Act with the momentum
——Ningbo Shangbang has become an alternative perspective of China's Shangbang Evergreen (1)
Shot 1: "World Ship King" Bao Yugang, in the early 80s, just when his shipping industry was in full swing, he made a surprising decision: sell all the ships! Because he had a premonition that the impact of the Iran-Iraq war on oil production would affect oil tanker transportation, he promptly withdrew funds to invest in the Hong Kong Underground Railway and Tunnel, and became the chairman of the tunnel company. He then invested in Cathay Pacific Airways, Hong Kong's largest British-controlled airline, as chairman. Thinking of danger in times of peace, seeing the lurking crisis in the midst of prosperity, and fickling in time, the "World Ship King" finally triumphed again.
Shot two: Selling mobile phones to Zhu Zhaojiang in Africa. He is a native of Fenghua, Ningbo, and Ding Lei, the former richest man, is an authentic fellow. Zhu Zhaojiang and several bird employees set up a sound in Shenzhen, deeply cultivated the African market, and began to use mobile phones to change Africa, the positioning is accurate, people are stunned. The development process of Transsion in Africa can also prove Zhu Zhaojiang's profound insight into consumer groups. Zhu Zhaojiang first made it clear that Transsion focused on the low-end route, and the high-end play could not play apples and Samsung, so from the beginning, the sales of Transsion went straight to the countryside and towns, and the countryside surrounded the city, which was tried and tested. The eye-catching Zhu Zhaojiang also found that in the vast African land, there was not a single urban manager, and the East Asia Document Company did not occupy this treasure land. So the walls, on the poles, on the fences in Africa were full of small advertisements for sound transmission, so that the local media exclaimed: "Where there are walls, there are graffiti for sound transmission." "Transsion is also very friendly to the African people in terms of product design, because there are many communicators in Africa, and the call rate between different countries is very high, so Africans have a lot of calling cards." Transsion launched a four-card four-to-four mobile phone, making the African people feel very Ollie.
In order to take care of the African people's love of music, TRANSSION also designed a mobile phone with a huge speaker called:"Boom J8". The sound decibels of this phone are as shocking as the name, enough to support the square dance of less than 20 people, and the purchase of the mobile phone also gives headphones, so it was robbed on the day of the listing. The careful transsion research and development team also experienced the pain of African people when taking pictures, so they specially optimized the camera function of the mobile phone and enhanced the exposure value, which benefited the people of Africa, and everyone no longer had to worry about being photographed as a black chicken brother. The success of Transsion has made Zhu Zhaojiang known as the "Godfather of African Mobile Phones".
Top 10 business gangs
The customs of Ningbo people to do business have formed the character of today's Ningbo businessmen who are flexible, good at thinking, good at management, and full of opportunities, which is the capital of Ningbo businessmen in an invincible position in the fierce business war. Timely adjustment of business policies and good at capturing business opportunities are their innate talents and excellent modern business quality.
The "Shang Gang" is a commercial group linked by regional relations in China's history. As a "merchant gang", it must have spanned several feudal dynasties and had an important impact in history. According to these conditions, the academic community generally believes that in history, Chinese merchants have formed ten major merchant gangs, namely Jin merchants, Hui shang, Lu shang, Yong shang, Longyou shang, Dongting shang, Jiangyou shang, Guangdong shang, Shaanxi shang and Fujian shang. Among them, the Jin merchants came to the end of the road in the early days of the Republic of China. Huishang gradually declined in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period, and the decline was irretrievable. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Lu Shang went into decline. The Dragon Merchants went into decline after the Opium Wars. Beginning in the 1930s, Dongting merchants were unable to adapt to the rapidly changing war-torn environment and gradually declined. The Jiangxi Shang Gang was eliminated by natural selection in history at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Shaanxi merchants disappeared after the founding of the Qing Dynasty. Min merchants began to decline during the Opium War. Only Cantonese merchants and Yongshang merchants have a few ups and downs, each interpreting the story of the evergreen tree.
In a speech, Mr. Sun Yat-sen fully affirmed the achievements of Ningbo businessmen, saying: "In all the ports of our country, there is no ningbo cause, that is, the European countries, and there are also many Ningbo businessmen's footprints, and its ability is so great that it can be second to none." ”
You see, "second to none", highly rated!
According to the conventional perspective, the reason for the long-term prosperity of Ningbo Shanggang as one of the top ten business gangs is mainly due to the fact that Ningbo Shanggang has been adhering to the spirit of innovation, pioneering, integrity, unity, service to the country and love of the hometown. Although this angle makes sense, if any shang gang wants to become a shang gang in the substantive sense, spanning centuries and dynasties, the basic rules of business must follow innovation, pioneering, integrity, unity, etc., but why do most shang gangs go into decline, or even disappear? In fact, the main reason is to recognize the situation, steady operation is also the most valuable place for Ningbo Business Gang. Innovation, pioneering, integrity, and unity are just the tools and means needed to achieve the goal around the theme of "recognizing the situation and operating steadily". In this issue, let's talk about why Ningbo Shangbang always has a unique vision, judges the situation, and recognizes the situation?
In traditional Chinese culture, "potential" is an inevitable trend of historical evolution and is decisive for strategy. Chen Liang of the Song Dynasty proposed: "The trend of the general trend of the world is not moved by human beings", and Sun Yat-sen also realized that "the trend of the times is the trend, the trend is coming, there is no way to stop it". Therefore, Sun Yat-sen has a famous saying: "The tide of the world is mighty, and if it goes along with it, it will prosper, and if it goes against it, it will die." The reason for the success or failure of things can be boiled down to one word, potential, and going with the flow, such as pushing the boat with water, doubling the results with half the effort; against the trend, then sailing against the current, difficulties and obstacles, and failure. What is the potential is a trend, a direction, a trend. There are three key words here: a word "potential", to have a pair of eyes, to determine the general trend; to have a bright heart, to understand the transparency. Only when you can see clearly, see accurately, and have a heart like a mirror, will you know the general direction, the general trend, and the advance and retreat. The second "shun" word, conformity, obedience, smooth, not disobedience, rebellion, so that friends do not tolerate you, the environment does not tolerate you, the world does not tolerate you. The third "for" word, only by acting can we achieve our careers, and only by acting can we lead to the future.
Ningbo Shangbang's awareness of the situation is influenced by a profound cultural essence. The spirit of Ningbo Shangbang is essentially the mutual promotion and integration of Confucian culture, Eastern Zhejiang culture and marine culture. The Republic of China's "Yinxian Tongzhi" said: "Business is good at by the Yi people." Wang Yangming has always stressed that to be a person, we must know how to create momentum, and to achieve things, we must know how to follow the trend. The wise should be good at creating momentum. The Ming Dynasty thinker Xu Ai once asked Wang Yangming: "Books such as "Three Graves" have also been circulated, so why did Confucius delete them?" ”
Wang Yangming replied: "Even if such a book is handed down, it will be out of date because of the changes in customs and times. Nowadays, society has become civilized, and the atmosphere is becoming more and more abundant. It was impossible to restore the customs of xia shang in the last years of the Shang Dynasty, let alone the customs of the Tang Yu period? Not to mention the customs of the Yao Shun period? At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Huang Zongxi actively advocated the idea of "learning from the noble and practicing the practice, and applying it to the world", vigorously advocating the study of things that are beneficial to society, attaching equal importance to theory and practice, and at the same time opposing the emphasis on agriculture and suppressing commerce, advocating equality between industry and commerce and agriculture. The long-standing culture of eastern Zhejiang has provided an ideological foundation for Ningbo people to go out to do business, broadened their horizons, endowed them with unique business thinking, and created the rise and expansion of Ningbo business gangs. The first Chinese-funded bank in the modern sense, the first Chinese-funded steamship shipping company, the first Chinese-funded machine factory, etc., were all founded by Ningbo merchants. The Ningbo Shang Gang contributed to the rise of Shanghai in the late Qing Dynasty and to the prosperity of Hong Kong after World War II. Ningbo merchants are all over the world, including many world-class industrial and commercial giants. Representative figures include: Yu Qiaqing (Old Shanghai), Ip Cheng-jin (Old Shanghai), Fang Liquid Xian (Old Shanghai, King of Domestic Goods), Zhang Zunsan (Japan, Shark Fin King), Wu Jintang (Japan, Kansai Chaebol), Hu Jialie (Singapore, Nanyang Giant), Bao Yugang (Hong Kong, World Ship King), Dong Haoyun (Hong Kong, World Ship King), Run Run Shaw (Hong Kong, Film Giant), Qiu Degen (Hong Kong, Entertainment Industry), Cao Guangbiao (Hong Kong, Wool Spinning King), Chen Tinghua (Hong Kong, Cotton Yarn King), Zhang Zhongmou (Taiwan, Chip King), Ding Lei and so on.
Therefore, Ningbo businessmen are good at capturing business opportunities and have a strong ability to adjust their business policies in a timely manner, which is their innate talent and excellent modern businessman quality. In the business field, Ningbo businessmen are agile and fickle, never conform to the rules, and they can always lose no time in adjusting their business and business strategies. Its flexible and fickle ability is called a shooting.
Situation
Ningbo Gang is good at judging the situation, seizing business opportunities, opening up a new commercial territory, and achieving the greatest appreciation of capital. After the Opium War, due to the defeat of the war, the Qing Dynasty, in addition to paying compensation for the land, was also painstakingly summing up lessons and lessons; the Western-style faction headed by Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong was active on the stage of nineteenth-century history, and explored new economic laws in the form of official offices, official supervision and commercial offices, and official and commercial joint operations, and successfully founded a number of modern military enterprises and industrial and mining transportation enterprises, such as the Steamship Merchants Bureau, the Hanyang Iron Works, and the Shanghai Machine Loom, taking the first step toward modern chemical commerce. Although the open and secret struggle between the two parties of the Emperor and the Empress reached a climax during the period of the Penghu Reform, the starting points of both factions were closely centered on the constant theme of rejuvenating the country, and they also made different degrees of capitalist-style institutional attempts. After the Eight-Power Alliance's war of aggression against China, the ruling class of the late Qing Dynasty was forced by imperialism to a desperate situation of life and death, and the helpless late Qing government had to carry out all-round and deep-level reforms throughout the country. In terms of industry and commerce, the late Qing government after the New Deal at the end of the Qing Dynasty appeared to be more active, and in order to raise funds for the salvation of the country, the ruling class once again set its sights on industry and commerce. Therefore, the late Qing Dynasty's transition from closure to openness is a gradual and complex historical process, and it is also the general trend of the development of the times. At this stage, a large number of Ningbo people entered Shanghai to open a port for business.
The former site of the Steamship Merchants Bureau, which was built in 1901
The first is to seize the trend of changes in social customs and seize the emerging industries. At this time, the European wind is gradually moving, the social trend has undergone new changes, and the market demand has also changed. Seeking innovation, refinement, and seeking to become the value orientation of shopping for people. Ningbo people see this trend of change, while maintaining the characteristics of traditional industries, they lose no time in operating new projects and varieties, focusing on investing in emerging industries, and often operate a variety of businesses, supporting each other, so that they gradually become influential in the domestic business community. Silver building, medicinal materials, garments, seafood are the traditional industries of Ningbo Gang and enjoy a high reputation in the domestic business community. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, famous stores such as Lao Feng Xiang Yin Lou, Shanghai Cai Tong De Pharmacy, Suzhou Clothing Old Shop Li Shunchang, Qianfeng Haiwei Comprehensive Line and other famous stores were opened by Ningbo people. But the Ningbo merchants gave it a proper transformation to give it a new connotation. Sha Shipbuilding is an industry that Ningbo Gang made a fortune in. However, after European and American steamships invaded China, the sand ship operation became increasingly light, and most of them were closed. Yongren had a unique insight, and when the sand boat amateur was not weakening, he turned to the steamship shipping industry. The earliest steamship shipping company established in the name of Chinese businessmen in China was the Offshore Merchant Shipping Bureau and the Yong'an Commercial Shipping Bureau founded by ningbo people in 1895. The development of the steamship and shipping industry has accumulated huge amounts of capital for Ningbo merchants, laying the foundation for them to operate in emerging industries.
The second is to be good at seizing the trend of product innovation and change. The uncertainty of the market has made Ningbo businessmen find ways to survive from the moment they go out of their homes. Good at increasing revenue through product innovation. For example, when Zhu Mei first operated a paper mill, he found that the traditional yellow paperboard was slow to sell in the market, and after the success of the risky trial of thin white paperboard, the profit doubled, and then successfully created cigarette paper to obtain greater profits. Have the courage to open up new business directions and market areas. Liu Hongsheng famously said: "I didn't put all my eggs in one basket." He diversified his assets and founded more than 60 industrial and commercial enterprises and business lines. This practice not only diversifys investment risks, but also opens up the investment market, which is a common strategy adopted by Ningbo businessmen. Continuously improve technology and technology. For example, according to the needs of customers, Tong Han Chun Tang Sinopharm No. re-upgraded the process of the store's famous ginseng re-manufactured pills, and developed a more delicious pill, which was widely popular once launched and launched the Sinopharm brand. Good at learning to use the organizational system and management methods of modern Western enterprises. For example, after entering the 20th century, large-scale Ningbo enterprises have been reorganized into joint-stock companies or joint-stock companies to improve their competitiveness.
Old photo of Huafeng Paper Mill
Third, the development of the banking industry further shows the financial vision of Ningbo people to judge the hour and size up the situation. In the eleventh year of Qing Xianfeng (1862), the Taiping Rebellion conquered Ningbo, the Qianye Office was destroyed, and many Qianzhuang and shops were closed. During this period, a large number of wealthy merchants in Ningbo took refuge in the Shanghai Concession with a large amount of capital, and Ningbo people actively participated in the establishment and development of Shanghai Qianzhuang. Among the 9 famous money capitalist family groups in Shanghai, Ningbo people account for 5, namely Zhenhai Fangjia (Fangjiatang), Zhenhai Lijia (Li Yeting), Cixi Dongjia (Dong Dilin), Zhenhai Yejia (Ye Chengzhen), Yinxian Qinjia (Qin Jun'an), the rest are Huzhou Xujia (Xu Chunrong), Suzhou Chengjia (Cheng Hengzhai), Tongtingshan Yanjia (Yan Huaijin) and so on. By the 29th year of Guangxu (1903), there were 82 Qianzhuang in The South and North Cities of Shanghai, of which 22 were from Ningbo, accounting for 26.8%. After the Opium War, China was forced to open up, and the Ningbo Shanggang, with its keen insight and strong economic strength, took the initiative to take the lead in transforming into modernization with the majesty of a "bellwether". The old-style financial industries such as money houses, silver trumpets and pawns operated by Ningbo Shangbang have gradually transformed into modern financial industries such as banking, trust investment, insurance, and securities. Compared with the Shanxi ticket number, the industrialists of Ningbo Shangbang have a deeper understanding of the functions of the bank, and quickly put them into action, with a positive, dynamic and enterprising attitude, invest in modern banks and create new businesses. From this, we can glimpse the root cause of the rapid rise and enduring of the Ningbo Shang Gang after the Jin merchants and Huishang merchants. In the modern banking industry, the Ningbo Shanggang has long controlled China's first Chinese-funded bank, the China Commerce and Commerce Bank, and founded famous banks in modern times such as siming commercial savings bank and China Reclamation Bank. Ningbo Shangbang also used the original money bank foundation, familiar financial business and various personnel relations to infiltrate the banks. At that time, the more powerful senior management power of the Bank of China, the Bank of Communications, the South Third Bank (Zhejiang Industrial Bank, Zhejiang Industrial Bank, Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank), and the Shanghai Branch of the Bank of China were all in the hands of Ningbo nationals. At the same time, some branches of banks and special banks invested by Ningbo businessmen have also emerged. For example, the Shanghai Coal Industry Bank, which was founded by Liu Hongsheng and Qin Runqing, has a distinct industrial nature; the Ningbo Industrial Bank founded by Wu Tingsheng and other organizations such as Wu Tingsheng of Fenghua and the Ningbo Industrial Bank, which is founded by Xiang Songmao, a Yinxian ren, belongs to the type of Agricultural and Industrial Bank; the day and night bank set up by Huang Chujiu, a Yuyao man, operates from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., and is quite distinctive in terms of time; the Shanghai Women's Commercial Savings Bank, which Yinxian people yan Shuhe and Zhang Shouyong co-founded and managed, is quite distinctive in organization and belongs to a special type of bank. Ningbo Shangbang invested in new-style banks, coupled with the modernization of the qianzhuang industry, and its financial power increased greatly. By the 1920s and 1930s, more than 80% of the head offices of famous domestic banks were located in Shanghai, and Ningbo Shangbang participated in investment, founding and management of almost all important banks in Shanghai. Today, Bank of Ningbo, a city commercial bank run by Ningbo people themselves, is also playing a financial legend.
China Commerce & Commerce Bank Building in the 1920s
The fourth was to seize the historical opportunity of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty's opening of the sea ban to take the lead in sailing to the Nanyang Islands and other places to do business. At the end of the 19th century and the 1940s, Ningbo people twice crossed the ocean on a large scale, going to Japan, Europe and the United States, as well as Hong Kong and Macao to start businesses. The first time was during the Guangxu and Xuantong years. Nearly 100,000 people emigrated overseas during this period; the second time was on the eve of the end of Kuomintang rule, a large number of Ningbo merchants moved to Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan as a springboard to develop in Europe, the United States and Oceania. At present, according to preliminary statistics, there are about 70,000 Ningbo people who have emigrated to Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas, and they are located in more than 50 countries and regions such as Japan, the United States, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Russia, Australia, Malaysia, and Canada. They cut through thorns and thorns, strive to open up, and open up their own world in a strange foreign country. Many of them have become giants of the local business or financial community. Southeast Asian countries are also the activity areas of overseas Ningbo merchants. Ningbo people, who are distributed overseas, have always maintained a tradition of doing business. The descendants of the older generation of Ningbo merchants have become a new generation of merchants, forming a "Ningbo style" in the overseas business community. Around the 1940s, the country's social and economic turmoil was unstable, and Ningbo merchants traveled in large numbers from Shanghai and other places to Hong Kong and Taiwan. At that time, Hong Kong's economy was very depressed, and Ningbo businessmen, relying on their experience in industry and commerce in the mainland and the capital they had accumulated, dared to take risks, strive to open up, and gain a firm foothold in the highly competitive overseas market. Wang Kuancheng, who was doing business in Shanghai, moved to Hong Kong in 1947, when The Hong Kong economy was in decline, and many people had no confidence in Hong Kong's future and left Hong Kong. Wang Kuancheng had a keen eye, decisively invested funds in real estate, and founded dozens of enterprises such as Victoria Dayang Company, operating real estate, construction, shipping, international trade and so on, and achieved success. Today, when the automobile industry is becoming increasingly depressed, they have even made a joint venture with the Americans to produce automotive bearings, and they are exclusively for Mercedes-Benz and BMW. The first person to eat crab often embodies the vision and wisdom of an extraordinary person. Ningbo businessmen interpreted this vision of the situation. In the Hurun rich list, most of the Ningbo people listed in it are industrialists. For example, Wang Yiming, who does photovoltaics, Wang Jianfeng, who does auto parts, and Lou Guoqiang, who does copper, etc.
The most worthy of the book is the grasp and active investment of the Ningbo Business Gang in the general trend of China's reform and opening up. The "Ningbo Gang" triggered the great call of Comrade Deng Xiaoping and achieved the early establishment of Ningbo's status as a "coastal open city." At the beginning of reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping had close contacts with Bao Yugang and Wang Kuancheng of the "Ningbo Gang", and met with Bao Yugang more than 10 times, thus paying more attention to Ningbo and issuing a call to "mobilize the 'Ningbo Gang' all over the world to build Ningbo." As a result, the overseas "Ningbo Gang" has become a powerful "booster" to participate in and promote Ningbo's reform and opening up. Driven by the care of the "Ningbo Gang" people, in 1984, Ningbo was identified as one of the 14 coastal open cities. The following year, the State Council set up the Ningbo Economic Development Coordination Group, and with the efforts of Bao Yugang, Lu Xuzhang, and the Coordination Group, many major issues related to the overall situation of Ningbo's development and opening up were quickly resolved. When meeting with Comrade Deng Xiaoping, Bao Yugang repeatedly talked about the great advantages of Beilun Port and his vision of developing Beilun Port. Deng Xiaoping deeply praised this and proposed several times that the role of Beilun Port should be brought into full play. He also supported Bao Yugang's proposal to take advantage of the advantages of Beilun Port and build a large-scale steel plant in Beilun Port Area with foreign investors to develop heavy chemical industries. Today, Ningbo Zhoushan Port, with Beilun Port as the core, has long been among the world's major ports, and has become an important hub connecting Zhejiang and its hinterland with the world. Through his matchmaking, many foreign delegations have come to Ningbo, or field investigations or formal talks, and for a while a "Ningbo whirlwind" has blown up at home and abroad. In addition to setting up their own businesses in Yongxing, other "Ningbo Gang" people also strive to introduce and introduce overseas advanced technology, management experience and information to their hometowns.
Looking to the future
Unlike other business gangs, the Ningbo gang has always stood at the peak of China's business and has not been eliminated so far. These people, who have been accustomed to the smell of the sea since childhood, have both the shrewdness of business and the moral integrity of scholars, and it is they who have enabled China to complete the transformation from traditional commerce to modern commerce and promoted the development of modern Chinese national industry. According to statistics, there are currently more than 73,000 Ningbo merchants distributed in 64 countries and regions around the world, and with their descendants, the total number of Ningbo gangs exceeds 300,000.
Today, Ningbo Shangbang continues to write a new chapter.
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Text: Hua An With Image: Network