Scale Business Editor's Note:
In the past year, the business field has been magnificent and rolling forward, and a large number of entrepreneurs or business leaders have pioneered and innovated in different fields. It is they who promote the progress of enterprises and promote the evolution of industries.
Adhering to the concept of observing and insightful business civilization, Scale Business has launched a special column at the beginning of the Year of the Dragon to record the exciting moments and business management methods of nine entrepreneurs or business leaders. Stay tuned.
Text |Zhang Jiaru.
In the 2024 New Year's Eve file, the movie "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop" is on fire, and in the film, the protagonist finally realizes his career ideals and life value through unremitting efforts and struggles. Art is in life, past and present, bustling cities or remote counties, countless people have written stories of struggling for their dreams.
In 1992, Fang Hongbo joined Midea Group, starting as an in-house magazine editor, and was promoted step by step to become the chairman and president of the group. After taking office as chairman in 2012, Fang Hongbo led Midea Group to become a frequent visitor on the world's top 500 list, with a total market value of 420 billion A-share technology giants.
The enterprise "rich for three generations" is like a spell that plagues many large business owners, and it is absolutely necessary to find a reliable ** person. Fang Hongbo later brought Midea Group to a new height, so that He Xiangjian, the founder of Midea Group, sighed: My biggest achievement is to discover Fang Hongbo.
Reviewing Fang Hongbo's key decisions, we can find that he has two major characteristics, one is iron-blooded and decisive, daring to hurt his muscles and bones for the long-term, and breaking his arm as a strong man. The second is the style of a gentleman, as the "Book of Changes" says, "A gentleman is dry all day long, and he is not to blame."
Fang Hongbo, a native of Zongyang County, Tongling City, Anhui Province, was admitted to the History Department of East China Normal University in Shanghai in 1983, when he was only 16 years old, and was the youngest student in the entire school. In the 80s, college students were all top talents, and Fang Hongbo's achievements at that time were described in today's words, that is, "Xueba".
After graduating in 1987, Fang Hongbo first worked in Dongfeng Motor Factory (China Second Automobile) in Hubei Province, and joined Midea Group in 1992, mainly compiling internal publications for the company. At that time, Midea Group's main business was the sales of electrical appliances, and the internal magazine editor sounded far away from the management position.
After joining the company, Fang Hongbo quickly showed his excellence. In 1993, Fang Hongbo published an article on the front page of "Southern **" "He Xiangjian: "Captain of Midea"", which was appreciated by He Xiangjian, chairman of Midea. In 1995, Fang Hongbo planned the classic advertising slogan "Beautiful Life, Beautiful Enjoyment".
With excellent business ability, Fang Hongbo was promoted all the way, from the manager of Midea advertising agency, the director of the marketing department to the general manager of sales. In 1997, Fang Hongbo, who was appointed as the general manager of sales, found that more than 90% of Midea's sales managers in various regions were Shunde people, lacking experience and ability to deal with sudden changes, and the lack of management led to slow sales and inventory backlog.
In the face of practical problems, Fang Hongbo showed his iron-blooded side, resigned more than 30 regional managers, and re-recruited fresh college graduates across the country, and he personally interviewed and trained them for posts. Among those who were fired were relatives of board members. Because of this incident, Fang Hongbo's car was smashed. After He Xiangjian learned about it, he firmly supported Fang Hongbo, and He Xiangjian asked Fang Hongbo to drive the car to the gate of Midea's headquarters for everyone to visit.
More than ten years later, in 2012, He Xiangjian did not choose to inherit his father's business, but Fang Hongbo took over the burden of chairman. After taking office, Fang Hongbo moved the knife again, he cut off the 2 3 product models in the main business, sold 7,000 acres of factory land, and laid off most of the top businessmen.
This time, no one smashed his car, but there were many objections. In 2012, Midea Group's revenue fell by 23% and net profit fell by 6%. Fang Hongbo was under a lot of pressure and found He Xiangjian for advice, He Xiangjian trusted Fang Hongbo and told him to do what he wanted.
Previously, in 2010, Midea Group's revenue exceeded 100 billion. This year, an article called "The Danger of the Prosperous Era of Midea" circulated, sharply pointing out many problems in Midea's marketing and products, Midea is facing the problem of many products and insufficient competitiveness, and also suffers from the disease of large companies with bloated and inefficient organizations.
The fundamental reason for Fang Hong's fluctuation is not only product and marketing issues, but also the fact that Midea Group's business belongs to the traditional manufacturing industry, which has developed by relying on demographic dividend, location advantage and cost advantage. But after the 2008 financial crisis, this model did not work, which made Fang Hongbo smell the crisis, and after taking office, he decisively took the knife.
In 2014, Fang Hongbo talked about the thoughts of the transformation, saying that it was complicated, and after the transformation and change formed a judgment, the things that were identified must be broken by a strong man and broken bones. Leadership and decisiveness are quickly displayed, and people can quickly see the results, "If you hurt your muscles and bones, you will hurt your muscles and bones, and if you break your arm, you will break your arm, and you can't hesitate and look ahead."
In addition to subtraction, Fang Hongbo also added to the United States, he once told the details of the transformation in 2012, "We have invested in some intangible assets, with product research and development innovation, technological innovation as the core of the investment layout." At that time, Midea also proposed a digital transformation strategy of "product leadership, efficiency driven, and global operation".
From 2012 to 2017, Fang Hongbo led Midea Group to achieve a scale leap of 100 billion to 200 billion yuan in 7 years. To achieve such results, Fang Hongbo said in an interview in 2017 that he was very afraid, "If there is not such a complete transformation in 2012, the beauty may not be today's beauty." If there was no transformation in 2012, it may not be possible to turn around today, and there is no such ability."
In 2021, Midea Group will cross the 300 billion mark. In this year, Midea Group put forward the digital intelligence drive strategy of "comprehensive digitalization and comprehensive intelligence", with digital intelligence driving as the core driving engine of Midea Group.
Through digital transformation, Midea Group has transformed from a traditional home appliance company into a global technology group covering smart home, industrial technology, building technology, robotics and automation and other innovative businesses, and has established a business matrix that focuses on both TOC and TOB, with global operations and business customers all over the world.
In August 2022, the Fortune Global 500 list was released, and Midea jumped to 245th, up 43 places from the previous year, and ranked among the world's top 500 companies for seven consecutive years. In the eyes of the outside world, Midea Group is a benchmark for digital transformation and a business card of China's manufacturing industry.
However, Fang Hongbo's statement has always been full of a sense of crisis, for example, in 2017, Fang Hongbo said, "I say from the bottom of my heart, I don't think Midea is a successful company." That's what I've always said to management. All success is illusory, and even the greatest business is bound to have difficulties. We have never believed that beauty is a successful business. ”
In the letters to shareholders over the years, Midea Group has maintained a sense of crisis, such as mentioning in the 2021 annual report that "born of change, died of mediocrity." All the seeds of destruction are planted at the height of the company's prosperity", mentioned in the 2022 annual report, "Always prepare for the worst, be ready for the rainy day with a thin ice mentality." ”
Fang Hongbo once quoted a sentence in the Book of Changes in an exclusive interview, "A gentleman works all day long, and he is not to blame." Fang Hongbo explained that this means that you must be modest and cautious every day, be cautious, and maintain a high sense of crisis, so that there will be no trouble and disaster. Obviously, Fang Hongbo has a strong gentlemanly style.
Not long ago, Fang Hongbo made a speech entitled "Hitting the Water in the Tide of Neutrality", which also conveyed the crisis concept of "a gentleman is violent", the core of Midea wants to build an everlasting business, and the core is the entrepreneurial spirit, and the entrepreneurial spirit is to dare to face up to their own problems, constantly carry out self-doubt, self-denial, self-drive, and dare to break the old and establish the new, so as to achieve self-breakthrough.
Fang Hongbo also mentioned that digitalization is the trend of the times and the only way for "direct access to users", and Midea has invested in digitalization for more than ten years, and it is necessary to firmly digital3The strategic direction of 0 upgrade is to build a digital world without breaks in the whole value chain of Midea.
Born in sorrow, died in peace. Fang Hongbo has a gentleman's sense of crisis, dares to self-doubt and self-denial, decisively leads the digital transformation of Midea Group, and in the process of transformation, he continues to reform and innovate, leading Midea Group to continuously achieve new achievements. What do you think of Fang Hongbo and the Midea Group he leads?