Chapter 26 The Prototype of "Crossover"

To put it simply, writing "Crossover" is a kind of practice for myself based on Kodak's 10-year business strategy in China, a multinational company.Because, before this, I have always held this view. On the one hand, I use the framework of the three major forces-transnational corporations that are unprecedentedly deployed in China, private enterprises that are emerging in the cracks, and state-owned enterprises that have transformed. In the era billed as "China's Rise", I have deeply realized that the three major forces, and the origins and practices behind them, have a substantial impact on China's reality and future trends, but in specific micro cases, it is almost the same. Ignorance and scarcity, and no one has tried to really change that; on the other hand, for a China that is accelerating into the corporate world, we have an astonishing ignorance of business history and corporate history.This makes us appear arrogant and ignorant, or inferior and stupid in the face of an essentially commercial and corporate era, lacking authentic inquiry, and insights and creations that truly stand on world history and civilization.That kind of "crossing the river by feeling the stones" and "white cat-black cat theory" has spread from the political and economic system to commercial and corporate practices.When our political and business circles are proud of this, use it as a flag, and squander courage and time recklessly, just like the "rise of Japan" 30 years ago, but they are absorbing the most creative management thought in the United States. Deming , Drucker and other ideas, which gave the Japanese the opportunity to shake the business foundation of the "American Century" in the global competition with the essence of the company, while the Chinese are in the lower value chain of global competition. Struggling at the end, and still struggling to find a solution, this decisively calibrates the gap in the value of the times.

This Chinese era must find a matching history and value system. In this way, writing becomes knowledge-seeking itself, verification itself, and even the search for prototype itself. Therefore, this book is not simply a book about the company's business strategy, or even a book about the management strategy of multinational companies in China for 10 years. This is a book that records the history of the Chinese era and reflects on the value of the Chinese people. .Unfortunately, this essentially hinders the authentic questioning of "what kind of company is this?" I tried to advance such threads at the same time, but the subsequent process proved how difficult it was to do.In my heart, the bottom line for writers in this era is to leave a draft, on which latercomers can move on.

In the early spring of 2003, probably with some original intentions in mind, I switched from the front line of "Southern Wind Window" to the front line of thoroughly grasping the management strategy of a multinational company in China for ten years, and started from here. There is almost no other multinational company that is so highly in line with the original intention of writing, and in essence, is in line with a Chinese era itself that is undergoing great changes. The most important step in Kodak's deep entry into the Chinese era was the "98 Agreement", a historic event that almost merged the entire photosensitive industry in China, combining corporate strategy with national strategy unprecedentedly.It combines a multinational company's pursuit of strategic depth in the East with the reform of China's state-owned enterprises.Although, since the 1980s, multinational corporations have made more and more in-depth deployments in China to establish their global competitive strategies, but no company can compare with this depth; although, also since the 1980s , China welcomes foreign investment into China with the opening strategy of exchanging market for technology and capital, but there is no historical event that can be compared with this. China has almost completely placed its local photosensitive industry under the global strategy system of multinational companies.Such a fact, from Kodak CEO Pei Xuede came to China in 1994 and began to instigate a joint venture between Kodak and China's photosensitive industry ("Seven Plans"), to the "98 Agreement" - Kodak completed the "Six Plans" and acquired three companies in China's photosensitive industry ( Shantou Gongyuan Color Film, Wuxi Almey, and Xiamen Fuda), three companies received subsidies to close down or switch production, and began to integrate to form Kodak China. In 2003, Kodak and Lucky entered into a joint venture. It took 10 years to finalize.In such an unprecedented case of a company, a multinational company is actually negotiating with a country. ", set up a "Central Coordination Group".The people involved, such as Wu Bangguo and Li Rongrong, are still important figures in Chinese politics. As for Zhu Rongji, who started the big negotiations with Pei Xuede as the vice premier of the State Council at that time, he is a figure who has profoundly influenced the development of China since the 1990s.Therefore, the historical event with Kodak's penetration into China as a carrier affected China's core political and economic system unprecedentedly. Its four-year-long negotiation once experienced a core confrontation in protecting "national industry" and welcoming the layout of multinational companies in China.This kind of questioning is still a sensitive area of ​​political and economic confrontation, and it has returned through the "Latin Americanization crisis" and "reassessment of the role of foreign capital".

In September 2001, I first met Ye Ying, one of the key figures in the Kodak negotiations in Guangzhou, and conducted in-depth interviews and conversations on this, and began to dig into the major negotiations seven years ago (the preliminary content is based on "Ye Ying Pianpian- - Kodak's entry into China's photosensitive industry inside story" was published in "Nanfengchuang"), and the future book "Leaping Over" has actually marked its first base point.After that, there is a more systematic questioning and in-depth study. Such a strategic turning point has made Kodak one of the few multinational companies that has really penetrated into China's 10-year major change.Kodak is the multinational company that has grasped the mainstream trend in China in the past ten years.Kodak's strategy is a model of the combination of multinational companies' strategies in China and China's national strategies.From "industry-wide joint ventures", "westward expansion" to "joint venture Lekai", Kodak has always buckled the major context of China's politics and economy, "foreign capital participation in the transformation of state-owned enterprises", "western development" and "state-owned enterprise shareholding reform", This allows it to gain opportunities repeatedly in the development of China.

Relying on the brilliant philosophy of political and economic balance, Kodak quickly became a multinational company familiar with China's political, economic and social operations. Kodak established cooperative alliances with local governments, actively complied with China's regional competition and local government GDP, and won a strong government system for its Eastern strategy. support. Kodak almost shows the basic pattern of multinational corporations' in-depth operations in China. But another important background that makes Kodak an irreplaceable specimen is: Kodak's choice to go deep into China comes from the deep crisis in its global competition since the 1980s. On the one hand, this crisis is the result of Japan's challenge to the "American Century". Fuji has posed a serious challenge to Kodak's hegemony in the field of film, and even began to threaten Kodak in the United States; another aspect is that the fundamental trend of digital technology is disintegrating the traditional film imaging empire.These two challenges have pushed a century-old imaging company into an extraordinary period of change, and core corporate changes must be carried out in order not to be abandoned by the times.Therefore, Kodak's strategy, which appeared on the Chinese stage in the face of a big political economy, is essentially a resonance between the corporate crisis of a "century-old store" that broke out in Rochester, USA, and the overall crisis of China's photosensitive industry.Although, there are considerable dislocations and essential differences between the two crises.The former was a corporate crisis based on truly global competition, while the latter was the failure of an alternative strategy of state-led industrialization.In this way, the endeavor that was full of national pride in the past has now become a "historical negative asset" that is difficult to get rid of.

This involves another unique feature of Kodak Specimen, which is that his large-scale strategic entry contains the essence of transforming Chinese state-owned enterprises, which deeply involves the history of China's original photosensitive industry and deeply affects the soul of this nation. , values, and spirit.It is not only a change in the form of an enterprise, but also a change in the style of the mind. Every nation has its own dreams, just as everyone has dreams.This is both great and ordinary.It seems that there is no more symbolic development of the relationship between the American dream and the Chinese dream than Kodak's experience in China.As an American civilian, Eastman established a world-class company through his own efforts, recorded all important moments of Americans and their country, and became a typical symbol of the American dream.China also has such a passion and dream to independently develop the photosensitive industry, which has become a tradition when large-scale state-owned photosensitive companies emerged.

So, why and how did the Chinese give up such a glory and dream of independently creating a photosensitive industry? When I started to get to know Kodak in depth in 2001, the basic questions above won Kodak’s respect for professional values. Ye Ying, as the general manager of Kodak’s external affairs department, promised that I could participate in every news event they held in China. Including a dialogue with Deng Kaida, the global CEO of Kodak at the time, on the basic challenges faced by Kodak, etc., which not only respected the professional value of a reporter, but also required its strategic communication. By the end of 2002, these news activities brought me quite close. The history and reality of Kodak China, but for the theme of great depth, it is far from enough.I am determined to do a "deep dive" and end my mission with a book.At this time, Kodak China's five-year merger and acquisition integration after the "98 Agreement" was basically completed. Objectively, it is time to tell a complete Kodak "China story".

At the end of 2002, Ye Ying and I agreed to have a long talk in Guangzhou and make a decision.This time, the three-day and three-night long talk at the White Swan Hotel systematically reviewed the big negotiations and subsequent integration of Kodak's entry into China.Finally, on the basis of considerable consensus and trust, the two parties decided to face a manuscript about the future of Kodak China.Of course, both parties also understand that it may die prematurely or not be published. Such writing is actually a process of reconstructing business history and corporate history.If it is said that reconstructing history is a more difficult and difficult realm, then restoring history as much as possible constitutes the basic bottom line.

There are so many people involved in Kodak's ten-year strategy in China that when the initial interview list was listed, it was already huge enough to deeply reflect the essence of the entire case.This includes not only the Chinese politicians who participated in the "98 Agreement" negotiations, but also the decision-makers of Kodak's strategy, as well as a large number of Chinese and foreign managers who participated in Kodak's merger and acquisition integration in China.Although, in the actual implementation, quite a number of Chinese political and economic figures did not finally complete the interviews, mainly the figures from the Central Coordination Group and some local politicians who participated in decision-making in Shanghai and other places.But in places like Shantou, Wuxi and Xiamen, the goal was achieved.

It should be said that this was an unprecedented intensive and in-depth interview storm in his career. During face-to-face interviews and conversations with dozens of people, nearly a hundred large and small audio tapes were continuously produced, and the outline of Kodak China’s ten years began to emerge. , history and reality are intertwined here, waiting to be sorted out and restored. Of course, even from today's perspective, this is still not enough.To put it bluntly, this is simply not enough. And the more I want to grasp the context of Kodak's ten years in China, the more I have to go back to the source.During the several months of interviews in 2003, I had the opportunity to cross the geography, time and space of Rochester in the United States, Xiamen, Shantou, Wuxi, and Shanghai in China, and return to the origin of China's photosensitive industry. Go to the origin of Kodak, go back to the depths of the broader era, understand and sort out the 10-year-focused corporate transformation that I am about to write.

This can be called a double journey of knowledge and spirit, and it is also a journey of discovery.This made me deeply shocked by the ignorance and delusion of our era, and deeply understood the suffering and hope of our era.Those soul-shocking discoveries, those experiences, and enlightenment have been hidden in the ideological power of "Leaping Over". Just like in the early spring of 2003, in a dilapidated building of the Republic of China at No. 24 Minsheng Road, Shantou, I discovered for the first time a hidden legend of China’s photosensitive industry: Lin Xizhi, the son of a capitalist, has a passion for scientific inventions, George An Eastman-style passionate character.He created the AD photosensitive factory, and also created the Chinese spirit of self-improvement implied here.The meaning of AD is to create a new era for the Chinese people.I intuitively felt that this was the source of the "Chinese Dream" I was pursuing. A sad scene.Recall the scene of a group of Chinese journalists visiting the former residence of George Eastman on a snowy morning in Rochester.The description of Eastman's former residence in the biography is all lying there quietly.And the white carnations and daisies blooming quietly in the room moved me inexplicably.There, I feel gratitude and respect for the creators.But here, it is bitterness, an astonishing forgetting and indifference to history, even trampling on it. Lin Xizhi's widow Gao Wanqing and his descendants received me. After more than 30 years, Lin Xizhi's breath is still there.On the wall on the second floor, there is a framed photo of the deceased: Lin Xizhi, in his prime, wearing a white shirt, with a pair of delicate glasses on his straight nose, is concentrating on taking notes.This can be regarded as the most realistic sketch of the characters who are hidden in the depths of history and pursue the "Chinese Dream".History did not let this moment last forever.In the dark and turbulent years, Lin Xizhi, as a "reactionary figure", was criticized and occupied by the revolutionary masses, and finally died of depression and illness in a small dark room under the stairs without sunlight. I am deeply saddened by the bitterness of the "Chinese Dream". It does not come from the acquisition of AD by Kodak almost 30 years later, but from the harm Lin Xizhi suffered.This is the tragedy of a generation of Chinese people. In the era of the rise of the United States, Eastman created Kodak with the passion of scientific experiments, and then brought images into the daily lives of American civilians. Kodak has thus become a giant in the global imaging industry, and Eastman has also become a business giant that affects modern lifestyles. one.And Lin Xizhi finally died in civil strife and the most barbaric and ignorant retrogression of this nation. This is the historical gap between China and the United States.So we end up with different destinies in terms of wealth and world-pictures about modern society.The flowers in Rochester Eastman's former residence and the dilapidated former residence of Lin Xizhi, the founder of Shantou AD, are not simply the result of historical movements, they have been a factor from the very beginning. Even in contemporary times, we still haven't really focused on such a historical spirit: leave politics, return to the fundamental corporate tradition, even the most cumbersome details; return to the basic values ​​​​about people and humanity... It must be admitted that I couldn't help but shed tears when walking in the spring when kapok was in full bloom. It must be admitted that the grasp of the context of Kodak China has allowed me to go deeper and deeper into the origin of the company, asking "what kind of company is this?", and even entering into the differences between the historical systems of China and the United States.In such a process, I can't avoid such essential thinking: Why didn't the Chinese build China's "Fuji"?Why did the Chinese fail? (And how much research on Japanese Fuji has been done in the entire Chinese-speaking world?) In the subsequent in-depth interviews, a large number of Chinese managers who had studied at Fuji in Japan, Kodak in the United States, and Akfa in Germany came into my field of vision. They once fought hard to establish such a competitive enterprise in China and took it as their mission , but eventually failed and was integrated into Kodak's system.Kodak's merger and acquisition in China finally ended Lin Xizhi's generation's photosensitive dream in China and the "independent" photosensitive dream led by the country's industrialization.Kodak has completed the great integration of the dispersed layout of China's photosensitive industry, which was difficult for the Chinese government to complete. At this time, the origin and evolution of the photosensitive industry in the United States, Japan, and China not only showed the value of Kodak, Fuji, AD, Fuda, Almey, Lucky, etc. status and value in the world. In the first draft of this book, I couldn't help but immerse myself in this Chinese-style tragedy and fate.But subsequent thinking and writing made all this a turning point. On the one hand, I found sensitively that during the integration of Kodak China, quite a number of Chinese managers did not give up their dreams, but completed the "value conversion" and went deeper into the origin of a photosensitive company to pursue excellence. .This is the foundation of Kodak's success in China.It's just that the "98 Agreement" was overshadowed by Kodak's "monopoly" opportunity in the Chinese film market.This is where the new value of the Chinese people lies.It really comes out of the clamor and calculation of closed nationalism. On the other hand, if Lin Xizhi’s Chinese dream is not deconstructed politically: it is nothing more than a generation of Chinese people’s dream of pursuing essential success in life, and the dream of pursuing the true dignity of this nation.And this dignity does not come from excessive nationalistic sensitivity or arrogance, but from the growth and creation of enterprises and people. The theme of "leapfrogging" began to appear, and in essence it was increasingly returning to the source, returning to the gap between the "Chinese Dream" and the "American Dream". The writing of "Leaping Over" is an observation and adventure of the Chinese era and its values.It is called "onlooker" because you have traveled through ten years, fifty years or even a century of history and life, and it is called "adventure" because of the tribulations and difficulties encountered by all writings that prepare to truly restore or even reconstruct history in this era , will be encountered one by one without exception.Such a process is accompanied by quarrels, disagreements, even premature deaths and wars. I used to face those dark moments, about myself, about the world, about the mission and value I deeply believed in, about human nature, about pessimism and hope... At critical moments, you must stop all writing and return to the original starting point , you can only continue to walk until dawn and see the sunrise in the east only if you are tenacious to understand the value of yourself and the world. For a writer in China's great era, if he does not get lost in the middle or completely sinks and despairs, he must keep his destination and roadmarks in mind. Leaps Over is ultimately a book of compromises.In many ways, it's just a draft. But let's move on, leave a draft, and look forward to the birth of works that match the values ​​of this era.