Since the energy conservation and environmental protection industry has been pushed to the top of the seven strategic emerging industries, this once thought to be a non profitable industry with a public welfare nature suddenly caught fire. Numerous enterprises quickly labeled themselves as "energy conservation and environmental protection". Only from the perspective of the current A-share listed companies, there are about 70-80 energy-saving and environmental protection companies in various subdivisions There are more than 300 companies listed in China, most of which are state-owned.

The 12th Five Year Plan for the development of energy conservation and environmental protection industry, which has been brewing for a long time, will also be issued in the near future. According to the authoritative department, the plan will provide policy and tax support for the development of China's energy conservation and environmental protection industry, which will undoubtedly bring huge imagination space to many enterprises.

With the continuous encouragement of the policy and the vigorous propaganda of the media, many private enterprises began to invest a lot of money into the energy-saving and environmental protection industry they were not familiar with, hoping to get a share of the tide. However, based on the author's observation and Research on energy conservation and environmental protection industry for many years, private enterprises need to analyze the market calmly and make investment carefully, otherwise they will run into a wall everywhere and even fall into a abyss if they are not well managed.

It is true that the energy conservation and environmental protection industry has a huge market scale. According to the current industrial classification standard, the scale of this industry is at least 4 trillion yuan. In the domestic industrial system, except for the pillar industries such as real estate, automobile, steel and so on, other industries are rarely comparable with it. However, there is a big problem in this, that is, the big head of the energy conservation and environmental protection industry is not open to the market, but just a cycle within the system. An invisible high wall stands between many enterprises with different "backgrounds". In fact, the opportunities for private enterprises are not as many as imagined. It can be said that each policy of energy conservation and environmental protection industry is a carnival feast for state-owned enterprises and listed companies, while private enterprises are more "looking at flowers in the fog and looking at the moon in the water".

In the current market environment, if private enterprises want to share a share of the tide of energy conservation and environmental protection, it is not without opportunities. Innovation is the only way for private enterprises to gain competitive advantage. Before that, the author has written many articles on various ways for energy-saving and environmental protection enterprises to carry out technological innovation and business model innovation. This paper will explore the various possibilities of private enterprises, especially small and medium-sized private enterprises, to find market opportunities in the field of energy conservation and environmental protection.

Looking for the gap market in the big plate

The overall scale of the energy conservation and environmental protection industry is very large, and the main fields have been divided into several large plates. Almost all the large sectors have corresponding listed companies or large state-owned enterprises. If private enterprises want to enter these fields, they are undoubtedly playing tricks with the tiger, and there is little chance of winning. However, it is precisely because of the situation that the vassal states of these plates are separated, there are many buffer zones among the adjacent plates in the subdivision field, which brings many opportunities for private enterprises.

Take the field of sewage treatment as an example, there is almost no opportunity for private enterprises in the field of large-scale municipal sewage treatment. However, in the industrial sewage treatment market, there are many opportunities to enter. Firstly, the market scale in this field is relatively considerable on the whole; secondly, the marketization degree of this field is relatively high; thirdly, there are certain requirements for the technical energy-saving innovation and service ability of enterprises, and the private enterprises have strong adaptability.

Supporting leading enterprises

The leading enterprises in energy conservation and environmental protection are often listed companies or state-owned enterprises with resources. In each subdivision, there is a unique value chain. These monopolistic large enterprises often occupy the largest profit space in the industrial chain, and give those links with less added value to private enterprises. In such a field, the enterprises will have a unique value chain Form a competitive market. Once the enterprises that win in the competition and those enterprises that occupy monopoly resources are connected by the industrial value chain, it is difficult to separate them from each other. This is due to the obvious asset specificity in the field of energy conservation and environmental protection.

Taking the energy-saving service industry as an example, contract energy management is considered to be the most commendable mode, and many energy-saving service companies are flocking to it. However, the fact of development shows that small and medium-sized private enterprises can't grab the biggest piece of cake. Large energy consuming units have begun to set up their subordinate energy-saving service companies to firmly hold the power of cutting cakes in their hands. Some successful private energy-saving companies do not choose to compete with them, but turn themselves into the partners of these "legitimate eldest sons" and expand in different fields with the unique advantages of these units. At present, most of the energy-saving renovation projects in the fields of steel, electric power, automobile, municipal construction and other fields in China are like this.

Close to the civil market, use the concept of energy conservation and environmental protection to extend the industrial space

From the market point of view, energy-saving and environmental protection products and services are oriented to three types of customers: government, enterprises and residents, forming B2G, B2B and B2C markets. In fact, the market structure and enterprise behavior of the three markets are very different, and the requirements for the ability and qualification of enterprises providing products and services are also different. There are few opportunities for private enterprises in the B2G market; the opportunities in the B2B market are limited, which depends on what kind of energy-saving and environmental protection characteristics B as a customer has; the biggest opportunity for private enterprises is in the B2C market, which is ignored by many enterprises.

Energy saving and environmental protection products and technologies can be divided into two functions, one is the use function, the other is the environment or energy efficiency function. Correspondingly, the energy conservation and environmental protection market can also be divided into two categories: one is the energy conservation and environmental protection industry in the statistical sense, and the other is the energy conservation and environmental protection industry with extended concept. The energy-saving and environmental protection products and technologies we are talking about at present pay more attention to their environmental or energy efficiency functions. In fact, this is only a narrow concept of energy conservation and environmental protection. For example, the use function of sewage treatment facilities is to remove water pollutants. The use function of such products and services for terminal treatment is consistent with the environmental function. Such industries are included in the statistical system of energy conservation and environmental protection industries.

However, there are still some products and technologies whose use function is often not their environmental function. For example, the environmental function of a fluorine-free refrigerator is to avoid the destruction of the ozone layer due to no emission of chlorofluorocarbons, but its use function is refrigeration; another example is energy-saving air conditioning, its environmental function is energy-saving and emission reduction, but its use function is to adjust temperature. Whether these products and technologies belong to the statistical scope of energy-saving and environmental protection industry is still controversial. But for the market, such products and technologies have the concept of energy conservation and environmental protection, so it is a concept extension of energy conservation and environmental protection industry.

With the increasingly serious impact of climate change, energy crisis and environmental degradation, governments and institutions of various countries vigorously publicize and guide the concept of green, low-carbon, energy-saving and environmental protection has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Green marketing and low-carbon marketing will become an important means of market competition in the future. Those products and technologies with energy-saving and environmental protection functions will be more easily recognized by consumers. In this field of terminal consumers and more open and flexible market, private enterprises will be like fish in the water. Therefore, private enterprises should pay special attention to this point. In the concept of energy conservation and environmental protection industry, there are countless imagination space.

At present, energy conservation and environmental protection industry is just emerging in China, and the development of the market still has great variables. To be sure, more and more enterprises will pour into this field. Through continuous integration and innovation, the market pattern in this field will be changed accordingly