Rekindle 2003

Chapter 1088: Fighter in the Cell Phone

Many people start their own businesses by accident.

Even in the first 20 years of reform and opening up, most of the so-called entrepreneurs, such as the four Qin brothers, Song Ruhua, Song Weiping, Yin Mingshan and other older generation entrepreneurs, initially only thought about improving their lives.

In fact, under the current situation, they were more focused on making a living rather than starting a business.

The biggest difference between the two is that when making a living, you do whatever makes money; but when starting a business, you choose the track and the path to achieve it from the very beginning.

After the reform and opening up passed its initial stage, the requirements for entrepreneurs changed accordingly.

If the older generation of entrepreneurs do not change their way of thinking, they will be washed ashore by the waves behind them.

The first decade of the century witnessed the demise of countless previous waves.

Of course, this is to evaluate the characters from the perspective of later generations with a hindsight mentality. But at that time, who could make such an easy change?
It is not easy to step out of your comfort zone.

It is even more difficult to deny one's past successful experiences.

……

The annual meeting of IT companies is usually not held after the New Year, but before the New Year.

Because the period from New Year's Day to before the Spring Festival is a peak sales season, holding the annual meeting in January is a sheer waste of time.

All the data will basically be counted at the beginning of late December, and the data from the next few days will be harmless.

December 12th, Christmas Eve in the West.

The Crowne Plaza Ningbo City Center is brightly lit and bustling with people.

Bird Mobile, the domestic mobile phone giant that has taken the first place in the domestic market with sales of 1175 million units this year, is holding its annual summary meeting here.

On the huge poster outside the hotel, Bird’s logo and Christmas decorations complement each other, highlighting the theme of tonight - celebration and prospect.

The closed-door meeting in the morning was only for middle and senior leaders, and no partners or media reporters were present. In the meeting room, middle and senior leaders of Bird gathered together, their eyes were focused on the stage, where the legendary founder of Bird, Xu Lihua, was standing under the spotlight.

Behind him was a huge PPT showing the sales data and growth curve of Bird mobile phones in the domestic market.

“Today, we are here not only to celebrate the achievements of the past year, but also to sum up the experience.”

Xu Lihua's voice was firm and powerful, and his eyes sparkled with infinite pride.

As he spoke, the data and charts on the big screen gradually changed, showing the development history of Bird since the 1990s.

From the glory of the pager era to the breakthrough in the mobile phone market, under the leadership of Xu Lihua, Bird has overcome all obstacles and created the legend of domestic mobile phones.

The middle and senior leaders in the audience exchanged glances with each other. Their expressions showed both pride in Bird's past achievements and deep thoughts about next year's development.

There was no way. After the boss opened the show, it was their turn to go on stage one by one to talk about their department’s plans for next year.

Some old employees who have witnessed Bird's transformation from pagers to mobile phones showed emotion on their faces. They have a deep understanding of Xu Lihua's leadership and Bird's resilience.

In 1991, after graduating with a master's degree from Southwest Jiaotong University at the age of 28, Xu Lihua joined a pager company in Pengcheng to engage in research and development work.

In the 90s, owning a pager was a symbol of identity and status for many people.

At that time, the mainstream pagers were still digital machines that could only display simple letters and numbers. People had to carry a code book with them to look up the meaning of those alphanumeric combinations.

Although pagers with Chinese displays have appeared, they are all foreign brands and are very expensive, with the price reaching nearly 10,000 yuan per unit.

Xu Lihua smelled a business opportunity: if a domestically produced Chinese pager could be developed, the market would be extremely huge.

Xu Lihua, who had no money, wrote a feasibility report on pagers and joined forces with several classmates to obtain investment from the Fenghua local government.

So, waveguide was born.

In April 1993, Bird's first Chinese pager, also the first pager in China with independent intellectual property rights, came out, completely breaking the monopoly of foreign brands.

By 1998, Bird had sold more than one million Chinese pagers and ranked second in the national pager market.

But in that year, Xu Lihua noticed a policy.

The former Ministry of Information Industry and the former State Planning Commission issued the "Several Opinions on Accelerating the Development of the Mobile Communications Industry" at the time, requiring mobile phone manufacturers to obtain licenses and stipulating that 60% of mobile phones produced by foreign-funded enterprises in China must be sold to overseas markets.

Xu Lihua was keenly aware that although mobile phones were much more expensive than pagers at the time, mobile phones, which provided more convenient communication, would sooner or later replace pagers.

Therefore, Xu Lihua made a prompt decision and directed Bird to start transforming and developing mobile phones.

It has to be said that the subsequent development and growth of Bird mobile phones all demonstrated Xu Lihua's courage and boldness.

In order to obtain a loan, Xu Lihua introduced Yongcheng Electronic Information Group, and borrowed more than 2 million yuan from the bank by leveraging its state-owned enterprise status to build factories and production lines.

In May 99, when his application for a mobile phone license was unsuccessful, Xu Lihua actually introduced the technology and production lines of Sagem, the largest mobile phone manufacturer in Gaul, and produced more than 5 mobile phones in one go.

However, these mobile phones do not have "birth permits", which means they are "illegal" and cannot be sold to the market at all.

Everyone was extremely anxious, but Xu Lihua said calmly, "Don't be afraid, I have a way."

Not long after, at the invitation of Xu Lihua, the Ministry of Information Industry came to inspect Bird.

After Xu Lihua introduced the current situation of Bird mobile phones, he spread his hands and said, "The rice has been cooked, the child has been born, what do you think we should do?"

This tactic of "acting first and reporting later" put the leaders in a difficult position. If they did not approve Bird's mobile phone license, it would mean a complete waste of these "state-owned assets", from loans to production equipment and a bunch of finished mobile phones, all the funds would be completely wasted.

The result was no surprise. In September 1999, Bird finally obtained the national mobile phone production license and became one of the only two private enterprises among the first batch of shortlisted companies.

The other one is called TOP Group.

When mobile phones were not yet on the market, Xu Lihua borrowed 4000 million yuan to place advertisements on CCTV and invited singer Coco Lee to be the spokesperson.

'Bodao, the fighter jet in the mobile phone'

This slogan began to spread into thousands of households from then on.

At the same time, with the spread of advertising slogans, Bird established 28 provincial companies and more than 300 municipal offices, becoming the largest mobile phone sales system in China at that time.

With his unique vision and courage, Xu Lihua gradually brought Bird mobile phones into a glorious era.

From the very beginning, Bird mobile phones embarked on the path of imitating best-selling mobile phones. Relying on the appearance design that was not inferior to foreign brand mobile phones but at half the price, it seized the early domestic mobile phone market.

Of course, Xu Lihua’s success is inseparable from a good profit-sharing model.

Xu Lihua gave away the company's gross profit margin, and at a time when terminal sales staff received a commission of 60 yuan for selling other mobile phones, he gave 300 yuan.

The huge profit margin has made Bird phones the undisputed sales leader in the domestic mobile phone market.

In 2000, thanks to its outstanding performance, Bird Corporation went public.

In 2001, Bird's annual report showed that annual sales of mobile phones reached 243 million units, with total revenue of 26 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 181%.

In 2003, Bird sold 1175 million mobile phones of all kinds, surpassing all foreign brands, with total revenue reaching 108 billion yuan and net profit of 2.5 million yuan.

In the domestic mobile phone market, Bird mobile phones have firmly held the top spot in sales among domestic brands, entering the brand's golden age.

The mobile phone marketing model of "independent marketing channels, service sales terminals" pioneered by Bird was then widely adopted by domestic mobile phone manufacturers.

“Mr. Xu’s foresight always amazes us, but looking back, every decision he made has led us to success.”

A senior product manager whispered to his colleague next to him, his eyes flashing with memories of the company's history and expectations for the future.

“Thanks to everyone’s hard work, we can stand firm in the fierce market competition.”

Xu Lihua's voice echoed in the conference room, and his eyes were firm and powerful.

Suddenly, Xu Lihua's tone changed, and his voice became deeper and more powerful:
“However, we cannot rest on our laurels. In this era of rapid change, we must continue to innovate and expand into new areas.

Therefore, I announce that Bird will launch a dual-core business strategy next year and enter the field of car manufacturing! "

As soon as the words fell, the entire conference room fell into silence.

The executives' expressions changed from pride to surprise, and even confusion. They exchanged glances with each other, as if looking for answers.

Did I just hear it wrong?!
Build a car?

Everyone present looked at each other in bewilderment. They had not received any news before that the company was going to start building cars.

"Boss Xu, this...isn't this decision too sudden?"

Finally, the vice president in charge of research and development broke the silence, with obvious shock in his voice.

Xu Lihua nodded, his eyes gleaming with determination.
“Yes, it is a bold decision. But I believe that Bird has the ability to meet this challenge.

The automotive industry is undergoing a revolution, and the trend towards electrification and intelligence is unstoppable.

Bird cannot just be satisfied with victory in the mobile phone market; we must stand at the forefront of the times and explore new areas.”

"But, Mr. Xu, we know nothing about the automotive industry, and... there is a lot of preparation work to be done, and we don't have a team."

The vice president in charge of marketing frowned and expressed his concerns.

Xu Lihua smiled slightly, as if he had anticipated this question.
“Yes, we don’t know enough about the automotive industry right now. But this is where we need to change.

In fact, I started this work at the beginning of this year. I commissioned Tongji Tongjie Automobile Design Company to design a multi-functional family sedan as a reserve model. At the same time, I also set up a 60-person Bird Automobile Research Institute in Huating for complete vehicle research and development.

The reason why we are announcing this to you today is because cars, like mobile phones, also have the issue of birth permits.

The day before yesterday, I had already reached an agreement with Nanjing Automobile. We will acquire 36% of Nanjing Automobile's shares and become its largest shareholder. We will use Nanjing Automobile's passenger car 'birth certificate' to realize our Bird's dream of making cars.

We have funding, photography, a team... we have everything. What we lack now is the technical reserves, which will take time to solve.

Comrades, I believe that as long as we are determined, nothing is impossible."

Zhu Zhaojiang, Vice President of Sales, is also the head of overseas business.

At this moment, his brows were furrowed, and he was obviously surprised by Xu Lihua's announcement. After Xu Lihua finished speaking, he stood up, cleared his throat, and said in his powerful voice,
“Mr. Xu, I respect your vision and courage. However, I think at this critical moment, we should focus more on what we do best - the mobile phone market.”

After these words were spoken, many people in the conference hall sighed in their hearts.

Zhu Zhaojiang is good at his job, but...

Sometimes, I am just too straightforward.

Are you here to contradict the chairman?

Xu Lihua's neck twitched twice, and he looked at Zhu Zhaojiang who was talking with an expressionless face, and motioned for someone to bring the microphone over.

Zhu Zhaojiang took the microphone and continued, "Chairman, you just mentioned our sales performance, and the data is very encouraging.

But we need to see that our number one position in the country is based on sales profit sharing and huge advertising expenses.

Although our revenue is amazing, our net profit margin is only about 2.3%.

In fact, for our Bird mobile phones, the past two years can be considered a successful forced takeoff.

We need time to consolidate our market position.”

He looked at his colleagues present and continued, “It is too risky to start the car manufacturing business now and enter a field we are not familiar with.

The group company has limited funds. If we start the car manufacturing business, it will inevitably affect the development of the mobile phone business."

Zhu Zhaojiang's voice became very serious, and he emphasized, "I think now is the time to cultivate internal strength and increase investment in self-research.

But this year the company's R&D expenses have been reduced from 8889 million yuan last year to 5850 million yuan. Chairman, this is a very dangerous signal.

In the current competitive environment, there is no future without R&D!
I think at this moment we should focus on accumulating capital to open up new markets, rather than opening up new tracks.”

Xu Lihua's neck twitched twice, but in this situation he could only signal him to continue speaking.

After all, Bird is now a state-owned enterprise, and it is a taboo for one person to have the final say.

The sound of discussion in the conference room gradually became louder, and everyone's eyes were focused on Zhu Zhaojiang.

Zhu Zhaojiang turned to Xu Lihua, his eyes filled with determination and sincerity:
"Mr. Xu, I think now is the best time for us to expand into overseas markets."

At this point, he took a deep breath and continued: “We all know that the African continent is a market full of opportunities.

This is not only a huge market potential, but also a stage for our Bird mobile phones to show their strengths.”

Zhu Zhaojiang paused and continued, "In today's African continent, mobile phone products are a blank market.

According to our market research, the mobile phone penetration rate in Africa is less than 1%, which means that more than 99% of the population does not yet use mobile phones.

The communication infrastructure there is relatively backward, but people's demand for communication is growing.

Our low-cost mobile phones have obvious price advantages in the African market, and we can customize the design according to the needs of the local market.

For example, we can increase the battery capacity of mobile phones to accommodate the erratic power supply in parts of Africa;

We can also enhance the heat and dust resistance of mobile phones to adapt to local climate and environment.

Most importantly, our mobile phone products are the only ones in the world that can satisfy their desire for convenient communication and low prices. "

“Now is the time for us to seize this opportunity.”

Zhu Zhaojiang's voice became more powerful, "If we don't act now, other brands will soon occupy this market.

Everyone, if you don’t take what heaven gives you, you will suffer the consequences; if you don’t act when the time comes, you will suffer the consequences!

Chairman, we need to formulate a strategy immediately to increase investment in the African market and build our brand influence.

Only in this way can we ensure that Bird takes the lead in future global competition.”

Zhu Zhaojiang's words were passionate, but many people in the conference room disagreed.

Because in the past two years, Zhu Zhaojiang has mentioned the idea of ​​entering Africa many times, and everyone has heard it so many times that their ears are callused.

They want to say, Africa...can afford a mobile phone?
But at this moment, many people feel that compared with Xu Lihua’s sudden proposal to build cars, the mobile phone business entering Africa is not unacceptable.

Well, apparently a bit more reliable.

As Xu Lihua listened to Zhu Zhaojiang's objections, the expression on his face gradually became stiff.

He couldn't accept such direct questioning, especially in front of so many people.

In Xu Lihua's view, Bird's previous success was entirely due to his strategic planning, and he will surely succeed in this transformation!
Zhu Zhaojiang's public questioning was undoubtedly a challenge to his authority.

"Vice President Zhu, I understand your concerns, but I think you need to broaden your horizons."

There was a hint of coldness in Xu Lihua's voice, "Bird's success is not only in the mobile phone market, but also lies in our courage to innovate and challenge the unknown.

The African market is certainly important, but the car manufacturing business is an important step in our diversified development, which is related to the long-term development of Bird. "

Zhu Zhaojiang did not back down and insisted on his opinion: "Mr. Xu, I am not against innovation, but we should expand into new areas on the basis of consolidating our existing advantages.

You know, although our mobile phone business ranks first in sales, our net profit margin is only 2.3%, which means our profit margin is very limited.

We need more time and money to consolidate our market position and improve product competitiveness, rather than blindly entering a completely new industry."

Xu Lihua's expression became even uglier, and he responded coldly,

"Vice President Zhu, do you think there is something wrong with my strategic planning?
The value of a mobile phone is only a few thousand yuan. Even if your net profit margin increases to 30%, it will only be a few thousand yuan!

What about a car? Even if our car can only be sold for 10 yuan, and even if the net profit margin is only 2.3%, it is still 2300 yuan.

What’s more, the net profit margin of automobile sales exceeds 8%!

(Note: The price war factor at the beginning of the century. According to the statistics in 2003, the sales revenue of automobiles was 9256.64 billion yuan, and the net profit was 754.56 billion yuan. The average net profit margin of the automobile industry was 8.15%. The data comes from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.)
Moreover, if the sales of spare parts are included, the comprehensive net profit margin exceeds 20%!

(Note: The parts-to-whole ratio factor refers to the ratio of the total price of all the installed parts of a vehicle to the recommended sales price of the vehicle. At the beginning of the century, the parts-to-whole ratio was usually higher than 800%, that is, the retail price of all the installed parts added up to the price of a vehicle was 8 times the sales price of the vehicle. Now it is usually above 200%.

So some car companies say that they sell their cars at a loss based on the parts of each product, just to fulfill the dream of young people to have a sports car. This is pure hooliganism and bullying young people. The price of the parts is too high. )"

At this point, Xu Lihua curled his lips and sneered, "Vice President Zhu, I see that you are not worried about the future development of the company, but are questioning my leadership ability, right?"

At this moment, a fierce look flashed in Xu Lihua's eyes.

young people……

If this was a private discussion, he would still say a few nice words.

Singing a different tune in such a public setting?

Besides, do you really think he doesn’t know that the foundation of the mobile phone business is unstable?
There's no way to keep it steady!
These young people sound very eloquent, but they know nothing!
For electronic products such as mobile phones, domestic companies that do not have the background and strength in semiconductor research and development can only focus on innovation in appearance and adjustment of functions.

What's the point?

It would be better to adopt a public version design, which would allow you to recover your funds faster.

If you really want to carry out substantial research and development, you have to invest huge amounts of money.

What a psycho! Who will be responsible if we fail? !

Besides, how much money can you make from a cell phone at best?
What an idiot!
Thinking of this, he smiled coldly, "Vice President Zhu, your responsibility is to implement the company's strategic decisions, not to question the strategy itself here."

There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice: “Or do you think my experience is not enough to lead the company into new areas?

Or does Vice President Zhu think that your ability can surpass the entire team?"

Xu Lihua believes that Zhu Zhaojiang has become complacent because of the sharp increase in mobile phone sales in the past two years when he was in charge of sales.

How dare you question yourself?!

Xu Lihua has always believed that Bird's success lies in his marketing philosophy and sales incentive policies, and that Zhu Zhaojiang is just taking advantage of others' efforts.

At the same time, because Bird has become a state-owned enterprise at this time, it has enjoyed the benefits of "leaning on a big tree to enjoy the shade", but it must also bear the consequences of being under the jurisdiction of state-owned assets.

He knew that Zhu Zhaojiang, who had achieved remarkable results, was well received by state-owned shareholders, and that Zhu Zhaojiang, who was only 30 years old, had a huge age advantage.

Indeed, as the founder, I have a transcendent position in the company.

But precisely because of this detachment, it will attract special attention from state-owned assets.

Thousands of years of political wisdom can be summed up in three words: "adding sand."

Bird currently does not have a full-time general manager, and he, the chairman, is concurrently in charge. This is ultimately a temporary mechanism, and the state-owned assets will definitely appoint a general manager to compete with him in the future.

Therefore, Xu Lihua was particularly worried that Zhu Zhaojiang would affect his position, and was deliberately suppressing him at this time.

As he spoke, Xu Lihua walked towards Zhu Zhaojiang step by step, and stood directly in front of him, staring at Zhu Zhaojiang with a pair of hawk-like eyes.

Zhu Zhaojiang did not back down in the face of Xu Lihua's accusations and stares.

He looked directly at Xu Lihua and answered firmly,

“Chairman, I am not questioning your leadership ability. I am just performing my duties as the Vice President of Sales and expressing my concerns and suggestions for the long-term development of the company.

We all know that competition in the automotive industry is extremely fierce and requires a lot of capital and technological investment.

We need to ensure that the company is fully prepared before entering this market.

In our advantageous track, entering new markets to quickly accumulate funds and consolidate our base is the prerequisite for opening up new tracks.”

……

(End of this chapter)