Chinese self-confidence and inferiority

Chapter 1 Changes in the Economic Form
Taobao is the hope of mankind
A "hospital registration" function was listed on Taobao's life column. For a while, everyone thought this function was good, and some reporters followed the instructions to register.But the reporter found out after confirming the incident that the registered hospitals said that this had nothing to do with them, and the people from Taobao said that this was a platform entrance and had nothing to do with Taobao.As for who is related to it, anyway, I didn't see it in the news. It is estimated that the application of a certain platform is linked to Taobao.

The nature of this registration platform is actually not important, what is important is that it appears on Taobao.It is already a consensus that Taobao has everything, but it is still rare to extend it to this kind of life service, especially in the era of difficult registration and deep conflicts between doctors and patients. If Taobao really has such a platform, it may have unexpected results.

When it comes to things like doctor-patient conflicts and registration difficulties, many people must be bitter, but Taobao's business logic in this area can just solve this problem.Many people may not know why Taobao has become so big. Some people often attribute this phenomenon to Taobao’s publicity or other factors, ignoring the most important feature of Taobao, which is to solve the problem of credit costs.

Shopping websites have existed for a long time. Before the rise of Taobao, foreign shopping websites also entered China. I remember it was called "eBay". I remember that I interviewed their CEO when they first opened. He was a very quiet returnee.Later, I also worked as a reporter, and they had little influence.There is only one main problem: credit costs are too high.We need a lot of courage to pay the merchant without seeing the real thing, and the merchant will not do the stupid thing of shipping first and then collecting money.Taobao, or the use of Taobao's Alipay and its favorable rating system, has reduced this risk to an acceptable level.

Seeking medical advice is of course risky. If you really operate according to Taobao’s business logic, it is a good way. For example, for a doctor’s diagnosis and treatment, whether it is attitude or medical skills, you can do it after registration. Scoring can at least give latecomers a reference value.Of course, I don't advocate payment of medical expenses through Alipay. After all, medical products are different from specific commodities, and customer service who is full of "pro" is not serious enough.

In fact, many problems in our society can be solved through the business model of Taobao, so as to build a more reasonable social structure. Unfortunately, the logic of Taobao has not been really used in more places, only in various small businesses. shop.

Is e-commerce really a mess?

Ever since the Minister of Commerce revealed that his online shopping was unfavorable and express delivery was not delivered to government departments, it seems that many people are very concerned about the standardization of e-commerce.It is undeniable that e-commerce always produces various kinds of news. While developing rapidly, many people have seen its shortcomings, such as sales disputes and insufficient protection of consumer rights and interests.Of course, the government has also seen shortcomings. This is mainly because many transactions have not been taxed.

Regarding the shortcomings of e-commerce, as a small e-commerce company, I also know that I like to eat, drink, and have fun. I opened a Taobao store to sell high-quality agricultural products that I searched from all over the country. At present, there is a trend of getting bigger and bigger—but I don't agree with the statement that e-commerce is messy, at least until today, I can no longer accept this statement.

In fact, the biggest cost of e-commerce is credit cost.Think about it, the other party is connected through a virtual network cable, and you can only see the appearance of the product on the screen, which is completely different from traditional shopping when you hold it in your hand. If you want to believe it, it must belong to a Risky behavior, at least when shopping for a collaboration for the first time.In order to solve this problem, various e-commerce platforms appeared in the past, and Taobao finally became the biggest winner, and the Tmall Mall they launched with extremely strict certification is also trying to solve this problem. So far, this problem has been solved fairly well. Yes, less shopping disputes than in big shopping malls.

The reason why I feel that e-commerce has the so-called "chaotic phenomenon" is that the Internet itself, which e-commerce relies on, is a medium with strong communication power. It turns out that if you have a consumer dispute with a department store, if it is not for the bones being discounted, the news will probably be all over the place. Too lazy to report.However, the sales of any e-commerce company may be magnified and spread, which is determined by the characteristics of the Internet.When the Internet first started, some people called it "chaos". Now many people cannot live without the Internet.

Moreover, this kind of e-commerce, which relies on the reduction of credit costs, is in a sense a good thing for China, a society with a low level of credit.Because if you want to survive in a single business, you must establish credit. There are countless choices in online stores, which are different from physical sales with a limited range of choices.

Therefore, e-commerce is not a chaotic phenomenon at all, or at least it is not a chaotic phenomenon at present, but a prosperous phenomenon of self-organization and establishment of technical architecture, whether it is the evaluation system or the entry threshold, so that the current The larger Alipay system has begun to play its role.The new generation of young people are already accustomed to e-commerce, and there may be some areas that need to be improved, but it is definitely not chaos, but the trees that grow spontaneously in the wilderness, with inherent beauty of coordination.

The government thinks that e-commerce is relatively chaotic, which may be viewed from another perspective.We know that any government has a tendency to strictly divide the market with a ruler, which will facilitate their management.However, it is difficult for e-commerce to meet the uniform requirements of the government, and it is also difficult for the government to collect taxes from it. This must be very chaotic in the eyes of the government.From the current point of view, it is often not the consumers who complain about the chaos of e-commerce. They understand the cost and skills of online shopping better, and it is the government agencies that are really eyeing this piece of fat.

Here I would like to advise: It is good for an economic form to let it self-regulate, don't just look at the momentum and manage it first.This impulse of over-management must be avoided. Only with less management can the market develop healthily. Our achievements in the past 30 years of reform and opening up have proved that the fields where the government has withdrawn are booming, and many places that are regulated are either monopoly interests or Dying.

How a mobile phone became a grenade

In a sense, I'm still grateful to companies like 360, because the software they developed made me less afraid of mobile phones.

It starts with a piece of news.Some people said on Weibo that they have "phobia of answering the phone". The basic symptoms are fear of answering the phone, silent phone and so on.The reason is very simple, that is, there are various harassing calls, but if you don't answer them, you are afraid of delaying your business, so you suffer from this phobia.I also had this phobia back then, and sometimes I not only had the above-mentioned symptoms, but also symptoms such as going crazy.For example, when I was traveling overseas, I insisted on selling me some financial products, and I told him clearly that I was driving on the highway, but the indomitable salesman insisted on selling his insurance. At that time, I yelled: If I still Talking to you, it is estimated that your insurance has not taken effect, so I will reimburse you here.

Modern society is such a society: information is life.If there is no instant information, our life is completely different.I remember when I got my first mobile phone in 1996, I immediately felt that the whole world was very close, because my friends could find me at any time, and it would be more convenient for me to find someone.An American writer once lamented: If there is no answering machine, Americans today do not know how to live.This was said 20 years ago, and now if we lose our mobile phones, we are in the wilderness.If you don’t believe me, just leave your mobile phone at home for a week, and it’s possible for a friend to help you send missing person notices.

But there is another saying that goes like this: The general who drags a telephone wire behind him is an unfortunate general.What this says is that if you can be harassed at any time, your life is not your own.We have already surrendered our lives in exchange for higher income, easier communication, and more harassment.If you can stop this kind of thing, either you have no worries about food and clothing, or there is really no value in being harassed.

Speaking of it, this can be regarded as a price. Probably there is no medicine without side effects in this world, or even food that is completely harmless. If you eat too much rice, you can survive, let alone the phone that changed our social environment?The reason why many people do not adapt is probably because our technological development far exceeds the speed of psychological evolution.

As for how to solve this problem, I don’t want to talk about suggestions such as eating less and exercising more, wearing loose underwear to sleep, but I think technical problems should be solved with technology, such as installing a 360 or similar software, and then let technical means Filter that information, but also think about the benefits of owning a phone, such as the wonderful time of being taken out for drinks by buddies in the middle of the night.

The clubhouse economy is in the ascendant
During those years of working in the media, there was a period of time when I devoted myself to daily life, specifically eating, drinking and having fun. This work left sequelae, so that the title of the so-called "gourmet" is more famous in the world.After holding this title, there are often various restaurants to treat guests, from the lowest-end food stalls to the most upscale clubs.Without him, through my taste buds, suggestions for improving their dishes, or just to hear a kind word.

This is also the case, and I am not surprised by news about the clubhouse recently reported by some newspapers.According to the report, some clubs have opened in parks and ancient buildings, and after the promulgation of the Eight National Articles, when the high-end restaurants in society are struggling, the business in these places is very good.

In fact, this is not surprising at all. Based on my experience, the consumers of those high-end clubs in parks and luxury restaurants in ancient buildings have long been wealthy businessmen and dignitaries. It's just to increase the frequency of going to this kind of place.It is said that those who can open restaurants and clubs in these places are basically either rich or expensive, otherwise they will never be able to do so.

In fact, as early as many years ago, this business form has been very popular.For example, there are many such clubs next to the famous scenic spot West Lake, and if you consider it according to normal business thinking such as cost accounting, you will find that these places basically do not make money, and even suffer a lot of losses every year.The business model in this is beyond the comprehension of ordinary people. In short, it is a place where rich people collude with other rich and powerful people for certain things. It's nothing.More importantly, this kind of clubhouse can reflect the worth of the owner. In the words of the common people, this is called "for cattle X".

As for criticizing parks, ancient buildings, and scenic spots for using existing resources to make these clubs, I am afraid it can only be superficial, and it may not be fair to these places.This is because the people who are able to do business here often do not have a little bit of morality, and it is not something that a park management office can resist.What is even more irresistible is that the maintenance of these parks and other places often does not have sufficient funds, and the managers will inevitably open up financial resources and use the economy as a bait, which is basically a tried and tested business form.

We know one of the most basic business principles: only when there is buying can there be selling. Without this market, this industry will not be born.Setting up such a high-end club in a public area must have such a demand in the society, and this demand cannot be met through normal channels, which will eventually lead to such a result.

Even in foreign countries, there are many private clubs that are closed to the outside world, but the difference is that they are basically built on private sites and will not invade the public domain.This is because foreign countries are very clear about property rights and do not object to anyone using their own money to do this. As long as you buy the land, there is no problem in doing this kind of business.The difference here is that places with truly beautiful scenery are basically state-owned or collectively owned, and theoretically they cannot be used for such purposes.At the same time, state-owned or collective ownership often means that no one owns it. In fact, it is owned by managers, so it is difficult to limit their impulse to use their privileges to make money.

On the other hand, we have always been unable to control the mouths of officials, whether it is eating and drinking or making all kinds of shocking quotations.In this state, instead of causing controversy in social restaurants, you might as well come to this kind of club.In an era of increasingly developed information and growing wisdom of the people, the people have begun to actively monitor the whereabouts of officials. Only in such places can they enjoy the special feeling brought by privileges.

It is precisely for this reason that after 20 years of development, the club economy has finally reached the level of prosperity. As for whether this state is good or bad, it depends on what kind of social status you are in.

It will be too late for non-government organizations to develop

According to "Xinhua Net" news, the government intends to focus on cultivating and giving priority to the development of social organizations such as industry associations, chambers of commerce, science and technology, public welfare and charity, and urban and rural community services.The establishment of these social organizations directly applies to the civil affairs department for registration in accordance with the law, and no longer requires the review and approval of the competent professional unit.Although there is still a backdoor procedure in this statement that "the civil affairs department should strengthen registration review and supervision and management in accordance with the law, and earnestly fulfill their responsibilities", it is not easy to take this step.

Speaking of which, the management of non-governmental organizations here has always been strictly guarded against. If you don’t believe me, go to the civil affairs department to register a charity volunteer organization and try it. Various procedures and approvals will make you physically and mentally exhausted. This matter is much harder than finding a place to do volunteer work, "cold the hearts of brothers."

The reason for such strict management must be traced back to the era of planned economy.As the name suggests, a planned economy means that everything is done according to the government's plan. Since the government has planned everything, the civil society can live according to the plan, and there is no need to organize associations and the like.It can be said that non-governmental organizations are completely incompatible with the planned economy.But we have also seen the result. In the end, the entire economic system was on the verge of collapse, and we had no choice but to embark on the road of reform and opening up.

But this kind of inertia of thinking still exists, and the government has always maintained a very vigilant attitude towards the spontaneous organizations of the people, always thinking that these people from the people will organize to do something.From the perspective of social management, the government is right to think so. After all, a society of loose sand is best managed.

There is a prerequisite for this kind of society, that is, the government can really manage all aspects of society well without any leakage. Even if the government is turned into an octopus, it cannot do this task.Therefore, generally speaking, a normal society always needs various voluntary civil organizations to undertake the responsibilities of the service areas that the government cannot and does not want to provide.Especially in the fields of public welfare and charity, community service, etc., it is even beyond the reach of the government.

More importantly, for a society to develop normally, it must depend on the maturity of citizens' voluntary organizations.We always say that Chinese people have no beliefs and no cohesion. Let’s not talk about beliefs. Critics themselves may not have beliefs, and cohesion should be formed through various voluntary organizations of citizens.

With this kind of voluntary organization of citizens, we can truly assume social responsibility.Today, more and more Chinese people have realized that the omnipotent government often has power but no responsibility. Only by reducing the government's control over society can the maximum of citizens' rights and government services be maximized. The two are not the same. It is a relationship of opposites, but mutual promotion and combination.

Civil society is not a threat to those in power. If, while civil society develops, the rulers also change their own governance consciousness and interact with various types of organizations formed by civil society, it will only lead to a healthier society. develop.Without the development of civil society, it will really lead to a state of disorder. Often when something goes wrong, the government wants to find someone to talk to, and it will find that it is facing a group that cannot talk to. At that time, it will really regret it. It's too late.

Is commercial fraud also under the management of the Development and Reform Commission?

Some time ago, the biggest news in the e-commerce industry was probably the price war between Liu Qiangdong of JD.com and Zhang Jindong of Suning Appliance.At that time, I was quite excited to see it. According to these two people, probably home appliances can be taken home for free.When I was excited, I felt that this was wrong. Someone would do the decapitated business, and no one would do the loss-making business. It is absolutely possible for the merchant to sell at a profit, but if you want to say "no gross profit for three years", even if you rely on capital Back support is also completely impossible.This is not how e-commerce burns money.

Sure enough, when the price war started, many people shouted that they were fooled.In fact, this should have been foreseen a long time ago. Measures such as raising the price first and then lowering the price, saying that it is out of stock when it is in stock, and the products of several parties in the battle have a relatively low overlap and cannot compare prices with the product have been released, making full use of the wrong information. Wait.Judging from the results, the parties in the price war are basically not fighting, and all the public rhetoric seems to be flirting with each other.

Flirting is considered private, and public flirting can attract the police.This time their flirting alarmed the biggest policeman: the Price Supervision Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission has recently launched an investigation into the "price war" of e-commerce. By.The National Development and Reform Commission stated that it will punish relevant acts, but there is no specific conclusion and fine amount yet.

The strange thing about this is, what does the chaos of several e-commerce companies have to do with the National Development and Reform Commission?According to the general thinking, it should be under the control of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce or the Ministry of Commerce.The National Development and Reform Commission has been the place where the country's major policies have been issued in recent years. Oil prices can also be said to be a major issue related to the overall situation. It makes people feel like killing a chicken with a sledgehammer.

In fact, in recent years, the National Development and Reform Commission and local development and reform bureaus have become more and more like a purely economic management department, which is also the original intention of the establishment of the National Development and Reform Commission.According to the introduction on the Internet, it is a macro-control department that comprehensively researches and formulates economic and social development policies, conducts overall balance, and guides the overall economic system reform.There is also a similar introduction on its own website. Among its 15 responsibilities, they are basically related to the macro economy, and the specific departments of management are also the National Grain Administration and the National Energy Administration.

Even if we don't talk about the connection between economic reform, development and social reform, we will find that the current management of the National Development and Reform Commission seems to be getting more and more detailed, to the extent that e-commerce price wars have to come forward.The stability of the market order seems to have to be grasped from the basic level.

But after so many years of education in the market economy, many people already have a basic concept, that is, the government should not interfere too much in the commercial economy, and any industry that does not allow the private economy to enter competition on an equal footing, even if it is a state-owned enterprise like a giant , this field is also the most criticized by Chinese people.And as long as it is an industry with free competition, it is almost always the same, even if it is the blatant flirting of e-commerce.Of course, the field of food safety may be an exception.

There is nothing wrong with the country having a macro-control department, at least at this stage, but the responsibilities and needs of this institution are really not suitable for such fine-grained regulation.Once you enter such a delicate field, you can only prove one thing: you are extremely alert to social problems caused by any economic or price turmoil.The reason for this kind of vigilance must be the lack of flexibility of the overall economic and social environment, so that such a matter that can be handed over to the relevant functional departments will touch such a high level.

How State-owned Enterprises Become VIPs

City Express News: A lady in Ningbo received a text message saying that a local hospital provides VIP services to employees of state-owned enterprises, and has opened a "XXXVIP Health Channel" (patient service center on the first floor of Building XX7) to provide you with registration and accompanying guides throughout the process. Doctors, priority arrangements for outpatient services and other high-quality services, the integral price is 1 points per person.In addition, points can be exchanged for medical examination services, and XX standard medical examination service items can be enjoyed after deducting 500 points.If necessary, please call ahead to make an appointment.

The lady intuitively felt that this was a liar. It is estimated that many people would think that this is a liar text message when they receive such a text message. It turns out that our life experience may not be reliable at any time. This is really not a liar text message, but a Ningbo A service for state-owned enterprises provided by famous hospitals.

Everyone knows what is wrong with this matter. Experts have made it very clear when they interpreted this matter: "The medical resources of public hospitals belong to public resources, public services, and public interests. They are built with the state's money. Provide services for all citizens. Special services cannot be provided for a certain class or group. If this is the case, it will be unfair and public.” “For example, a public hospital is equivalent to a bus. Line up to get on the bus in an orderly manner, and all legal citizens can ride, and there is no reason to say that whoever is a VIP can get on the bus first."

But we also know that public hospitals have special facilities such as cadre wards, and we will not mention the fairness and publicity.The problem is that the experts did not say why hospitals favor employees of state-owned enterprises.

As the saying goes, "no profit can't afford early", the medical reform is a marketization process, marketization is to make money to support oneself, whoever can give more money we will serve more.This is in full compliance with the laws of marketization.From this point of view, we can understand why employees of state-owned enterprises can get VIP treatment: more money, faster arrival.

Employees of state-owned enterprises are not considered VIPs in this society in terms of personal income. Probably no commercial organization includes them in their VIP list. If there is, it is really a scam organization.But they can get this kind of treatment in the hospital. This is because the social security of state-owned enterprises is generally better, so good that they don't care much about spending money on medical treatment.

Some people may say, don’t many companies now have medical insurance or something?Is there a difference here?Unfortunately, there are real differences. From the amount of reimbursement to the intensity of the review, even the same disease can have different prices. Among them, Chinese companies have the most complete social insurance and medical insurance, and the amount is relatively high. The reimbursement review process Although it is rigorous, it is basically a formality. As long as there are no major mistakes, there is basically no problem.

You see, this is the reason why employees of state-owned enterprises become VIP customers. Private hospitals will never do this, but if public hospitals do this, their actions are regarded as saving lives and healing the wounded, and their hearts are regarded as business talks.

In fact, there is another piece of news in the past two days that is also about state-owned enterprises. According to a survey by The Beijing News, 71% of the interviewed state-owned enterprises and 64% of the interviewed private enterprises will increase their year-end bonuses, while only 52% of the interviewed foreign companies will increase their year-end bonuses.Experts from Career International believe that in the salary structure of state-owned enterprises, the year-end bonus accounts for a relatively high proportion. Compared with the usual salary, the year-end bonus is of special importance to employees, so most state-owned enterprises choose to increase the year-end bonus.In 2012, the European debt crisis spread, the global economy fluctuated, and the operation of foreign companies was more easily affected by the international situation. Therefore, compared with state-owned and private companies, the proportion of interviewed foreign companies who lowered their year-end bonuses was the highest, reaching 39%.

It is more interesting to read the two pieces of news together.In the 90s and [-]s, state-owned enterprises were the place where many people fled, mainly due to low treatment. Now it seems that this situation has changed a long time ago. Apart from civil servants, state-owned enterprises have once again become a place where many people want to enter.

The private economy has long occupied more than half of the entire economy, and it is unbelievable that the positions of state-owned enterprises will be popular again.I personally think that this is not a good thing, but in the current environment, the phenomenon of state advancement and private retreat is particularly serious in terms of resources and government support, which directly leads to private enterprises contributing the most economic value and supporting the most employees , but the income is not as good as that of state-owned enterprises.State-owned enterprises use their superior position to earn social wealth, and then use various methods to transfer a large amount of profits to a small number of state-owned enterprise employees.

This state must not be a good thing. Once social resources are so skewed, the result of social imbalance will be obvious.The so-called reform and opening up is to release the vitality of the people. If we follow the old path of state-owned enterprises dominating the social economy, the economic achievements of these years may be lost.

Based on experience, we can know that the more management and the finer the management, problems will occur when the economic situation is good. In the economic downturn, this kind of conditioned reflex of fine management is basically a more harmful state.The more you can't control it, the more you want to control all aspects, which also creates conditions for greater imbalance.

rewarding business experience
I have been wandering around in Europe some time ago, mainly because a friend bought a sailing boat in France, and then felt that it was a loss of friend’s morality and a lack of opportunities to win by not letting my buddies make their maiden voyage first.So, some of our dick friends became the first batch of passengers.

Europe is naturally a good place, and the route we take is the most beautiful "Côte d'Azur". From Toulon to Marseille, Cannes, Nice, and Monaco, not to mention the scenery, all kinds of topless bikini beauties are amazing Less, it can be regarded as an eye-opener, and it can also be regarded as aesthetic fatigue.

Except for beauties, our group all have the feeling that it is difficult to tell whether a person is rich or not from the clothes he wears, the things he wears, and the car he drives.When we moored in Cannes, the harbor was full of super luxury yachts, and the owners were all super rich. Our small boat was completely out of proportion.But the people who come down from above are just shorts and T-shirts. Of course, the cars running on the street are extremely luxurious, but most of them are mini cars and small cars, but taxis often have Mercedes-Benz among them.

This is a certain degree of low-key, and it also shows that people have a relatively strong awareness of environmental protection.In addition to the environmental protection on this kind of vehicle, many hotels do not provide disposable washing products. TOLL.

This is an environmentally friendly way of thinking.It's not that I don't provide you with these convenient products, but I hope you can bring your own.If you can't bring your own, please pay the bill.It is said that this is also a way of resource allocation, which is tantamount to paying for the environment indirectly.

Some people may know that I have opened several chain fast food restaurants, all of which are in the form of self-service.The most common problem in this form of self-service is waste. If many restaurants have self-service, they basically have a rule for wasting money.After all, waste is not environmentally friendly.

But what I do here is a little different from what I do in Europe and many of my domestic counterparts.First of all, consumers definitely don't like being fined and paying more, which is not only prone to disputes, but also prone to poor user experience.Secondly, few restaurants actually go to get a measure to see if it is beyond the penalty regulations when there is something left on the consumer's plate. These are increased operating costs, and fast-food restaurants are very busy. Where Why do people do this?

Later, I thought of a way to solve this problem, which is not to impose fines, but to reward.For example, if you eat all the food on the plate, the waiter will stamp your dining card, and you can exchange for a drink after you accumulate ten.Fast food restaurants are opened in office buildings, and basically regular customers come to eat. This is a very effective way of promotion.

Europeans seem to have never thought about it this way. In fact, they can include these costs in the room rate. If you do not use these one-time products, they will return this part of the amount to you when you check out.In fact, the effect of the two is exactly the same, but consumers definitely value this form of reward more than seeing a price tag on all bottles and cans.

However, it seems that some people don't agree with my idea. They say that others are really environmentally friendly, and I am doing it by profiteers.Well, I don’t know what to say about this matter. I think it’s a long-term solution to act according to market psychology. If you insist that Europeans are of high quality and disdain it, I won’t say anything.

reverse marketing
Many people who open Taobao stores are probably most afraid of bad reviews. I only became a four-diamond seller within a few months. I can’t say that the business is good, but there are still two bad reviews.The latest bad review made me really angry. The reason given by this brother was "Honey is really good, but when I want to buy it again, you are out of stock, bad review." You think I don't want to sell it? what?Who doesn't want to make money? It's not my fault that the stock is out of stock. Other bees also have rest days.

Another bad review is indeed quite serious.Remember I said in an earlier column that a ton of little bacon sausages were sold over the course of a day (4 hours to be exact).A buyer actually ate a half-truncated needle when he ate it.This is really negligent when we are doing things. In the process of sausage processing, there is a procedure to poke holes in the sausage with a needle to ensure that it will not burst due to flatulence.During this process, the operator was negligent for a while.

After breaking out in a cold sweat, we didn't ask the buyer to modify his bad review, but after sending another product to them, we kept the bad review like this. Sometimes when I do promotion myself, I have to mention Take a look at this.One is to remind myself and the employees that this kind of thing should never happen again, and the other reason is to tell my customers that there is a possibility of my products going wrong, but we are honest.

I switched from manufacturing to media and then to business. In these years, I have never seen a company whose products have no problems at all, and I don’t believe that such a company has appeared in any country or time period.My experience in the media industry tells me that it is definitely not a good way to hold back in many cases. In this era of extremely rapid information dissemination, you are often still preparing countermeasures here, and it has already spread to everyone.

In fact, this method of handling is not only useful for business. If social issues can also be handled in this way, many of our group incidents will not happen.Standing up to solve the problem in a timely manner may attract some criticism in a short period of time, but there are always people with sufficient IQ who can appreciate the benefits of this kind of transparent handling, and ultimately establish their own brand and credibility.In this regard, governments are no different from corporations.

The same example also has such a practice.

You always say you are cheap when you sell things on Taobao, right?Sorry, I won't talk about this, I have always said that the things I sell are expensive.It is indeed expensive, much more expensive than the same kind of products that are commonly seen on the market.This is mainly because the things are different. It looks like rice noodles, and the taste is very different from the purchase price.I just said that my things are expensive, and I publicly said that I need to make money, so after the first promotion, I directly raised the price.

This is also taking advantage of people's psychology. If he suddenly sees this price, he must feel that it is too expensive.And if you say that you are expensive first, and then he has a psychological expectation and then sees the price, at least there will be no excessive gap, and it will be easier to accept your explanation about the price.Don't be afraid to say that your things are expensive, you have to be able to tell the truth about the price and make people accept it.

Therefore, sometimes unfavorable factors can indeed be transformed into advantages. It mainly depends on how you use and understand this kind of thing.

Underreporting in SOEs is not uncommon
"Chengdu Daily" published a news report titled "Acting Governor Li Xiaopeng: Grief, Indignation, Shock and Self-Reproach" on January 2013, 1.According to reports, Mr. Li Xiaopeng, Acting Governor of Shanxi Province, has been very angry these days because of an accident in the No. 2 inclined shaft of the Nanluliangshan Tunnel of the Central-South Railway in Shanxi Province. The explosion and the harmful gas produced killed 1 people and injured 8 others. This accident was covered up. If it weren't for the strong network and media, this incident might have disappeared in the wind like many other things.Li Xiaopeng, the mayors of various cities, directors of safety supervision bureaus and other relevant department heads expressed their collective silence to the victims of the accident, saying that he was very saddened by the accident in which 5 people died and 8 were injured, and he was very indignant at the serious concealment of the accident. , I was shocked by the concealment of an accident in a well-managed central enterprise, and felt self-blame for the government at all levels and relevant departments for not being aware of it for such a long time.

Please note that the central idea of ​​this passage is not to cover up accidents, but to "cover up accidents in well-managed central enterprises."Why the emphasis on this?This is because in the minds of many people, including Mr. Li Xiaopeng, central enterprises should have a sunny, healthy and pleasant image. How could this kind of thing happen in central enterprises.

It is not unreasonable to say that their thinking is not unreasonable. Compared with private enterprises, central enterprises should have done better in this regard.But we can deduce that this conclusion is not reliable through a simple logic.There are two main reasons why private companies conceal accidents. One is that they are afraid of losing too much money through formal procedures, and the other is that they are afraid that production will be stopped due to safety issues.These two reasons have nothing to do with central enterprises, and the loss is not paid out of the pockets of the leaders of the central enterprises themselves. It is very difficult for large state-owned enterprises to suspend production.

But this does not mean that the heads of these state-owned enterprises have no losses.Every year, large state-owned enterprises actually have a death quota. If the standard is reached soon, the position of the person in charge may not be so secure. Moreover, if we go deep into the cause of the accident, we will often find all kinds of tricks, and even corruption. These things are enough to give state-owned enterprises and central enterprises an incentive to conceal any accidents.

At that time, I worked in a steel company that was powerful on the ground in the capital. Every year, the company had some death indicators. Sometimes the number of deaths was too large. Only after my classmates who graduated from the same class also joined this index number did I truly appreciate the perishability and preciousness of life.Especially when we said goodbye at the crematorium, but because there was no one to help, we young people could only accompany the deceased at close range. It was the first time I observed death at close range, and I will never forget it in my life.

It was later learned that these students were not counted as work-related deaths at that time, but were treated as work-related injuries.How can a dead person be counted as a work-related injury?One of the tricks is that if the person did not die at the time, as long as the person has been in the hospital for 24 hours, the death is regarded as a medical problem and can not be included in the index of work-related deaths.Such a large enterprise has its own hospital, and sometimes all-out rescue is just to maintain its life for more than 24 hours, and it is hard to say whether it has really survived 24 hours, anyway, the person who announced the death is also his own.About 90% of the whole body was burnt, and the final death was not counted as a work-related death. This incredible thing happened before our eyes. The death index of the company did not exceed the standard that year.

Is this a kind of concealment?In fact, this is not a concealment, but a blatant deception, and if you think about it, who is the rule maker?Who is the beneficiary?Speaking of which, if a private company conceals the report, you can still criticize it. If you use the convenience of formulating rules to artificially lower the death indicator, compared to concealing the report, the morality is really more than one level higher, right?
Apple's apology and WeChat's charges

After being attacked by the Chinese official media for half a month, Apple finally released a letter of apology signed by the CEO on its website on April 4, China time, expressing its importance to the Chinese market and announcing The after-sales service strategy in China will be changed.It seems that this matter is a complete victory for Chinese consumers and the media, but the timing of the release of this apology letter is very interesting, which happens to be the time of "April Fool's Day".Of course, some people say that Apple was established on April 1, 1976. There may not be any mystery in it, it's just a coincidence.

I'm afraid many people don't know how Apple's after-sales service is. Apple itself said that 90% of its users are satisfied. Pleasure after sales service.But as far as the so-called policy of changing the mobile phone without changing the back cover, although there is a problem of avoiding the problem of extending the one-year warranty period after repairs, the quality of after-sales is still much higher than other mobile phone brands I have ever owned.As for whether we can still enjoy Apple's after-sales terms in the future, let's wait and see.

In this matter, I don't pay attention to how much Apple discriminates against Chinese consumers. My focus is on "Why Apple".In the past two years, the 3 Gala has focused on famous foreign-funded companies, and compared with the problems of those companies in China, the problems of foreign-funded companies that have been exposed are really not that big.And the state of China's official media swarming, in our media environment here, basically there must be "behind the scenes".In connection with the trade confrontation between China and the United States, as well as some recent US trade actions related to China, the question of "why Apple" can be roughly understood.

If it is pure retaliation, there is nothing wrong with it, but such a use of media power to focus on attacking a company with minimal problems has directly turned into a farce.

But there is always another side to things.

Many people use things like WeChat, and it has always been using mobile phone data traffic.Some time ago, mobile operators came out and said that WeChat had caused harm to their system. After a few days, they stopped talking about the harm to the system and began to say that WeChat should charge.The most interesting thing is that people from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also came out to speak out to coordinate the charging of WeChat.

As soon as this incident came out, my jaw almost hit the keyboard.I have never seen a government department so concerned about a private company's project that it has to care about whether it charges or not.In fact, the mystery of this is very simple, that is, the use of WeChat has seriously affected the business of mobile operators, such as the use of SMS.Many people may not know that there is basically no operating cost of SMS, and its income is quite high.This business is preempted, which is a pain in the flesh for mobile operators.

This is why even the people from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have come forward to care about the issue of WeChat fees, and this kind of behavior, which is similar to directly stepping on the hand of the market with the foot of the administration, is always happening here.

The two incidents of Apple and WeChat reflect the duality of our place.On the one hand, it seems to be a market behavior that seems to speak for consumers, but behind it seems to be a political action of trade confrontation; on the other hand, it looks like administrative means, but in fact it is behind the market demand of monopoly enterprises. What is said and what is done are often two different things .Although this method is used in many places, there are not many places where it is used so proficiently like ours.

In fact, this is not the point, the point is who is injured in the end.WeChat uses data traffic, if there is still a charge, it is tantamount to double charging. The unlucky users are naturally, and after Apple apologized this time, it changed its after-sales service strategy. The latter wastes more time, and Apple increases labor costs. This fact of lose-lose is estimated to be unknown to many people.If everyone loses, who wins?
Charity's Cost and Benefit Maximization
A friend set up a Taobao shop. He doesn’t sell any products, but allows other merchants to use the shop with zero threshold, and then donates part of the profits from the products sold in the shop to charity according to the merchant’s wishes. I don't move money, don't care about the goods, and am not responsible for the after-sales quality.One of the products is a T-shirt made of his cartoon avatar, which sells for 68 yuan, and every 10 yuan sold is used for public welfare and charity, and the rest goes to the seller of the T-shirt.At this point, some people began to question, "How can charity still make money?" Some people even questioned that this person made money in it.

The friend didn't make any money from it.Because his store can sell all kinds of goods, how can he make money without threshold?Let’s think back to our government’s administrative department. There are a lot of approvals and permits that are so rich, right? If they don’t have these things, they will make a lot of money.If a place has no barriers to entry, the people who manage the place will not make money. This is basic common sense.

Another basic common sense that many people may not know is that charity and public welfare itself must generate income.Don’t make random analogies, let’s bring in organizations like the Red Cross, we’re talking about an individual business here, it’s not a public fundraising organization, and at the same time it donates part of its profits to charity, it increases sales, I have gained benefits, is this okay?

Why is this not possible?A certain mineral water donates a penny for every bottle sold. Have you ever questioned this matter?You definitely don't question it, and you don't even know if they really donated.But if I tell you that the profit from the extra bottle of mineral water you bought because of this is more than [-] times that of the donation, would you buy it?If you don't buy it, you don't even have this cent. If you buy it, you may donate at least one penny.And you have not suffered any losses, neither have the manufacturers, they have made more money and the recipients of donations have benefited.Win more.

This is sustainable charity.Here we often put a lot of things at a very high height, and then remove the ladder for people, so that this kind of behavior can experience the feeling of being too cold at a high place.Why should a merchant donate all his profits?Why can't they rely on charity promotions to achieve a win-win situation?A group of alpine snow lotuses are swaying on the holy snow by themselves. Do you really think that you have become a fairy?

And many people still don't understand that in modern society, the pricing of a commodity is not the material cost, but more the cost of the circulation link.For example, for a T-shirt, if you look at the material alone, you really don’t have much money, but design, pattern making, logistics, office, rent, water and electricity, personnel wages, and even advertising brands are all counted as costs. If you calculate the cost according to the material, you simply Back to my hometown, men farm and women weave.

There is also a risk in doing business, that is, things that are ready cannot be sold.Perhaps more people don't know that it makes sense for a product to be expensive when it is first launched, because if you don't earn back the cost from this aspect, once the sales season passes, the stock product will have no market.The average cost cannot be calculated at the time of sales, but the possible risks in the later period must be taken into account.For example, the friend who provided the store, if Taobao or other organizations get angry and confiscate all the T-shirts, it will be nothing.

It is not a bad thing for people to do charity out of compassion, or even just to make money. Why should good people suffer?Is it true that doing charity must be a zero-sum game in which some suffer and others benefit?If things go on like this, who will be the good guy?Anyway, I'm not stupid to this extent, I still have to support my family.

Some people say that this is a whore and erecting a memorial archway. I think this archway was erected by those who claim that charity must not make money, and then use it to demand others.I am making a judgment here: Most of those who question this are people who have never volunteered to donate.Those who really understand the truth and have donated to others will not be so demanding on those who do good deeds.Morality has always been an intellectual issue.

Adjusting products is a big problem

As I said in the original column, in fact my company was not originally an e-commerce business. At that time, I looked down on e-commerce, thinking that being a Taobao shopkeeper without even a storefront for business would really damage my image.Later, I found that e-commerce is better than brick-and-mortar stores. Although ordinary consumers must be friendly and provide good service, at least they don’t have to think about giving kickbacks. It’s better to make money by bowing to the common people than kneeling to make money.

I sell all kinds of agricultural products. I take advantage of some of my advantages. In fact, I sell well online. In the early stage of transformation, I mainly sell honey and bacon sausages. The store is often out of stock, and it takes about a week to be out of stock. In about 4 days, those long-selling rice noodles were always available, but they did not sell well.

My biggest problem in the past two months is to get the production and supply channels, at least so that the goods will not be out of stock.The problem in this aspect of retail business immediately appeared: if you want to keep stocking, you must continue to produce, which is fundamentally different from group sales and producing one batch at a time.And it doesn't matter if you only have one or two products, but people have to choose when they enter your store, right?That requires more product variety.

More product categories can lead to sales growth and increased selection, and at the same time, the loss of goods is also increasing. After all, this thing has a shelf life, and it may break if it is produced too much.Besides, the stocking of raw materials will also increase the loss.In other words, sales have gone up, but profits have not grown at the same rate.

More importantly, once there are too many choices, consumers may not all buy them. Some people come here for a certain type of product. Of course, they may also choose other products, but they may not be satisfied with your professionalism. I have doubts.Enriching the product line is of course very important, but how rich it is is a question.

Take my best-selling bacon sausage as an example. Originally, there was only one kind of bacon and one kind of sausage. After I adjusted the production capacity and enriched the variety, I found that although the sales volume had increased, the cost I paid It is far greater than the income obtained, and the sales of the original main products are much less. This is tantamount to the diversion of customers. It is better to simply make these two products and directly increase production capacity.

The same is true for honey.And driven by the novelty, I also launched imported milk powder, old Puer tea and other things, which looked dazzling, but actually did not bring me more profits, but increased inventory and management costs. A state of loss outweighs the gain.

For now, my confusion is whether to go back to the original path.After all, these things also have a certain consumer group. According to the basic business rules, these are products that can be raised slowly. People who like these products may also be interested in my other products in theory.It should be said that my e-commerce company is still making money, not that I need to put in a lot of effort to support this company, and there is no danger of being unable to carry it on.

Anyway, recently I decided to manage more varieties first. After all, I want to be a supply platform for primary agricultural products, and sooner or later I will make the product line more complete.

Pride and pride in e-commerce business
I opened a Taobao store, and I ran it one after another. I never really positioned myself as an e-commerce store.This incident may be the psychological shadow of my column writing: I just opened my first political commentary column at the end of 2003. In the "Southern Metropolis Daily", the title given to me was "well-known netizen".You know, at that time the Internet didn’t have as much influence as it does now, and this job title probably means “third-rate”, completely ignoring the fact that I’m actually a decent reporter.

This is probably the reason why I didn’t always like to position myself as an e-commerce business. In my opinion, Taobao store is a display platform. After a few months of work, I got two blue diamonds without using credit, but I still don’t think it should be taken seriously. After all, compared with offline sales, this part of sales is insignificant.

This situation changed with a tea sale.

I have the habit of storing tea. I saved a batch of Tieguanyin back then. It has been a rare tea for 12 years. Many people don’t know what it is. Fresh and delicious."Of course, there is nothing to talk about with these people, and my things are often not sold to these people.

There are about 700 boxes of this batch of Tieguanyin. I looked at the market and planned to sell it for 400 yuan a box.After it was launched, I promoted it on Weibo, and it was sold out within three hours.Of course, there were twists and turns, mainly because I got the weight wrong or something, but the speed of sales was amazing, which was really scary.

You see, if the sales of the Tmall store reach a certain number, there is no need to charge technical service fees. For me, this is just an easily accessible number.It wasn't until this time that I really understood that e-commerce is the direction of the future. Compared with traditional commerce, it has lower costs, faster sales, and no problem of payment collection. It must be vigorously developed.

Then there is another experiment.I raised some ecological pigs in Sichuan. I originally supplied them to my own restaurants, and then made the extra parts into bacon and sausages to give away.The effect shocked me again: more than half a ton of bacon sausage was sold in half a day, and people who didn't grab it kept asking "when will there be more?"

At present, I have completely rebuilt the sales system of the entire agricultural product company and started a marketing model based on online sales. It may be a bit late to start now, but it should not be too late. After all, this is the most extensive market. Food safety It is also a nationwide demand, and the resulting customers are not comparable to offline group sales.

The most important thing is that since the first two years, I really don't care about the third-rate title of "famous netizen", but take it as a kind of pride. Now I have really begun to get rid of this psychological shadow in my business.The Internet has been in our lives for so many years, we can and must regard ourselves as the mainstream of this society.There may still be some people who think that the Internet is virtual. I think that within two years, these people will either be abandoned by the times, or join us.The world is divided into two kinds of people: those who are online and those who are not.The latter will be marginalized sooner or later.

IQ and EQ in the workplace
A small story broke out on Weibo: A college student born in the 90s went to a TV station for an internship. During the meeting, he had a flexible brain and came up with a lot of ideas. Everyone chatted happily. When it was time for lunch, the director said, please finish the session I will order boxed lunches for everyone, and I will treat them according to the head.In the end, the intern should seriously say, I'm sorry, I'm here to intern as a director, and I won't do this kind of thing.

Maybe I'm old, maybe I don't quite understand the thoughts of young people in this era.Indeed, this is no longer the age of the apprentice.Back then, if you were a master or a boss, your life might not be rich, but sometimes it was quite comfortable, because your apprentices had to do everything for you from cooking to pouring the urinal, and you usually came to It is said that it also came from this stage.

Then things changed.For example, when I was an intern in a factory after going to school, that was to get some boiled water for the masters. At that time, we were not very willing.Facts have proved to be much lower.Once I overhauled a crane, but I couldn’t find out where the problem was. After the master went there, he took a long pole and poked the power rail of the crane twice, and it was fine. In fact, the workshop environment was bad, and the circuit was exposed. bad.

In fact, if I say that, you may be able to understand why there was a system of teaching from master to apprentice back then.Craftsmanship is not free. School education in modern society is just a socialized model of master-apprentice teaching in the past, and its basic connotation has not changed.In this sense, when the apprenticeship turned into school life, there is actually a certain price to be paid, and this price is sometimes paid by the state, which is compulsory education, and paid by oneself, which is often high school education. , University stage.

If I were the boss, I wouldn't want such an employee.This shows at least two points: First, he does not understand the basic principles of interpersonal communication. If you order food today and he fetches water tomorrow, everyone can cooperate well. People who do not have this awareness at least do not understand what team spirit is Second, he has a professional illusion of being superior to others in his bones. Maybe he is a person with extremely genius thinking, but it is very likely that before this genius is not developed, others will not allow him to have any development.

Life is often not lost in IQ, but in EQ. Who can be more stupid than who these days?The important thing is whether you can make people willing to help you and give you some of their experience at the beginning of your life. Those things are definitely not something that people with only IQ can know by birth.

(End of this chapter)