momentum for its innovations, Nan concluded.