Chapter 39 2. Sorting out the mess, Gree is reborn

For Dong Mingzhu, during the years of Gree's campaign, she was mainly worried about external market issues.However, from 2003 to 2005, Gree Electric's restructuring turmoil may be the biggest turmoil Dong Mingzhu has experienced since entering Gree.This turmoil made the future of Gree confused for a while, and also involved Zhuhai Municipal Government, external media, external investors and many other parties.In the years of conflicts with Gree Group, Dong Mingzhu has been walking on thin ice, but her tough personality has not changed at all.Without hesitation, she said: "I'm constantly fighting people, of course I'm fighting people who I don't think are right, and every victory makes me feel excited."

"I will definitely win, because I am right." She said that she seems to have been fighting all these years, but the more frustrated she is, the more courageous she is. She is a person who can rebound into greater motivation when encountering pressure.Both Zhu Jianghong and Dong Mingzhu are very responsible people, and they always feel that there is no reason for the company to fail.In this turmoil, Zhu Jianghong and Dong Mingzhu tried their best to sort out the mess, and Gree was reborn because of them.Although this enterprise is not their own, they are only part-time workers, but they completely regard Gree as their own enterprise, love and cultivate Gree like their own children, so that Gree can continue to grow.With their personalities, either don't do it, or do it well.It is also because they are very aware of the complexity of state-owned enterprises, and the more complex they are, they must not violate the rules.Systemic issues determine the sustainable development of state-owned enterprises, but they are not the decisive factor for the quality of state-owned enterprises. The quality of state-owned enterprises depends largely on people.

Since 2004, the Gree Group in Zhuhai, Guangdong has not only had frequent changes in senior personnel, but also a vice president, the general manager of a real estate company under the group, and the general manager of Lingda Compressor Factory have been detained for review.Gree Group has borrowed more than one billion yuan from banks over the years, and has received dividends of up to 800 million yuan from Gree Electric Appliances. However, it is now in a predicament. The matured loans of hundreds of millions of yuan have made Gree Group face bankruptcy.The real estate, fuel oil, and compressors that Gree Group borrowed heavily at the beginning are all industries with high profits. There is no problem with the layout of these industries, and the starting point is very high. But why do these three main industries all suffer losses?Due to frequent "accidents", there are many rumors about Gree Group in the market.As more and more executives of Gree Group were arrested, the black hole became bigger and bigger, and when Gree Group showed an unstoppable defeat, Dong Mingzhu, who had a deep grievance with him, was unforgiving: "Hundreds of millions of state-owned assets Is there indulgence behind the loss? Is there some shady deal behind the indulgence?" Dong Mingzhu believes that the system problem of state-owned enterprises is actually a problem of employing people.There are people who have everything, excellent people will make excellent companies, it's that simple.What kind of thinking will create what kind of enterprise.As long as the right people are selected, the system is not a problem; as long as there is an environment that does not affect the development of the enterprise, the system is not a problem.Some people think that state-owned enterprises are not their own enterprises and do not take them seriously.If Gree Electric Appliances does the same, and they are cronyists, they will not be able to do well.To be a state-owned enterprise has to withstand the pressure and give up a lot of things.Since the reform of state-owned enterprises began, there has been a loss of state-owned assets, and the loss of state-owned assets is still very serious.There was once a return visit survey on the restructuring of state-owned enterprises, and it was found that there were two major problems: the serious loss of state-owned assets; and the continuous disputes caused by the violation of the rights and interests of employees during the restructuring process.Dong Mingzhu’s view is that there should be two prerequisites for restructuring, one is not to lose state-owned assets, and the other is to maintain the sustainable development of the enterprise.As long as the state-owned assets are not lost, any restructuring is feasible.Take Gree Electric Appliances as an example. Gree Electric Appliances had a loss of 50 million yuan at the beginning, but now it has assets of more than 2 billion yuan. If it gets this money, it will appreciate in value. If it is sold to good operators, it will create wealth for the country.The state not only obtained funds, but at the same time maintained the sustainable development of this enterprise, which is the best transformation of state-owned assets.Not long after the news of the equity transfer of Gree Electric came out, a large number of domestic and foreign companies flocked to the company immediately, but the progress of the reform was not rapid.As an enterprise directly under the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Zhuhai City, the Zhuhai Municipal Government intends to sell it at a good price.At first, it was intended to sell to the international air-conditioning giant Carrier Group of the United States.

In July, the smug Carrier Group was preparing to enter Gree Electric Appliances to conduct due diligence before the acquisition. Until then, the municipal government disclosed the relevant acquisition plan to the management of Gree Electric.Zhu Jianghong believes that the most important thing is to reform the system and ensure the sustainable development of the enterprise. We must first solve the problem of "rule of man" or "rule of law".From the perspective of the company's incentive mechanism, if employees can hold shares, they will definitely resist some decisions that are not in line with their own interests; if the company has more strategic investors, it will be more beneficial to form scientific corporate decisions.The key to restructuring is to introduce talented strategic investors, disperse equity, standardize decision-making procedures, and prevent wrong decisions.What Gree Electric needs is that strategic investors must be institutions or companies that have insight into the company's major decisions and can make scientific decisions.In fact, as early as four or five years ago, the foreign-funded air-conditioning industry has been seeking to purchase Gree's equity.Giants such as Whirlpool and Electrolux once appeared on the negotiating table of the Zhuhai municipal government, but there are not many such in-depth talks with Carrier of the United States.This shows that Gree has always held a cautious attitude on the issue of being acquired. After all, being acquired is not the best choice for a well-known domestic brand like Gree.This restructuring turmoil also brought Zhu Jianghong a big trouble.

In December 2003, the "Guangdong-Hong Kong Information Daily" published a commentary article "Gree Reappears Chu Shijian-like Characters" on the front page, commenting and analyzing Zhu Jianghong as another Chu Shijian, and said that Zhu Jianghong "wanted to realize the Enterprise restructuring, 30% of the 58% shares owned by the group company will be owned by him personally", portraying Zhu Jianghong as a "59-year-old phenomenon" who embezzles state-owned assets.Zhu Jianghong believes that this article is a serious defamation of him. In 2003, Gree Group lost more than 100 million yuan, and its management was in a mess. Gree Electric made more than 300 million yuan and was booming. However, the article portrayed the chairman of the group as a loyal gatekeeper of state-owned assets, and Zhu Jianghong as an embezzler of state-owned assets.This style of writing is chilling.He was exhausted physically and mentally, and sighed that this was "the most difficult day since the establishment of Gree".Zhu Jianghong sued the author Zhong Dajun in early 2004 for violating his personality and reputation rights.The court ruled that Zhu Jianghong won the lawsuit, and the other party was required to compensate 100,000 yuan in compensation for mental damage in addition to publishing an article to apologize.At the same time, rumors about Gree Electric's establishment of external accounts, the establishment of small treasuries, and the burning of account books spread everywhere.Zhuhai's discipline inspection, industry and commerce and other departments also stationed in Gree Electric to conduct investigations.Some people in Gree Group have a very clear purpose, which is to drive Zhu Jianghong and Dong Mingzhu out of Gree.Dong Mingzhu did not show any weakness. She pointed out that some of the group's practices are to hollow out listed companies and use listed companies to nourish them.Dong Mingzhu clamored: Both enterprises and individuals should dare to expose their shortcomings, face up to their own problems, and expose their ugliness and mistakes to others, so that others can help them.In the process of summing up experience, we should not blame each other, but should help.She said without hesitation in front of the media: "Gree Group has been operating irregularly for a long time, and it will happen sooner or later." When the rumors and slanders came, it was the time when the fourth phase of Gree Electric Appliances was completed and ready for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. It is a critical time for Gree Electric to plan for its future growth.That's it, Zhu Jianghong and Dong Mingzhu often read a thick pile of media "reports" every morning, and in the afternoon they have to attend the foundation stone laying ceremony of the company's expansion project with smiles on their faces.On a business trip, I had to hurry back to Zhuhai to cooperate with the repeated "talks" and "investigations" of relevant parties.In state-owned enterprises, if you stick to the rules, you may not be responsible if you bring down the enterprise, and you just need to be an official in a different place.On the contrary, no matter how prosperous your company is, if there is even a little violation, you will not be able to escape the responsibility. As a leader in a state-owned enterprise, you must be very cautious.In the battle between the group and the company, Dong Mingzhu is the key target of being wooed by the group.

The group sent people to see Zhu Jianghong, and the conditions they offered were: automatic retirement, 5 years of annual salary after retirement, 2 million a year, a total of 10 million.If he does not retreat, a general meeting of shareholders will be held to remove him.The condition for Dong Mingzhu is that after Zhu Jianghong left, Ren Shexuan, the chairman and general manager, learned the content of the ultimatum. Dong Mingzhu told Zhu Jianghong that although this person does not understand business or management, I think He still approves of you.Zhu Jianghong smiled and said, I dare not take the money he gave me, and I can't take it, it's illegal.His mentality is: it doesn't matter, if you don't want to do it, don't do it.Not doing it is not my personal loss, but the enterprise's loss and the government's loss.Under such tremendous pressure, Zhu Jianghong also thought about leaving, but after leaving, what will happen to Gree, what will happen to the investment of shareholders, and what will happen to the future of employees?Or decided to stay and wait.It's an idea that's done entirely in good conscience.At the critical moment, Dong Mingzhu's fighting spirit and ability exploded.At that time, she told Zhu Jianghong that this is not a question of whether you do it or not, but of right and wrong.The group has lost billions of dollars by those people. If they come to make Gree Electric, the company will be ruined soon, which will damage the national interest.You must persist, even if you don't do it, you have to have an explanation.

During the 2005 equity split reform, the Zhuhai Municipal Government organized a team to visit Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai and other places to investigate and visit the securities companies in which they hold shares. Every time they went to each place, the officials were surprised that the fund manager proposed the first The question is: "Can Zhu Jianghong stay in office?" Some people even bluntly said: "We are not very interested in the specific conditions of Gree's shareholding reform. What we are most interested in is whether Zhu Jianghong can not leave." Xu Rongben, chairman of Gree Group, thought On May 23, 2003, Gree Electric's general shareholders' meeting was held, and Zhu Jianghong was removed from the position of chairman of Gree Electric.And just the day before the meeting, Dong Mingzhu personally went to the secretary of the municipal party committee in charge of the industry after learning about the inside story, and tried to explain his interests.The Zhuhai Municipal Government made a decision late at night: Xu Rong was not allowed to attend the next day's shareholders' meeting, and asked him to write a power of attorney to entrust others to attend.This is undoubtedly a heavy blow to Xu Rong, who has been party secretary, legal representative, chairman, and general manager of Gree Group for eight years.This battle of tactics came to an end temporarily when Xu Rong resigned in January 2004.When the clouds opened and the sun rose, for Dong Mingzhu and Zhu Jianghong, the storms of the past few years were very intriguing.It seems that they are the winners, Gree Group has changed from a stumbling block to a booster, but the thinking caused is hard to calm down.