Anta President Ding Zhizhong

In a small town near the sea in Jinjiang, Fujian Province, Ding Zhizhong At first, it was driven by a simple desire to become rich, and became a shoe factory owner who did not graduate from junior high school. But when he changed faster than others to become a modern business manager and took the lead in exploring the domestic market, he quickly emerged from more than 3000 local shoe companies and moved to the throne of the town shoe king.

stay Anta In the conference room, a department manager, in conjunction with the projection slides, gave a detailed account of the progress of a training project. A young man with a baby face sat at the end of a long conference table. After listening to it for about 10 minutes, he suddenly interrupted him. "Don't tell me the details, tell me, what kind of benefits will you get if you put so much into it?"

This ungrateful young man to his subordinates is Ding Zhizhong, the 37 year old president of Anta (China) Co., Ltd., a native of chentai Town, Jinjiang City, Fujian province. Just half a month ago, he led the company into the main board of Hongkong, raising funds amounting to HK $3 billion 168 million. On the first day of July 10th, the company's share price rose by 44%, which made Ding Zhizhong and his family members worth more than HK $13 billion, with a 75% stake in the company.

In less than 10 years, Ding Zhizhong has thrown thousands of competitors around the town of Anta behind him. "Anta is bigger now, and Ding Zhizhong is not good at it now." A stone lion businessman who began making sportswear in 1983 said. His annual sales volume of "Ho Kin" brand sportswear is about 1 hundred million.

Ding Zhizhong became the shoe king in the name of the place, but he did not become the president of the local Footwear Association. "He has a kind of domineering in his bones, and he can't deal with it." A local media reporter said. He also did not want to compromise with others. According to local people, if a thing that he did not want to do and could not do, another XTEP shoe owner, XTEP founder Ding Shui Bo, would choose to do it, while Ding Zhizhong would simply refuse it.

Perhaps because of this, in 2006, Quanzhou (Jinjiang affiliated to Quanzhou) was selected. footwear industry At the time of the president of the association, Ding Zhizhong, who was the leader of Jinjiang footwear industry, was the best candidate for the presidents. However, he attracted a lot of objections.

"Ding Zhizhong is an inner closed person from personality, and only a few good friends can understand his inner thoughts. Most people, even the directors of his company, may not know what he is thinking." A person who worked for Ding Zhizhong for many years said.

Why can this "bad deal" businessman surpass more than 3000 Jinjiang shoe companies and become a fortune star in this labor-intensive industry?

　　 "I hope to have the money to buy a motorcycle like anyone else."

Ding Zhizhong grew up in a shoemaking workshop and was interested in doing business. Later, he recalled that he hoped to live better and hope that he would have the money to buy Motorcycles like others.

He is located in Jinjiang, Fujian, Chen Dai town is a place prone to commercial cells. Local people have a tradition of making a living out of the sea. Overseas nationals earn money, send capital back and bring market information and orders, thus giving birth to local manufacturing. In the early 1980s, a group of shoe factories had sprung up in Chen Dai Town, Jinjiang. Overseas Jinjiang residents brought initial orders for these workshops.

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Ding Hemu, a local farmer, participated in the establishment of a village shoe factory in Chen Dai town in the middle of 1980s. Before and after 1991, he sold his family's grain, chickens, ducks and other things that could be exchanged for money, and raised fifty thousand or sixty thousand yuan under the assistance of his relatives. He set up a shoe making workshop alone, which is the predecessor of Anta.

According to the information provided by Anta, as early as 1987, Ding and Mu gave his son Ding Zhizhong 10 thousand yuan, and 600 pairs of shoes bought from the shoe factories of Chen Dai, so he checked them to Beijing for sale. At this time, Ding Zhizhong was only 17 years old, and he had not graduated from junior high school.

Ding Zhizhong became one of the hundreds of Jinjiang people who sold shoes in Beijing in the 80s and 90s of last century. He has set up a shoe counter in Beijing's most important shopping malls, such as Wangfujing shopping center, which is very popular in Jinjiang. It is said that Ding Zhizhong has been marketing consciousness since then. He has learned to study the types of consumers and pay more attention to what kind of shoes have a bigger market.

According to a person familiar with Anta, Ding Zhizhong returned to Jinjiang in 1994 with a profit of 200 thousand yuan from Beijing, when the shoe factory was opened by Ding's father and brother. When Ding Zhizhong returned to Jinjiang, he became deputy general manager in charge of marketing. In 1994, after changing several factory names, Ding Jia and his son decided to unite the factory name and product brand as "Anta". According to Ding Hemu, this brand contains "peace of mind, entrepreneurship and down-to-earth" means.

Two years later, Ding Zhizhong gained the lead of family business. He became the general manager of Anta, and his father Ding Hemu formally retired to the second line; his brother Ding Shih had a mild personality and "did not like to be in the lead", specializing in production affairs; Ding Yali, a secondary school graduate and a financial school girl, took charge of the company's pocketbook. "Very luckily, Ding Zhizhong had a very good father who gave him power early, and his brother and sister formed a very good complementary relationship with him, without fighting for power or fighting." A person familiar with Anta said.

　　 "Get married" with Kong Linghui

In the middle of 1990s, Jinjiang shoe enterprises also took the form of outsourcing to overseas enterprises, including Anta. Before and after 1994, Anta's sales volume was several million yuan, and its profit was even pitiful. Ding Zhizhong, who sees the domestic market in Beijing, thinks Anta should build its own brand and expand its domestic market. For this reason, he immediately sought the advertising company to design the corporate identity for Anta after he steered the helm. In the advertising company he frequented, he knew Ye Bi Quan who later became an important planner of Anta.

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"Our company often makes some lectures, and he often comes to listen." Ding Zhizhong, 4 years old, recalls Ye Quan. At that time, he served as the customer director of the advertising company. Ye Shuangquan remembered that when he met Ding Zhizhong like a child, he had a baby face, big eyes, very religious, studious, and very shy. He had never heard a word with him for a year in the company.

In 1998, he left the company because of a change in his advertising agency. At the invitation of Ding Zhizhong, he began to join Anta. According to Ye recalls, before and after 1998, Anta had only four executives: Ding himself, Ding's brother, ye Bi Quan and a director in charge of design. As Ding's assistant, ye Bi Quan always travels with Ding Zhizhong. They often discuss business from the plane to the hotel room. In leaf's view, Ding is a person who has a strong desire to learn and is extremely intelligent.

Ye Shuang Quan Ding Zhizhong introduced Nike, Adidas and other foreign sports brands as celebrities as spokesmen, which gave Ding Zhizhong great inspiration. He decided to follow the example of foreign practices and hire a sports star to endorse Anta so as to quickly open Anta's brand awareness. Ding Zhizhong's assumption is that the spokesman should be a world champion in sports. When he asked a sports friend and Wang Chi, the then general manager of China sports advertising agency, for a spokesperson, Wang Qi said jokingly, "Kong Linghui, he is not only a world champion, but also looks like you."

In the introduction of Wang, Ding Zhizhong and Kong Linghui interviewed. The two men talked very well. The endorsement soon arrived. The endorsement fee is 800 thousand yuan per year, which is the market price quoted by sports stars in the year. For Anta, which was not large at that time, it was a super value transaction.

Since 1999, television advertising featuring Kong Linghui has appeared on CCTV-5. This year, Anta paid 3 million yuan for CCTV-5 advertising. "At that time, Anta had just built second shoe production lines. The profit of a production line is about 1 million yuan a year. You can see how much Anta will bet on this advertisement. A former Anta executive said.

The advertising campaign was made by Ding Zhizhong on top of the company's objections. There was no obvious effect in the two months after the advertisement was broadcast, and Ding Zhizhong himself was a little worried. But two months later, the national order merchants began to rush to Anta factory in Jinjiang, and Anta Sales Department was overcrowded.

What is more unexpected is that at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Kong Linghui won the men's singles champion of pingpong in one fell swoop. This makes Anta, a small brand unknown to Jinjiang, become one of the most famous brands in the country. "Now we still regard Kong Linghui as an important contribution to Anta." Ding Zhizhong told the Southern Weekend reporter.

7 years later, with the same kind of advertising being crowded in CCTV-5, the cost of this kind of advertisement has increased to 10 times that of the original market, which is about 30 million yuan.

After the "tie up" with Kong Linghui, Anta's sales revenue grew at a speed like a rocket. According to the data provided by Anta, from 2001 to 2006, Anta's sales revenue increased from 100 million yuan to 1 billion 250 million yuan.

　　 "A thorough liberalist"

The success of Anta's celebrity endorsement has sparked the imitation of the brothers in the city. The Jinjiang municipal government has also promoted Anta's experience in other enterprises' "duplication" and rewarded the rising brand. For a time, there was a "brand making" movement in the area. CCTV-5 appeared dozens of advertisements for all kinds of celebrities to speak for Jinjiang shoe enterprises. CCTV-5 was also nicknamed "Chen Dai channel" (chedai town is the birthplace of Jinjiang footwear industry, where most Jinjiang shoe companies gather). A group of well-known shoe enterprises, such as XTEP, Jordan, del Hui and Hongxing Erke, began to emerge from numerous shoe companies.

The homogenization of advertising strategy and the intensification of competition make Anta have to find a new way to find a new living space.

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On the advertising strategy, Anta began to get rid of the famous celebrity endorsement model, instead of sponsoring sports events, such as Anta's annual sponsorship fee for the Chinese Basketball League (CBA) was 40 million yuan. Ding Zhizhong believes that compared with the cost of tens of millions of dollars by other companies to hire international stars, "we are also a cost-effective business".

With its brand recognition, Anta began to break the identity limit of professional sportswear manufacturers, and began to set foot in the field of sportswear in 2002. Anta's move was quite smooth. Four or five years later, sportswear made the same income as sports shoes. According to a former Anta executive, Anta broke through two "tens of millions" in 2006: 10 million pairs of sports shoes and 10 million sales of sportswear.

It is worth mentioning that, while launching the clothing industry, the concept of brand retailer terminal has also been introduced, which is an important step in the development of Anta. Previously, Anta only had specialized sports shoes sales counters in major shopping malls. With the increase of clothing and other varieties, Anta became an independent brand store. Ding Zhizhong, who is good at marketing, believes that brand building not only relies on advertising, but also relies on strong sales channels.

By 2004, Anta's national stores had grown to more than 2000. This year, in order to further expand the number of stores, Anta took the policy of making profits to dealers. In just two years, Anta stores have grown to more than 4000 stores, and Anta's retail network has covered the main streets of all three cities in the country.

For Anta to lay the foundation of the clothing industry and introduce the concept of exclusive stores, it is a professional manager named Ye Qi. He was a senior manager of Li Ning Co's sportswear, and was later poached by Ding Zhizhong. In 2002, Ding Zhizhong set up a New Oriental sporting goods company in Beijing, specializing in sportswear marketing. Ye Qiren, managing director of the company, all employed professional manager management team. After a year, Anta left Anta with Anta's strategy adjustment, but he has made a useful attempt for Anta in the field of clothing and specialty stores.

"Ding Zhizhong is a thorough liberalist." A former Anta executive said.

Another important event in 2002 was Ding Zhizhong's implementation of the separation of production and marketing within Anta. Anta has become a company that sells products, Anta's internal factories, and the external factories that make the foundry for Anta are on the same starting line. They must win Anta's orders with their competitive power. This is a very advanced idea. "Until now, many shoe enterprises in Jinjiang have not yet completed the transformation of production and marketing separation." A senior official from Jinjiang footwear industry said.

Ding Zhizhong's wisdom of change is still stolen from Thomas consulting, a local shoe company.

　　 "Let professional people do professional things".

In Jinjiang, Fujian, where the top executives of former multinational companies are most concentrated may be Anta headquarters. The director or deputy director of Anta 60% comes from multinational corporations like WAL-MART and Procter & Gamble.

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Anta is undoubtedly a place where multinational agencies can often meet. Ding Zhizhong hired JW to advertise for him, hired corney to make strategic consultation, and hired Morgan Stanley to do the underwriting service for him. Giving full authority to professional people to do professional work is what Ding Zhizhong is strongly advocating now.

During the contact with Thomas, Ding Zhizhong met Zhu Zhengzhong, the then chief Chinese representative of Thomas. Zhu is a Chinese American who once served as vice president of Coca-Cola China and a member of the Morgan Stanley expert advisory group. He has provided management advice to Morgan Stanley investing in Mengniu and South Fu. Shortly after, Zhu was appointed as Anta's strategic adviser by Ding Zhizhong.

In the introduction of Zhu, Morgan Stanley met with Ding Zhizhong in 2003 and was interested in injections into Anta. But at that time, Ding Zhizhong thought Anta did not need money for the time being.

Before 2004, Ding Zhizhong was not a man willing to give up power. But now, Ding has set the power as a company's system. "Decentralization and encouragement are the most prominent management characteristics of Wang Liangxing. Ding's thought comes directly from Wang Liangxing's influence."

Wang Liangxing is Ding Zhizhong's childhood companion. In Ding Zhizhong's not wide circle of friends, Wang Liangxing is the most iron confidant. Wang's founder is also a strong force in the casual clothing industry.

Since two years ago, the director of each division of Anta has been authorized to ask Ding Zhizhong to report everything.

Ding did not let the matter of authorization become empty talk. A company executive came to his office and told him a situation: because the number of sports shoes distributed to American customers was wrong, the other side claimed $30 thousand. The supervisor asked Ding Zhizhong what to do. Ding said, "don't ask me what to do! You decide for yourself if you should pay for it and find out who should be responsible for the mistake." The director had to withdraw from Ding Zhizhong's office.

With authorization and responsibility, Ding is not afraid of making mistakes. On one occasion, a shipment of goods that Anta promised to the distributor was not delivered on time. Although the other party did not claim compensation, Dante knew that he offered compensation 3 million. "Compensation is paid by the company. The responsible person was criticized. After that, there was no similar mistake. Because of the real compensation, they knew that such a mistake could not be repeated. " Ding Zhizhong told the Southern Weekend reporter.

After promoting the new management, Ding Zhizhong also liberated himself from the company's affairs. It is said that he now signs less than 5 documents a day, and only 3 internal meetings a month. He will spend a lot of time absorbing effective information, communicating with company staff, and soberly thinking about the strategic problems of the company.

　　 From rejecting investors to active listing

Ding became mature for an entrepreneur for a long time. "In recent three or four years, he has undergone tremendous changes." A person familiar with Anta said. Ding Zhizhong did not touch golf clubs until the end of 2005. Before that, his most common sport was playing table tennis balls.

In the view of this person, time goes back and forth for six or seven years. Ding still can not talk about "entrepreneur", but can only be called "business owner". "At that time, he wanted to read the manuscript, and he was dizzy when he saw the camera."

"I remember Ding Zhizhong once asked me before and after 1999: when will a man become mature?" I told him: "thirty five six years old." He recalled.

Before 2004, Ding Zhizhong always felt that the company was not short of money, and therefore never considered making the company enter the capital market, or even rejecting foreign investors. But in that year, the successful listing of Li Ning Co changed his mind. He began to realize that listing can not only raise funds, but also standardize corporate governance, eliminate the management malpractice of family businesses, and attract talents more easily.

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"Now, we are the richest company in the industry, much richer than Lining, and Lining only got 500 million yuan back." Ding Zhizhong said with great pride, "this money is spent. But make sure that every penny costs value. "

That being said, Ding Zhizhong still admits that the sense of crisis is always lingering, so that he often sleeps at night. "Enterprise always has the day of death. Many private enterprises have done well, but they suddenly collapsed when they were doing something.

A sense of crisis coupled with past experience made Ding Zhizhong continue to thirst for knowledge. In the second half of last year, Ding Zhizhong and Wang Liangxing of the same city attended the EMBA class at Xiamen University. In the eyes of Dai Yi, director of the EMBA center of Xiamen University, Ding Zhizhong is "in a state of hunger and thirst" for management knowledge. "He has a pragmatic attitude towards learning and is most interested in the two courses of enterprise strategy and brand marketing. We invited a European brand marketing professor to talk about it. After class, he asked us to invite more European brand marketing experts to teach.

Now, every street lamp in Ding Zhizhong's factory is hung by a banner: "China is the first and the top ten in the world." These banners show the ambition of a town shoe king.