Chapter 4 Chapter 2 The End of the 1980s

On August 19, 1988, a piece of news quickly spread throughout the country—the central government decided to reform the price and wage system. The general direction is: the prices of a few important commodities and labor services are managed by the state, and the prices of most commodities are liberalized and regulated by the market. ; Raise wages and appropriately increase subsidies to ensure that the actual living standards of most workers will not be reduced. The time to achieve these two goals is about 5 years. Originally, the reform of prices and wages went hand in hand, but people seem to only see the former, and regard "five years" as imminent. In the three months of July, August, and September, the savings of national residents dropped by 30 billion yuan.

A storm seemed to be blowing. The earliest perceivers of the storm often start among the people.In fact, this change had been spread among the common people by word of mouth at the beginning of that year. In March 1988, Shanghai adjusted the retail prices of hundreds of commodities, most of which were light industries related to daily life. In addition to the shocking number of types of adjustments, the 20%-30% increase was also unprecedented. In April 1988, the state's price subsidies for pork, fresh eggs, sugar, and road vegetables, which had lasted for a period of time, changed from hidden subsidies to explicit subsidies.In the past few months, in order to keep these important non-staple foods at a low price that residents can afford, the government has subsidized a large amount of funds to the business sector. After adjustments, this subsidy is directly distributed to urban residents.At the same time, commodity prices are no longer limited, and the outcome is worrisome—the price of fresh vegetables has increased by more than 1/3, and the price of pork has increased by about half.

In May 1988, the national leader inadvertently disclosed when meeting the leaders of allied countries: "Only by straightening out prices can the pace of reform be accelerated." Let’s take a step first. Isn’t there a story about Guan Gong who passed five trials and killed six generals in China? We may pass more trials and kill more generals than Guan Gong.” The wind of change is already blowing. On July 2, an article on the front page of the "People's Daily" wrote: "Although there are risks in breaking through the difficulties of reforming prices and wages, more importantly, there are many favorable conditions." The price-setting article titled "Crossing the Customs is Risky, After the Customs is Hirakawa" also appeared in the newspaper at the same time.

A real reform involving people's livelihood is imminent.At the end of the month, 13 famous cigarettes and wines, such as Moutai and Zhonghua, which have only been circulated in the upper class of society for a long time, entered the stalls of ordinary department stores, and the prices were no longer restricted.As a result, the common people began to snap up these "scarce resources". This situation is very similar to today's real estate industry.Regulation and loss of control are often staged alternately between the thoughts of decision makers.Our country is undergoing changes again and again in the painful exploration process of crossing the river by feeling the stones, and the resulting game between stability and chaos.The troubled government and marketization, which is prone to blame, will become the two main opponents accompanying the "primary stage of socialism".

The side effect of this contest between the social system and the laws of the market is a painful journey for all participants in the change.Even so, the starting point is to put an end to painful changes and still have to move forward, because even the common people understand that the unchanging consequences will ruin the future of a country. Before the reform and opening up, prices were set artificially. Prices were just an accounting symbol, and did not reflect the relationship between supply and demand and the value of products. Everything from household appliances to oil and salt had to be purchased by ticket.

The direct result of ignoring the law of value is the distortion of the price system, which in turn leads to losses in the entire industry that are rare in the world.Some people clearly remember that in 1975, if a farmer wanted to wear a Shanghai brand watch with a cost price of only 10 yuan, he had to sell 1,300 catties of rice.Coal, chemicals, metallurgy and other industrial raw materials and mineral products have suffered long-term losses, and production is maintained entirely by financial subsidies.Although compared with this, light industries such as textiles and pharmaceuticals were profiteering at the time, but because the supply of raw materials and fuels could not keep up, they were often in a state of semi-stop production.

And some infrastructure, land, etc. are theoretically not recognized as commodities at all (although today, such non-recognition is not necessarily a bad thing).For the severely deformed price system, it is obvious that only limited adjustments cannot cure the stubborn disease. After entering the mid-1980s, "planned commodity economy" was identified as the goal of economic reform, and "returning prices to exchange to form" and "replacing the administrative pricing system with a market pricing system" were imperative.After deciding to break through the price barrier, the State Council issued a document to cancel the limit of a maximum of 20% price increase for the overproduction of industrial production materials.

There are huge risks behind these simple words-the market and society will fall into chaos at the same time.But the courage of the founders led the leaders to take the risk.In the early days of price liberalization, there was indeed a worrying volatility.The market price is rising steadily, and the gap with the planned price is getting wider and wider.A large number of "bad guys" came into being, frantically reselling the planned products to the market. A reporter from the Xinhua News Agency once experienced such a thing. In a certain hotel in Tianjin, a "daoye" sold a bill of lading for steel products to another "daoye" in the same room, and the price was increased by 200 yuan per ton.The second "Daoye" sold the bill of lading to the third "Daoye", and the price was increased by 200 yuan per ton.In this way, the bill of lading was turned around 4 times before leaving the hotel, and the price of this batch of steel jumped from 700 yuan to 1,600 yuan per ton. The four people made huge profits without any effort.

Money and power have blatantly colluded, and the gap between rich and poor has intensified rapidly, arousing great public outrage.In chaos, discipline and rationality are less feasible than the iron hand of a reformer, at least in the short term.At the end of the 1980s, the supreme leader encouraged market reform: "Don't be afraid of taking risks, you need to be more courageous. If you are afraid of wolves and tigers, you will not be able to walk." Given the situation at that time, both the central government and the local government were facing a difficult situation. Compared with the situation in China today, this kind of dilemma cannot be compared in the same breath.To use a saying at the time, it was called "If you don't advance, you will retreat. There is no other way but to advance in the face of difficulties."

On May 16, 1988, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided that the State Council should formulate a plan for price and wage reform. above. One can imagine the shock effect caused by such a huge reform plan.Before the plan was implemented, the news of panic buying in various places continued to spread to Zhongnanhai. On the evening of August 27, 1988, the central government held an emergency meeting to suspend the price reform plan, manage the environment, and rectify order; on August 31, the "People's Daily" published an article on the front page to explain, "What is mentioned in the price and wage reform plan" The prices of a few important commodities and services are managed by the state, and the prices of the vast majority of commodities are free to be regulated by the market', referring to the goal achieved after five years or even longer."

At the highest levels of the country's leadership, the collision of ideas has never ceased.Generally speaking, expectations and support for reform prevailed. Some people said: "In a socialist country like ours, it seems that it is quite difficult to learn the methods of the Western market economy. You are groping, and in the process of groping you will encounter some Problems are inevitable, and we can continue to explore and sum up experience at any time.” With the strong support of a group of leaders who are proficient in market reform, the difficult period was quickly overcome.The pain of change does not appear to be repeated on a large scale anytime soon.As an important part of the whole transformation, the new dawn of the clothing industry finally showed a slightly haggard and hopeful face in the early throes of the new world. According to authoritative literature, in the early 1980s, China's textile industry could be summarized as "two yarns and two cloths".Textile exports are mainly low-end textile products such as yarn and cloth, while clothing exports, which constitute an important part of foreign trade today, were still in their infancy.However, by the end of the 1980s, the amount of clothing exports had increased by five times in ten years, and the astonishing growth rate also matched the opening speed of the entire country. On the one hand, there is the expansion of data, and on the other hand, there is a huge change in the foreign trade system.From the beginning of the reform, when the foreign trade management rights of garments were delegated to the local governments, Guangdong Province, the frontier of the reform, took the lead in adopting the three-way and one-subsidy system. The second reform occurred in the mid-1980s, when the state began to implement the contracting responsibility of garment enterprises. The activation of the system has also doubled the export value of clothing. From the perspective of the general environment, the large-scale supply at this time is still concentrated in state-owned garment factories in big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. The fabrics, styles, and even prices of clothing are still very single. Residents need to "enter the city" to buy famous brands. With the end of the ticket era, the garment manufacturing industry flourished.This change has driven small workshops like Zhou Chengjian.After the cloth ticket was cancelled, the small tailor industry quickly became popular, which provided impetus for the later development of the private economy. Subsequently, private capital quickly entered the field of clothing manufacturing on a large scale, and a large number of township enterprises and family workshops emerged. There are 178 garment, shoe and hat industrial companies, 35 quality inspection stations and 2 large-scale quality inspection centers across the country, and clothing majors have been set up in all textile colleges and universities. An industrial system related to the connection between the upper and lower garment industries has initially taken shape. However, the problem is that the growth of quantity only completes one aspect of accumulation, and the singleness of clothing is still the main problem of the clothing industry.Marketization seems out of reach. In fact, it will be a few years before Zhou Chengjian realizes marketization and brand management. The old state-owned garment factories obviously cannot keep up with the rapid consumption demand of "in line with international standards". With the emergence of clothing resellers, new business models are also born.These small vendors sell fashionable clothing with novel styles and exquisite fabrics from Guangzhou and other cities to other parts of the country. Many large and medium-sized cities have appeared "stall" clothing distribution places based on this type of clothing. Not only are these clothing from Hong Kong The popular information has changed the "consumption view" of mainland residents and laid the foundation for the "clothing wholesale and retail market". The emergence of a centralized clothing market has filled the gap between the system and the market.The birth of a large number of distribution centers has witnessed the historical transformation of the garment industry from a pool of stagnant water to a pool of spring water. Since 1988, China's garment industry has bid farewell to the sorrows of the past and embarked on a real path of industrialization. In 1989, the Fourth Plenary Session of the Thirteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed to establish an economic system and operating mechanism that combined planned economy and market regulation to adapt to the development of a planned commodity economy. In 1992, the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China decided to establish a socialist market economic system; in 1993, the First Session of the Eighth National People's Congress revised Article 15 of the Constitution to read "the state implements a socialist market economy." "Market" has also become the core word in the development of the clothing industry, the private economy has entered the historical stage, and leading enterprises have been born. With the continuous deepening of marketization, the rapid expansion of the domestic market has provided conditions for the development of the clothing industry. In addition, the entry threshold of the clothing industry is low and the income is fast, and many private capitals are invested in the clothing industry. Under this general background, Zhou Chengjian's booming business in the Miaoguo Temple Clothing Wholesale Market started.But obviously, he didn't realize at the time that a wider world was already galloping. And he seems to be still immersed in his own one-person kingdom, enjoying himself. At the end of the 1980s, people bid farewell to poetry and idealism, and entered a full-speed economic pragmatism cycle.After the hostility was unleashed, those who acted quickly and determined became the first batch of beneficiaries.This group of people has a common feature, that is, they have a strong sense of self, and rely entirely on their own strength to search for the future in the whirlwind of the market. Zhou Chengjian traveled through that era, and it is not surprising that he was immersed in such a one-person world.Many years later, he admitted frankly that perhaps the biggest "mistake" was his own temper. Many people commented on Zhou Chengjian in this way: "It should be said that he is a very good entrepreneur. The only shortcoming is that he has a bad temper and sometimes scolds the people below." The old subordinate who left him once said: "We didn't because of The company had a problem and left because he was not optimistic about the company's development prospects, but he couldn't communicate with Zhou Chengjian, and he had a blunt attitude and cursed people." Obviously, in Zhou Chengjian's view, such an argument is more like a good way to spur him.Zhou Chengjian's kingdom has a strong personal touch from the day it was born. This is also a common problem for companies led by a whole generation. Flash in the pan. The story of Smith Barney is obviously still continuing. Zhou Chengjian's pursuit of novelty and concepts in his bones has covered up the ills of the family business to a certain extent, and he has also benefited from the shaping of the company's character by personal authority. Metersbonwe Group was once evaluated as a typical "tight fit" enterprise. The employees of the enterprise are either very suitable for this company, or not suitable at all.This may have a lot to do with Zhou Chengjian's temper.Among the managers who come and go, there are those who particularly agree or disagree with Zhou Chengjian.Some people say he has a strange temper, while others say, "If you understand him, you won't think he has a strange temper." Like other Wenzhou bosses, Zhou Chengjian relied more on his own business talent to make decisions in the early days of his business, and used his own thinking to direct managers and operate the company.But at this time, Zhou Chengjian has clearly realized that there are potential risks in making decisions only based on personal thinking, and the managers and bosses need to be restrained by the system. Although the turnover of personnel is relatively frequent, the core personnel it needs are stable in different periods of enterprise development.For example, in the Metersbonwe start-up period, employees who are good at product development and network construction are the core personnel; in the transition stage of Metersbonwe to a modern enterprise, employees who are good at management system construction are the core personnel; stage, employees who are good at brand promotion are the core personnel.And this part of "scarce population" is always reserved and reused by Metersbonwe at an appropriate time.In this sense, in each period, the core personnel needed by Metersbonwe are basically stable. On the one hand, this is based on the improvement of the enterprise system, and on the other hand, it is not unrelated to Zhou Chengjian's personal wisdom. Zhou Chengjian's biggest "gain" lies in "repairing the aftermath".How to deal with the relationship with the resigned manager often best reflects a boss's mind and the art of employing people.A senior person who did not want to be named commented: "Zhou is a smart and generous person. Many bosses are either not smart or stingy when dealing with the problem of managers leaving the company." Zhou Chengjian never treats managers who leave the company badly.On the contrary, there are often gifts of money or things, and the hands are quite generous. "After a manager goes out, he speaks ill of you outside, which will do great damage to the company, and its destructive effect cannot be measured by money." In addition to material gifts, the affection shown by the boss is even more important. Zhou Chengjian's character is the luck and misfortune of Meibang.Unfortunately, there are always people who come and go. Fortunately, the old people are gone, but the accumulation he has made for the company's system construction will not be taken away with his departure. This is exactly in line with the law that modern enterprises operate with systems and do not rely solely on positions and personal strengths. The departure of the "old" makes room for the new, and the new brings something new.For enterprises, in the process of talent flow, sometimes outstanding people leave the enterprise, but as long as outstanding people remain in the enterprise, this kind of talent renewal is healthy. The departure of managers from Metersbonwe Group can be summarized into two situations: one is that the scale of the enterprise is expanding, and Zhou Chengjian keeps moving forward. Go away; Second, in some cases, the manager ran too far ahead. For Zhou Chengjian and Metersbonwe at that time, they didn’t need to be so international and advanced, and managers who were too advanced were not What the enterprise needed at that time had to go away. As an entrepreneur, Zhou Chengjian gradually became mature and professional.The way he handles personnel shocks, at least three points are worthy of recognition.First, be good at learning.He constantly summed up experience from personnel shocks, reflected and changed himself.For example, his temper is getting better.Personality is difficult to change, and it is not easy to change your temper.As the scale of the company grows, the boss's temper also grows. It is very rare for a boss to lose his temper as the scale grows.Second, he was polite to departing staff.For example, invite the person who is leaving to have a meal and send him off.I think Zhou Chengjian is a master at dealing with personnel shocks.Third, when the person who started the business together is no longer suitable for the company, he can let go of emotional factors and choose the development of the company, which is remarkable.Some bosses in Wenzhou have disagreements with the people who started the business together in terms of ideas, but they cannot "break up" because of feelings and favors, so the company will never be able to develop. Zhou Chengjian is immersed in his own kingdom, and he is also trying to jump out, and examine himself and his surroundings with a vision that keeps pace with the times. This habit of constantly generating new elements is doomed to the continuous advancement of Smith Barney.