On April 1, Konka Group released its 2023 annual performance report, during the reporting period, the revenue was 17.849 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 39.71%, the net profit loss attributable to the parent company was 2.164 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 47.15%, and the non-net profit loss attributable to the parent company was 2.914 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9.38%. This is Konka's non-net profit since 2011 for 13 consecutive years of negative non-net profit, this is not an April Fool's joke, since the company's total revenue exceeded 55 billion yuan in 2019, Konka's revenue has declined year by year, and it will fall below 20 billion yuan in 2023.
In 2024, Konka announced that it would "base itself on its main business and advocate long-term value". Under the new development framework of "one axis, two wheels and three drives", can this 44-year-old veteran household appliance company regain its course and regain its former glory?
In 2023, Konka's revenue will be fixed at 17.849 billion yuan, and the last time its annual revenue was less than 20 billion yuan was in 2015. In contrast, several companies that used to be on a par with Konka in the field of color TV have shown a different look. In 2023, Skyworth Group's overall turnover will be 69.031 billion yuan, and it will shout the slogan of "100 billion yuan for the next stop". Hisense Group's revenue exceeded 200 billion yuan for the first time,Among them, Hisense video, which is mainly responsible for color TV business53.615 billion yuan,Hisense TV has achieved growth for 6 consecutive years。 The combined revenue scale of TCL Technology and TCL Industry, two major industrial groups under TCL Group, has already exceeded the threshold of 250 billion yuan.
In the color TV circle,Konka、Skyworth、TCL The three companies are quite fateful,Its founding fathers all graduated from the same university,Known in the industry"Three musketeers of South China University of Technology。 In the era of rapid progress in the industry,The sum of the color TV output of the three companies once accounted for 40% of the total output of the country。
Among them,Founded in 1980Konka Group is the first Sino-foreign joint venture electronic enterprise born after the reform and opening up of the mainland,In 1998, Konka color TV domestic market share jumped first,In 1999, China's first high-definition digital TV was developed。 From 2003 to 2007, Konka won the sales championship in China's color TV market for five consecutive years.
At the beginning of the 21st century, Konka has become an enterprise with an "output value of 10 billion yuan", but after more than 20 years, the performance is still hovering at 10 billion yuan.
"Konka's performance over the years is embarrassing, whether it is business performance, industry status, brand image, or stock market performance, there is a big gap with expectations. This is the sentiment of people in the household appliance industry.
44-year-old Konka, what's wrong?
Data source: Konka's "swing" and "slow shot" of the National Bureau of Statistics
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the output of color TVs in mainland China was 74,318,300 units in 2004 and 193 million units in 2023. Behind the rise in data,It is the color TV industry in the past 20 years、Dramatic changes in the development model、Competition pattern、Competitive means。
In the 21st century, the color TV industry has entered the "era of low profits". After 2018, the color TV market gradually stabilized in an interval, and the industry entered the stage of competition in the stock market.
At this time,Color TV companies have been transformed and upgraded through diversified layout,Actively looking for the second and even third growth curve,Now Skyworth's photovoltaic business and TCL's semiconductor display business have become the highlights of their respective business maps。
In fact, Konka's sense of crisis is not weak, and it began to take corresponding actions very early.
In the field of color TV, the main business, Konka actively expands to the middle and upper reaches, in order to win more initiative: in 2000, the first microcontroller chip in China's color TV industry was developed, and in 2004, the largest high-definition color TV production base in the Yangtze River Delta region was built in Anhui, and in 2009, the Kunshan LCD module base was completed and put into operation, completing its strategic layout in the LCD TV industry. At the same time, Konka is also exploring diversified businesses, striving to gain more weight in the transition period of the global home appliance industry. In the field of white electricity, in 2007, Konka's first white power industrial park was completed and put into operation in Chuzhou, Anhui Province, in 2018, it spent 455 million yuan to acquire Xinfei, a veteran domestic refrigerator company, and in 2023, Konka's Xi'an dishwasher production line was officially put into operation.
At the same time, Konka also aimed at some popular tracks, and even seemed a little aggressive. In the field of mobile phones, in the era of feature phones, Konka is China's first batch of independent development of mobile phone enterprises, that year with high endorsement fees invited Chow Yun-fat, Maggie Cheung and other stars as brand spokespersons, in 2003 Konka mobile phone annual sales reached 5 million, ranking third in the domestic mobile phone. Even in 2022, Konka launched its new 5G smartphone. Of course, in addition to the field of consumer electronics, Konka has also invested in more fields such as real estate, semiconductor optoelectronics, etc.
44-year-old Konka, what's wrong?
In 2016, Konka's overall sales revenue exceeded 20 billion yuan, and in 2018, it reached 46.1 billion yuan. However, compared with its competitors, Konka's series of investments over the years have not achieved outstanding results. In 2018, the total revenue of TCL Group and Hisense Group exceeded 100 billion yuan, and the revenue of Haier, Midea, and Gree exceeded 200 billion yuan.
In 2018, Konka released the transformation and upgrading strategy, determined the core strategy of "one core, two main lines of development, three development strategies, and four business groups", and for the first time pointed to the goal of 100 billion yuan, planning to achieve revenue of 100 billion yuan by 2022. At that time, its industry had involved five major fields: home appliances, Internet operation, supply chain management, financial investment, and industrial parks. In that year, Konka established two new business divisions of semiconductor technology and environmental protection technology, and officially entered the environmental protection and semiconductor industry.
Following the release of the new strategy in 2018, Konka said in 2023 that it will take the new development framework of "one axis, two wheels and three drives" as its strategic guidance. Industry insiders pointed out that in the more than ten years of drastic changes in the pattern of the home appliance industry, Konka's most impressive thing is the vacillation of its business strategy. For a company, corporate strategy is related to the holistic, long-term and fundamental issues of enterprise development. However, it can be seen from the frequent changes in Konka's strategy in recent years that the strategic determination of enterprise development is not enough.
For example, Konka also announced its transformation to the Internet in 2014 and released the "Easy Strategy", claiming to build China's first smart TV Internet operation platform. However, due to the frequent management changes in 2015, the planning strategy died halfway.
In some specific actions, Konka also shows a certain lag. In 2009, Konka's LCD module base in Kunshan was completed and put into operation, at this time, Hisense, TCL, Skyworth, which has taken the lead in completing the construction of LCD module factories or production lines, have far surpassed Konka in LCD TV shipments. At the end of 2022, Konka launched its second-generation 5G smartphone Konka X20, equipped with a screen with a resolution of only 720P LCD screen, and the battery only supports 10W charging, and at that time, ultra-high definition, super fast charging, OLED screen and other elements were already common in the extremely involuted mobile phone track.
Can growth be re-embraced?
In view of the main reasons for the net profit loss in 2023, Konka Group mentioned that the company's color TV business has incurred a certain degree of loss due to factors such as product strategy adjustment and continuous fluctuations in the supply chain; the group adheres to the principle of "park service guarantee strategy main business", continues to shrink the park business, and basically has no new large-scale industrial park projects in 2023; the semiconductor business is still in the early stage of industrialization, and the R&D investment continues to grow, failing to achieve large-scale and efficient output.
In the past five or six years, although Konka has made various efforts, its market position has not risen but declined, which is worthy of deep reflection by the management.
44-year-old Konka, what's wrong?
"I think it is necessary to explore the transformation of enterprises, and I also appreciate their attitude of seeking change, but in the face of rapid changes in the market and technological progress, enterprises must take practical actions. Zhang Yi, CEO and chief analyst of iiMedia Consulting, stressed to the reporter of China Electronics News that it is very important for the old home appliance companies represented by Konka to maintain their competitiveness through self-innovation and transformation.
At present, in Konka's latest strategic planning, the "one axis" is to take electronic technology as the main axis of development, and the "two wheels" are to take consumer electronics and semiconductors as the development support.
In the field of semiconductors, Konka has entered the field of Mini/Micro LED, which has attracted much attention. This field is regarded as a new generation of display technology, with a wide range of application scenarios in various electronic devices, and related companies are constantly increasing investment. Among them, Mini LED is relatively more mature and has been implemented in vehicle displays, large-screen TVs, etc., with considerable market space, while Micro LED, which is regarded as the ultimate display technology, has excellent comprehensive performance and is highly anticipated by the industry.
In the eyes of industry insiders, Konka regards the semiconductor optoelectronic industry as one of the important supports, this positioning itself is no problem, and the Micro LED and Mini LED as the main direction of attack are indeed on the drumbeat, but the former is one of the most promising future technologies in the display field, due to technology and cost reasons, there is still a distance from large-scale commercialization.
At present, Konka Group's semiconductor industry is continuously improving. It is understood that Konka's self-developed Micro LED "hybrid mass transfer technology" three-color transfer yield reached 99.999%;Chongqing Konka Semiconductor Optoelectronic Technology Industrial Park was officially put into operation, 15um * 30um Micro LED chip production yield reached 99%, and landed MLED direct display mass production line, MLED chip mass production line and other industrialization projects. However, if you want to see a more obvious return on these investments, you will need to wait for a longer time.
In another "wheel" consumer electronics field, Konka is trying to return it to its dominant position. At present, Konka's home appliance business segment has covered four major appliances such as color TVs, air conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines. In the eyes of industry insiders, Konka's consumer electronics business is imperative to be large-scale. Konka's color TV business will achieve operating income of 4.71 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year decrease of 6.26%, which has been left far behind by rivals, in contrast, TCL, Skyworth, Hisense and other companies have performed well in Mini LED TV, wallpaper TV, laser TV, and have outlined a new growth curve. As the only bright spot of each business line in the 2023 annual report, the white power business is more competitive in the market, and whether it can grasp the trend of industrial intelligent upgrading has become the key. In the face of a market environment surrounded by strong competitors, Konka wants to achieve its growth goals, and the next challenges are really not small.
In addition, it has to be mentioned that today's Konka brand influence is not as good as before. In the face of the important task of brand rejuvenation of "not advancing or retreating", I did not see too many measures of Konka. Since the beginning of this year, a new round of large-scale "trade-in" of household appliances has been on the way, if it is still the image of the "old" Konka, I am afraid it is difficult to obtain a large number of "new" markets.
