Chapter 10 eagle rebirth

Review background: In 2005, a Taiwan magazine made a special issue called "Transformation". In the frontispiece of the magazine, the author used "Eagle's Survival Rules" as the title, using the meaning of the eagle moulting at the age of 40 in order to rebirth, to describe Taiwan. Businesses are in transition.Whether Li Dongsheng read this article is unknown, but in July 2006, he moved the Chinese business community with an inscription "The Eagle's Rebirth".Unknowingly, Li Dongsheng and his TCL Group have also come to the moment of life and death in the transformation, just like a martial arts master rushing to the "Ren Du" two veins. China's TCL1 is in a dilemma, and its 20-year development is all about internationalization.

Just in 2005, the wave of internationalization of Chinese enterprises marked by TCL's acquisition of France's Thomson and Lenovo's acquisition of the IBM PC business unit surged.But all the aura receded in the baptism of the years, and the internationalization strategy showed a cruel side in 2006: at the time of the acquisition, Li Dongsheng once promised to "recover losses in 18 months", but this statement eventually faded away : Although TCL Mobile achieved a turnaround, it almost lost most of the country. When the annual report for the first half of 2006 was released, the Chinese corporate world was boiling again, but this time it was surprised by TCL's huge loss of 738 million yuan in the first half of the year.

Faced with this situation, Li Dongsheng’s once bold and lofty ambitions were replaced by contemplation. He first wrote the article "The Rebirth of the Eagle" to express his reflection, and then led the group's executives to take the Long March again, to Yan'an " He revisited Mao Zedong's "On Protracted War" and warned employees, "Only a strategic protracted war is the only way to win the final victory."He admitted that it will take 10 years or even longer for TCL to complete its internationalization.He realized: "Problems have always existed within our company, and the company's participation in international competition has exposed these problems in a concentrated manner, and these problems must be resolved sooner or later in the development of our company." For this reason, he made up his mind , expelled Yuan Xincheng, Zheng Chuanlie, Hu Qiusheng, Lu Zhongli, etc. who had followed him for many years, and introduced fresh blood. In September 2006, TCL announced a European restructuring plan, which some media called a "Dunkirk"-style retreat.

Li Dongsheng's "The Rebirth of the Eagle" is the "open book" that opened this bloody "transformation". Although TCL's rebirth has not yet come until 2007, this article at least shows the confidence and courage of a Chinese entrepreneur . This is a story about an eagle. The eagle is the longest-lived bird in the world, and it can live up to 70 years in its lifetime. To live that long, it must make difficult but important decisions at the age of 40.At this time, its beak becomes long and curved, almost touching its chest; its talons begin to age and cannot catch prey effectively; its feathers grow thick and thick, and its wings become very heavy, which makes it very difficult to fly. .

At this time, the eagle has only two choices: either wait to die, or go through a very painful renewal process-150 days of long metamorphosis.It must fly very hard to the top of the mountain, build its nest on the cliff, and stay there without flying. The eagle knocks its beak against rocks until it falls off, and then waits for a new beak to grow back.The eagle will use its newly grown beak to pluck off the old toenails on its claws one by one, and the blood will drip drop by drop.When the new toenails grow out, the eagle uses the new toenails to pluck the feathers off its body one by one.

After 5 months, the new feathers grow out, and the eagle starts to fly again, living the 30 years again! This article about the eagle touched me deeply, and I realized more deeply the necessity and urgency of TCL's cultural transformation and innovation. After more than 20 years of development, TCL has grown from a small company to a large-scale international company, but some factors that supported our success in the past have become problems that hinder our development today, especially how to adapt the culture and management concept to the internationalization of the company. Globalization of operations has become our biggest bottleneck.In fact, we were very aware of this problem in 2002. Therefore, on July 15, at the Thousand People Conference on Corporate Culture Reform and Innovation, I loudly called for the promotion of corporate culture innovation, and pointed out the gaps in our management concept and culture. Some unhealthy phenomena, published the "Declaration on Change and Innovation" on September 28 of that year. At that time, the report aroused strong repercussions among employees.However, 4 years have passed, and we have failed to achieve the expected goal in terms of corporate culture reform and innovation, and the establishment of an international enterprise. I think this is also the main reason why our corporate competitiveness has declined relatively in recent years and international operations have been difficult to promote. factor.

Recently, we have promoted cultural innovation activities again, and I am also deeply reflecting on why we—TCL, which is known for its transformation and innovation—have stagnated in the new round of cultural innovation? Why is the entrepreneurial spirit and courage to change that we are so proud of not playing its due role in cultural innovation activities?Why are we already aware of many problems, but do not have the courage to face and change them?As a result, our group is facing great difficulties today, so that the reforms we carried out as a last resort caused more damage to the company and employees?Looking back on these, I deeply feel that I should bear the main responsibility for this.I failed to make the most correct judgment and decision-making in promoting corporate culture change and innovation; I did not have the courage to fully uncover the internal problems, especially these problems are intertwined with the interests of entrepreneurial executives, executives in key positions, and small groups When we were together, I didn't have the courage to pierce it; I didn't make decisive adjustments when I knew that some managers' abilities, personality or values ​​were not up to the responsibilities he assumed.On the other hand, since August 2003, our two major international M&A projects have objectively diverted the energy and resources of me and the core management team.The complexity and difficulty of the negotiation of international mergers and acquisitions, the preparation process, and many unexpected problems and difficulties in the future operation also made us quickly fall into the bitter struggle of internationalization, and we had no time to fully promote the cultural transformation of the enterprise and innovation.However, because the long-standing problems in corporate management concepts, cultural awareness, and behavioral habits have not been resolved in time, some people and things that violate corporate interests and values ​​​​continue to prevail, making corporate vision and values ​​even more chaotic, and the passion of many employees is affected. Contusions and damages to interests have seriously affected the confidence of employees and the development of the company, and these problems have had a direct impact on the company and the development of international operations.Many employees react strongly to this, but I have not made up my mind to take effective measures to improve this situation in time.For this, I am deeply dereliction of duty and guilt!From my own point of view, when reflecting on past management mistakes in promoting corporate culture reform and innovation, the main points are:

1.Without resolutely putting the core values ​​of the company into action, they often give too much consideration to the company's performance and personal ability, and tolerate some words and deeds that are inconsistent with the company's core values, especially for some business executives with good business performance. 2.Did not resolutely stop some executives from forming and promoting personal values ​​and behavioral standards that are inconsistent with the group's vision and values ​​in a small group, thus forming a feudal culture within the enterprise; the habit cannot be overcome for a long time, forming many intertwined small hills and small interests Groups have seriously poisoned the organizational atmosphere of the enterprise, causing some honest and talented employees to lose a good corporate living environment, and many employees who did not participate in such small groups and activities in them are often damaged or lose development opportunities.

3.Some management cadres who are incapable of taking responsibility are too obstructive and continue to let them occupy high positions.In fact, this situation not only hinders the development of the enterprise, affects the company's operation, but also affects the growth of a large number of capable newcomers. Over time, the company's internal atmosphere deteriorated, employees' enthusiasm decreased, and their confidence was lost. Some passionate employees had no way to repay them, and many people left our company because of this.Looking back on these, I feel extremely sad and guilty.At the end of last year, I made up my mind to truly change all internal behaviors and phenomena that hinder the development of the company by re-promoting corporate culture reform and innovation.

Over the past few months, the management organization of the Group has undergone changes, and we are determined to revive the business by driving a new round of transformation and innovation.After discussions at the group's several strategic retreats, we re-drafted the vision, mission and core values ​​of the company. TCL Vision: To become a respected and most innovative global leader. TCL Mission: Create value for customers, create opportunities for employees, create benefits for shareholders, and take responsibility for the society. TCL's core values: Integrity and responsibility, fairness and justice, unity of knowledge and action, and overall supremacy.

We are discussing the ways and means to determine the connotation of these visions, missions and core values, and how to embed these visions and values ​​into our daily work: we are going to carry out a round of radical, soul-touching cultural change innovation activities, which is It is the top priority that determines the rise and fall of our enterprise, and we are determined to push this activity forward steadily!I would like to appeal here: management cadres at all levels and all employees should actively participate, communicate and discuss fully, reach a consensus on our vision, mission, and values, and implement them in our work.Through this activity, people should gather popularity, arouse passion, build confidence, and establish common values ​​and codes of conduct. Eagle's story tells us: in the life cycle of enterprises, sometimes we have to make difficult decisions to start a renewal process.We have to let go of old, bad habits and traditions, maybe some of the things that have supported our success in the past but are now hindering our progress, so that we can fly again.This transformation is painful, for the company, for all employees, and for myself.But for the survival of the enterprise, in order to achieve our development goals, we must go through this experience!Like the metamorphosis of an eagle, restart the new life cycle of our enterprise, and regain our confidence, dignity and honor in the process of realizing our vision - "to become a respected and most innovative global leading enterprise" !