Chapter 16 across the river of history

Review background: In 2007, Feng Lun, chairman of the board of directors of Wantong Group, celebrated his 49th birthday. At this time, he is very close to the age of knowing his destiny. 16 years ago, he returned to Beijing from Hainan to find gold and founded Beijing Vantone Real Estate Company. Under his dedicated management, Vantone has successfully embarked on a regular development path. Such conditions make Feng Lun, who was already somewhat talented, Have the energy to think beyond running a business. Feng Lun's thinking is profound and typical - when an enterprise develops to have no worries about food and clothing, "where does it come from and where does it go" will become a natural question that surfaces.For Feng Lun, he is a direct beneficiary of the reform and opening up and "Hainan's real estate boom". Therefore, in this "River Across History", he used affectionate pen and ink to praise the value of Rong Yiren, Wang Shi and others, Also in the flowing words, he described the direction he was looking for.

In fact, in 2007, the environment of Chinese companies was in a delicate situation. Many companies that had a crisis in 2004 were mostly settled by now, and the road that was originally unclear suddenly became clear this year.As the saying goes, "The authorities are obsessed, but the bystanders are clear." Feng Lun, who has been thinking about the direction of the enterprise, found his long-lost inspiration. He wrote this thought-provoking article in his habitual time. It is worth mentioning that Feng Lun is remembered by history as a thinker—since 2004, his business thinking that he routinely writes every year has become a rare voice among Chinese entrepreneurs:

In 2004, he wrote "Make Your Company More "Zhang Yimou""; in 2005, he wrote "Four Powers to Win Future Business"; in 2006, he wrote "The Spirit of Silly Roots Shines Forever"; until In 2007, the "River Across History" has indeed become more leisurely and profound in his continuous flow to the future. In 2006, China's economy continued to improve. According to figures released recently, the country's GDP has reached 20 trillion yuan. The growth rate in 2006 remained at a high level of 10.5%. More importantly, the WTO transition period has ended since December, and China has fully opened up to the world.During this period, China's economy and society have not been torn apart and declined, but have become stronger and stronger, and its peaceful rise is an indisputable fact.However, in contrast to the economic prosperity, politically, the downfall of Chen Liangyu is the symbol of "corruption and anti-corruption". "Original sin" and the legitimacy of wealth have once again become the focus of attention in building a harmonious society.In addition, in recent years, a series of policies to strengthen the redistribution of social wealth oriented towards social fairness and justice have added a lot of worry to private capital, which was already in a state of anxiety.Many private entrepreneurs are asking: Can we only be small businesses, and will we inevitably encounter restrictions when we grow big?What room for development do we have?Have we touched the ceiling of the system and culture?

In fact, from the perspective of history, there are indeed some real hidden worries.In the past 100 years, the stable and sustainable development of private capital has never exceeded 20 years, and the continuous development history of individual private enterprises, especially relatively large-scale and influential private enterprises, has hardly exceeded 15 years. The period from 1927 to 1937 was a golden period for the development of private capital. There were a number of famous private enterprises such as Rong Desheng and Zhou Xuexi, as well as flour kings and textile kings. If these enterprises were not blocked by the subsequent war, some of them It will definitely become a Fortune 500 company. After 1949, private capital and private enterprises gradually withdrew from economic activities. It was not until the reform and opening up in 1976 that private business activities were gradually allowed. legal status.It was not until the "Company Law" was promulgated in 1993 that private investment officially became a legal capital activity, and national capital and private enterprises made their appearance and became popular.From the perspective of time, our private enterprises that are in the limelight today are actually writing a new history of China's private capital, constantly breaking and creating new records for the development of China's private enterprises.Therefore, we have to think about what are the deep-seated things that hinder private capital from taking root and growing healthily on Chinese soil. Besides the river of time that lies in front of us, what other political, economic or social challenges we must overcome The historical river of culture?

We cannot avoid the political-business relationship that is like walking on eggshells. The relationship between politics and business, or the relationship between private enterprises and the government, and the relationship between private entrepreneurs and politicians has always been a ditch full of thorns that leads to the collapse of private capital.Historically, state-owned capital has always occupied an absolute dominant position in China.The government has absolute power over the allocation of resources. Under such circumstances, the profit-seeking instinct of private capital will inevitably lead to dependence, speculation and corrosiveness in its relationship with the government.

It attaches itself to the state-owned capital to plunder but often advances and retreats, which leads to "strike hard" and "clean up and rectify"; it relies on the nose of officials for profit, opportunistically, and often falls into political disputes and becomes fish under the knife: It often pulls officials into the water, makes money and trades money and power, but often digs its own grave while corrupting officials.In this complicated relationship between government and business, many private enterprises that were extremely creative or originally hoped to become pivotal have died halfway, such as Hu Xueyan in the distance, and Zhou Zhengyi and Zhang Rongkun in the near.Therefore, if private enterprises want to seek the way of longevity, it is imperative to cross the river of history and fully grasp the relationship between politics and business.

In the final analysis, the relationship between politics and business is the relationship between enterprises and government management departments or management systems, the relationship between entrepreneurs and politicians, and the relationship between private capital and state-owned capital.In order to straighten out these relationships, in the history of the past 100 years, or even in the history of the last 28 years, there are actually many positive and positive stories that can be used for reference. In terms of the relationship between enterprises and the government, it should be said that Vanke is a successful example.Vanke was founded entirely as a private enterprise by founder Wang Shi. It has a history of 22 years. It has not only successfully responded to the challenges of policy and system changes in all stages since the economic system reform, but also has become more and more stable and mature, and has developed rapidly. Always maintain a leading position in the industry, and then become the largest real estate company in the country.Vanke's way of survival, Wang Shi called it "no bribery" and using the management methods of state-owned manufacturing enterprises to establish an effective system and system, establish a manager culture, and insist on cultivating a manager team.These things can be seen as the flash of the values ​​of keeping upright and operating in a sunny manner, and they can also be seen as the successful docking of a mature professional management system and team to cope with the legal and professional market competition and the government management system.

For quite a long time in the past, the market order has not been established in the reform process, the legal system is not perfect, the behavior of enterprises and the government is not standardized, and the professional ability of the government management department is relatively low. At this time, the advantages of motivation, information, resources and talents are all On the side of the private economy, especially those ambitious entrepreneurial leaders, they can easily open up gaps in the system by "fixing" one or two powerful leaders, intercept huge resources, and form explosive growth.Even if things happen in the east, they can often easily resolve the crisis and escape the catastrophe of life and death.As a result, the thinking and behavior patterns of using money to open the way and doing whatever they want have grown.However, in recent years, the legalization process of the market economic system has been accelerated and improved. The government management department has not only improved its system, but also has a higher level of specialization. The advantages of resources, power, information, talents and specialization have also changed significantly. to the side of the government.Therefore, the era of using speculation and corrupting cadres to open the way, and relying on a certain person to game the system has passed.At present, the only way to coexist and develop continuously with the existing system for a long time is to use organization to organization, system (mechanism) to system (mechanism), profession to profession, and talent to talent.In other words, only by establishing a scientific and reasonable governance structure and forming a professional and effective corporate management system can we steadily and effectively connect with government management departments and obtain market and government resources for long-term development.The standardized management system and professional manager culture that Vanke has established for a long time have just adapted to this positive change in the government's management system and methods.

The relationship between entrepreneurs and politicians is always testing the wisdom of entrepreneurs.In the history of the development of private capital in China, there is a successful example around 1949.One is Yu Qiaqing, who was mainly active during the Kuomintang rule. He went from Ningbo to Shanghai as an apprentice in a paint shop in his early years. He learned to do business while running on the street. The enterprise has a very high reputation in the business circle of Shanghai Bund, and has served as the chairman of the chamber of commerce, known as Uncle Ade.His success is not so much due to the correct strategy of the company, good management, and effective management. It is better to say that he was the only corporate leader in the business world who had an inseparable friendship with the dictator Chiang Kai-shek at that time, and even helped Chiang to rule the world.Before his debut, Chiang Kai-shek lived in Yu’s house for several months because of his fellow-townsman relationship. During this period, he not only got acquainted with prominent figures such as Huang Jinrong and Du Yuesheng through his network, but also had a close relationship with Chen Qimei, a member of the Tongmenghui’s Zhejiang party. The Whampoa Military Academy laid the foundation for the final unification of China.It is precisely because of Yu's relationship with Jiang that Yu's company has been going smoothly in the Republic of China. Even during the Anti-Japanese War, he still monopolized all the transportation of materials in Shanghai and Chongqing.Yu finally died of illness and had a good death.

Another success is Rong Yiren. On November 3, 2005, the state held a funeral for Rong Yiren, and his body was covered with the Chinese Communist Party flag.On the same day, "Forbes" magazine announced that Rong Yiren's son Rong Zhijian became the richest man in Xinke China.This coincidence reveals another survival wisdom of Chinese national capitalists.Earlier, after the Anti-Japanese War, the Rong family was torn apart by the war and bureaucratic capital. Soon after Rong Yiren returned to China, the Chinese Communist Party took control of the state power.Rong Yiren took the lead in responding to the party's call in 1956 and donated assets to the government. The Chinese Communist Party appreciated his sincerity and made him the deputy mayor of Shanghai, and later appointed him as the deputy minister of the Ministry of Textiles.He has established good relations with the top leaders of the Communist Party of China Zhou Enlai, Chen Yi and Deng Xiaoping. Not only did he survive the "Cultural Revolution", but after the "Cultural Revolution", he was invited by Deng Xiaoping to establish China International Trust Corporation.When the country's financial resources were in difficulty, he even lent 20 million yuan to the government as the founding capital of CITIC from the money he sent back for implementing the policy without asking for anything in return.He has been working for the Communist Party and the government all his life, donating people, money and efforts. He is cautious in his personal affairs, lives frugally, and keeps a low profile.As he himself said, "Choose a high place to stand, sit on a flat place, walk toward a wide place, make high-level vows, form medium-level relationships, and enjoy low-level blessings."As a result, the party and the government rewarded him.

Obviously, from these two people, it can be seen that there are two best choices for the relationship between entrepreneurs and politicians: one is to choose a high place to stand; "It's not for selflessness, it's for selfishness." Private capital has always been a subsidiary or supplement to state-owned capital. Therefore, the best way to protect yourself is to either stay away from the monopoly of state-owned capital, settle in a corner, do some small business, actively do good deeds, and build roads and bridges: either with state-owned capital Cooperation or joint venture forms a pattern of mixed economy, while maintaining and increasing the value of state-owned capital with its own professional ability and strict management, it enables private capital to be recognized by mainstream social values ​​and creates a relatively safe development environment. In the past three years, Vantone has responded to the call of the party and the government, actively introduced state-owned capital to become a strategic partner, and formed a mixed economy pattern. This is an example.On this issue, private capital is most likely to be strangled by state-owned capital, which is to break into state-owned monopoly sectors without authorization, such as telecommunications, energy, finance, and so on.Don't try to use money to compete with the government. Not only today, but even before 1949, bureaucratic capital has ruthlessly destroyed the Rong family and even the Song family in these fields.In recent years, the proportion of the state-owned economy in the entire national economy has gradually increased. The state has identified seven types of industries as industries monopolized by state-owned capital, and "no entry is allowed."Not only that, the 2006 Central Economic Work Conference emphasized the control, influence and driving force of state-owned capital.It can be predicted that with the establishment and development of a harmonious society in the future, private capital will be characterized by large quantity, small scale, wide employment, and large number of people, and its living space will be limited to those that have no conflict with state-owned capital or state-owned capital voluntarily surrenders. field.In the face of state-owned capital, private capital can only advance and retreat freely and continue to develop only if it always adheres to the standpoint of cooperation rather than competition, supplementation rather than substitution, and subsidiary rather than overriding. Are foreign capitals "angels and knights" or "robbers"? The relationship between private capital and foreign capital is another realistic problem lying in front of us. In Chinese history, private capital often turned to foreign capital for help because of the strength of state-owned capital, but the outcome was equally frustrating.On the one hand, under the conditions of insufficient private capital and unsafe external policy environment, foreign capital often plays the role of "angel" and "knight".In recent years, more than US$1 billion of venture capital has been directly invested in private capital in China every year, especially some high-tech enterprises represented by IT and other new technology fields. Companies such as Baidu, Sina, Shanda, Netease, and Suntech and upstarts. It can be said that almost all Internet companies and high-tech companies listed overseas in recent years rely on the power of foreign venture capital to quickly gather funds and grow rapidly.In traditional industries, foreign capital is also as eye-catching as a brave knight. For example, in the real estate industry, UBS Huabao created the myth of R&F and Agile last year, and Morgan created the legend of "Green City" this year. In just two or three years Over time, the traditional real estate companies, which were originally trapped by debt burdens, completed their transformation and soared into the sky. In the industry reshuffle of macro-control, they did not fall but rose, and their market value jumped to more than 20 billion yuan. However, on the other hand, in the cooperation and competition with foreign capital, private capital is flanked by their huge capital scale and rich experience in business management. market pioneers.At this time, there are only three roles that private capital can play and that foreign capital most hopes it can play, namely OEM (foreign brands, processors of products in China), marketing partners and brand extension.Take ready-made garments as an example. A well-known company in Jiangsu processes shirts for almost all famous foreign brands, but it only earns 1% of the local sales price of these overseas brands (such as POLO).And commissioned processors have more than 30% of the profits.Even so, when domestic labor prices rise or the renminbi appreciates, overseas orders are transferred to India or Turkey one after another, and domestic companies immediately face the threat of reducing production and changing jobs, or even going bankrupt and workers losing their jobs.Another example is China Chengxin Company. After 10 years of struggle, it has become the industry leader in the domestic credit rating field. It can only become an affiliate of Moody's and use its brand to promote the business.Obviously, since foreign capital firmly grasps and controls the upstream of the product value chain - brand, R & D and overseas markets, the growth space of private capital is greatly reduced, and it is forced to change its name when it is about to grow up or has just grown up. Surname, become a money-making machine for others.What's more, these powerful foreign capitals also possess unique skills, directing and planning the development direction and industry map of private capital with extremely rich experience and huge capital strength.For example, since 2005, super giants such as Morgan Sachs and Goldman Sachs invested in Paradise Home Appliances and pushed it to the capital market step by step. , and forced Paradise to sell to Gome by selling stocks and switching to Gome and suppressing the stock price.In this battle alone, foreign investors gained more than 300% of their profits, and the domestic home appliance industry was not only brought into the fierce price competition battlefield, but also eventually forced the Chinese home appliance manufacturing industry to the point where it could hardly survive. Another important reason for the collapse of private capital in the competition with foreign capital is the weak position in values.Western commercial civilization has a history of more than 300 years, and has accumulated a complete set of value systems and business ethics, while China's private capital has just started. It is also almost completely westernized.Over the years, Drucker, Buffett, and Gates have long become the prophets and idols of China's private capital, so our values ​​​​will actively fall to each other in competition and cooperation with foreign capital, especially when state-owned capital does not give space or policy environment When it does not give people a sense of security, most people use value identification as psychological support for seeking safe asylum. In my opinion, if private capital wants to gain competitive advantage and win-win cooperation with foreign capital, the most important thing is to learn from foreigners and learn to use the same corporate governance methods and game rules to compete with them.It should be admitted that at present, most of our private capital has a short history and is in the entrepreneurial stage of the first generation of entrepreneurs. Market experience and business skills are still lacking. Corporate governance also relies more on experience and instinct, and lacks rational planning for systematic organization. However, traditional geography and kinship are still the basic forces driving capital expansion.Therefore, the most important step to change the pattern of competition and cooperation with foreign capital is to improve the company's overall operating efficiency and financial transparency with strategic guidance through the improvement of its own capital structure and the modernization of corporate governance as soon as possible, and strengthen the training and training of professional managers. Institutional incentives enable it to have "international outlook, Chinese heart, professional ability, and local kung fu".Coexisting with foreigners in the way of foreigners is the best way to develop with foreigners. A large number of Internet companies have landed in the international capital market with venture capital and their rapid rise is a good example.Of course, to complete this step, the government's reasonable economic policy is also a prerequisite.In other words, if the government does not provide the necessary protection for the development environment of private capital, does not provide policy support for them to borrow the channels of the international capital market, or does not pay attention to and restrict foreign capital's domestic mergers and acquisitions in important industries, I am afraid that it will not be possible. Private capital learned to run with the correct posture and died halfway. Get rid of original sin, strengthen morality and ethics, and integrate into the new economy. Crossing the river of history and creating a new legend of private capital, there is another most important challenge, that is, private entrepreneurs must face up to their own historical limitations, have the courage to challenge themselves, transform themselves, so as to break through themselves and create the future.Specifically, there are three aspects of work that have to be done. First, from the depths of the heart to the way of enterprise management, they are completely free from the imprisonment of "original sin".The so-called "original sin" mainly means that private enterprises adopted behaviors that today seem to be inconsistent with legal policies or moral habits when they obtained the first pot of gold. constraints.It should be said that this is a very large self-restriction for the founders of private capital.When public opinion and moral accusations are imposed on them again and again, private enterprises tend to be discouraged and give up, or even break the pot and walk away (capital flight).I think the solution to this problem ultimately requires efforts from two aspects: on the one hand, private enterprises must face up to their own history, change their concepts as soon as possible, clarify their strategies, improve their governance structure, operate according to the law, and be extraordinarily upright.Another aspect is the attitude of the government and society. "Original sin" is mostly a problem left over from the history of the first generation of private enterprises in the early days of reform and opening up. As long as the government continues to emphasize recently—the government will not take the initiative to expand the debate on "original sin" and try to make a difference, and continue to encourage private enterprises to feel at ease To manage and improve the image, as time goes by, even the early "original sin" issue will have passed the prosecution period according to the current law, and there is no need for the government to announce whether to pardon.After this generation has passed, public opinion will continue to be reversed because of the success stories of "sunshine entrepreneurs", giving private capital a wider space for wealth creation. Second, replace the traditional businessman spirit with capitalist spirit.If China's private capital wants to become stronger, it must also establish its own "Protestant ethics" to make itself healthy and strong in terms of business ethics and capital spirit, and form its own moral advantages.What China's private capital has formed for a long time is a kind of businessman's spirit, not a capitalist's spirit.The spirit of a businessman focuses on seeking private family interests, emphasizing personal relationships, establishing personal relationships, forming private parties, and seeking self-interest; while the spirit of capitalists is actually entrepreneurs, investors, capitalists, and social capitalists, pursuing an innovation, a social wealth.The pursuit of the relationship between modern enterprises and the government is to establish a system-to-system, system-to-system, and professional-to-professional game relationship under the sun. In addition, in the Chinese merchant culture in the past, the relationship between merchants and society was limited to neighbors and people around them, and the contact surface was very narrow, basically in a society of geography and kinship; merchants generally did not give back to the public when they made money , but to give back to individuals (folks in the village) or people around (friends, brothers).Modern entrepreneurs, on the other hand, want to turn themselves into corporate citizens, and their social responsibilities should be public interests, and through reasonable institutional arrangements, the money they earn will be returned to the society and all public interests. Third, with the help of the new pattern of economic globalization and the Internet age, we can quickly change the way of thinking and competitive strategy, so that enterprises can fully integrate into the new economy. "A good wind sends me to the sky with its strength."Among a large number of high-tech enterprises such as Wuxi Suntech Shi Zhengrong and Beijing Baidu Robin Li, the new private enterprise power is the leader.The Internet and the new economy provide a brand-new opportunity, enabling the originally young Chinese private capital to quickly integrate with the international capital market, not only creating a myth of wealth creation that is almost exactly the same as that of European and American high-tech enterprises, but also enabling this myth to be established. On the basis of a modern enterprise system, to ensure the continuous growth of the company and wealth. In China, state-owned capital will dominate China's economy for a long time, but only private capital can truly make China's economy a market economy in a complete sense and lay a solid foundation for a new social and economic system. "A strong man with great determination has a long way to go."I only hope that private enterprises can realize their mission, work hard, cross the river of history with great wisdom, and continue to write the glory of their ancestors.