Chapter 4 Chapter 1 Secrets of Design Management·Western Week

If we regard the system established in the Zhou Dynasty as the first large-scale organization in China, we must start with the Duke of Zhou.Of course, before the Zhou Dynasty, China did not have such an organization, but we do not know enough about the history of the Shang Dynasty, and there is not enough information for us to discuss in detail.Since the Western Zhou Dynasty, we have relatively clear historical data.Basically, from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the later dynasties, we can regard the kingship (monarch) as the board of directors, and the ministerial power (the power of the prime minister) as the position of the manager——CEO (Chief Executive Officer, the highest administrative director of a company or institution) to discuss.The royal power can often influence the decision of the prime minister, but the royal power cannot completely overturn the decision of the prime minister, just like in a company, the board of directors and the general manager must complement each other.In Chinese history, the first effective general manager was Duke Zhou. Duke Zhou was the younger brother of King Wu. King Wu led the Zhou people to overthrow the Shang Dynasty. Duke Zhou was the real founder of this dynasty because King Wu had not had time to establish a system. just die.Xiangquan is quite powerful in the hands of Duke Zhou, and the general manager is very powerful because his chairman, Cheng Wang, is his nephew.Up to now, we are still not completely sure whether King Cheng was just an empty chairman at that time, or because he trusted Zhou Gong, so he was completely entrusted to do it; we are not even sure whether Zhou Gong was an acting regent — But these are not in our consideration.What we should pay attention to is the mission of this company.A company like Dynasty has not been registered with the Ministry of Economic Affairs. What is its legal status?Since the Western Zhou Dynasty, China's royal power must rely on a legal procedure, that is, the mandate of heaven-the mission given to you by the emperor, that is, the ruling unit recognized by heaven, given legal status.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Western Zhou Dynasty used the Mandate of Heaven as an excuse to explain why such a small country could challenge Shang and why such a small country could rule such a large dynasty.The Western Zhou Dynasty was inferior to its rival Shang Dynasty in terms of population, culture, and force, but it won the victory very quickly. What is the reason?People in the Zhou Dynasty used the mandate of heaven as their reason: Emperor Tian looked for people with good moral character and ability among all living beings, and gave them the mandate of heaven to let them manage the world; the mandate of heaven was originally in the hands of merchants, but merchants were poor rulers. Therefore, Huangtian took back the destiny originally given to the merchant.Using the Mandate of Heaven as a propaganda slogan made the people and soldiers of the Western Zhou Dynasty confident in fighting this seemingly hopeless war.Do their enemies believe it?We don't know, but at least after their success, the enemy has to believe that this is historically a fait accompli to explain legitimacy.

After the death of King Wu, Zhou Gong and Zhao Gong both assisted the government. The two were in parallel positions.There is even a saying that Zhao Gong managed the original Wangji in the west, and Zhou Gong managed the newly added territory in the east.Such a division cannot be proved in history.Judging from the inscriptions on the bronzes, the territory of the Western Zhou Dynasty did have a distinction between the native land and the newly added land, but there was no clear distinction between the west and the east.However, there is no doubt that Zhaogong enjoyed sufficient power and prestige.During the period when the two co-administered the government, as the younger brother of the previous king and the uncle of the current king, Duke Zhou had considerable power, which aroused his brothers' suspicion of him and believed that he would be detrimental to King Cheng. .People who make a difference are usually squeezed out. This is a common occurrence both in ancient and modern times.Duke Zhou was in such an environment at that time, and all the rumors pointed to Duke Zhou, thinking that he would take the throne and replace him, so Duke Zhao also questioned him.In an article "Junshi" in "Shangshu", the following conversation is recorded. Zhou Gong called Zhao Gong by his name at the beginning-"Junshi", but the content of the debate between the two of them was about the fate of heaven. to whom?In many texts in the past, such as "Zhaogao", "Duoshi", "Duofang" and many other articles in "Shangshu", it is mentioned that the destiny is given to Zhou.However, it is the king of Zhou who bears the destiny, that is, the king line of King Wen, King Wu, and King Cheng?Or is it shared by the Zhou people group and all of Zhou?Use an analogy: Is this company a one-person unlimited company?Or a joint stock limited company? The discussion in "Jun Shi" mainly revolves around this issue.

The Duke of Zhou said to the Duke Zhao: God was not satisfied with the management of the Yin people, so our Zhou State inherited the destiny (note that the Duke of Zhou used "You Zhou" here, not the King of Zhou, but the State of Zhou and the people of Zhou. At the beginning He took the company's position, not his personal position).He said: I don't know now whether we can maintain the current foundation forever, whether we can continue to operate, whether there will be bad results in the end, I dare not say.But since we have accepted the mandate of heaven, we cannot give up our responsibilities. Our descendants must do things seriously. We must know that it is not easy for God to give us this responsibility, and it is not easy to establish this company.Heaven has given us the mandate of heaven. Heaven can take it away or give it to others. My boy Dan has no advantages. He can only follow the actions of his predecessors and assist the young king now to continue this blessing.Junshi!I heard that Cheng Tang, the founding monarch of Yin, had a large group of assistants when he accepted the mandate of heaven. His assistant was Yi Yin, the wise minister, and Taijia, the king of ZTE, was also assisted by Yi Yin. Generation after generation, there are virtuous ministers to help King who accepts destiny.Governance is two-track, and not only the king is in power.So merchants under such a rule, the country works well.Junxi, in the past God sent the destiny to the merchants, but now the merchants have perished, our new state has taken over the unfinished tasks of the merchants.Our founding King Wen had five virtuous ministers to help him establish the country. His deeds and virtues were appreciated by the heavens, and he was able to inherit the destiny. This is because our King Zhou also had a group of virtuous officials to assist him, so Zhou’s destiny is collective. .The reason why God sent down the destiny was that the good performance of this group of people was affirmed, and the destiny was given to this group of people.When King Wu arrived, there were still four virtuous ministers who assisted King Wu to defeat the Shang Dynasty.Now it's our generation, my kid, once I accept this job, as a helper, I will be with you, like people crossing a river, shoulder to shoulder, and cross this river together.The assistants of this generation are you and me. The situation is just like that of the past few monarchs. The fate is on us, and neither you nor I have the possibility of escaping our responsibilities.What we need to consider now is whether there are people who will urge us and encourage us, so that when we get old, our deeds and virtues will allow the next generation to continue to receive the blessings of heaven and do things for the people of the world.So if we can't hear other people's voices and can't tolerate other people's criticism, then we will definitely fail.If we can't even hear the voice of the people, how can we let God hear our voice?

Throughout the article, Zhou Gong told Zhao Gong from various examples and angles that Zhao Gong should work with him to assist Cheng Wang.The destiny is given to the group of Zhou people, not the emperor of Zhou alone, and it is a collective act to take over the destiny.This notion of establishing one's own legitimacy is an important foundation of Chinese political philosophy.Assuming from the point of view of today's business, the company's status and legitimacy depend entirely on whether the company's business is successful or not.This responsibility is not only borne by the chairman, but also by the operating manager (CEO).The Mandate of Heaven is not given to a dictator—this shows that from the very beginning of Chinese political philosophy, the task of the government is to allow the people to live a stable and prosperous life, and if the government fails to do so, the government will declare bankruptcy.What operators and managers have to do is to let the government continue to operate.In general discussions of political philosophy, it is seldom discussed that the destiny is not only given to one person. You often see the ministers shouting "the emperor is wise" on TV. It seems that only the emperor is the sole recipient of the destiny. In fact, this is not the case. Simple.So in the first article, I specially introduce this article to you, and tell you this concept.

The "company" of Zhou was established and began to operate. Although the business model of the Zhou Dynasty changed later, we will talk about it later.The signboard of this company in the Zhou Dynasty has been hanging for 800 years.Zhou people's concept of Mandate of Heaven was the factor that made the Zhou Dynasty last. That is to say, they understood that the legitimacy of the dynasty was conditional. The Mandate of Heaven existed only if the common people accepted it. If the people did not accept it, the Mandate of Heaven would be lost.Let's take a look at the management method again. How do Zhou people manage?At that time, three thousand years ago, there was no telephone, no computer, no Internet, no post office, no cars, and it took a long time to go from the capital to another place, usually by walking or at most driving.The transmission of information and the feedback from the market are very slow, and it is often too late to respond to the needs of the market.The capital of King Zhou is in the present Guanzhong, Shaanxi, and the northeast reaches Beijing, and the southeast reaches Anhui. How does the Zhou Dynasty manage such a large territory?They adopt a mobile strategy. One headquarters is in the original hometown, which is the birthplace of Guanzhong. The area under its jurisdiction goes north to the edge of the Yellow River, west to the eastern part of Gansu Province today, south to Hanzhong, and east. Arriving at the bend of the Yellow River, which is today's Tongguan, this is its core area, which can be said to be the home of the Zhou people.The operation of the head office is a method, because the head office is all its own people, and the market is stable.

To the east is the territory it has opened up, that is, new customers. This group of customers includes all kinds of people: there are Yi people in the east, who are from Shandong; batch of people.In order to operate these different markets, Zhou has set up many "branch offices" in the local area.Of course, at the beginning of the establishment, they selected the most capable people they thought, including trusted old buddies, including their uncles, brothers and relatives, and assigned them to lead the team out.Each enfeoffed team allocates a small piece of land to operate, as long as the results are reported every year, the profits of the branch company do not even have to be returned.Each branch is maintained by operating its own territory.The head office is a support force, and the total support resources are placed in Chengzhou, the center of the new territory, which is near the old capital of the Shang Dynasty.

In other words, the old capital is kept at home, and only the newly earned money is used for reinvestment.When a feudal vassal is distributed, the capital he brings is actually quite limited: he will bring a small part of the Zhou king’s people, a part of the army left by the merchants, and some people with professional skills from the Shang Dynasty; the headquarters will give some capital, The princes went to run the new company by themselves.In the place where he wants to operate, the princes will use the profits from the operation to convert new resources as the capital of expansion.In theory, the enfeoffed princes should support the head office when the head office needs it.The head office has set up a headquarters in the eastern capital city. Sometimes Zhou Gong will bring the main cadres around him to the eastern headquarters to issue orders, gather the manpower and material resources of several branches, and support the establishment of new branches; When there are difficulties in business, we will borrow the manpower and material resources of several nearby branches to provide timely support to help the branches in difficulty to tide over the difficulties.This management method is quite flexible: in an era when information transmission is inconvenient, sending people to the local area to mobilize nearby resources to handle local affairs is a very effective management network.Each branch company has independent powers, but also has the responsibility to assist the head office to maintain the overall operation of the company. There is almost a network that can continue to operate.The way Duke Zhou took important cadres back and forth between the eastern and western capitals lasted for two generations.At that time, Dongdu also had a group of staff, which may be smaller in number and lower in position than those in the capital. After important cadres arrive, they can immediately start to execute orders.Dongdu also has a warehouse to store materials sent by branches from various places, including clothing, grain, metal and so on.

Modern European powers invaded the East, and they all set up local operating units.The British and Dutch East India Companies set up headquarters in the East, with full authority to handle local affairs.European imperialism had no territorial ambitions in the early days, and its main purpose was only commercial interests. Political aggression followed commercial development.The above example just shows that in the early era when transportation was inconvenient, the way the Zhou Dynasty managed the eastern territories was actually similar to the way Europe invaded Asia in modern times.If the concept of territory is transformed into the concept of market, we can understand that a large enterprise often retains the market that it thinks is the most powerful, and the second step is to develop new markets with part of the capital, and use the profits from new markets or new products to further develop new markets. Expand into new markets.Few companies dare to invest their old capital in the development of new markets, which is also similar to how the Zhou people managed their dynasties.

The people of Zhou relied on feelings to maintain the relationship between the head office and the branch offices, because all the feudal princes were their brothers or uncles and in-laws.But in the end something went wrong.No matter how close the relationship is, if you only meet once in a long time, the relationship will be weak.In addition, the dependence of the feudal princes on the local area deepened with time and business performance, and the dependence on the head office was naturally relatively reduced.Therefore, the feudal system on which the Zhou Dynasty relied has only lasted for more than a hundred years, and it is full of problems.Under the long-term independence, the vassals have become more and more dependent on their own market, and the headquarters has become less and less important to them, so the vassals have demanded independence.From time to time, there were conflicts of interest between the princes, and they were even unwilling to propose that their surplus was concentrated in the warehouses in the east, which reduced their ability to invest in their own market development.At this time, the market of the headquarters itself was divided by more and more princes, and the land in the east was insufficient, so it was necessary to divide the original kings and give them to the new princes.As a result, the strength of the royal family weakened and its appeal decreased, while the strength of the princes in the east increased relatively.This is a problem that many old companies that have operated for a century will inevitably occur if they do not change their business form for a long time. Now the Zhou Dynasty is facing this difficulty.

At this point, the question of fate arose again.In the market of Zhouren Headquarters, due to the company's continuous issuance of new shares, the profit of each share holder is getting lower and lower, and the products naturally cannot maintain the standard.When the market was dissatisfied with the products, the Zhou Dynasty was turbulent for more than a hundred years in the Western Zhou Dynasty, with frequent natural and man-made disasters and foreign aggressions.When the capital is sufficient, natural disasters can be relieved, man-made disasters can be suppressed, and foreign aggressions can be repelled.But when the capital is not enough, they just continue to distribute the old capital to the newly added princes and grandchildren, allowing them to enjoy the profits.So the customer disappears -- the customer keeps paying taxes, keeps paying, but doesn't get satisfactory service.Therefore, two large-scale armed revolutions broke out in the later years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and most of the revolutionaries were nobles and officials.However, under the condition that the feudal system remained unchanged, the revolution did not help, and the Zhou Dynasty collapsed.