Tao Te Ching and Wuwei Management

Chapter 48 3 "Major events in the world must be done in detail": innovation starts from the details

How can we sweep the world without sweeping a house?
Major events in the world must be done in detail.

—— "Tao Te Ching" Chapter 63
If you want to achieve great things, you must first start with small things, do it one by one, go step by step, step by step, and move forward step by step.As long as entrepreneurs persevere in every detail, there will be no major event in the world that cannot be accomplished.

A young man found a delivery job in a fast food restaurant. The monthly salary was only 300 yuan, but the work was very hard. During peak hours, he had to deliver more than 600 fast food meals a day.But he worked hard and worked hard for 6 years.Many people advised him to find a job with a higher salary, but he just shook his head with a smile.

Six years later, the young man founded a domestic service company.His business is surprisingly good, and he has become a big boss with tens of millions in a few years.Many people find it incredible: How could a small food delivery employee stand out in a highly competitive market in a blink of an eye?In fact, it is not surprising at all: besides him, how many food delivery employees can work for 6 years?During these 6 years, he met thousands of businessmen.This is the capital of his great deeds.

The truth of the world is often so simple that it is unbelievable.

Therefore, we should look at the impact of the little things in front of us on our life goals in a different way.When we discover its value, we will pay more attention to it.No matter how small something is, if you decide to do it, you must "concentrate superior forces" and do it better than others.Perhaps, while we are doing small things easily, our industrial building has been quietly completed.

Every entrepreneur is aware of the importance of innovation, but how many companies have noticed that innovation must start from the details and carry out detail innovation?On this issue, Chinese entrepreneurs should learn from Japanese companies.Due to Japan's small market, strong dependence on foreign markets, and fierce product competition, Japanese companies attach great importance to innovation in every detail of production and operation.

In terms of detail innovation, the most typical company is Imura Envelope Company.

Many people take it for granted that the envelope company should have no profit, so there is nothing worth innovating.Japan's Imura Envelope Company has created a corporate empire through details that others cannot notice.

The company produces four to five billion envelopes every year, and its annual turnover is as high as more than 200 billion yen.Imura Envelope Co., Ltd. has established a leading position in the industry, relying on its strong development capabilities and endless creativity.

More than 40 years ago, Imura Corporation has been constantly brainstorming innovative designs for envelopes and postcards.They developed and found that: a hole is opened in the center of the envelope, and a transparent plastic sleeve is bonded to the envelope by heat treatment, so that the name of the recipient can be seen from the outside. This kind of envelope is still used for telephone bills or product promotions; in order to keep confidential , People often mail important documents in envelopes, but in this way, the cost of mailing is very high.Through continuous investigation and research, Imura Company found that by changing the design of postcards, customers' mailing costs can be effectively reduced.They added a layer of stickers on the postcards to keep the content from being exposed, so that the postcards can also be used for important documents.Most Japanese banks still use this postcard to send their financial card PINs to customers.

In order to continuously improve the company's products, Imura has set up a committee to screen ideas. This committee is composed of 15 young employees in their 20s. They have active thinking and can quickly adapt to the needs of the times and the market.The committee meets monthly to discuss ideas and market potential, and to develop expertise.Imura Corporation has developed innumerable ideas through detailed innovations, enabling the company to create impressive performance of tens of billions of yen relying on small commodities such as envelopes and postcards.

There are too many Japanese companies like Imura who are committed to continuous detail innovation, which also highlights the characteristics of Japanese companies' refined management.This has very strong enlightenment significance for Chinese entrepreneurs.China's market capacity and products that can be developed are much broader than Japan's. The key lies in whether entrepreneurs can pay attention to details, whether they can build detailed thinking, and guide enterprises to carry out all-round innovation through detailed thinking, thereby enhancing the innovation competition of enterprises. force.

"The only monopoly resource now, I think, is innovation. This intangible resource is not available to others." Zhang Jian, President of Broad Air Conditioning, said.It can be said that innovation will also become the content of competition among enterprises. We must not only carry out innovation in various aspects such as technology, management, and culture, but more importantly, apply innovation, a monopoly resource, to every aspect of enterprise life. In a detail, this is an issue that entrepreneurs with a strategic vision must pay attention to.

(End of this chapter)