Financial reporter Wang Beibei
On April 21, Haier 2024 Qingdao Marathon will start for the sixth time, and runners from all over the world will release their passion for sports between the mountains and the sea.
After five years of polishing, the influence of Qingdao Marathon has been enhanced again, and it has been upgraded to the World Athletics Federation Elite Standard Event in 2024. The Haier Qingdao Marathon attracted participants from 38 countries and regions, including 424 foreigners, runners from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
At this special juncture, the organizing committee of the event and the sponsors have carefully planned and upgraded in an all-round way from medals, uniforms, expos, etc., to bring a new experience to runners. For example, for the first time, the Haier 2024 Qingdao Marathon Expo will be held at the Qingdao International Convention and Exhibition Center, and runners can pick up their race materials at the expo site during the time period specified before the race. At the same time, the supporting content of the expo has also been upgraded again, integrating sports and cultural activities, the display of sporting goods and special supporting services to increase the interactive experience of the players.
Under all kinds of upgrades, Qingma is "new", with the strongest blessing from Haier. This also reflects the determination and confidence of the host city to continue to "run" this event, and behind this is the belief and practice of a group of people, a company and a city on long-termism.
A "marathon" of a group of people
The game is about to start, and Song Zhiping can't hold back his running thoughts. He has had a talent for running since he was a child, but he is a special participant.
Due to his high fever and deafness as a child, Song Beiping has a first-degree hearing disability, but these cannot stop him from trying to "run" upward. Thinking that he had achieved certain results, he actively looked for communication with the Disabled Persons' Federation, got the opportunity to participate in provincial competitions, and started his "marathon life". Now Song Erping, who is equal to the honor and continues to set new records, is still serious and hard working in marathon training, running to and from work, and even running three full marathons a day.
Song Beiping's other identity is a front-line employee of Haier, and he is currently a corner lining installer at the Shunde washing machine interconnection factory. At work, he is also "running horses". Before Song Beiping was transferred, he used to do a hanging cylinder station, which has always been the bottleneck station of Shunde drum. Song Beiping constantly summarized in the process of work: save a few tenths of a second by making pre-assembled parts in advance, save 1 second by bending deep waist, and save 1 second by tooling board with foot hook...... In the end, the cycle time was increased by 3~5 seconds.
"Life is not a marathon, it's a lifelong marathon. Song Beiping said.
Life circumstances may be different, but the spirit of sticking to long-termism and constantly breaking through oneself is often similar.
Running is a habit that Ma Cheng has developed since he joined the army. After retiring from the army and changing jobs, Ma Cheng rented a two-and-a-half-meter counter in the mall to make home appliances, opened his first Haier store in 2006, and became the president of the national Haier store in 2013, with a store area of 2,500 square meters. Ma Cheng said that just like running a marathon, it is the persistence step by step that makes his career bigger and bigger.
"Persistence is an attitude, and if you go the right way, you are not afraid of going far. Ma Cheng said that he will work hard to achieve satisfactory results in this year's "Green Horse".
Song Beiping and Ma Cheng are a microcosm of 100,000 runners, in the Qingdao Marathon, not only more and more professional runners have joined it, but also more and more runners have begun to prepare professionally, which has once again improved the professional reputation and influence of the Qingdao Marathon.
A company's "marathon"
Whether it is Song Beiping, an ordinary runner, or Ma Cheng, who has been persisting for a long time, they have always maintained an "upward" attitude towards life, which coincides with Haier's belief in pursuing customer value and moving towards a "world-class enterprise".
Warren Buffett once said, "A truly great company must have a 'moat' that can endure to protect the company from enjoying a high rate of return on invested capital." The implication is that if you do a good job, you can't think about chasing the "outlet" all day long. If an enterprise wants to live well, it must build its own moat in a down-to-earth manner.
Haier Smart Home is a typical example. More than 30 years ago, when domestic home appliance enterprises went abroad, they generally chose to do trade, sell their products on an OEM basis, and make money quickly. Haier Smart Home has chosen the most difficult path - insisting on the long-term path of independent brand creation.
From 1991 to 2016, it took 26 years for Haier Smart Home to achieve a balance of revenue in overseas markets, and now it is entering a full harvest period. In 2023, Haier Smart Home's overseas revenue will be 136.412 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.62%.
The same is true at home. When the home appliance industry is fighting for price, as early as 2006, Haier Smart Home created a high-end brand Casarte, which has been doing it for 17 years, and now Casarte has become the NO.1 of China's high-end home appliance brands......
Through a set of market-leading data, disruptive innovative products, and innovative scenarios, Haier has demonstrated to the outside world its determination to move from "the world's first electrical appliance brand" to "a world-class enterprise". Now, after a long period of perseverance, Haier Smart Home has stood at the top of the industry and entered one billion households around the world, becoming synonymous with high-end home appliances and smart homes.
Throughout the development process of Haier Smart Home, it can be seen that Haier has been conducting a marathon of continuous innovation in the industry and maintaining a continuous leading position.
A city's "marathon"
The home appliance industry is one of the five world's leading industries in mainland China, and it is also a strategic pillar industry with the longest development time, the largest first-mover advantage, the strongest brand power, the strongest standard strength and the most abundant innovation resources in Qingdao. As one of the first cities in the country to put forward and take the lead in implementing the "brand strategy", Qingdao seized the historical opportunity of reform and opening up, and broke out a characteristic development path of "promoting brand promotion with quality improvement, promoting industrial upgrading with brand promotion, and promoting brand city promotion with industrial promotion".
While the city is helping Haier to continue to develop, Qingdao's gold-lettered signboard as a "brand capital" is also becoming more and more shining. It can be said that over the past few decades, Haier and Qingdao have grown together and carried out a two-way "marathon".
Now, Haier, which is at the forefront of Qingdao's home appliance industry, has expressed its responsibility to the city with its own actions. The spirit of "runner" and "Haier" together build the spirit of Qingdao city to continue to ride the wind.
Back to the event itself, in recent years, the Qingdao Marathon has gradually entered the center of the city stage, entered the hearts of the people, and is moving towards a new height. Since 2017, the Qingdao Marathon has been successfully held for five times, and after five years of growth, the event has become a "World Athletics Federation Road Running Signature Event" and "Chinese Athletics Association Gold Medal Event". It can be seen that under the continuous efforts, Qingdao has adhered to high standards and high levels to build a domestic first-class and internationally renowned marathon event, which has achieved phased results.
As the first year of the new 5 years, in order to create the best experience for runners, Haier 2024 Qingdao Marathon will interpret professional, green and smart events in an all-round way.
In terms of professionalism and wisdom, Haier Smart Home relies on the latest smart technology to bring professional experience to runners. In the track, the digital twin service platform provides runners with a visual representation of key information on the track. At the same time, there will also be a professional marathon photography team and hundreds of video capture points on the spot, through 5G+AI technology, AI generation of exclusive videos for each runner, runners can download and share with one click on the day of the race; A number of smart scenes, such as the trendy play street, can meet the service needs and emotional value needs of the players after the game.
In terms of green, the volunteers of the Haier Brothers Running Group launched the "Green Horse" activity to clean up garbage at all nodes of the course in a timely manner, ensure cleanliness and tidiness at all times, and create a "green green horse".
"The marathon is not only a sports feast, but also a cultural exchange. Our words and deeds are the embodiment of the city's humanistic charm and civilization. As a star enterprise in Qingdao, Haier has blessed Qingma and made the event more and more influential. As an ordinary citizen, I also have a sense of urban pride. Mr. Liu, a citizen of Qingdao, said.
It is worth mentioning that the Haier 2024 Qingdao Marathon will be broadcast live through the sports channel of China Central Radio and Television, striving to present the most beautiful scenery of Qingdao and the youthful vitality of the people of the island city to Chinese and foreign audiences, and spread the cityscape and grand occasion of Qingdao to the world.
With the joint efforts of people, enterprises and cities, this Qingdao Marathon will continue to uphold the concept of "safe, orderly, environmentally friendly and wonderful", with the theme of "health, happiness, vitality and characteristics", and send an invitation to the world in the name of Qingma!