The legendary career of Zong Qinghou, the founder of Wahaha Group, has come to an end. It is unimaginable that after more than 30 years of ups and downs, this company still maintains its vigorous vitality and excellent performance. Between 2010 and 2013, he was ranked as the richest man in Chinese mainland by Forbes three times.
Wahaha Group's unique strategic wisdom in operation and management has attracted attention. Dr. Luo Rentong, a senior researcher at the Guangdong Innovation Strategy Research Association, said that Zong Qinghou's management style embodies the integration of various elements such as strength, open-mindedness, democratic centralism and family culture. This management method can not only ensure the stability and efficiency of the enterprise, but also stimulate the creativity and enthusiasm of employees. In the current competitive market environment, this management method may be worth learning from other enterprises.
The following is an in-depth interview with Zong Qinghou conducted by the Chinese edition of Harvard Business Review in 2013, and the excerpts of the interview are organized with AI below, aiming to help readers more comprehensively understand this outstanding representative of the first generation of private entrepreneurs since the reform and opening up.
Wahaha's future plan: focus on long-term goals and flexibly respond to market changes
Zong Qinghou said that although Wahaha does not have a specific long-term plan for 5 or 10 years, it has a clear long-term goal - to become one of the world's top 500. He believes that the market is changing too fast to be able to achieve the situation in 10 years, so he pays more attention to making annual plans according to market conditions. Wahaha's business department usually starts to formulate plans for the next year in early November, and signs a contract responsibility letter with the company at the end of the year to ensure that all tasks are implemented.
When formulating its strategy, Wahaha mainly relied on Zong Qinghou's intuition, rather than relying entirely on market research. He emphasized that his experience in the market is more accurate than that of research institutions. At the same time, Wahaha also attaches great importance to the opinions of employees, and will solicit the opinions of employees after formulating goals, and discuss and approve them through the employee congress to ensure that the goals can be widely recognized and implemented.
In terms of supervising the implementation, the production department is responsible for supervising the completion of various tasks, and bonuses will be deducted if the goals are not completed. However, Wahaha also gives employees the opportunity to re-compete for positions next year if they don't complete their tasks this year, without any restrictions.
Wahaha Inheritance: Cultivating an independent and hard-working next generation
In an interview, Zong Qinghou, founder of Wahaha Group, elaborated on his views and plans for corporate succession. He stressed that the problem that Wahaha urgently needs to solve at the moment is over-reliance on him, so he will set the rules and let go more so that employees can gradually reduce their dependence on him.
Zong Qinghou believes that qualified people should have the ability to maintain the sustainable operation of the enterprise, have the spirit of cooperation, and let the employees really trust him. Prestige cannot be established by authority alone, leaders need to manage all aspects of the relationship to make employees feel safe.
For employees, Zong Qinghou hopes that they will inherit the spirit of diligence and always maintain the momentum of progress. He said that the incentive system may not improve motivation, but without the incentive mechanism, employees will definitely not move forward. Therefore, Wahaha will compete for posts every year, and those who are capable will go up and those who will go down.
When talking about the inheritance plan, Zong Qinghou said that half of the second generation of private entrepreneurs will not inherit. For his daughter, she is still more interested in inheriting and managing Wahaha, and she is more diligent. She's done a good job of nurturing people, using some young people, who are growing up faster. She is involved in the children's clothing, flavor, and printing business, and she is also involved in the beverage business. Now the distributors of children's clothing are managed by her.
Zong Qinghou said that he would let his daughter do her thing, and she would ask him if she had a problem, and she would not ask if there was no problem. He hopes that his daughter can maintain the cohesion of dealers and continue to contribute to the development of Wahaha.
Wahaha's management adjustment and authorization strategy
Zong Qinghou said that Wahaha's management structure has begun to adjust, and all affairs, big and small, are no longer managed by him alone. Although Wahaha has only one general manager and no vice president, multiple ministers are actually equivalent to the role of vice president, and they are directly delegated, improving the efficiency of decision-making.
As for why the minister was not promoted to vice president, Zong Qinghou believes that this is a design model during the planned economy period, and it is no longer applicable under the market economy. He believes that too many decision-makers will reduce efficiency, so there are no plans to create a vice president.
In Wahaha's management system, all investments need to be approved by Zong Qinghou, regardless of the amount. He emphasized the importance of introducing advanced equipment and a quick return on investment, which is also one of the key factors for Wahaha to remain competitive.
Most of Wahaha's middle and senior managers have grown up through internal training. The company has a long-term reserve cadre training mechanism, and provides stable talent support for the company's development through the selection and training of the human resources department.
Regarding the company's diversification strategy, Zong Qinghou said that there is no professional manager participation at present. He believes that China has not yet formed a group of professional managers, and there is not enough morality and talent. Of course, the company will also bring in some external talents, but mainly technical talents. For management talents, he prefers to let them accept Wahaha's culture and values through internal training.
Zong Qinghou's management style: strong and open-minded and democratic centralism
Zong Qinghou called himself "strong and open-minded" and believed that this management style was suitable for the current national conditions. In his view, strength and openness are not mutually exclusive, but mutually reinforcing.
As a leader, Zong Qinghou emphasized his decision-making power, and he believes that it is necessary to have a monopoly of power in order to make decisions quickly and promote the development of the enterprise. However, he also attaches great importance to the decentralization of small powers, encouraging subordinates to actively participate in decision-making and be creative. He believes that this kind of democratic centralism can stimulate the motivation and creativity of employees while maintaining the stability and efficiency of the business.
In the treatment of employees, Zong Qinghou attaches great importance to emotional factors. He believes that leaders should care for and care for their employees and manage the business in the overall interest. He opposes managing employees based on personal preferences, and instead advocates a policy that takes into account the long-term development of the company. This management style makes employees feel respected and valued, so they are more willing to work hard for the company.
Zong Qinghou also emphasized the importance of family culture in business management. He believes that a family culture can unite employees and form shared values and goals. Under the influence of home culture, employees can not only create more value for the company, but also contribute to society.
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