Tao Te Ching and Wuwei Management

Chapter 31 2 "Fish can't get out of the deep": gentleness - subtraction for refinement, concentration of advantages
Grasp the advantage, that is your fulcrum to leverage the earth.

Fish cannot escape from the deep.

—— "Tao Te Ching" Chapter 36
Lao Tzu said: "Fish cannot survive without water." We all know that fish will die without water.Similarly, no matter whether an enterprise survives or develops, it should not deviate from its most suitable and best field. "Soft" means gentle and not strong.Just like Taijiquan, use seemingly gentle moves to face the opponent. The appearance is soft and not aggressive, but the inner core is a combination of hardness and softness, which is extremely resistant to pressure.For companies that have just gone through the start-up period, entrepreneurs should start to do "subtraction", withdraw energy from areas they are not good at, and discover their core competitiveness.

More than 2200 years ago, the mathematician Archimedes said to the king: "Give me a fulcrum, and I can move the earth." For life, what is the fulcrum?It is to find your most important talent and give full play to your strengths, so that you can leverage your success.

When an enterprise completes its original accumulation and undergoes rapid expansion, the risks it faces mainly come from the suppression and exclusion of competitors, which is one of them.Second, with the increase in the cost of the enterprise itself and the limitations of personnel, resources, and capabilities, it is impossible for the enterprise to "blossom" everywhere, and it is unrealistic for any business to be the best in the industry.At this time, blindly carrying out the so-called diversified management will appear stretched and powerless.Although the idea is "don't put all your eggs in the same basket", but because there is no advantage, every business may remain strong under the pressure and crowding out of competitors, and risks and crises are naturally uninvited. Arrived.Such a business model is undoubtedly like bamboo, which grows wildly before it is fully developed.As a result, if it grows fast, it will grow fast, but the inside is hollow, and it cannot resist big risks.

For many companies that have just gone through the start-up period, the best way to deal with the two inevitable risks inside and outside the company is to adjust their strategies according to the actual situation of the company's development. Liberated from the small-batch, low-level "diversification" competition, find the breakthrough, choose the industry and professional positioning, take the road of professional management, and focus on how to expand the scale of the enterprise and how to take advantage of the concentration of resources to achieve variety. The competitive advantage over rivals in terms of price, cost and service enables the company to occupy an absolute advantage in a certain industry or a certain market segment.At this time, companies often need to do subtraction, strip off businesses with low profits, slow development, or companies that do not have an advantage, concentrate on the main business, make it bigger, stronger, and more refined, and form local advantages, thereby establishing the company's strengths. core competitiveness.When an enterprise forms a "burst point" in a certain part, all energy is released precisely, the profitability of the enterprise will be greatly improved, and the enterprise will gradually expand its scale in the process of profitable growth.

When Jack Welch took office as CEO of General Electric, he found that GE's existing product line was long and messy, with a total of 350 products, from manufacturing nuclear reactors to microwave ovens, from robots to steam irons, the business portfolio was not only large but also dispersion.In order to improve competitiveness, Welch put forward the principle of "No. 1994 or No. 90". This product must be the No. 15 or No. 117 product in the cost industry, otherwise the company will be sold. In [-], [-] business divisions that brought [-]% of the profits of General Electric entered the business circle that should be retained, and [-] business divisions and products were abandoned, including coal mines, semiconductors, barbecues, hair dryers and clocks. Finally, General Electric Become the most competitive enterprise in the world.

Core competitiveness is to an enterprise, just like the heart is to a person, it is very important, and it is the key to the life and death of an enterprise.If a person has a core advantage that is stronger than others, he can be outstanding, and the same is true for enterprises.If an enterprise wants to occupy a leading position in the same industry, it must have advantages that other enterprises in the same industry cannot imitate at all, or are far beyond its reach.

Miniature electronic parts made in Japan are very small, which is a traditional craft of theirs, and has a manufacturing history of nearly 300 years.The characteristic of this craft is that it depicts exquisite landscape paintings on very small lacquerware, which is their unique and unique advantage, and this product will naturally dominate the market.

Core competitiveness is the foundation of the success of an enterprise, and it is also the lasting driving force for an enterprise to thrive.In order to maintain the core competitiveness of an enterprise, it is necessary to concentrate limited firepower, specialize in one area, and constantly innovate, so that one's own enterprise is always at the forefront of the industry, and continuously raises the entry threshold in this field to effectively block the entry of competitors.Intel's chips, Microsoft's operating system, Galanz's low price, etc., have always been at the forefront through continuous strengthening of core competitiveness, and have driven the development of related industries.

In Tencent's corporate culture, Ma Huateng's seriousness and focus have become the most reliable and reliable pillar of "Tencent people".At present, Tencent QQ has become the first instant messaging service provider in Asia and the third in the world.why?The root cause, in Ma Huateng's own words, is, "Instant messaging is Tencent's professional field. The company has been concentrating on this field without distraction. All the application services provided by the company to users are based on instant messaging. Above. Now we have achieved more than [-] million registered users, I think this is the result of focus.”

"He is a dedicated person." Almost all industry partners will use the word "focus" when referring to this 32-year-old boss.In the past five years, Tencent has been doing and only doing the work of improving and standardizing QQ services. It is the only company in China that focuses on online instant messaging.

For example, the development of QQ products that can be seen everywhere on the street, Ma Huateng said frankly: "At first Tencent also wanted to do it by itself, but after repeated consideration, it decided to separate it from the main business and outsource it in the form of authorization. Although this will lose part of the profit, But it allows us to focus on the improvement of the QQ system. Moreover, we are not familiar with the toy industry, and this method allows us to avoid cross-industry risks.”

Focus on doing projects that you are good at running.Concentrating on organizational management and business development will give the company the opportunity to grow. This is a professional business philosophy.The Internet boom at the turn of the century once attracted countless venture capitals to join in. After the tide, people saw a scene of decline.During that dot-com winter, many people left, and those who remained lost their way and adopted the strategy of blooming everywhere.

As an IM operator, Tencent hangs its own destiny on the line of "instant messaging" and has stepped out of the business model of working hand in hand with many powerful enterprises.After concentration comes the joy of harvest, and Tencent has long been able to appreciate the taste of it.Enterprise management is a complex matter, and it requires business decision-makers to have monographs of management concepts in order to ensure that excellent business plans are truly implemented.

The energy of the sun is many times greater than a laser beam, but it cannot penetrate a piece of paper, but a laser can penetrate a thick steel plate. This is the effect of concentration and focus.Therefore, concentrating on management can enable weak new companies to gain a firm foothold, and enable companies that were not very strong to break through the bottleneck and develop steadily.

Core business is the foundation for an enterprise to maintain its core competitiveness.If we are separated, it will be very difficult for us to survive and develop; even if we can achieve some achievements, it is certainly not the greatest achievement we can achieve.Therefore, it is wise to choose the field where you are most suitable and good at developing yourself.Only in this way can the enterprise gain its inherent advantages, so that it can control force with vigor and overcome rigidity with softness.

(End of this chapter)