Fang Zhenghui: The spiritual core of small enterprises

The survival and development of small businesses is a worldwide topic. It creates jobs and tax revenues, but also brings consumption and demand; it is a stabilizer of social operation, and it also involves the sorrows and joys of thousands of households; it creates wealth and culture, and brings comfort and convenience to people; it is also a spiritual pursuit, a way of life, the cells and genes of a country and society's innovation and vitality, and it also entrusts the dreams and hopes of a person, a group of people and the broad masses of grassroots.

The importance of small enterprises in the national economy and people's livelihood cannot be overemphasized. The mainland has a huge number of small and medium-sized enterprises, and they are also the most dynamic enterprise group, and they are the new force of China's economic and social development, absorbing nearly 80% of the total number of employees in enterprises. In the United States, small businesses with fewer than 500 employees account for 99 percent of all businesses, generating nearly half of GDP and exporting more than one-third. Globally, SMEs account for about 90% of all businesses in the world, 70% of employment, and 90% of global GDP. It not only plays an important role in the global economy and labor market, but also shows strong innovation vitality and is increasingly becoming an important source of innovation.

However, small enterprises have inevitable shortcomings in almost all aspects of business needs, such as talent, capital, management, and resources, which are congenital "underlying diseases" in terms of familiar terminology during the epidemic. When the coronavirus hit, those with "underlying diseases" were always hard to resist. So, naturally, people are looking more to government support, and in fact countries are doing the same. The U.S. federal government established the Small Business Administration in 1953 to provide services for small enterprises in financial guarantees, investment loans, export aid, personnel training, etc., and the mainland also has a series of support policies for small and medium-sized enterprises, a variety of funds, and various preferential treatments. A leader of the Hubei provincial government department said that they have set up a provincial leading group for promoting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises composed of 23 departments to study and solve problems on a regular basis. Especially for specialized, special and new small enterprises, they enjoy preferential policies in terms of capital allocation, enterprise listing, talent introduction, pilot demonstration and selection. When I conducted research in Lingchuan County, Shanxi Province, which is located in the Taihang Mountains, I found that this small and underdeveloped economic county with a population of less than 200,000 people also has a special small and medium-sized enterprise development promotion center, which has implemented a variety of policies to support the development of small enterprises.

Still, the question of the survival of small businesses has always been a lingering shadow. If the epidemic is a sudden and unexpected black swan, let it never be seen. But for small businesses, those innate weaknesses, innate deficiencies, and the ubiquitous difficulties and adversities in business can be said to be the epidemic that will never disappear and will always accompany small businesses. For small businesses, "death is a regular occurrence". Observing successful small businesses, although they have their own powers, often share some common intrinsic motivation and spiritual traits.

Gary Rivlin, a Pulitzer Prize-winning and in-depth investigative reporter, has conducted a survey of the survival of small businesses in the United States during the pandemic and published the book "Saving Main Street: Small Business in the Time of COVID-19." The book tells the story of a group of small American businesses that survived and thrived in the face of adversity. Cusumano is an Italian-inspired restaurant located in the town of Old Fogg in northeastern Pennsylvania, USA. Chef and owner Kusumano has loved cooking since he was a child and is good at cooking, and after graduating from university in 2013, he took out a loan with his wife to start a business. Until the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in early 2020, when "stopping dine-in" and "restricting customer flow" became the norm, many small restaurants were hanging by a thread, and Cusumano began to face a life and death test. With a high level of confidence in his culinary skills and a strong passion for making restaurants, Cusumano has worked hard to change the way he operates, the venue, the dishes and the people. After more than a year, the prevention and control measures were completely lifted, and the restaurant not only survived the disaster, but also expanded its business premises and increased the number of popular products, forming a new advantage. How did Kusumano do this? I believe that many small businesses and small restaurant practitioners want to know. This is exactly what the author Rivlin analyzed and discussed in depth. He presented the complex experience of small businesses struggling to survive and operating in various ways under the epidemic through storytelling, clearly and clearly in front of readers.

There are many more examples of small businesses in the book, including hair salons, gyms, furniture stores, pharmacies, gift shops, small chocolate makers, and many other small businesses that are essential to their daily lives. What is commendable is that when this book tells the stories of these small businesses, it shows the thoughts and feelings of small business owners and the strains in crisis to readers. As such, it is also a story about the struggles of small businesses and small people. The personalities and ups and downs of these real-world characters have aroused people's in-depth thinking about the fate of grassroots enterprises and grassroots groups. In the past, those small businesses that were almost as ubiquitous as air, breakfast shops, shoe repair shops, convenience stores, small pharmacies, watch shops, etc., have actually become a part of our lives, but we often take the air for granted, Xi take it for granted, and lack attention. Until one day, when they disappear, we feel the inconvenience of life.

In the face of irresistible external difficulties, the most powerful force, and the most moving place, is the innate endowment and characteristics of those excellent small business owners. As the author says in this book, "Some people survive by innovation, some people survive by perseverance, but all survivors rely on their own hearts and strength to get through the difficulties." "The reason why small businesses did not close down in the end as predicted by experts and scholars during the pandemic is because of the creativity and vitality of small business owners, which is the biggest variable that is difficult for any tool to accurately assess. As some scholars have said, if we ignore the existence of entrepreneurs when talking about economic growth, it is like a "Hamlet" without a prince, and the real protagonist does not appear. Focusing on entrepreneurship and exploring their inner world is the most distinctive part of observing small businesses. The dream of the grassroots is the place where the entrepreneurial spirit grows, and it is a precious force for the development of a country and society. I think that if we can't give wings to such a dream, we can at least let this dream that grows in the grass roots quietly and freely sprout, grow, blossom, and bear fruit on the vast land. Perhaps, this is the climate and soil that small businesses need.

Successful small businesses tend to have the following distinct characteristics. One is love from the heart. Whether it's for survival, legacy, or interest, starting a small business requires a strong sense of love. Small businesses usually have a low barrier to entry, which means fierce competition and a high elimination rate. But love can last a long time, and love will not give up easily. The owner of a chain restaurant in Beijing is over 70 years old this year, and has been busy on the front line of the restaurant, striving for perfection, meticulously grasping the details of the dishes, and constantly introducing new products, and the chef has been the champion of the Beijing Cooking Competition for several consecutive years. Very few people can do this, and this threshold is not easy to cross. The second is extraordinary persistence. This is the embodiment of the traditional business spirit and craftsman spirit, but also the core of the entrepreneurial spirit, diligently seeking the ultimate in products and services, truly do no one I have, no one has me, no one has me, never slack. In fact, this is also the foundation and premise of doing a good job in all undertakings, in the process of continuing to forge their core capabilities and differentiated advantages, any setbacks, difficulties, frustrations can not shake their perseverance. The third is to never stop changing. Not only according to the new situation in a timely manner, but also constantly analyze and study consumer needs, take the initiative to change, change, and constantly adjust themselves to adapt to changes in the external environment. Love is not to cling to the incomplete, and persistence is not to be complacent. Just as a football game must look for opportunities to shoot in sports, small businesses must be good at seeking new opportunities in the midst of change, which is innovation and adaptation, and it is also the only way to be reborn. In the raging epidemic, a number of small enterprises have collapsed and disappeared forever, and some have survived, especially some have become stronger after the catastrophe of the epidemic. Looking deeply, their spiritual cores are all the same.

2023 is the first year that the mainland will lift the epidemic prevention and control. At the beginning of this year, the owner of a nearby gym I was familiar with had run away, and a well-received dumpling restaurant that I frequented had changed its door. According to statistical analysis, the average lifespan of small and medium-sized enterprises in China is only 2.9 years, 60% of enterprises will go bankrupt within 5 years, and 85% of enterprises will disappear within 10 years. The average lifespan of a small business in the United States and Japan is about 8 to 12 years. The joys and sorrows behind these numbers may only be shared by small business owners themselves, as Cusumano says, who says that running his own restaurant always feels uncertain and always has problems. However, the idea of hiberning and closing the door in times of trouble has never been out of place in Old Forgg. "In our world, people are about perseverance and never admitting defeat. ”

Author: Fang Zhenghui, former deputy director of China Foreign Languages Publishing and Distribution Bureau