Chapter 12 Vendors, artisans and bandits

It is also very interesting to look at private enterprises from the perspective of China's reform and opening up.China's private enterprises started to develop in some coastal areas along with the sequence of reform and opening up, and the regional characteristics and regional culture of coastal areas also have a great influence on them.The earliest private enterprises should of course be concentrated in the Special Economic Zones, mainly in Shenzhen, Guangdong, and Fujian. Most of the private enterprises in these areas started from trading.Trade, as well as the simple processing industry driven by trade, is a basic form of private enterprises in the Pearl River Delta.Interestingly, after the Opium War in China, the opening of treaty ports also started from Guangzhou, and then went all the way north along the coastline until Ningbo.At that time, Thirteen Lines in Guangzhou was the largest trading company in China. The family made a fortune through trading, became the richest man in China, and entered the list of the world's richest people.Therefore, in the private enterprises in Guangdong, there is an obvious trade culture.

Trading culture is the culture of trading.Just give money and get it done, how much money you give, how much goods you take, one deal for one deal, money for two goods, one sale for two parts, trade is the simplest transaction.In the early days, there were a lot of trading enterprises along the coastal areas (Guangdong and Fujian). What private enterprises most admired was to take money to get it right, so that later the word "fixed" and the trading culture permeated all aspects of the mainland. On the other hand, due to its proximity to Hong Kong, a large number of Hong Kong's manufacturing industries are in the form of "three supplies and one supplement" (that is, "processing with supplied materials", "assembly with supplied parts", "production with supplied samples" and "compensation trade") in Guangdong, Fujian has taken root, which makes local private enterprises more influenced by Hong Kong in terms of company organization system.So they learned about stocks earlier, they were the first to know about speculation in off-plan properties, and then they were the first to know how to hold a board of directors.Shenzhen has the most joint ventures, and there were joint ventures and foreign-funded enterprises there first, so Guangdong was the first to introduce the so-called modern enterprise system.This caused Guangdong to be the first to "awaken" the concept of private wealth, and also the first to "awaken" private consumption. Therefore, at the beginning, the vicious consumption of big money was all about big money in Guangdong.

Therefore, the three characteristics of private enterprises at the beginning, that is to say, the trade culture-the culture of transactions, the modern enterprise system, and the concept of private wealth and consumption, all originated from private enterprises in Guangdong.It is precisely because of this that until now, the companies that are really well managed are still enterprises in Shenzhen.Vanke and others are the largest companies in various industries in China, and they actually all came from that era. We can list many similar good companies such as Li Ning, Konka, TCL, etc., but looking deeper into Guangdong, there is one thing that is very different.In the mainland of Guangdong, you see Foshan, Zhongshan, and then Panyu, Qingyuan, and northern Guangdong. People in these places are more related to traditional culture. They are less influenced by Hong Kong and more dependent on their families.Almost most of the grassroots businesses that came out of these places are family businesses.In addition, in these areas, local governments at the lowest level, such as county governments, town governments, and even village committees, are very powerful. They incubated and fostered a group of later influential state-owned enterprises, like Rong Qi Town and Sanshui Town, the government is the representative, and Kelong and Jianlibao are their illegitimate children.

There have always been two cultural traditions in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.One kind of tradition is in history, a habit since the Qing Dynasty. There are a lot of small businesses in this place, and they have done business that no one looks down on in those corners.Many private enterprises in Zhejiang still develop along this tradition, such as the "button king" and "lighter king" now.There are many such small manufacturing industries in Zhejiang, and the development of these small manufacturing industries is like the "long tail" in the "long tail theory" we are talking about now. You look small, but they add up to a huge amount.Therefore, the private enterprises here have a manufacturing culture, which is a traditional small workshop-style manufacturing industry.They are not "three to one supplement", and they are all small and rustic things at the beginning. Their manufacturing culture does not have the culture of running large enterprises, and they are all small enterprises and small manufacturing industries.This kind of small workshop-style manufacturing industry is almost 100% family-managed.

Another tradition in Zhejiang is to run marketing from the sea.Historically, since the Qing Dynasty, they have always had the habit of going out to sea, especially in Wenzhou, where they have strong international marketing capabilities. They have always focused on Europe in the history of international marketing, so Italy, France, and now Zhejiang people are in the market. That marketing.Among the consumer goods for the people's livelihood, small commodities are completely open to competition. At present, enterprises in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are mainly engaged in the production.Rice cooker king, soybean milk machine king, shoe king, shirt king, they have always had such a good marketing tradition.Almost without exception, these "big kings" started from marketing, and then extended to the upstream manufacturing industry.

Because it has been such a traditional culture for a long time, it makes a lot of money quietly. Basically, such private enterprises do not make much publicity, do it slowly, and then do not borrow money, or just private loans, and their credit is still good.To borrow money from those places in Wenzhou, local bosses must come forward.I often meet with the leaders of their chamber of commerce, and I have heard about the credit methods there: For example, there are 10 big brothers in Wenzhou. These 10 big brothers sat down to drink tea and said that we need to do something, how much money does the family need; the next day Everyone brought the cash, signed their names and left.This credit relationship is very good.

Recently there was a case of Wu Ying in Zhejiang. A girl in her 20s raised funds. It was actually the same way. It was very interesting. She was arrested, but no one came to run on her.From one aspect, this also reflects that the local non-governmental credit relationship has always been well developed, and the rural credit cooperatives have always been the best managed.Therefore, private enterprises in Zhejiang have a culture of manufacturing, a culture of making a living by marketing overseas, and a culture of family management.Zhejiang businessmen are very pragmatic and hard-working.In Wenzhou, the Propaganda Department, including the leaders of the local chamber of commerce in Wenzhou, have been saying that local enterprises have tried every means, endured untold hardships, faced many difficulties and dangers, traveled thousands of miles, and so on. Anyway, a lot of jingles are about their private enterprises. Spirit.

There is also a large army of private enterprises in China in Hainan, and most of the private enterprises in Hainan are rogues.There were nearly 20,000 private enterprises in Hainan at the peak, and all of them went bankrupt after the bubble economy ended.Those who gathered there were the most frustrated, dreamy, and restless people from all over the country. Because of the establishment of Hainan Province, these restless people, including us, all ran over.At that time we were joking, saying that Hainan is full of "three unfortunate" women + men who love to toss. The "three misfortunes" are unfortunate marriage history, unfortunate love history, unfortunate love history, frustrated and tossing men and women, which became the main body of the market in Hainan Province at that time.These people dispersed across the country after the real estate bubble burst in 1993.So they come from all over the country and return to various places. In fact, a large number of them are rogue-type private enterprises.

During the "SARS" in 2002, after I went back, I was particularly touched.At that time, in order to avoid "SARS", many people who ran outside went back.One night, we were invited by the owner of China Town, and we got a big wooden boat and floated to sea.At this time, the bosses, brothers, buddies, and friends who were scattered all over the place, whether they knew or didn’t know them before, were almost awakened by the common cultural memory, and immediately fell into the excitement of the rivers and lakes, sweating naked for three days, eating meat in large chunks, Bowl to drink, let loose.The most interesting thing is that everyone regards the boss of Chinatown as a common spiritual idol. He has been sticking to Hainan for more than ten years, and has never changed his name. He has always guarded "Chinatown" and the entertainment industry.

There are a large number of private enterprises in Hainan, but they disperse very quickly, the habit of rogues is serious, and the flavor of the rivers and lakes is strong.But it also has two advantages. The first is that Hainan does not believe in tears, and Hainan does not recognize history.Don't talk about what you did in the past, anyway, people who come here are poor, so don't complain, because everyone is very poor.So these people have a very strong psychological capacity. For example, with the 20,000 companies gone, none of the population in Hainan Province asks the government for wages, and no company asks the government to cause trouble or cause trouble. Therefore, Hainan's vitality is very tenacious.

The second advantage is that these private enterprises in Hainan were the first to experience the blow of the bubble economy, so the survivors later have relatively better risk control.For example, like now, including Yi Xiaodi and Pan Shiyi from Wantong, everyone knows what a bubble is, so they all have a relatively clear understanding of risk control. I think the most obvious arena of private enterprises is mainly divided into three parts, namely Guangdong and Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and Hainan. They have truly become the three most powerful forces on the stage of China's private economy today.Of course, other places, such as Beijing, also have very good private enterprises, but whether it is the new economy or the old world, they are all related and have roots in these three places.Just like Liu Chuanzhi started his business in Guangdong and Shenzhen at first, and then returned to Beijing.The same is true for Vantone and Gome, both of which are related to these three regions.Because these three regions were the first to open up their markets, the institutional environment is relatively loose, and trade and economic activities are relatively active, so they have cultivated the most interesting and dynamic private enterprises in China.