Chapter 7 Doing Business with Mao Zedong Thought

Ren Zhengfei is an admirer of Mao Zedong Thought. He is a famous "model student of Mao Zedong" in the army. When he has free time, he devotes himself to studying Mao Zedong Thought, pondering Mao Zedong's art of war, and understanding Mao Zedong's military theory, mass line, theory of contradiction, and dialectical materialism. Therefore, he can reflect a strong Mao Zedong Thought in speech, work, and conduct.After founding Huawei, Ren Zhengfei used Mao Zedong Thought as a guide to formulate the company's development strategy.Therefore, whether it is Huawei's customer service policy or market strategy, whether it is internal management and operation, or external competition strategy, the imprint of Mao Zedong Thought can be seen everywhere.

As an entrepreneur with a military background, Ren Zhengfei seldom talks about his military experience in Huawei, but he often talks about Mao Zedong Thought, the three major battles, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea to employees, and he speaks passionately.He said that on the battlefield, the mission of soldiers is to defend the dignity of national sovereignty; in the market, the mission of entrepreneurs is to defend the market position of enterprises.In modern business warfare, only technological self-reliance is the foundation. Without its own scientific research support system, the status of an enterprise is empty talk.Therefore, Ren Zhengfei chose to take the industrial road of technological self-reliance and high-tech development.

Ren Zhengfei most admired Mao Zedong's military thinking of "subduing the enemy without fighting" and "attacking the heart first".Especially in his internal speeches, such words and phrases can often be found: "Don't treat the customer relationship as a business relationship. Be an honest businessman, give preferential treatment and benefits to customers, care about the issues that customers care about most, and truly win People's hearts - those who win people's hearts win the world!" One of the most typical examples of the application of Mao Zedong Thought is the application of the strategy of "encircling the cities from the countryside". In 1992, Huawei independently developed switches and equipment. At that time, foreign giants such as Alcatel, Lucent, and Nortel controlled the domestic market. Ren Zhengfei quickly conquered the city with the strategy of "surrounding the city from the countryside", and the price of communication equipment also plummeted. In 1996, Huawei began to concoct according to law around the world, encroaching on the market of European and American telecom operators.

From its founding in 1988 to becoming the world's second largest communications equipment supplier in 2009, Huawei has achieved leapfrog development around the idea of ​​"surrounding cities from rural areas" in the short 20-year history.When developing overseas markets, facing fierce competition from powerful rivals, the fledgling Ren Zhengfei adopted the strategy of "surrounding the cities from the countryside" and "the principle of pressure". The barriers to entry are lower, the technical barriers are less, and the requirements for products are not too strict. After achieving a breakthrough in scale in developing countries, it will gradually move towards developed countries.Huawei relied on the "crowd tactics" to defeat some international giants, and gained itself a position in China's communication companies.Huawei, which had no customer base and brand awareness, has improved its reputation, obtained a large number of orders, and achieved rich returns in global market competition: In 2005, 58% of Huawei's global turnover of 46.97 billion yuan came from the international market ; In 2006, Huawei's export volume ranked first among China's top 100 electronics companies; in 2009, its sales revenue ranked second in the world.

In Huawei's corporate management, the imprint of Mao Zedong Thought can be seen everywhere.Combining theory with practice, criticism and self-criticism, and close contact with the masses are the three styles of work emphasized in Mao Zedong Thought, and criticism and self-criticism in particular show originality. In Huawei, the routine democratic life meetings and the constant theme of "criticism and self-criticism" are an important part of strengthening corporate management.As Ren Zhengfei said: "Self-criticism is not for criticism, nor for complete negation, but for optimization and construction. The overall goal is to enhance the company's overall core competitiveness." Therefore, Huawei stipulates that Any cadre who cannot use the weapon of self-criticism cannot be promoted.At the democratic life meeting, self-criticism starts from senior cadres, and the questions raised are also very sharp.

Mao Zedong Thought is the most precious spiritual wealth of the Chinese nation, and the greatness of Mao Zedong Thought lies not only in its military thinking, but also in his organizational thinking and wise strategic decision-making.It is precisely through Ren Zhengfei's flexible use of Mao Zedong's strategic thinking that Huawei has achieved remarkable achievements in all aspects.