On February 25, Zong Qinghou, a representative of China's private enterprises, passed away.
Many people brought Wahaha AD calcium milk to mourn in memory of this highly respected entrepreneur.
But on the Internet, someone has managed to bring such a rhythm:
Down with Nongfu Spring!
Zhong Sui**, make black money!
Some so-called financial big V issued an article saying: When Zhong Sui was the ** merchant of Wahaha Oral Liquid in Hainan and Guangxi, he secretly sold Hainan's goods ** to Guangzhou, so he was fired.
He also said that Nongfu Spring succeeded by belittling the pure water of Wahaha and other brands.
Is this really the case?
On March 3, the day of Zong Qinghou's "first seven", the founder of Nongfu Spring, Zhong Sui, published a long article in response to a large number of slanders against him and Nongfu Spring on the Internet.
There are four main response points:
First, the first pot of gold did not come from Wahaha.
Zhong said that he resigned from his job as a reporter for "Zhejiang **" in 1988 and went to the sea to do business.
Around 1990, Dacheng Curtain Company was established in Hainan to transport the curtain fabrics produced in Hangzhou to Hainan for sale, and gradually developed the curtain business to Wangfujing and Lufthansa Department Store in Beijing.
Therefore, the curtain business is the first pot of gold he earned from starting a business, not the Internet rumor that "the first entrepreneurial income comes from Wahaha".
Second, the relationship with Wahaha.
In 1991, Zhong went to the Wahaha headquarters in Qingtai Street, Hangzhou to visit Zong Qinghou, and then Zong Qinghou invited him to visit the canning factory he had just acquired.
Seeing that the professional canned food production equipment was idle, Zhong remembered the canned eight-treasure porridge that was popular in some parts of Southeast Asia at that time, and he told Zong Qinghou about the idea of starting a business.
Later, Zhong also asked someone to bring back six cans of local eight-treasure porridge products from Singapore and send them to Zong Qinghou's home.
Zhong said that Zong Qinghou was very happy and felt that his suggestion had a market, and then invested in research and development and developed and produced the well-known Wahaha nutritious eight-treasure porridge.
Zong Qinghou also proposed that Zhong set up Wahaha offices in Guangxi and Hainan to sell Wahaha children's nutritional oral liquid.
Zhong has never received a salary in Wahaha, let alone been fired for rushing goods (the distributor violates the distribution agreement and sells products at reduced prices across regions).
Third, the causes and consequences of rushing goods.
At that time, the consumer demand in Hainan and Guangxi markets did not meet expectations, and it was difficult for Zhong to sell Wahaha's products all over the market.
After that, several trading companies went to Hainan to ask Zhong to buy goods, and he was able to clear the purchases.
Later, he learned that there is a market for children's nutritional oral liquid in Guangdong.
So many years later, he joked: Wahaha, which we didn't sell in Hainan back then, is estimated to have been sold to Guangdong, and if it is put now, it will be recognized as "rushing goods".
Unexpectedly, a casual joke at the time has now become his "ungrateful" crime.
Zhong said that in the early stage of the development of the market economy, all kinds of management were very extensive, and the modern sales concepts of channel management and rushing goods were impossible to talk about at that time.
It is ironic to look at the problems of the past from the perspective of the present.
Fourth, the dispute between natural water and pure water.
"Natural water" is the concept of Nongfu Spring.
Zhong said that after 2000, the dispute between natural water and pure water was boiling, and as the two "protagonists" of the dispute, Wahaha and Nongfu Spring had lawsuits against each other.
But in the end, Zong Qinghou shook hands with him in the presence of the main leaders of Hangzhou at that time.
To this day, he still insists that the minerals in water are essential for human health, which is why he insists on producing natural water.
In my impression, Zhong has always been low-key, rarely speaking publicly, let alone publishing articles.
But now that the Internet is extremely torn, Zhong Sui posted this long article, which is not only a helpless move, but also a justification of Nongfu Spring.
From the perspective of consumption, consumption is consumption, you think something is good, buy, feel bad, just don't buy it.
But now, there are always some people who want to create traffic for themselves by stepping on the confrontation between enterprises and enterprises, and between people.
Say anything and only drink Wahaha in the future, patriotic people should boycott Nongfu Spring.
It seems that when something happens, if you don't resist something, don't put on something, life lacks meaning.
Drinking water is innocent.
Whether it is natural water or pure water, there is a demand in the market, which is good, consumers will naturally give a judgment.
But no matter what kind of water they drink, some people can hold back the bad water in their stomachs, and with the help of some platforms such as Weibo, they can dirty the Internet, dirty enterprises, and dirty entrepreneurs.
Again and again, the boundaries and imagination of malicious framing have been expanded.
Last time, Sima Nan reported Lenovo, what did he report?
It's nothing more than some so-called "big-character posters", if Lenovo really has a problem, can it still live until now?
On the contrary, these seemingly patriotic, but in fact malicious words, make many brands, enterprises, and even domestic and foreign capital tremble.
If we dare not invest or expand production, in the end, consumption and the economy will be sluggish.
The rise of Nongfu Spring, like Wahaha, has benefited from the background of reform and opening up.
Zhong was born as a reporter, traveled from south to north, planted mushrooms, engaged in breeding, set up stalls, and like Zong Qinghou, he has rich entrepreneurial experience.
At the same time, both of them are the last people to leave the company every day.
We don't produce water, we're just nature's porters. ”
A popular advertising slogan, a good consumption track.
In 1993, Zhong started his own business again and established Hainan Yangshengtang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., which launched brands such as Yangshengtang Turtle and Turtle Pills, Qingzui Lozenges, and Happy Growth, making him famous.
In 1996, Yangshengtang obtained a water intake license from Qiandao Lake in Zhejiang Province and began to enter the drinking water industry.
Zong Qinghou rode a tricycle to deliver drinks and popsicles door-to-door, and Zhong also personally researched the market, knocking on doors door-to-door, asking consumers to taste Nongfu Spring and asking them to give their opinions.
From 2012 to 2023, Nongfu Spring has maintained the largest market share of packaged drinking water in China for 12 consecutive years.
Squeeze out Wahaha and press Master Kong.
This is all the choice of the market, and the reason why the market chose Nongfu Spring is also because Nongfu Spring's strategy is doing well.
So far, Wahaha's trump card products are AD calcium milk and nutrition express.
On the other hand, what about Nongfu Spring?
Mineral water, tea drinks, fruit juice drinks, energy drinks, ......Nongfu Spring has grasped the pain points of consumption in almost every field.
For example, as early as 2011, Nongfu Spring launched the bottled tea "Oriental Leaves" that only uses tea leaves and does not add sugar.
In addition, water-soluble C100, farmer's orchard and screaming are also childhood memories for many people.
Today's market position of Nongfu Spring is by no means framing its peers and treacherous, but it has really grasped the pain points of consumption and undertaken the needs of the market in a timely manner.
On the contrary, Wahaha is becoming less and less in the market because it is difficult to come up with innovative hits.
There are the limitations of the entrepreneur himself, and there is also the inevitable factor of healthy competition of the enterprise.
Using moral factors such as "patriotism" to criticize enterprises and entrepreneurs is actually elevating market problems to cyberviolence.
What destroys is the vitality and atmosphere of the entire business environment.
To be honest, whether it is Zong Qinghou or Zhong Sui, they are not perfect when they look at it with a magnifying glass.
As someone mentioned, Wahaha's AD calcium milk, nutrition express, and shuangwei dairy products, although they focus on nutrition, none of them have a protein content of more than 10g 100g, how much nutrients are there?
Secondly, many products are difficult to get rid of the shadow of "borrowing" and "imitation", and the innovation strength is worrying.
What about Nongfu Spring? There are also a lot of entries for products that are suspected of false advertising.
However, the rights and wrongs of enterprises are judged through the market and the law after all.
Whether it is Zhong Sui or Zong Qinghou, their fate has changed due to reform and opening up, and his success is also a representative symbol of the development of Chinese enterprises.
There are many taboos in the world, and the people are poor.
The reason why we want to carry out reform and opening up and engage in a market economy is to get rid of dualism and narrow-mindedness.
Defining these entrepreneurs and defining our enterprises in a way that catches the wind and shadows will only put everyone at risk, and where does the business vitality come from?
Today, when we commemorate Zong Qinghou, we even say that we want to take the site of the old Wahaha factory as a symbol of reform, just to promote the spirit of openness, diversity and inclusiveness.
On the contrary, internal strife, malicious framing, and duality are the greatest harm and disappointment to Mr. Zong Qinghou.
Zhong said: "Listening to only a single voice will definitely lead the voice to ignorance." ”
It is a pity that the phenomenon of deducting the "first hat" to entrepreneurs has occurred repeatedly in recent years.
Some so-called big V bloggers use populism, anti-intellectualism, ultra-leftism, and cyberbullying to seriously interfere with the healthy development of our market economy, and it is also a great harm to the hearts of the people in the world.
Many entrepreneurs trembled, did not dare to show their heads, and did not even dare to speak out.
So much so that some people are forced to transfer their assets overseas in order to seek capital security.
For entrepreneurs, or enterprises, as long as their actions are not illegal, they can create wealth and jobs for society, it is good.
Only by dealing with these controversies with a normal mind can we take good care of the spring breeze of reform that the elders have passed through, and create an open, diversified and vibrant business environment.
Defeating Nongfu Spring is not to comfort Zong Qinghou's soul in the sky, on the contrary, this is the biggest blasphemy against him.
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