In 1986, Wang An Computer Company was still a large company with annual sales of 3 billion US dollars, and Wang An himself was also worth 2 billion, ranking fifth on the list of the richest people in the United States.
Who would have thought that such a beautiful company would file for bankruptcy in 6 years!
Although Wang An Company has become a dust of history, the experience left by its tragedy is worth each of us to think deeply about.
Do not trust professional managers, walk on one leg
I believe that many people who have paid attention to the bankruptcy of Wang An Company know that the root cause of bankruptcy is the loss of business opportunities for personal computers, resulting in the erosion of the market by later Apple and IBM.
In fact, in 1978, several executives of Wang An jointly proposed that the company should develop in the direction of personal PCs, but Wang An, who was already one of the world's leading large computer manufacturers at the time, thought that making small computers such as personal PCs was "unheard of and absurd", so the proposal was shelved, and it was not until a few years later when IBM's personal computers had sold well that Wang An realized the mistake in strategic direction.
In fact, whether it is the tragedy of Wang An or the tragedy of Nokia, there is a sense of arbitrariness of those in power behind it. I feel that everything I think is right.
The company is mine, the company is my family
Even now, many bosses of listed companies think so, the company was founded by me, it is mine, and the number one can always only be my family, which is no different from the ancient imperial inheritance thinking.
The tragedy of Wang An's company has been irreversible since Wang An appointed his son Wang Lie as the number one in the company.
First of all, everyone was not convinced, a hairy boy came to command others, at that time there were so many experts in Wang An's company, as soon as Wang Lie took the position, many experts resigned.
From the results, we can also see the results of Wang Lie leading Wang An Computer - in the first year when Wang Lie became the number one, Wang An Computer Company suffered losses.
Later, Wang An was forced by investors to replace Wang Lie and instead invited the famous management expert Edward Miller as president, but the time was already the end of 1989, and Wang An Computer Company's missed 10 years were irreparable.
Huawei, Midea, Haier's breakthrough
At present, Ren Zhengfei holds only about 1% of Huawei's equity, and the core of Huawei's ability to do so is that Huawei is not listed, either the benefits brought by the city are that there is no direct relationship between the equity and the actual operating rights, and there will be no such thing as Yao Zhenhua using 50 billion to force Wang Shi to withdraw from Vanke.
Huawei's combination of equity and dividends brings the advantage that all employees are working hard, because they work with themselves, of course, they are energetic.
Those companies that say they want to treat the company as their own business can benchmark Huawei's approach.
Midea has done a good job of balancing ownership and management. After Midea handed over the management rights to Fang Hongbo, there was no problem of transition, and Midea was constantly advancing. This is due to Midea's management foundation and the "7+3" model.
In fact, for the owner, what is required is the evergreen foundation of the enterprise, and for the operator, it is necessary to have short-term + medium-term benefits, if the two sides cooperate properly, they can achieve two-way development of the present + future.
If He Xiangjian handed over the beauty to his children back then, he might also be able to do something, but once his children have a lack of ability, they can't cooperate like professional managers, because bosses and professional managers are two different roles after all.
Haier constructs the company into a large platform, anyone who has the ability can rely on the power of the platform to create, while Haier only charges a part of the fee, fundamentally transforming the owner and operator into a platform and entrepreneur, which is a new way of playing.
The above three companies are all seeking solutions to the root cause of the bankruptcy of Wang An Computer Company, and each of them has seen the light of light in the short term on the way to solve them, but in a few decades, who can laugh at the end, and look!