Chapter 55 4. Interpretation of the "third place" phenomenon of Chinese enterprises

There is a famous saying in the field of sports, especially in the field of middle and long-distance running: the person who runs third is most likely to be your most dangerous opponent.It means that, as the leader of the middle-distance running, any attempt to catch up with the second place behind you will happen in the open.At the same time, as a member of the first phalanx, the second is a vested interest in the status quo, and he does not hope to disrupt the existing balance of power in some drastic way.However, the few competitors at the end of the team are already difficult to pose a threat to the leader in a certain sense.The third place is different. He has considerable strength and is unwilling to accept the status quo. He is most likely to make a sudden effort in order to win in the chaos.

The law of competition in the corporate ecosystem is roughly the same. In almost every product category in a global radius, there are always two brands that clearly dominate, what we call the economic "dualism": Boeing and Airbus (airplanes), Coca-Cola and Pepsi (carbonated drinks), Kodak And Fuji (film), GM and Ford (cars), Procter & Gamble and Colgate (detergents), Speedmaster and Energizer (batteries), and so on.For decades or even hundreds of years, their positions have not changed much, and the competition between them is cautious.The attempt to drastically change the situation often comes from the third brand (it is worth noting that it does not necessarily happen to be in the "third", it may be "fourth", "fifth" or even "sixth". The "third" here It is not a mechanical ranking, but specifically refers to a group with a commonality: those who have considerable strength, are ambitious, are ready to go, and intend to catch up from behind).

Let's take a look at Nongfu Spring again. Many media before and after the "Water War" reported that Nongfu Spring was the third largest in China's water industry, but there has been no convincing data presented by Yangshengtang Company.We have a 2000 National Beverage "Top Ten" Enterprise Output Summary Table from the China Beverage Industry Association.Among them, the leader in bottled drinking water is Wahaha, with an annual output of 1.3 million tons, followed by Robust with 728,000 tons, Shanghai Meilin Zhengguanghe with 239,600 tons, Shenzhen Yibao with 189,400 tons, and Shenzhen Danone Yili with 128,000 tons Ton.It is basically certain that, at least in terms of annual output, Nongfu Spring should be behind Shenzhen Danone Yili, which is the "fifth", rather than the "third" that has been proclaimed.Of course, if comprehensive factors such as brand influence and market promotion power are considered, it is undoubtedly appropriate to classify Nongfu Spring into the concept category of "third place" for analysis.

In fact, we also clearly felt the strong "third place" mentality of Nongfu Spring from a series of unusual actions in "Water War". After Yangshengtang launched Nongfu Spring in 1997, it launched an effective market offensive. In particular, the ingenious sentence "Nongfu Spring is a bit sweet" has endless aftertaste, won the psychological recognition of many consumers, and its market share rose rapidly. From 1998 to 1999, Nongfu Spring went all out. According to the monitoring data of 340 advertisements of major national central and provincial TV stations, in 1998, the total amount of TV advertisements in the national drinking water industry was 394 million yuan, and in 1999 it reached 635 million yuan, an increase of 61%.Among them, Wahaha invested 96.6 million yuan in 1998 and ranked first, Robust and Nongfu Spring ranked second and third with 46.5 million yuan and 46.1 million yuan respectively.

In 1999, the competition was the most intense, and Nongfu Spring’s advertising soared to 163 million yuan, an increase of 300%, leaving behind Wahaha, which invested 150 million yuan, and Robust, which invested 97.2 million yuan.The intention of Nongfu Spring is self-evident: try our best to catch up with and even surpass the first phalanx. After two years of hard work, I spent a lot of money and energy.However, the executives of Yangshengtang found that the gap between themselves and Wahaha and Robust is still several times, and their status is difficult to shake.If only conventional means of competition are adopted, catching up is likely to become empty talk.

At the same time, another dangerous shadow came quietly. "China Enterprise Daily" special correspondent Luo Dan has been paying attention to Yangshengtang for a long time. On July 18, 2000, he analyzed in a report that Yangshengtang’s challenge to the pure water group was by no means accidental.A person familiar with the matter revealed that the plan started planning in 1999.One of the reasons is that not long ago, the State Drug Administration issued the "Notice on Carrying out the Rectification of Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Products" clearly stating that by January 1, 2001, the state will begin to announce the health products whose approval numbers have been revoked. Catalogue, all varieties on the list shall not be reproduced from that day on. Before December 31, 2002, all "Jian" brands of health care products in various places stopped producing.In the current product structure of Yangshengtang, health care products are still the main source of profit.According to the company's executives, in 1999, the sales revenue of Yangshengtang Company, the health care products and water industry consisting of Guibie Pills and Duoer Capsules, each accounted for 400 million to 500 million yuan, but the profit of health care products was far greater than that of the water industry. .Once the country cancels its "Jian" health care product license, no matter whether it belongs to the pharmaceutical industry or food, the future development will be unpredictable.If it belongs to medicine, it will lose the huge consumer group of supermarkets; if it belongs to food, people will have doubts about its function, and consumers will be greatly reduced.Once this huge profit contribution starts to shrink, it is equivalent to cutting off a leg of the company.

All this forced Nongfu Spring, the "third place", to start looking for extraordinary strategies in order to quickly break through the "siege".In the end, they chose the "golden idea" to overthrow the entire purified water industry in an attempt to change the existing "old order", reshuffle the cards, and rule the roost in troubled times. A passage from President Zhong of Yangshengtang Company in response to a reporter’s question can be seen as a footnote to this shocking planning behavior: “Commercial hype is an issue that many Chinese people dislike, because my country has been a country that values ​​agriculture over business since ancient times. We all hear commercial hype and think it's a derogatory term. But think about the society we live in, where every commodity and every service we have is exchanged for money, we actually live in a commodity economy society. In this commodity economy society, as an economic cell enterprise, all its behaviors are commercial behaviors, we can say that it is hype. If a company cannot hype, then it is a mummy, you mummy must go to the grave as soon as possible .”

In contrast to the concept of competition of Yangshengtang, Wahaha also played the role of the "third place" following the powerful first phalanx in the high-profile Chinese and foreign cola war.As we mentioned in the previous chapter, the difference between the two "third places" is that Wahaha's ambitions are based on respect for its competitors and on the basis of being responsible for the healthy development of the entire industry.Follow the ecological concept of coexistence and co-prosperity, not for the purpose of life and death.At the same time, do your own thing step by step, and don't be greedy to complete the work in one battle.

"There is a saying in the western economic circles that there is no miracle in an enterprise." Zong Qinghou said, "I firmly believe that one should have a down-to-earth attitude when running an enterprise. A successful enterprise is unrealistic. Even if it achieves a temporary sensation, it will never last long." Regrettably, over the past 20 years, in the Chinese corporate world, we have heard too many blockbuster oriental myths with our left and right ears. Qin Chi, a small local winery that was originally unknown, gambled 320 million yuan to win the TV commercial "Biao Wang", and became so popular.Three plants, the most amazing health care empire in China in history, announced in its first "five-year plan": the growth rate in the first year will be 1600%-2000%, the second year will fall back to 400%, and the fifth year will strive for 90 billion dollar sales.The goal of Sanzhu is to extend the life span of human beings by 10 years in the 20th century; Mou Zhongqi, who became famous by reselling aircraft, said that he will invest 3.1 billion U.S. dollars to buy an aircraft carrier for the Chinese Navy.He said: It is necessary to invest 10 billion yuan to build a 118-story building in Beijing or Shanghai, and the square below will be called Deng Xiaoping Square.He also said: I plan to blast a hole 50 kilometers wide and 2,000 meters deep in the Himalayas, introduce the warm and humid air from the Indian Ocean into the northwest, and turn the desert into fertile fields...

It's all over, Qinchi was defeated, Sanzhu collapsed, and Mou Qiqi was also put in prison.The only constant is that the infinite longing for the myth is still floating in the hearts of many Chinese entrepreneurs. Our foreign counterparts do not seem to believe in myths.American scholars James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras told us the following facts in their masterpiece "Built to Last": 18 world-renowned companies that are outstanding and enduring as specimens they studied -- including Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Sony, Ford, IBM, Motorola, etc. -- the average founding date is 1897, with the oldest having survived for almost two centuries.A common growth gene of these well-known companies that should be widely respected by the people is that they are based on the establishment of the system, do not hope for miracles, stick to their beliefs, and persevere. “Visionary companies almost always preserve their core beliefs religiously. Their foundations are rock-solid and will not change with the winds of the times. In some cases, core values ​​have remained unchanged for hundreds of years. The basic purpose of visionary companies, survival Causes can serve as a guiding light for thousands of years, like a star that always shines on the horizon."As a result, they can be built to last forever.

China is standing at a historical juncture of unprecedented rapid development. 200 years of weakness have plunged our entire nation into a huge vortex of longing for success. Impetuousness and recklessness are common symptoms that Chinese enterprises still struggle to get rid of. Indeed, we have no time to wait.However, we must take the time to learn to face the future rationally.