On June 14, Midea founder He Xiangjian was abducted at home.
Although it took 12 hours and 5 people were captured, He Xiangjian finally "escaped from danger". However, as a former "pawn", He Xiangjian's influence on beauty is not insignificant.
On August 26, 2012, Fang Hongbo, a professional manager of He Xiangjian, completely "handed over the baton", he withdrew from the Midea Group, but when the news of his hijacking came out, the stock price of the Midea Group still evaporated by more than 11 billion yuan in one day.
As one of the three giants of China's home appliances, He Xiangjian's Beauty has also been regarded as the "biggest opponent" by Dong Mingzhu's Gree and Zhang Ruimin's Haier, although the pattern of three points of the world has been basically doomed, but in the field of home appliance segmentation, the three are still secretly competing.
In recent years, the biggest integrated acquisition of the home appliance industry is the acquisition of Little Swan by midea, the former not only blocked the possibility of Gree entering the washing machine industry, but also equally divided with Haier, which ranked first.
From a U.S. point of view, the acquisition of Little Swan makes it bigger and stronger.
But for Little Swan, this local state-owned enterprise with unlimited scenery in the past may have become a giant like Midea several times, but it stepped into the mud on the road of transformation and has since fallen into "selling itself".
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In October 1978, deng Xiaoping, then vice premier of the State Council, visited Japan and paid a special visit to the factories of Panasonic Electric Appliance Company, pointing out that in the process of "four modernizations", the development of light industries such as home appliances is necessary.
One day this year, the owner of the Wuxi Ceramic Factory suddenly received a meeting notice, at which the leader announced that the ceramic factory had received a task from the city to produce washing machines.
The problem in front of us is that the ceramic factory of four or five hundred people has no technology, no talent, and even what a washing machine looks like has never been seen.
Enthusiasm overcame everything, and soon the Wuxi municipal government merged the second machine tool electrical factory with the ceramic factory to form the "Wuxi Washing Machine Factory".
In the 1980s, China was basically "what you want and what you don't have", but the Chinese people at that time, from top to bottom, all walks of life, held back a mouthful of "making Chinese their own XX" atmosphere.
Haven't seen it? Won't make? It doesn't matter, buy one, dismantle it, and draw a tiger according to the cat.
At the beginning of the process, the fitter teacher Fu used lead to enclose a rectangle, buckled out a hole at the bottom, put on the motor, and then installed the ceramic bile burned by the ceramic workers with the old line, and a hand-made washing machine was declared successful.
Although this is "the first fully automatic washing machine in China", the problem is that this hand-built washing machine cannot be used at all.
"At that time, the situation was a battle, and it was necessary to raise the strength of the whole Wuxi, the strength of the whole factory, and the Ministry of Light Industry to invest and build such a fully automatic washing machine of its own." Xu Yuan, then vice president of the Little Swan Group, said.
The factory leaders bought a Panasonic automatic washing machine from Japan, dismantled into more than 200 parts, one by one research, some domestic components are directly purchased, and the main components are imported without them.
At that time, the state also gave strong support, and the Ministry of Light Industry imported 13,000 washing machine parts from Japan and distributed 8,000 washing machines to the Wuxi washing machine factory, which was actually cobbled together.
However, the first batch of single-barrel washing machines sold for 120 yuan a piece, a fully automatic washing machine 792 yuan a piece, and the per capita monthly wage of 30 yuan consumption capacity is seriously out of touch. ①
Even if it is expensive, many washing machines are broken in less than 3 months, leaking water and electricity, thunderous noise, and some even 'dance'.
In 1988, in the "product satisfaction" consumer survey organized by the then Ministry of Light Industry, the Little Swan washing machine was awarded the "most unsatisfactory product".
Because of poor reputation, workers either wear overalls when they commute to work, or try to cover up the "Little Swan" logo on their overalls, and some even scratch off the "Little Swan" logo. The factory can only rely on the meager profits of the original machine tools and ceramics.
In 1987, the state began to introduce technology on a large scale, and Little Swan introduced a full set of technologies for Panasonic automatic washing machines.
At that time, Zhu Rongji, then vice premier of the State Council, went to Wuxi to hold a forum on enterprises. He asked The Little Swan: "What is the standard for trouble-free operation of domestic washing machines?" This conversation inadvertently triggered the sensitive nerves of the Little Swan washing machine that has been planted in quality.
Two years later, the little swan painted by the gourd produced a "wife-loving type" that looked exactly like Panasonic's "Love Wife", and more importantly, achieved 5,000 trouble-free operations, reaching the international standard.
Later, Little Swan continued to improve the product, pulling panasonic, Siemens and others to work together, the introduction of technology - absorption - transformation, the ugly duckling finally transformed into a white swan.
As a result, it can be imagined that the Little Swan washing machine has entered a high-speed upward channel, with an annual output of 40,000 units in 1990 to 2.55 million units in 1999, an increase of 60 times in ten years, and a sales revenue of 67 times.
Newlyweds rushed to buy a Little Swan washing machine with a marriage license, and Little Swan has been a hit ever since.
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In media interviews, Xu Yuan always has a round face, a smile, and although his hair is gray, he thinks quickly and can speak.
He experienced the highlight moments and the turn from prosperity to decline of the little swan, and his life experience was also tightly bound with the little swan.
At that time, Xu Yuan's "gold" was not recognized, and although he went to college, he was still an ordinary worker in the workshop until he was in his 30s. However, he is not a person of peace, he uses his self-taught chemical knowledge to drill holes in 25 centimeters of cast iron, others produce seven or eight a day, Xu Yuan can complete 150 a day.
The poor wages in the factory were almost out of hand, but Xu Yuan received the highest reward in the whole factory: 2 yuan. Inspired by this, a year later, he wrote a book called "The Principle of the Structure of the Little Swan Washing Machine", and finally found this 'tight material' in the factory. ②
Later, with the rapid development of Little Swan, Xu Yuan's position also became higher and higher, becoming the second in command. Records show that from 1995 to 1998, Xu Yuan made more than 600 reports across the country, becoming one of the most reporters in China at that time.
Under his leadership, Little Swan and GM formed a long-term strategic cooperative relationship; he was also invited to give lectures in Japan and the United States to introduce the marketing strategy of Little Swan washing machines...
In October 1996, at the Eurasian Forum held in France, Xu Yuan even became a bridge between Sino-French diplomatic relations. Before he retired, Little Swan's total operating income was 10 billion.
From 1996 to 1997, Little Swan B shares and A shares were listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in turn, becoming the first stock of China's washing machine.
Until 2003, Little Swan continued to sit on the throne of sales champion and became a giant in China's electrical appliance industry at an annual growth rate of 30%.
However, the "myth" of the little swan did not last long, and in just a few years, the "little swan" experienced several identity changes from state-owned enterprises to private enterprises, and restored state-owned enterprises to private enterprises.
Unlike some state-owned enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta that have been transformed into private enterprises after restructuring, for a long time, Little Swan has always been the "heart meat" of wuxi state-owned assets supervision and administration commission and has always been state-owned holdings. In a sense, listing is not a good thing for Little Swan, to be precise, more like a "robbery".
For many companies, listing means that they can raise more capital, and there are two paths in front of them: first, diversify and strive to build a strong industrial group; second, add the company's main business to try to make the main business bigger and stronger.
The first way can maximize the harvest of existing benefits, but it will overdraft the commercial value of the original brand, with an indefinite number in the future; the second way, although it is difficult to see the end, can be firmly established in the market and seek longer-term development for the future.
Obviously, in the view of the management, the little swan who was already the leader in the industry at that time had taken the lead and did not hesitate to choose the first road.
Soon, in 2001, the diversified development of Little Swan, who claimed to be a "second venture", encountered a bottleneck, and the dishwasher business lost a lot of money. In 2002, Little Swan's performance showed a loss for the first time after its listing, and the net profit loss reached 565 million yuan.
On April 30, 2003, due to the loss of the net profit of Little Swan in both fiscal years 2002 and adjusted 2001, Little Swan stock was put on the "ST" hat and faced the risk of delisting.
At this time, the Wuxi State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission realized the problem, but its handling method once again ruined the possibility of Little Swan becoming an industry leader: sell this "hot potato"!
In 2003, the Wuxi Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission transferred control of Little Swan to Nanjing Sweet Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Sweet).
But no one thought that Sweet "prepared", this company that started by the money detector in the past 3 years, it knows nothing about washing machines, it will be the little swan as a cash machine, not only let the operation and management of the little swan, but also several times in arrears in the transfer of funds and embezzlement of listed companies. ③
Several "hollowed out" little swans, in 2007, returned to the arms of wuxi state-owned assets supervision and administration commission. This year, Little Swan was able to breathe a sigh of relief and turn around from the path of diversification and began to focus on the washing machine industry.
At this time, the market has undergone earth-shaking changes, Haier has already caught up, but the little swan is in urgent need of "broken arm rebirth".
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In the last century, Chinese the three major pieces of marriage, although the content of the three major pieces is changing from generation to generation, but almost all of them are indispensable to refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, what remains unchanged is these home appliance categories, and what has been changing is these home appliance brands.
From Kelong to AUCMA, from duckling to little swan, there is no shortage of people in the home appliance industry.
In the past, these enterprises will more or less have the shadow of state-owned assets, and they have "suffered big losses" when they operate on their own or borrow external capital. ④
As early as 1992, the Decision-Making Level of Little Swan was aware of the need for reform of state-owned property rights. Zhu Dekun, the chairman at the time, tried to reform property rights from subsidiaries and holding companies from the bottom up, but this approach was slow and too decentralized. ⑤
Later, the loss of Little Swan made the local government of Wuxi determined to restructure the group. So there was a call for help from the outside force, Sweet.
In the equity transfer agreement signed by Nanjing Sweet and Wuxi State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission on July 31, 2003, the state-owned Little Swan transformed into one of the top 100 private enterprises in Jiangsu, and the "sale" of Little Swan is considered to be a landmark event in the restructuring of state-owned enterprises.
What no one expected was that the little swan "married the wrong person".
It is worth mentioning that after Sweet became the owner of Little Swan, Xu Yuan retired with Zhu Dekun and other entrepreneurial elders.
Two years after their withdrawal, that is, in 2008, after experiencing the transformation from state-owned enterprises to private enterprises, the "little swan" of recovering state-owned enterprises in the United States, Sichuan Changhong, Italy YiDaixi and other enterprises, threw the "hydrangea ball" to the current Midea, and became a private enterprise.
Midea's electrical appliances acquired 24.01% of the A-share shares of Little Swan for 1.68 billion yuan to enter little swan, compared with the reserve price offered by Wuxi Guolian, Midea gave a premium of nearly 30 million yuan. ⑥
After being controlled by the United States, the performance of Little Swan began to gradually improve. In 2009 and 2010, the revenue of Little Swan was 6.759 billion yuan and 11.202 billion yuan, an increase of 1.92% and 65.74% respectively, and the net profit was 284 million yuan and 507 million yuan, an increase of 608.66% and 78.66% year-on-year. ⑦
The little swan has also become a part of Midea's diversification. After Midea took ownership of Little Swan, it installed its Rongshida washing machine business into Little Swan, which is also known as one of the best assets in the Midea Group.
On June 21 last year, Little Swan A terminated its listing and delisted. The 22-year listing of this "washing machine first stock" will come to an end. The domestic washing machine "old two" was officially pocketed by the Midea Group and became a member of the Midea home appliance kingdom. ⑧
"One goose, one duck, two golden music, one water and one sea Ronghuawei", Little Swan, Little Duck, Golden Gazelle, Goldfish, Sanle, Daffodil, Begonia, Rongshida, Shenhua, Weili and other home appliance brands that were once popular in the washing machine market may fade out of the market or be reorganized; only Haier, which cut into the field of washing machines through Red Star Electrical Appliance Factory in the later period, sat firmly in the position of washing machine overlord.
The times create enterprises, and the times wear down enterprises. Haier has achieved the first place in the field of washing machines from scratch, but little swan has fallen from the first position in sales for 11 consecutive years. In front of Haier, even the "beauty + little swan" still has a chasm to cross.
Sadly, although the takeover of the United States has allowed Little Swan to avoid bankruptcy, 1/3 of the annual output of little swan washing machines needs to be labeled with the trademark of the United States, which also makes little swan completely lose the possibility of overturning.
As the oldest predecessor in China's washing machine industry, the fate of the little swan is no longer in its own hands.
Image source network, source note:
(1): Shangguan News, Remember the "Little Swan" washing machine? There are also Chunlan, Daffodil, Swallow Dance, Naaisi... Where are those old brands in the Yangtze River Delta," August 13, 2019.
(2): Jiefang Daily, "From lead pimples and enamel biles to dialogue with GE to the dismal moment of delisting, Xu Yuan and Li Zhenhao's experience is like the chronicle of China's washing machine industry "Little Swan" is our lifeblood", August 14, 2019.
(3): Chief E-commerce Observation, "Goodbye, Little Swan!" May 10, 2019.
(4): China Enterprise Daily, "Sweet Sequelae: Little Swan Washing Machines Caught in after-sales quagmire", April 23, 2017.
(5): China Economic Weekly, "The Dance of the Transformation of the Little Swan Leading China's Washing Machine Industry", June 16, 2014.
(6): People's Daily Online, "Midea Group Intends to Exchange Shares to Absorb and Merge Wuxi Little Swan", October 25, 2018.
(7): China Economic Network, "22 years of listing, Little Swan is about to make a different A-share! The washing machine giant integrates into the "beauty system"," June 19, 2019.
(8): Interface News, "The First Share of the Washing Machine" Little Swan, 22 Years of Listing, June 21, 2019.