Chapter 38 The choice on the cusp

After China's accession to the WTO, internationalization has become an unavoidable threshold for the development of Chinese enterprises.As the cost advantage is getting smaller and smaller, Chinese companies are getting more and more difficult on the road to internationalization.Building lasting competitiveness is the most urgent issue facing every Chinese enterprise. Huawei, as a rising star, has sprung up suddenly.Huawei has gone further and further in the process of internationalization, but the competitors facing Huawei have become stronger.How to be superior, Huawei has to make a choice on the cusp.

At the beginning, China's private enterprises had a weak technical foundation and a shortage of funds, so they had to rely on price wars to make a living.Huawei just entered the market, and this is how it started. The advantages of Huawei's products lie in high technology and low price, which enabled Huawei to quickly occupy the market.Huawei is moving towards internationalization, and its low price advantage has quickly occupied the markets in Africa, the Middle East, Russia and Southeast Asia, and it has also successfully landed in Europe.In the development of overseas markets, Huawei has been reporting frequent successes.

Any coin has two sides, pros and cons.Huawei's price advantage has drawn the wrath of "Lion King" Cisco.It angrily pushed Huawei to court, and the two sides went to court.Huawei was hit hard and bloody, and was sanctioned.So far, Cisco has listed Huawei as its global competitor, and it is fighting openly and secretly on a global scale. Huawei's foreign competitors are all world-class companies, and Huawei's advantages are also shared by other companies, or even stronger.If Huawei wants to compete with them and directly establish its own sales network abroad, the first problem it has to face is cost.Because Huawei wants to build a competitor-like organization abroad, Huawei cannot enjoy low prices like it does in China, so its cost advantage cannot be reflected.

Therefore, Ren Zhengfei emphasized that he will resolutely refrain from price wars overseas, treat opponents as friends, and not disrupt market rules. "The communication industry is an investment market, and it is impossible to be accepted by customers only by short-term opportunistic behavior. Therefore, we reject opportunism, insist on oriented to the target market, develop the market persistently, and strengthen our marketing network and service from beginning to end. Networking and team building." Now in the international market, companies do not compete on low prices, but on brand, technology, strength, service and other factors.Price war is not a long-term solution, so Ren Zhengfei wants to transform the way of competition.

In the 1980s, China was full of vicissitudes, with backward economy and technology, and poverty was a reality.At that time, the door of the country was opened, and foreign companies flocked to occupy the Chinese market with unlimited business opportunities. Those business veterans who had developed for hundreds of years had advanced technology and strong strength, and soon monopolized the Chinese market. Ren Zhengfei believes that if an enterprise wants to survive, it must have its own core competitiveness.If an enterprise wants to gain a foothold, it must bravely face challenges.Only by competing with masters can you show your true qualities as a hero.In the end, Huawei chose the very difficult road of technological breakthrough and began to compete with the masters.

Huawei's internationalization has progressed rapidly, and it has defeated a series of opponents one after another. In 2003, after a fierce contest between Cisco and Huawei, the proud Chambers had to admit that there was nothing that could stop Huawei from running at an accelerated pace on the road to internationalization. Huawei is actively expanding globally. Through effective government public relations, operator procurement, low-price sales, and after-sales services, Huawei has many overseas customers and has become a provider for the world's most powerful operators Vodafone and British Telecom. , but it is still dominated by giants such as Cisco, EMC, and IBM.

Although Huawei has won a series of large orders overseas, the fact that the products are sold does not mean that the company has gone global.Huawei's success in the market relies on the strategy of low profit, high cost, and high income. Although it has technology, it is by no means the most forward-looking, but a collection of technologies and integrated technologies. Entering the new century, waves of reorganization and integration of global telecommunications equipment giants have emerged one after another. Ericsson merged with Marconi, Alcatel and Lucent merged, Nokia and Siemens merged, oligarchs formed alliances with oligarchs, and the entire telecommunications industry showed stronger competition. The gap suddenly widens again, Huawei has less and less room to maneuver, and it has become more and more a "thorn in the eyes" of the "giants", and will face stronger suppression. At this time, it has only two choices: either be eaten by the "lion" Fall, or grow into a "lion".

If Huawei wants to grow into an everlasting company and achieve greater success in the mainstream markets of developed countries such as Europe and the United States, it needs to realize the leap from "coyote" to "lion".In the context of increasingly intensified competition, the cost advantage is getting smaller and smaller, and the profit is getting thinner, and it is becoming more and more difficult for Huawei to make a leap towards its goal. To achieve a big leap forward from "coyote" to "lion", not only a technological leap is required, but also a leap in system, management and people is required.Huawei must gradually get rid of dictatorship and autocracy, gradually integrate with international standards, and achieve equal dialogue.

To realize the dream of a world-class enterprise, Huawei still has a long way to go. After the brutal lawsuit with Cisco, Ren Zhengfei came to a conclusion: act in accordance with internationalization.To become a large international enterprise, it is necessary to act in accordance with international rules. Ren Zhengfei is ambitious and determined to have a place for Huawei in the future international communication industry.To this end, he gave full play to his talents and boldly began to lead Huawei on the road of internationalization. Ren Zhengfei pointed out that Huawei's main task in the next 3 to 5 years is to be in line with international standards; by the end of the 20th century, we will reach the scale and level of an international medium-sized company.Huawei operates in accordance with international rules, and it must "fully integrate with international standards in terms of product strategy research systems, marketing, production technology, equipment and management, and even the entire company's corporate culture and management."

Ren Zhengfei said: "The internationalization of Asian companies is inherently difficult. After decades of closure in our country, the development of just two decades is not enough to support internationalization. In the contemporary world dominated by Western countries, where giants stand In the telecommunications industry, we must see the extraordinary difficulty of Huawei's internationalization, but if these difficulties cannot be overcome, Huawei may be short-lived." Capitalist business has developed for more than 200 years, and the experience in management process has matured, so he used the "bringing doctrine" to ask IBM for consulting.At the same time, professional companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and KTRF were hired to establish an "American-style" operation support system such as finance and IT systems to solve the "common language" that Huawei must face when "going global" and international companies. question.

With the strength of Huawei, Ren Zhengfei has the opportunity to get in touch with world-class companies such as IBM, Lucent, and Motorola more easily. His understanding of the narrowness of Huawei's culture and the gap between people has strengthened his idea: to acquire international thinking And international people are a threshold that Huawei must cross in the future. After a series of internationalization efforts, Huawei has become a Huawei that British Telecom called "China's American company", a Huawei that can use the same "language" to calmly deal with international business games.Huawei insists on taking the road of internationalization, combining introduction and absorption to avoid "two skins", so that Huawei can truly become a world-class enterprise. A charismatic leader is a "god" brimming with extraordinary charisma, possessing extraordinary abilities... who can inspire all sincere believers to fight for and dedicate themselves to it.However, the talent of this leader is flashy.In order to ensure the relative stability of the rule, the charismatic rule should be transformed into traditional rule, legal rule, or a mixture of the two. The autocratic rule of traditional China for thousands of years, generally speaking, the personal charm of the ruler plays a decisive role in ensuring the long-term stability of the society.The Chinese pin their hopes for the rise and fall of the world on a good emperor, and hope that upright officials can complain for them.Long-term autocratic rule, patriarchal system prevails, and people lack democratic consciousness.After all, is it because China has ruled by man for a long time? ? ?Thick, people just hope that rulers don't make mistakes, but it's almost impossible. The first generation of private entrepreneurs in China relied on their personal charisma and "call the wind and rain" to complete a start-up with difficulty. Now many people have reached the retirement age and are facing a second start-up. Enterprises need to reposition.In order for enterprises to get rid of "short-lived" and ensure inheritance, this leadership style needs to be transformed. In fact, due to their unique personal charm, most entrepreneurs in China have always been difficult to truly transform.Liu Chuanzhi handed over the scepter to Yang Yuanqing, but he was still not at ease, and he had to personally intervene to finalize everything.Ni Runfeng retreated behind the scenes for a while, but quickly returned to replace him. Ren Zhengfei is the supreme commander of Huawei, and all activities of Huawei are directly or indirectly caused by him.He built Huawei single-handedly by relying on his personal charm, and now Huawei is also facing a "turn".Ren Zhengfei not only needs to choose a successor, but also maintains the recognition of Huawei's values ​​and realizes Huawei's inheritance. Ren Zhengfei has long proposed that Huawei wants to achieve "governance by doing nothing" and achieve natural inheritance, with the intention of achieving an everlasting foundation.In the past, he had to travel to various offices to inspect the work, but now he handed over this task to Sun Yafang and other vice presidents, and started to look for business opportunities overseas. After 2000, Ren Zhengfei made it clear that Huawei is gradually evolving from a small company that created history with a "hero" to a large company with professional management.Dilute the color of heroes, especially the color of leaders, is the inevitable way to achieve professionalization. However, Ren Zhengfei did not let go completely. On some important projects, the management and executive team still cannot make the final decision, but they have to wait for the boss to finalize, and they only provide suggestions. Traditional Chinese people have a strong sense of "family", and it is a major event to pass on blood.In fact, Ren Zhengfei regards Huawei as his own child, and he still can't let go of his heart. He feels that Huawei is like a child who can't grow up and needs to be supported everywhere. The best entrepreneurs must distinguish personality charm from corporate system and culture, and use the system to inherit ideals and ambitions.Ren Zhengfei has an irreplaceable position in Huawei, but the hero must also have a long-term plan.He wants to lead Huawei to achieve a steady transformation, gradually dilute his personal charm, ensure the long-term development of the company, and make Huawei truly a "century-old brand." Before the 1990s, most Japanese companies implemented a lifelong employment system and a seniority system.For quite a long time, wages and benefits have risen steadily according to the year, and promotions are also based on seniority, with little difference.However, in the 1990s, the Japanese economy fell into a quagmire. This rigid system gradually imprisoned the reform of the corporate system, resulting in a weak economic recovery.In order to get out of the predicament, many Japanese companies began to reform this system, and the benefits have improved greatly. When Konosuke Matsushita talked about the value of employees, he said: "Creating people before creating things."Li Ka-shing also once said, "It is the employees who support the company."The success of an enterprise depends on the joint efforts of its employees. Therefore, mobilizing the enthusiasm of employees is the key to maintaining the vitality of the enterprise and becomes the cornerstone of the enterprise's long-term prosperity. Ren Zhengfei understands that a company without vitality will not last long, and the "catfish effect" must be carried through to the end.In order to ensure that Huawei people will always maintain strong energy, Ren Zhengfei directed another big resignation after the "collective resignation" in 1994 when the new "Labor Law" was about to come into effect. Just after the "October Golden Week" in 2007 passed, the prelude kicked off.All employees who joined the company before December 31, 1999 must submit a resignation application before October 31. Once the resignation application is signed, the parties concerned will go through the resignation procedures and transfer assets.A week later, the resigned employee re-signed the labor contract with each subsidiary, and the job number was rearranged, and the order was no longer in order. The only change was that the new contract was signed for a period of 4 years.For resigned employees, the company's compensation standard is: working years (less than 6 months are counted as 6 months) N+1, multiplied by the salary of the current month (including 1/12 of the year-end bonus of the previous year), calculated and paid after tax, and Resigned employees retain the eligibility for virtual restricted shares held by them. As soon as Huawei's action was introduced, it quickly caused a sensation.Many people believe that Huawei deliberately arranged the big resignation when the new "Labor Law" is about to be implemented, which is to take advantage of legal loopholes to avoid risks; some people think that this is Huawei's misunderstanding of the "Labor Law"; It is believed that this time Huawei's "wolf nature" broke out again, and Huawei's human nature is difficult to recover... Various doubts and speculations were published in the newspapers, and the city was full of troubles for a while. So, what is the real motivation behind Ren Zhengfei's action?It can be said that this movement is the inheritance and development of the mass resignation in 1994.If we say that the collective resignation in 1994 was a step for Ren Zhengfei to activate the management, it laid a solid foundation for Huawei's successful start-up.Well, this time is another reform carried out by Huawei to enhance the vitality of the enterprise in the process of its second venture.This reform completely canceled the job number, and no longer judged the hero by the length of service, but reshuffled the cards, relying on the ability to judge the superiority. The job number is of great significance to Huawei.Taking 2001 as the boundary, the employees who entered before 2001 had a job number within "20000", and most of the later employees were after "20000". However, this difference not only represents seniority, but also represents wealth.Many old employees have become a leisurely class, do not have to worry about salary, lack of vitality; while the newcomers who work hard still have limited income and weaken their initiative.It is under such circumstances, in order to ensure the continued stamina of the second venture, Ren Zhengfei took this measure. This move is a manifestation of Ren Zhengfei's sense of urgency. "Born in sorrow, died in peace" is an eternal truth, "I have been thinking about failure every day for ten years", "The day of failure will definitely come... This is the law of history." For Huawei not to die Ren Zhengfei always activates Huawei's vitality.In the fierce competition in the new century, if Huawei wants to successfully realize its second venture and become a century-old brand, it must always maintain its vitality. However, this reform will also cause labor pains. If it is not handled properly, it will have incalculable consequences: the loss of key elites, hurting the feelings of employees, etc., causing instability in the army, "losing the wife and losing the general." In the face of risks, only the courageous Ren Zhengfei dared to play this card. This may not be the best choice, but at least Ren Zhengfei once again raised his sword for Huawei.He understands that if an enterprise has no vitality, there is only a dead end ahead.