Lining Talk About The Dream Of Sports Brand

In September 26th, at the Lining operation center of Beijing Tongzhou District optical and electrical industrial base, Lining, who participated in the next year's product design and planning meeting, came out with a big red Lining sportswear.

From the performance briefing meeting in Hongkong in July 5th, after announcing that "I came back", he began to try to communicate ideas with investors and the media, instead of just focusing on the board and CEO.

The meeting just opened is specific to the category, style and price.

Lining did not need to make any decisions, but he needed to take part in the discussions with the CPO (chief product officer).

From behind the scenes to the stage, from macro to specific, from leisure to busy.

After returning,

The timetable has changed.

He said that when he went out in the morning, his daughter went to school and returned home at night. Her daughter had gone to bed.

So, is he eager to go back to some point in the past? He laughs, it is not the first time that he has been asked such questions. When he was in business, someone asked him when you would go back to be an athlete.

In the present state, his answer is also, "I yearn for the future more, and do not want to go back to the past."

Fifty, knowing destiny, Lining will be 50 years old next year.

He said that until now, until retirement, the company will achieve an ideal state of effort.

"Lining can do anything, but Li Ning Co must focus on China, sports and professional.

This is the original intention of Lining brand.

This dream will not change. "

As early as 10 years ago, he thought that he should focus on the domestic market, but he did not insist on it.

The reason is that there are too many temptations and opportunities in the past 10 years.

But if these 10 years have not experienced such expansion, perhaps the Li Ning Co has been eliminated.

Structural adjustment

Choosing the new CPO, Lining is the last hurdle of the interview.

He said, I want to see this person is not interested in my dream, so simple.

Over the past 10 years, when everyone comes in, Lining will talk to them about their dreams, which is the premise of entering the company, even if many of them come in from multinational companies.

Some people later fail to persist and leave.

Lining said, for change, we can not deny it and change it.

"If I don't change people, why do you say this group of people can continue to work? How can they have a future?"

He said, showing a very approachable smile.

When it comes to persistence, when it comes to dreams, he becomes serious again.

He stressed that dreams belong to dreams.

Sometimes, for example, it is hard to sell a sports product, but a casual product sells quickly. This is not Lining's pressure on CPO and sales manager. It is the pressure of the whole market.

This requires trade-offs.

10 years ago, Li Ning Co made a jacket and made a lot of money, but today it is no longer needed. Today people choose a sports brand with more professional needs. People want the brand and product to have the value that they understand.

"Now I go out, and people say, are you still alive? As if I am going to jump upstairs.

It's not that serious.

The path of my champion is also coming in the process of constant adjustment.

Lining said.

How many years did apple take to make a comeback? This is an example Lining likes to give.

Another example he often mentioned is that it takes 10 years to cultivate a champion.

"It is impossible for an enterprise to make such an adjustment in a year or two. We are looking for a new one.

"

The management team is being rebuilt.

Those who have joined, and will join in the coming months, include the whole supply chain and procurement operation officer, the chief sales officer, the chief product officer and so on.

"Many things we are already doing, do not wait for the new CEO, do not have to worry too much to find someone."

In July, in addition to the departure of former CEO Zhang Zhiyong, he joined the new independent non-executive director.

Jin Zhenjun, a Korean American and TPG partner of global private investment firm, is currently executive vice president of Li Ning Co, and Su Jingshi, chairman and chief executive officer of China business division, yum.

At present, the Li Ning Co board has 4 independent non-executive directors and 11 directors. In August 23rd, Jin Zhenjun said it was a world-class team.

Lining talked with many investors, and finally chose TPG, not only because the PE had experienced the management of fast selling enterprises, but also because of his recognition of Lining's ideas.

After TPG came in, the consensus is to make the overall strategic adjustment of the company first.

What is being done at this stage is to concretely define the original direction.

Asked if the Chinese elements are not popular with the market, PE occupies many seats on the board. If there is a collision, will it persist? Lining said frankly that the Chinese element is not to write Chinese characters on every product, that is, the brand is China, and the brand value is gradually formed in the process of promotion, and this brand comes from China.

"Hollywood movies are not just about America."

He waved his hands. "So you don't have to worry about this at all. It does not mean that foreign investors and PE come in to do their business," he said.

Three focuses

If he had to sum up the mistakes made by Li Ning Co in the past, he would say "no focus".

He always remembered the beginning of the creation of the Li Ning Co. He started thinking about the day when he was an athlete and built a sports, professional sporting goods empire in China.

He acknowledges that neither kappa nor Lotto is successful because there is no focus.

In 2008, at the moment of the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games, Lining held a heavy torch in his hands, and he could not rely on Wei Ya's guarantee balance in the air to practice sweat.

Now, in retrospect, he objectively appraise that 2008 has brought us the opportunity to move towards the world, but we are not sure that we have not really focused our resources on the Chinese market, nor have we focused more on core businesses.

When Lining came back, he decided to join Kim Kim Chun in deciding the direction of the company.

Kim is mainly responsible for the specific operation, management of sales, channels, products, finance and so on. Lining, chairman of the Executive Committee, will participate in all major operations, but will take part in a level, such as product planning, major policy of the channel, major changes in personnel structure, and major financial adjustments.

Lining's idea is to make the company focus on the three market: focusing on the Chinese market; focusing on the core business, namely sporting goods; focusing on the core brand, that is, the Lining brand.

He regretted that he did not insist on 10 years ago, because the 10 years faced too many temptations and opportunities. In particular, listed companies had demand for performance. If they want to do exactly according to their own ideas, there will be no way to grow at that fast stage.

The whole industry must also go through that process. If expansion was made 10 years ago, the Li Ning Co might have been eliminated.

Kappa realized that he wanted to change.

But unfortunately, now there is a happy journey, Lining said.

The new business model has no benchmarks to learn.

There will be no way to find experience from other companies in the next one or two years.

In the past, in the Chinese market, the business models of the same industry were mainly wholesale, including Nike and Adidas.

Such a mode will bring great effect when expanding, but it will not work if we continue to move forward with the past model.

Lining said that if we do not go to the end to make the brand and products together with the end consumers, then we can no longer build core competitiveness.

The wholesale mode has also brought about excessive expansion, overstock and rising costs for most of China's leading garment enterprises.

However, Li Ning Co expects that China's sporting goods industry will still have double-digit growth in the future.

In the past few years, Li Ning Co has been exploring whether it can make a new business model.

In the past, both the stimulus of China's economy and the stimulation of capital from the industry were overdrawn.

From the inside of Li Ning Co, it has come to a stage of seeking change. Lining said that the change at this time is the best time for us to consider how to build our core competitiveness.

"In the past, I was thinking about when to start. Really started, actually is now.

That's why TPG comes in.

He said.

After returning to the daily operation, Lining's work status has changed greatly. It turns out that there are only 4 board meetings a year, and then a meeting with Zhang Zhiyong on a regular basis.

But now, the meetings he attended are very specific and well arranged.

Despite reducing her time with her daughter, Lining believed that he was a good father and that he was still in the first place with his family.