Chapter 41 4. "Zhuhai Two Pearls" Create a Bright Future for Gree Together

Two people have played a key role in Gree Electric's development to today - Zhu Jianghong and Dong Mingzhu.Now, Zhu Jianghong is the chairman of Gree Electric, and Dong Mingzhu is the president of Gree Electric.It is under the concerted efforts of these "two pearls" that Gree Electric has become the leader in the air-conditioning industry from a small air-conditioning factory with a production capacity of less than 20,000 units.Zhu Jianghong is a native of Zhuhai. He was born in Gongbei, Zhuhai, Guangdong in 1945. Macao is across an inland river to the south.The family has always grown vegetables for a living. When he was a child, Zhu Jianghong often followed his mother to pick vegetables and sell them in Macau.

In 1965, Zhu Jianghong entered the Mechanical Engineering Department of South China Institute of Technology to study. After graduating from university in 1970, he was assigned to work as a worker in Guangxi Baise Mining Machinery Factory. He worked there for 18 years. In 1988, the middle-aged Zhu Jianghong returned from Guangxi to his hometown of Zhuhai after 18 years of absence, and became the general manager of Guanxiong Plastic Co., Ltd., which was on the verge of bankruptcy.Before returning to Zhuhai, Zhu Jianghong had several years of experience as a factory manager. After taking over Guanxiong, he quickly discovered that the production of electric fans is actually very simple, but the benefits are far better than making accessories.So they immediately arranged for people to buy motors and capacitors, and began to produce Hongyun fans. They quickly seized market opportunities, and the factory quickly turned profitable.In order to expand the enterprise, Guanxiong began to produce various molds. The air conditioner casings they processed for Shunde Huabao Air Conditioner Factory were of high quality, which aroused dissatisfaction with Haili Air Conditioner, which had the same system as Guanxiong: Brother units were helping Huabao Hit yourself, so ran to the group company to file a complaint.The group executive ordered Guanxiong to stop the development of air conditioner molds.However, Zhu Jianghong is also an upright person, and he will never look back on what he believes.Since you are not allowed to do it explicitly, do it secretly.Zhu Jianghong was born in technology, and he has the brand of a typical traditional intellectual: pure in thought, simple in action, and unconsciously keeps a distance from power and official career.His principle of handling affairs is: "As long as I do a good job in Gree Electric Appliances, it is the greatest support for the leadership work, and it does not lie in treating guests to dinner and reciprocating courtesy." Jobs passed by.He is from Zhuhai, but he has no relatives in Gree.As early as the early days of the enterprise, Zhu Jianghong went to inspect the European market. When passing through the customs at the airport in Paris, France, the staff mistakenly thought he was Japanese at first, and he was very polite. When he saw the passport and found that he was Chinese, the French The smile disappeared, and she even deliberately made things difficult for him.Zhu Jianghong has always been brooding about this matter, and he does not deny that this stimulus has strengthened his determination to build an international brand.Dong Mingzhu was single-handedly promoted by Zhu Jianghong, who was the general manager of Gree Electric Appliances at the time, but Dong Mingzhu's reputation in the outside world is much greater than Zhu Jianghong's, because Dong Mingzhu is engaged in marketing, contacts with many people, and has many opportunities to show up.Zhu Jianghong doesn't like to show his face, and he is very tolerant, giving others the opportunity to show himself, while he concentrates on Gree's technological innovation and internal management of the company.

Therefore, Zhu Jianghong and Dong Mingzhu have a division of labor internally and externally, and their majors complement each other.Chairman Zhu Jianghong is strategizing, good at planning and making good use of people, and general manager Dong Mingzhu is leading the way, good at making decisions and pioneering. The energy of the two people is formally blended on the stage of Gree, and they have made great contributions to the development of Gree.Dong Mingzhu's evaluation of Zhu Jianghong is "indifferent to fame and fortune, broad-minded, and wise as a fool." In Dong Mingzhu's eyes, Zhu Jianghong has reached the realm of great wisdom.For a long time, when people discuss famous Chinese companies, Haier must be Zhang Ruimin, Changhong must be Ni Runfeng, Chunlan must mention Tao Jianxin, Hisense must mention Zhou Jianhou, but if Gree is mentioned, no one knows Zhu Jianghong.On the contrary, Dong Mingzhu, although his position is lower than Zhu Jianghong's, has several times the reputation of Zhu Jianghong.Dong Mingzhu's ability to achieve today's achievements has an inseparable relationship with Zhu Jianghong.When Dong Mingzhu was working as a salesman, Zhu Jianghong went to the bottom line to investigate the market and found that Dong Mingzhu had done a good job in the Anhui market, but his products were hardly seen in the Nanjing market.It was Zhu Jianghong who transferred Dong Mingzhu from Anhui to Nanjing, and asked her to be in charge of both Anhui and Nanjing. If Zhu Jianghong was not optimistic, Dong Mingzhu, a pearl, would probably be buried.As a woman, Dong Mingzhu must have been vulnerable at times, but it was her persistent pursuit of her career and the support given by Zhu Jianghong that enabled her to overcome difficulties and obstacles one after another.Dong Mingzhu travels all the year round, collapsed and was admitted to the hospital many times because of work. Many people learned about Gree through Dong Mingzhu.Gree's dedication to air-conditioning benefits from Zhu Jianghong's dedication to his career.Zhu Jianghong and his technical team became the strong backing of Dong Mingzhu while Gree Air Conditioning adhered to the high-end route and insisted on channel integration.Zhu Jianghong is willing to be lonely, sweaty all over, with oily hands, and spends days and nights in the workshop like an old scalper. This not only makes Gree Electric's technical level second to none in China, but also breaks the monopoly of American and Japanese companies on core technologies many times.

For more than 10 years, he alone has more than 160 patented technologies.As the leader in charge of marketing, Dong Mingzhu also highly praised the importance of technology research and development.The production and sales of an enterprise are equally important and complement each other. Only when the relationship between the two is coordinated reasonably and harmoniously can the enterprise operate benignly.Dong Mingzhu has been in charge of sales for a long time. The deepest feeling is that if there is no basis for the product quality that Zhu Jianghong focuses on, the market he opened will eventually be lost.Good sales work, marketing strategies and skills are not the key to success, the ultimate reason is still product quality.In Dong Mingzhu's view, the core competitiveness comes from sales, technology, management and service, and the most core is high-quality products and advanced technology.She often warns the company's marketing personnel, asking them to report the quality problems of the products they find outside to the production technology department to support and cooperate with the rear work.Marketing strategies are indeed very important. In modern economic life, there are indeed a large number of products with good quality, but due to improper sales strategies, they can only be stored in warehouses and sleep.But no one can deny the fact that excellent products are the key to successful marketing, and long-selling brand-name products must be high-quality products.Products are the most fundamental factor for an enterprise to gain a foothold in the market. The most basic reason why Gree can continue to maintain a strong position in the domestic market and lead similar competing brands is the excellent quality of its products.Gree's marketing model is full of competitiveness, Gree's marketing strategy skills are proficient, and the excellent quality of Gree Electric Appliances is closely related to Gree's success in marketing.Without the support of high-quality products, marketing is out of the question; conversely, without the success of marketing, scientific research and production are out of the question.This correlation is like the two legs that humans use to walk, and it cannot be said that one leg is more important than the other.The marketing model is only one aspect, the most important thing is the quality of the product.Therefore, if enterprises want to learn from the Gree model, they must first learn from the stable quality of Gree products, starting from the products.Zhu Jianghong said: "I will never allow anyone from Gree Electric Appliances to use consumers as test products. I am 100% assured of the quality of Gree air conditioners. Although the industry and the market evaluate the quality of Gree products, the repair rate is only one in a thousand. Less than two. Overseas is only 2/10,000, almost zero, but I have to see it for myself, otherwise, I won’t be able to sleep.”

In 1994, Zhu Jianghong went to Italy to inspect the Gree air conditioner exported. The dealer said that some users reported some problems, and there was noise after starting.He rushed to the user's site and checked it himself. It turned out that the foam glue of the air outlet was only pressed on the two ends, and the middle was not pasted.Although the matter is small, it seriously affects the brand reputation of Gree air conditioner.The first thing Zhu Jianghong came back to China was to promulgate 12 general manager bans, and took the foam rubber incident as a breakthrough point to strictly check the product quality of the minutiae.For technological development, "be refined, become stronger, and then become bigger".Introduce the world's top testing technology, establish an international laboratory, and ensure product quality.Zhu Jianghong always regards consumers as "God" and takes care of them carefully, as always.For more than ten years, before the peak season of air conditioners, he has to go to the national market for a few times for "private visits" and visit Gree air conditioner stores and sales service outlets across the country as an ordinary consumer to see what is going on below. Serving consumers; how to introduce Gree products to consumers; whether there is anything wrong; whether there is any irregularity.The predecessor of Gree Electric Appliances was "Zhuhai Air Conditioning Factory". At that time, Zhu Jianghong was the director of this small factory.

Gree Electric was established in 1992, and they continued to serve as general manager until 2001 when he was promoted to chairman and Dong Mingzhu was promoted to general manager.After Zhu Jianghong became the chairman of Gree, he directly managed only one investment and securities department, and other areas were awarded to Gree President Dong Mingzhu and several other vice presidents and president assistants.Zhu Jianghong believes that management must let go, but letting go does not mean leaving it alone or not supervising.Gree already has a comprehensive supervision system, so it dared to let go.For example, in the entire supply chain, several supervisory departments, such as the outsourcing quality management department, cost management office, audit department, and supervision department, belong to different vice presidents and general assistant management.Zhu Jianghong doesn't care about Gree Electric's financial rights, and even tens of millions of dollars don't need his signature.Zhu Jianghong's task is to concentrate his efforts at the helm so that Gree Electric will not deviate from the track.Dong Mingzhu and Zhu Jianghong can always reach a tacit understanding in their careers, and they can express their opinions to the outside world without consultation on some important occasions.There has always been a consensus on strategic issues such as whether Gree should diversify and whether to engage in acquisitions.If we talk about the difference, it's just that they have different ways of handling specific matters. Dong Mingzhu has a quick temper, doesn't pay much attention to details, and often publicly accuses others, which often makes people feel shameless.Zhu Jianghong is calm and tolerant, and he takes care of other people's emotions when dealing with many things. He will point out other people's mistakes afterwards, or criticize severely when there is no one around.The achievements of Zhu and Dong are obvious to all.For these two people, competitors often say that it would be fine if Zhu Jianghong and Dong Mingzhu quarreled, or if one of them got sick, or if one of them retired.Wang Guoduan, former president of Kelon Electric, concluded: "It is Zhu Jianghong's blessing to meet Dong Mingzhu, and it is Dong's luck that Dong Mingzhu met Zhu Jianghong." In August 2005, Zhu Jianghong wrote a sentence: "Dedicated to the enterprise Forget yourself, a heroine who plays chess in the world", as a birthday gift to Dong Mingzhu.Zhu Jianghong's simple evaluation of Dong Mingzhu is: first, a strong sense of market; second, a strong sense of management; third, a strong sense of responsibility.With these advantages, he is fully equipped to take charge of Gree in the future, and he deserves his name as Gree's successor.Dong Mingzhu claimed that she never thought of going out to start a business by herself. There is no need and no confidence. Power itself is not her pursuit, and she never thought of leading Gree alone.This is not because she feels safe being the second in command and wants to evade responsibility, but because she has cooperated with Zhu Jianghong for many years. She is used to the unremitting cooperation with Zhu Jianghong.Under the leadership of Zhu Jianghong and Dong Mingzhu, Gree Electric has developed from an unknown small factory on the verge of bankruptcy into one of the best large enterprises in China, and gradually went global.Gree's goal is to pursue the number one in the world. If we only look at the total production and sales of air conditioners, Gree Electric's sales revenue and profit in 2005 both maintained a growth rate of more than 30%, and completed the production and sales target of 10 million units. became the world champion of air conditioner sales.

In July 2005, the latest U.S. "Fortune" magazine (Chinese version) announced its selection of the top 100 listed companies in China in 2005. Gree Electric had a sales revenue of 13.832 billion yuan, a profit of 420 million yuan, and a market value of 12.76 billion yuan. The excellent performance of total assets of 5.347 billion yuan was selected among them, ranking 56th. This is the fifth consecutive year that Gree Electric Appliances has been selected on the list.Under the wise decision-making of Zhu and Dong, Gree has changed and promoted the development of the air-conditioning industry with its single-minded concept of doing things, its attitude of being responsible to the society and its unique industrial spirit, and it has also played an important role in the healthy development of Chinese enterprises. cannot be ignored. "A person without a backbone will never be able to stand up, and an enterprise without core technology will never have a backbone." Zhu Jianghong said: "What Gree Electric Appliances wants to do is by no means a copy, but a national brand, or even a world brand, created by 'Gree' .”