Talking about people |Wen Qiulin.
In the last month of 2023, the popularity of Dong Mingzhu, chairman and president of Gree Electric Appliances, and Gree has not dropped. Originally, for Meng Yutong's "solo flight", some of Dong Mingzhu's remarks have been "ridiculed", and the most feared thing is that due to her paranoid decision-making, it is a real critical blow to the stock price of Gree Electric.
On December 20, affected by the announcement of increasing the holdings of Gree Titanium New Energy Co., Ltd. on the evening of December 19, Gree Electric Appliances fell 709%, the market value of more than 13.2 billion yuan evaporated on the same day almost wiped out the increase in 2023. This is a heavy blow to investors. After all, in the eyes of investors, Gree Titanium is not a good asset, under Dong Mingzhu's persistence, Gree Electric has paid for this big pit of losses year after year, and even intends to finally take over, anger and disappointment are all reflected in the **.
This reflects a reality, in a hurry to save the situation of Gree's decline, Dong Mingzhu is a wrong step. It's not that she doesn't realize that Gree needs to get out of the traditional manufacturing business model. So she personally participated in the recording of variety shows, and strongly praised Meng Yutong to create IP, and at the same time, she invested in Gree Titanium, but judging from the ending, she won very little, which distracted Gree's attention and led to continuous mistakes in decision-making.
Since 2015, Gree has sought to diversify and develop, and has made great thunder and small raindrops in the fields of mobile phones, medical equipment, prefabricated dishes, new energy, etc., and other home appliances other than air conditioners have not improved. Judging from the financial report, air conditioning is still the absolute main force of Gree's revenue, accounting for more than 70% in the first half of 2023. Dong Mingzhu, as the head of Gree Electric Appliances, once again fell into a "crisis of confidence" - can she still lead Gree to recover the decline and create another or even more Gree?
The answer is no. In the case of insufficient increment in the domestic market, moving overseas may be a new opportunity for home appliance companies. However, while Midea and Haier are pushing air conditioner sales to the world, Gree is still mainly in the domestic market. In 2022, Gree's export sales will account for less than 15%, far lower than the more than 40% of Midea and Haier.
For a 100-billion-level giant, Dong Mingzhu should do three things: set a strategy, build a team, and lead a team. There is no doubt that Dong Mingzhu made a strategic mistake. Gree has been walking on one leg for so many years, and air conditioners contribute most of the revenue. For example, in 2022, Gree Electric's air conditioning business accounted for 7136%, the dependence on a single item is much higher than that of Midea and Haier.
People may find that the heads of the household appliance industry can hear their names every day or from time to time, except for Dong Mingzhu, the heads of other enterprises seem to have disappeared as if they have "disappeared". Especially compared with Fang Hongbo, chairman of Midea, who was on the list of the world's top 500 last year, and Zhang Ruimin, chairman of Haier, Fang Hongbo and Zhang Ruimin are not so familiar, but Dong Mingzhu's name appears on network TV or on the streets almost every day.
This may be related to Dong Mingzhu's age, and it is easy to be limited when considering problems. Dong Mingzhu, who was born in August 1954, is 70 years old this year, and according to the provisions of the term of office of directors of Gree Electric Appliances, Dong Mingzhu's term of office should end in May 2018. At the shareholders' meeting of Gree Electric held in May 2018, in the face of the question of re-election raised by shareholders, Dong Mingzhu made it clear that "it is best not to discuss this issue in the next five years." ”
The reason why Dong Mingzhu has not retired for a long time may be that she is full of feelings for Gree, and she still has unfinished dreams. Gree is like her child, what mother would want to leave her child?Someone asked Dong Mingzhu when she would retire, and she said that she couldn't retire yet, and Gree Air Conditioner had not yet become the world's first. I believe that when she completes the lofty ideal of being the first in the world, she will naturally be relieved to pass on Gree to the best people.
It's just that for Gree, to upgrade and reform, to be younger, not only product reform and rejuvenation, but also the brand should be younger. As the leader of Gree, Dong Mingzhu's personal thinking and values are also bound to be more suitable for the living environment of the younger generation. But at present, the ideological cognition of this "Iron Lady" is too deeply bound to the past struggle, and if Gree wants to really change, I am afraid it will not be achieved overnight.
It is undeniable that Dong Mingzhu is a successful industrialist. In the past 11 years, Gree has grown into a giant in the field of home appliances, with total operating income from 83.5 billion yuan in 2011 to 188.9 billion yuan in 2022. Dong Mingzhu has indeed contributed to Gree's achievements today, but now Gree has reached the moment of change, and Midea and Haier have completed the handover of corporate leaders and walked out of their predicament. If Dong Mingzhu can retire at this time, maybe Gree will be reborn.