Tao Te Ching and Wuwei Management

Chapter 49 4 "The tree of the embrace is born at the end of the hair": discovering the big market from small details

Big things are made up of small details.

The embracing wood is born at the end of the mill; the nine-story platform rises from the soil; the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

—— "Tao Te Ching" Chapter 64
The big tree that hugs each other grows from tiny sprouts; the nine-story high platform is built from every pile of soil; the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.Starting from the point of view of "big is born from small", Lao Tzu expounded the law of the development and change of things, explaining that the great things of "a tree in an embrace", "a platform with nine stories" and "a journey of a thousand miles" all start from "born at the end of a hair". , "starting from accumulated soil", and "starting from a single step" as the beginning, vividly proves that big things all develop from small things.This warns entrepreneurs that no matter what they do, they must start with small things before they can achieve great things.

In the 20s, at the beginning of my country's development of the Daqing Oilfield, the Japanese tried every means to collect information on Daqing, and they made accurate logical inferences through a series of phenomena.At that time, a photo of Wang Tieren was published on the cover of People's Pictorial. It was snowing heavily, and the iron man was wearing a big leather jacket. Based on this situation, Japan analyzed that Daqing might be in the three northeastern provinces, otherwise there would not be such a heavy snowfall.They read a news report from the People’s Daily: Wang Jinxi went to Majiayao and said, “What a huge oil field, we want to throw the hat of backward oil to the Pacific Ocean!” From this, Japan speculated that Majiayao was the center of Daqing.

The Japanese also saw "People's China" report that Daqing's equipment was not pushed by horse-drawn carts, but was carried by people on their shoulders. They analyzed that Majiayao was not far from the station, and they couldn't carry it if it was far away. In 1966, Wang Jinxi participated in the National People's Congress, and the Japanese analyzed that: if the oil comes out of the well, otherwise Wang Jinxi would not be able to become a "member of Congress."Later, they estimated the diameter of the oil well based on the frame of the drill floor handle in a photo of the drilling rig in the "People's Daily".Based on these intelligence and analysis, the Japanese petrochemical equipment company prepared in advance and designed oil equipment that met the needs of Daqing Oilfield. When the Chinese government invited bids from global companies, it won the bid in one fell swoop.

The Japanese came to quite precise conclusions through rigorous detailed reasoning.This fully demonstrates that entrepreneurs must be good at analyzing and grasping detailed information, and details can also bring benefits and value to enterprises.

From a small rice shop owner to a billionaire, how big a leap is this?This is the leap of billionaire Wang Yongqing's life.Wang Yongqing, like Li Ka-shing, is a typical oriental businessman. Their business wisdom is to make good use of details.Wang Yongqing's detailed thinking is worth learning from and learning from growing Chinese entrepreneurs.

In his early years, Wang Yongqing could not afford to read because his family was poor, so he had to do business. In 1932, 16-year-old Wang Yongqing went to Chiayi to open a rice shop.At that time, there were nearly 30 rice shops in Chiayi, and the competition was fierce.At that time, Wang Yongqing, who had only 200 yuan in funds, could only rent a small shop in a remote alley.His rice store was opened the latest and the smallest, without any advantages. When it was newly opened, the business was deserted.

At that time, Wang Yongqing's rice store could not do bulk business or retail because of its small scale and low capital.Those time-honored rice shops in good locations are also engaged in wholesale and retail, and no one wants to buy goods from remote rice shops.Even if Wang Yongqing went door-to-door selling rice cookers on his back, the effect was not very good.

Wang Yongqing felt that if Midian wanted to gain a foothold in the market, he had to change his thinking, and he had to have some advantages that others did not or could not do.Soon, Wang Yongqing found an entry point to improve the quality and service of rice.At that time, Taiwan's agricultural technology was backward. After the rice was harvested, it was spread on the road to dry, and then threshed, which made some impurities mixed in the rice.Before making rice, users have to wash the rice, which is inconvenient to use, but both buyers and sellers are accustomed to it.

Wang Yongqing found business opportunities from this common phenomenon.He led his two younger brothers to work together, not afraid of trouble, and picked out the chaff, sand and other sundries mixed in the rice bit by bit, and then sold them.In this way, the quality of rice sold in Wang Yongqing's rice shop will be higher, so it is well received by customers.With reputation, the business of the rice shop is booming day by day.At the same time, Wang Yongqing also further improved the service.At that time, users bought rice by themselves and shipped it by themselves. This was nothing to young people, but it was very troublesome for some elderly people.Wang Yongqing noticed this, so he went beyond the routine and took the initiative to deliver the goods to his door.This customer-friendly service measure quickly won the market for him.

Every time he delivers rice to a new customer, Wang Yongqing carefully records the capacity of the family’s rice tank, and asks how many people eat, how many adults, how many children, and how much food each person eats. Write down the approximate time when you buy rice for the first time in your notebook.At that time, without waiting for the customer to come to the door, he will take the initiative to deliver the corresponding amount of rice to the customer's home.

In the process of delivering rice, Wang Yongqing also learned that most of the local residents are working for a living, and their lives are not rich. Many families are already out of pocket before the payday.Because Wang Yongqing took the initiative to deliver the goods to the door and asked for the payment to be collected, sometimes the customer was short of money and couldn't pay for it for a while, which made everyone very embarrassed.In order to solve this problem, Wang Yongqing took the method of delivering rice on time and not collecting money immediately, but agreeing to come to collect money on the date of salary payment, which greatly facilitated customers.

It is precisely through the use of detailed thinking that Wang Yongqing grasps every detail in the business management, gradually develops and grows, and finally establishes the corporate empire of Formosa Plastics Group, and thus Wang Yongqing has become a generation of business leaders.The current Formosa Plastics Group spans multiple industries, especially in the field of petrochemical industry, and has established a complete industrial chain from crude oil import, transportation, smelting, cracking, processing and manufacturing to retailing of refined oil, which is unique in Taiwan Enterprise Group.

The ancients said: "Those who don't plan for the overall situation can't plan for a region; those who don't plan for everything can't plan for a while." Of course, what we are talking about here is a strategic issue. As an entrepreneur, if you lack a kind of acumen in thinking, you can't make a difference from small details. Once you discover a big market, you cannot predict the future.We often say that thinking determines the way out, and ideas guide careers, which is actually the same truth.Wang Yongqing is characterized by being good at details and adapting to the market. He does not stick to the rules, is good at discovering the market from the details, and adopts new methods to solve problems in a timely manner.

(End of this chapter)