Ren Zhengfei: Spring In The North

This is an interesting phenomenon: HUAWEI Boss Ren Zhengfei There are three articles written on the Internet: my father and mother, the winter of HUAWEI. Spring of the North 。 Unlike some big business executives who like to chat with the media, Ren rarely accepts reporters, likes to write their own articles, and writes well. There is another difference: I like to criticize myself and always look for the shortcomings of HUAWEI, even when HUAWEI is in good condition. This is in stark contrast to many entrepreneurs who report good news to others. The spring of the north is seen by entrepreneurs. Japan In the article, the most atmospheric. The following is the full text:

-- -- --

I have heard of the spring of the North hundreds of times, and every time I have tears in my eyes, I am shocked by its simple lyrics. The original author of "the spring of the north" is intended to sing the praises of entrepreneurs and striving, rather than a love song wrongly recognized by young people nowadays. When cherry blossoms bloom in spring, we set foot on Japan's territory. This trip to Japan is not to feel the breath of exotic spring, to admire the cherry blossoms in the mountains and plains, but to learn the experience of winter. The spring of the north is coming!

Once I set foot on the Japanese soil, my first impression was still as quiet, peaceful, clean, wealthy and comfortable as ten years ago. From the remote countryside to the bustling big cities, the streets are still neat and orderly, and the people are still kind, kind, courteous, and still in such a hurry; from the waiter at the ramen shop to the old lady in the country inn, from the office worker of the general office to... Everyone is so calm, optimistic and dedicated. They cherish their work so much that they cherish the opportunity to serve others. Their work seems to be their highest enjoyment, without any agitation, discontent and resentment. In my opinion, Japan is still ten years ago in Japan, and the Japanese were ten years ago. But who would have thought that in the past ten years Japan has been the hardest and longest winter after the war. Just because what I saw and heard now is based on such a long period of low growth, it makes me feel deeply. The vast majority of Japanese enterprises have not increased wages in the past eight years, but social security is still better than that in Scandinavia. Once Japan takes off again, such a foundation must make it soaring. If HUAWEI meets two consecutive winter days, it will not know whether HUAWEI people will be calm, calm, overcome difficulties and look forward to spring. Japan has been experiencing low growth, zero growth and negative growth for ten consecutive years since the beginning of 1990s. This winter is too long. How do Japanese companies manage to get over them? What difficulties do they encounter and what experience can they give us? This is the purpose of our visit to Japan.

HUAWEI has experienced ten years of rapid development and whether it can sustain long-term development. Will it encounter low growth or even low growth for a long time? What are the problems in the structure and management of the enterprises? Whether employees can get promoted quickly in the peace period and withstand the severe cold in winter; whether the cash flow in the fast development will not be interrupted, for example, when the river is solidified, there will be a trickle flow, which will not cause the enterprise to be completely stagnant. All these should be studied in advance by business leaders. HUAWEI always has winter, so it's better to prepare cotton padded clothes than not to prepare. How should we deal with the winter of HUAWEI? This is the topic we always think about and discuss in Japan. Struggle is the driving force for the rise of a nation. In a small village in a remote village, we meet a group of Japanese retired elderly tourists who sing "dragnet minor" for us. We can not help singing the Hokkaido folk song "the spring of the north" with them. They were so optimistic, enthusiastic and carefree that they infected me. In contrast, I feel that the Chinese old people can't finish their work. They are worried and tired. Our parents were in a heavy mood, and they had no lighthearted death. I have heard of the spring of the North hundreds of times, and every time I have tears in my eyes, I am shocked by its simple lyrics. The original author of "the spring of the north" is intended to sing the praises of entrepreneurs and striving, rather than a love song wrongly recognized by young people nowadays. When a young man is away from home, away from his relatives, and striving for his career, only his mother cares for him all the time, so that the seasons do not change in the town. When spring has arrived, he will send him a cotton coat and a severe winter. And no mother would send me the root of Houttuynia (Houttuynia cordata), wild vegetables, pepperoni... All this can only exist in the eternal memory. All the parents are worried about their children. I wrote "my father and mother", Japanese friends also translated into Japanese and English, let the staff pass around, they mistakenly think I am a filial son. I am so guilty and miserable because I have not done my duty to take care of my parents. I devoted all my energy to my work and forgot my parents' safety. In fact, I was an incompetent son. One is to leave home and strive for a better life. Love is the most important part of a good life. But love is like a single log bridge. It has been five years since I left home. When the CanXue was ablated and the stream was murmuring, I was wondering whether the others had passed. The melancholy, the loss, the confusion, and the success? What is the result of the success? What is the conclusor of the stew, the mist, the quiet water wheel, the cabin, and the carefree children's song accompanied by the taciturn voice of my father and my brother. Most of us can go to university. Our fathers and brothers silently sacrifice their results. They work hard and accumulate little by little to supply the Wanderers far away from home, but they have no culture on their own. They set up the first step of life and career for us with their hard backbone. I hope they do not suffer too much, and when they are worried, they will sell two glasses of wine. We must never forget them, never abandon them, and never forget to repay them. From this I think that the success of every one of us comes from the selfless devotion of our relatives. The driving force of our life, work and career comes from our mother's winter clothes, from his silent father and his brother, his hometown's waterwheel, cabin, single log bridge, and the girl who once loved you but has already been separated. The spring of the north is an abbreviation for the struggle of the Japanese people.

I have personally understood the diligence of the Japanese people. Without them, it would be difficult to take twenty or thirty years to rise from the ruins of World War II. The Japanese people are good at Seiko and shine in the era of product economy, so that people all over the world can see the Japanese people with admiration. I also learned their patience and optimism in overcoming the depression in difficult times. Japan is an island country. Its territory is small, and most of it is high mountains. Therefore, the Japanese nation has developed a "short, thin and light" thing that is good at "growing up and thick", and has developed the habit of Seiko for a long time. The small garden is so beautiful; the small streets are so neat and exquisite that every corner makes people comfortable and comfortable. A small powerful camera; a household electric appliance that swept the world market; a coal free, iron ore, oil... The country produces high quality cars all over the world. The diligence of the Japanese people and the persistence of the German nation shocked the world in the era of mechanical and electrical products. They have no regrets, diligence and dedication, and created the prosperity of Japan. Although Japan has encountered difficulties, its national spirit of patience, optimism, diligence and struggle has not changed. Its faith has not changed, and its love for life and work has not changed. We believe that Japan can survive the cold winter. {page_break}

What happened to Japan's economy? After the war, Japan's economy in 50s was mainly started by munitions order and support from the United States. In 60s and 70s, in the manufacturing of electromechanical products, Japan was the center of the world, when the added value was mainly in the manufacturing industry. On this basis, the Japanese economy is taking off rapidly. After the end of the cold war, the United States quickly turned its military technology to civilian use, thus facilitated the rapid development of information technology. Because of the entry of information technology into the industrial system, the added value of its industry will soon shift to the core technology R & D and sales links, and the opening up of manufacturing industry has become a contract manufacturing with fierce competition and low profit. Japan, which is manufacturing competitive advantage, has been hit hard. In the 70 era of mass production, mass production and high efficiency in material production, the growth rate of Japanese economy was about 10%. After 80s, the environment with mixed innovation and knowledge productivity as the center changed. The system of Japanese enterprises did not change, and it quickly slid from the world economic center to the margins of interest circles. The growth rate was not greater than 4%. After 90s, under the development environment of market economy globalization, knowledge value increment and information society, the Japanese enterprise system remained unchanged, and was thrown to the outside of the economic circle at once, with a growth rate of about 2%. Japanese companies have been very successful, but enterprises can not rely on one system to achieve long-term sustained growth. Is HUAWEI's growth model so reliable? It is worth our reflection. In the period of Japan's rapid economic development, the United States viewed Japan and Germany as imaginary enemies. They carefully studied the weakness of Japan and Germany. In view of the closed policy of Japan and Germany, the United States adopted an open policy. It adopted the introduction of talented people from the world to work in the United States, bringing in advanced technology from all countries, investing in the stock market and attracting funds from all over the world. Moreover, Japan is relatively a single nation country, lacking competition in the interior, and the income level of the people is relatively average, which also inhibits innovation. Although Japan has already joined the WTO, the opening of the government is not equal to the opening of the market. The patriotic complex of the Japanese people makes it difficult for foreign enterprises and products to develop in Japan. For example, the Japanese people who have been widely publicized in the past few years in the media have also gone abroad for more flights. Therefore, the development of foreign enterprises in Japan is not enough to activate Japan's internal competition. Only fierce competition will promote innovation. Japan is not enough in innovation, so that the original advantages can not be sustained.

At this stage, Japan's manufacturing industry is in a dilemma because of the lack of innovation. The real drag on the Japanese economy is due to the large number of bad debts in the Japanese real estate industry. In the era of economic takeoff in Japan, Kakuei Tanaka put forward a plan to reform the Japanese archipelago. At that time, the Japanese enterprises and people were rich, and the land resources of the island countries were small. All of a sudden, the price of land rose sharply, and the real estate skyrocketed. When the financial crisis came, coupled with the weakness of manufacturing industry and the sharp decline in revenues, the real estate prices dropped sharply, making many companies with real estate become negative assets and debts. The money of these local companies is mainly from banks, and banks are also at risk of being dragged down. Without removing these bad debts, enterprises will not be able to turn them around. Of course, at that time, if Japan took the opportunity of economic prosperity, it would introduce multiculturalism, bring in large numbers of talents, revitalize education, eliminate egalitarianism, promote internal competition, dissipate cohesion, stimulate new energy, make the manufacturing industry still strong, and the real estate industry will continue to shrink step by step, and the economy will not necessarily collapse. The communication with Professor Takeuchi Rinki, Japan's national condition adviser, is very inspiring to me. There is no lack of insight in Japan. They really understand Japan's national conditions, understand the symptoms of Japan, and understand Japan's way out of the predicament. I believe that the difficulties they face now are structural adjustment difficulties, and they will surely go back to the road of revitalization. Compared with Japan, China's economic development has great advantages. Japan's infrastructure is very complete, and nowhere else is needed to build; Japan's environmental protection is excellent; such an industrialized country, environmental protection is so good, it is enviable, environmental investment can not find input; people are generally richer, education is also more developed, starting domestic demand really do not know where to start. And China's economy is rising, not to mention the west, that is, the eastern infrastructure is also very imperfect; Eastern environmental protection still do not know how much to invest, will return to green mountains and rivers; do not say that the West has not yet lifted out of poverty, that is, the eastern laid off workers, all need to improve their lives; 1 billion 300 million the people have their homes, and a good public transport system, I do not know how much to solve. 1 billion 300 million people in the country are educated, and the project to improve the cultural quality of the whole nation is enormous. To lighten the burden of farmers, it is necessary to build hundreds of billions of rural primary and secondary schools by the state, so let's build a modern university into a modern university without knowing how much investment opportunities it will have. Therefore, when China starts domestic demand, once all social forces are invested and become a continuous act, China has at least twenty or thirty years of rapid development opportunities. However, in the development, we should pay attention to the problem of lack of motivation for welfare society once we get rich.

At present, these welfare countries in Canada and Northern Europe are confronted with the plight of excessive tax revenue, good welfare and a large number of excellent talents. We earnestly study and draw lessons from experience, and we will continue to develop effectively. What are the difficulties faced by Japanese enterprises? We are visiting industrial companies, which are better than other types of companies. Products are still on sale in the market, and cash flow can still move. Just eight years of business growth curve is a flat line, almost no growth, total wages have almost no growth, or even a slight decline. The three kinds of surplus that Japanese enterprises are facing are weighed heavily on the heads of enterprises, making them difficult to adjust. The three difficulties are overemployment, oversupply of equipment and oversupply of debt. These three excess adjustments involve institutional reform, structural and industrial restructuring, transition to the development of knowledge innovation industry, and the transformation of core business capability and speed management. In the past, the Japanese enterprise system constrained the transformation and made it difficult. Japanese enterprises really feel that the key is not to do anything well, but to do something bad. The key lies in whether or not they have core competitiveness. If HUAWEI's growth rate slows down, the three kinds of surplus of Japanese enterprises will appear in HUAWEI. Without early knowledge and sufficient mental preparation, it will become passive. As Japanese enterprises have not absorbed new employees for a long time, the average age of employees has gradually increased, and the structure of talent has shifted from the pagoda to the spindle, with fewer talented people, fewer new-born forces, and older employees. Due to the weakening of the flow of talents and the relatively solidification of posts, the innovation is obviously insufficient. The internal reform of Japanese enterprises is lagging behind, the competition of domestic enterprises is not fierce, and the internal employees lack necessary competition. The internal and external causes of enterprise reform have not been highlighted by the economic downturn. It is very difficult for Japanese enterprises to carry out larger reforms on their own strength. As mentioned before, Japan is a country with good security and comfortable life. Although eight years of no pay increase is not enough to threaten consumption, people are more comfortable with the present life. Such stability is also not conducive to forcing enterprises to commit themselves to reform. Although they have abolished the annual sequence system and the lifelong employment system, and strengthened the performance appraisal, Japanese enterprises are now beginning to reorganize themselves, restructure their structures, and contract everything from a big company to a few major fields. Then, these fields are financially independent, share the same brand, and make accounting objectives clear. Japanese enterprises are also implementing the ESOP system to activate and promote the competition between employees and enterprises. Japanese law originally did not allow employee stock ownership. But there is no strong action for Japanese enterprises to improve their competitiveness fundamentally. A temporary solution is not enough. Deep-seated problems still exist. Because Japan has always been more stable, it has led to the overage of business operators and too cautious decision-making process. Many important decisions must be carried out unanimously. A few people will fail to do their work, sometimes even if they fail to do so. The safety of such decisions will delay the timeliness of decisions. An overly democratic decision-making system is not necessarily good. Japanese enterprises are more internationalized than other Asian countries, but when they sum up their failure, they say they are not internationalized. Think about the difference between HUAWEI and Matsushita and NEC internationalization. What can we be proud of? The internationalization of Asian enterprises is already difficult. After decades of closure, China's development in a short span of 20 years is not enough to support internationalization. The internationalization of HUAWEI is more difficult. Just because a large number of foreign employees do not understand Chinese documents, and a large number of domestic employees do not pass English, it is enough to see how difficult it is for HUAWEI to internationalize. If we do not overcome these difficulties, HUAWEI may also be a flash in the pan. {page_break}

The Japanese government also decided to deal with the bad debts before 2003 and buy 33 trillion yen debt from the bank. Implementing small government and establishing local decentralization. We should carry out tax reform, lower income tax and raise consumption tax. We should carry out education reform, change the average education law in the past, adopt the classified education policy of teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, develop human potential and improve the creativity of young people. We should reform the social security system and introduce the social security system in the United States. We should strengthen IT construction and drive industrialization with information technology. Lay the foundation for further reform of enterprises. What does HUAWEI do? Someone compares the enterprise to a ship. Matsushita Electric compares its own enterprise to a ship in the ice sea. In Matsushita Electric field, we can see whether there are offices or conference rooms, or on the walls of the passageways. You can see a poster everywhere. It is a giant wheel that will hit the iceberg. It says, "you are the only one who can save this boat." Its crisis awareness is obvious. In HUAWEI, is our winter awareness so strong? Is it transmitted to the grass-roots level? Is everyone moving? HUAWEI is not in the winter position. In late autumn and early winter, it can learn from others, speed up the overall improvement of work efficiency, improve the rationality and effectiveness of the process, cut down unnecessary institutions, streamline surplus employees, and enhance staff's self training and quality improvement. In times of peace, we may have made cotton padded jacket before winter comes. HUAWEI grew up in the fastest growing period of the global information industry. Especially in the rapid development of China from a backward network to a world-class advanced network, HUAWEI, like a leaf, was lucky enough to fall on this big ship. It was lying on a big ship and drifting with the current to the present day. It had not experienced such crises as stormy waves, floods, levees collapse and so on. Therefore, HUAWEI's success should be greater than its quality and ability.

What is success? Like those Japanese enterprises, they can still live well after a narrow escape from death, which is the real success. HUAWEI didn't succeed, it was just growing up. HUAWEI has gone through too long a period of peace, and during the peace period, too many officials have risen. This may constitute a disaster for us. Titanic is also a sea of cheers. Many of our employees are proud of themselves. They are just like frog in the well. When we see that we are leading Western companies on local products, we think our company is world-class. They do not know the meaning of the world famous companies, nor do they know the development trend of the world, and the potential achievements that others do not want to announce. HUAWEI is very young, immature and immature in this respect. The imbalance of HUAWEI's organizational structure is a low efficiency operation structure. Just like a barrel of water depends on the shortest piece of wood, the uneven place is the bottleneck of the process. For example, our company was starving and hungry in the initial stage. In the early days, it was correct to attach great importance to R & D and marketing to adapt to the market quickly. Where can we live without scientific management? However, with the past of the early stage of entrepreneurship, this bias has not changed to a scientific and reasonable level, because cadres who are promoted to the top level come from cadres of R & D and marketing. When dealing with problems and value evaluations, they have unconscious tendency to make them stronger and weaker sectors, forming a bottleneck. Sometimes some senior cadres blame the plan and budget for inaccuracy, cost accounting and control do not enter the project, accounting accounts are not well done in sub products, stratification, subregional and sub projects, and the cash flow is not up to the advanced level. But if our value evaluation system can not make the company's organization balanced, these departments lack excellent cadres, so we can not achieve synchronous progress. It does not progress, you progress yourself, the whole report will be fine? This kind of bias does not change. HUAWEI's progress is empty talk. Due to the short success of HUAWEI, the temporary treatment of employees is relatively high, and many of the cadres are established. They asked for advice and rigid and dogmatic implementation of the leadership's speech, for fear that they would lose their own cap and become an obstacle to the responsibility system. There are two fundamental (different) systems for human responsibility and accountability, and the system of human responsibility is a convergent system. The responsibility system is based on process and authorization, and effective monitoring, so that the most clear person has the power to deal with problems. It is an expanded management system. At present, HUAWEI's high and intermediate cadres are consciously and unconsciously accustomed to the responsibility system, which makes it difficult to process IT management. The management of professionalization, standardization, tabulation and templating is still very lacking.

HUAWEI is a group of eight roads from the green curtain. It is also used to bury a mine and carry out the work of a turret. It is not used to professionalization, tabulation, formalization and standardized management. Duplication of labor and overlapping management are still many, which is the root cause of low efficiency. I have seen the work of the Secretary of Hongkong, I have finished the work in an orderly way, and we still need to feel it. After we finished it, we did not know whether it was qualified or not. In order to achieve IT management rapidly, the quality of our cadres must also be greatly improved. The obstacles to the implementation of IT are mainly from internal companies, and the loss of power caused by high and intermediate level cadres due to electronic flow management. Do we correctly understand that the survival and survival of a company must come from the progress of management system? This progress is fast, correct, end-to-end, point to point, and eliminates many intermediate links. Faced with the fact that a large number of high and intermediate cadres are laid off with the implementation of IT (Management), are we ready? In order to keep the hat and mace, can we not carry out e-commerce? The key is that we have to convince our competitors not to go on. Everyone works by hand. I don't think we can do that. If we sail across the side of the sunken boat, we will not go forward. I don't know how many days and nights there are problems in HUAWEI's existence. But as long as we constantly discover problems, constantly explore, constantly criticize ourselves, and constantly build and improve, there will always be a way out. Just like Panasonic's official rescue of the wreck of the ice sea, only the employees of this company can save HUAWEI, and only HUAWEI's own staff. There has never been a savior or an Immortal Emperor. We have to rely on ourselves to create a better tomorrow. Winter will pass, and spring will come. We ride in the winter to recharge our batteries and strengthen our internal transformation. We work together with Japanese companies to survive the severe winter. We will welcome the melting of the snow, the brooks of the streams, and the spring of HUAWEI will come. It is difficult to know how to start a business. The success of high-tech enterprises is often the mother of failure. In this rapidly changing information society, only those who are scared can survive.