Chapter 62 Who is Huawei's successor?

According to media reports, there are currently many candidates who meet the conditions of Huawei's successor, and the current chairman Sun Yafang is the best candidate. The "Huawei Basic Law" requires successors to have a solid "foundation in public opinion."According to Ren Zhengfei's description, employees who hold Huawei's virtual restricted shares are eligible to participate in the decision. Some Huawei employees tend to believe that the successor comes from within the Ren Zhengfei family.Although Ren personally only owns 1.42% of the company's shares, his relatives and direct cronies have long been divided into key positions.Currently, Ren Zhengfei's younger brother Ren Shulu, younger sister Zheng Li, daughter Meng Wanzhou and son Ren Junjun are working in Huawei's financial and logistics support system.

Theoretically, there are four possibilities for Huawei's successor: one is to choose one of the current EMT members; the other is to take over as a whole of EMT members and take turns to take over; the third is to be succeeded by his son Ren Ping; the fourth is to hire a professional manager people take care of.However, the possibility of hiring professional managers is very small. This method does not comply with the "Huawei Basic Law". If according to the saying of "group succession", all EMT members take turns "taking charge", Huawei will create a precedent for the Chinese enterprise management system, but even if EMT is the highest decision-making level of the company, the president and chairman are still needed. It did not solve the problem of successors, but provided a layer of insurance for the company's sustainable development from the system.

In the article "From the Kingdom of Inevitability to the Kingdom of Freedom" published by Ren Zhengfei in March 1998, he put forward two basic requirements for successors: "The key to the long-term stability of an enterprise is that its core values ​​are confirmed by the successors, and the successors Have the ability to criticize yourself. The "Huawei Basic Law" also clarifies our core values. Thousands of our employees have now identified with it and are working hard to practice it. In practice, they have cultivated themselves as successors of cadres at all levels."

In 1998, Ren Zhengfei mentioned in "How long can Huawei's red flag last": "We must gradually get rid of the dependence on technology, talents, and capital, so that enterprises can move from the kingdom of inevitability to the kingdom of freedom, and establish a more reasonable management mechanism, slowly weakening the direct control of entrepreneurs over enterprises.” Under the guidance of this idea, Huawei established EMT. EMT has the highest decision-making power in Huawei, which is considered by observers to be a major step forward for Huawei's transformation from Ren Zhengfei's personal will to "group succession".

Some media analysts believe that at this time, Huawei, except for Ren Zhengfei, does not have enough authority to make other people absolutely obey. not suitable.Therefore, under the EMT management structure, Huawei's future management may adopt a "joint president system", that is, EMT members take turns to sit in the office, and each person presides over Huawei's work for a year or a few years, and then replaces another member. Although this method may reduce efficiency, it makes up for the lack of an absolute leader in Huawei's top management, and resolves conflicts that may arise due to competition for Huawei's supreme control.And all the speculation about Huawei's successor, the best answer, undoubtedly depends on its actual direction.

Most of China's private enterprises are also succeeded by their children, such as Country Garden.That is to say, in the Chinese market, the two concepts of private enterprises and family enterprises are inseparable. The only risk of succession by children is that whether the children's ability can guarantee the sustainable development of the enterprise is the key.Perhaps, for the current Ren Zhengfei, the biggest worry is also the biggest challenge. If Ren Ping takes over, how can Huawei continue its good days? Of course, Ren Zhengfei is waiting for the best time to hand over power.In addition to cultivating a successor with an international perspective and adapting to the decentralization system among his immediate family members, Ren also needs a sharp weapon that can give his successor authority.The veterans of China's telecommunications equipment industry are well aware of the cruelty of the operator market and the limitations of their growth space.In contrast, the growth space of the enterprise network market is still huge.In the past two years, Huawei's enterprise network revenue has been growing at a rate of 70% to 100%-and it will also become a weight for Ren Zhengfei to establish authority for his successor and new management team.

Mechanisms produce successors.Therefore, Huawei's EMT chairman Sun Yafang, vice president Fei Min, Xu Zhijun, Yu Chengdong, Hong Tianfeng, Hu Hou and others have rotated in various systems several times, and any one of them can support the banner of Huawei. Huawei's real successor still needs a long time to investigate and choose.However, we have reason to believe that Ren Zhengfei, who once called out "Huawei's winter" in times of crisis, will have enough foresight on the issue of successors. This is also a wish for Huawei, the star of Chinese enterprises.