Red Textile Clothing Zheng Bo: Confidence Is The Source Of Enterprise Development

Qingdao Hongfang Clothes & Accessories Recently, the Group has made frequent actions. First, it created a new single brand fashion brand "Side Door" in Beijing. At the beginning of this year, it formed an alliance with PAUL FRANK of the United States, and won the exclusive brand authorization of the brand in the household service items in Greater China. An enterprise that has been processing and producing for Adidas, Giordano, Nuanbeier and other well-known brands at home and abroad for a long time, but suddenly set foot in brand sales when the impact of the financial crisis has not subsided, naturally causing a lot of speculation. It is widely rumored that the enterprise may have strong external capital to intervene and want to quickly seize the market at the beginning of the industry recovery.

However, with the in-depth interview with the company recently, the reporter was surprised to find that the "momentum" of the financial crisis was hidden behind the recent actions of the company. Zheng Bo, the chairman of the company, and all the employees of the company had experienced the psychological struggle brought by the spread of the financial crisis, but he adjusted his mind in time to survive the crisis safely, Therefore, they are sensitive to the possibility of new opportunities.

　　 Psychological panic disturbed by public opinion

In Zheng Bo's description, the biggest challenge of the financial crisis to Hongfang is not the blow to the real economy, but the psychological panic brought by the public opinion atmosphere.

After the financial crisis broke out, Textile clothing The industry has become a reported "disaster area", and the news of enterprise bankruptcy is overwhelming. A group of reports on the survival status of foreign trade enterprises in the Pearl River Delta in the context of the financial crisis provided a very scary data, saying that more than 10000 foreign trade enterprises have died in batches due to the financial crisis, which made Zheng Bo shake his grasp of the direction of enterprise development for a long time.

However, the massive exodus of Korean funded enterprises from the cities around Qingdao has made Zheng Bo feel the "death of lips and coldness of teeth". The bankruptcy of Shandong textile and garment enterprises began before the financial crisis broke out in an all-round way. The first cause of sensation was the disappearance of 30 senior executives of Shigang Fiber, a Korean funded enterprise in Yantai, overnight, who owed a large amount of money to local processing enterprises. After the collapse of Shigang Fiber, it was like knocking down a domino. The news that Korean enterprises had "fled" came out one after another, which caused great psychological pressure and even panic to local enterprises in Shandong.

"All the outside information seems to be suggesting to me that this industry is really not working, and we must find another way out." Zheng Bo described the mood at that time as if the end of the world had come.

But what really made Zheng Bo feel great pressure was the variables from the bank. He clearly remembered that since the beginning of last year, bank loans had become more and more difficult. One day, the cooperative bank informed him that the leaders above had spoken, and all textile and clothing industries would not lend money for the time being.

At this juncture, some employees began to talk privately about such topics as "whether the enterprise will fail", which further aggravated the "panic" atmosphere. At the end of April 2008, under various pressures, the company was forced to withdraw the side door brand invested in Shanghai, and 2 million yuan was wasted. At that time, many company executives agreed to shrink the front and wait until after the financial crisis.

But in the background at that time, no one could predict how long the impact of the financial crisis would last. "In retrospect, the public opinion at that time was somewhat 'overreached'. The market attack was not fatal, but the collapse of confidence was really terrible." Zheng Bo said that he later spent a long time on the adjustment of mentality and the restoration of employee confidence.

　　 Regain confidence and practice internal skills

In the midst of chaos, Zheng Bo began to calm down gradually. As the helmsman, he realized that the ship Hongfang had encountered a reef after nearly ten years of sailing, and whether it could successfully return depended largely on the psychological quality of the helmsman.

The first step to rebuild confidence is somewhat helpless. Zheng Bo screened all the news about the bankruptcy of enterprises one by one, deliberately ignored them, and selected some positive news that survived the financial crisis, especially focusing on any news report on the policy of convergence from the government level. Since June and July last year, Zheng Bo has gradually seen the dawn of the government's frequent research on the textile and clothing field and the subsequent introduction of some supportive policies. On September 24 last year, Premier Wen Jiabao visited the United States and said an encouraging sentence to many businessmen in New York: "In the face of economic difficulties, confidence is more important than gold and currency. In many subsequent occasions, he used this sentence to encourage his employees. Perhaps his confidence and passion infected the employees, and the fighting spirit of Hongfang people was slowly activated.

At the entity level, the main impact of the financial crisis on Hongfang is foreign trade. According to Zheng Bo, at that time, the foreign trade orders of Hongfang continued to decline, and the price dropped by about three to five points. The shrinkage of the foreign trade market made Zheng Bo realize that this intermediate manufacturing link is developed, and the anti risk ability of the model of upstream design and research and downstream brand operation and marketing network construction lagging behind is very weak. He decided to reduce foreign trade and expand the proportion of domestic sales. He was slightly gratified that in 2006, he had tried the "outside to inside" mode, and walking on two legs enabled him to avoid the greater risks he might face after the financial crisis broke out. After adjustment, the foreign trade of Hongfang accounted for only 20%.

However, although the domestic market has little impact, it has also sunk for some time. An obvious change is the increase of inventory. In order to solve these problems, Hongfang has adopted some activities of "terminal profit giving promotion", and slowed down the progress of production. A worker in the red textile workshop recalled that they had originally made an assembly line of 100 pieces a day, but only 70 or 80 pieces later. Everyone is obviously "idle".

Zheng Bo "used" the extra time of his employees to arrange them one by one to go to the market for research. The younger ones went to the streets to observe the clothes of passers-by, asked them their views on style and fashion, and the older ones went to colleges and retail stores to distribute market questionnaires. Zheng Bo's idea is very clear. Since there is nothing he can do about the external environment, he should focus all his energy on internal control and research and development to gradually improve product quality. Market research just provides cutting-edge materials.

Surprisingly, the efforts of Hongfang have contributed to Olympic Clothing Two orders from the designated manufacturer and the exclusive confidential manufacturer of Olympic Fuwa Clothing. In addition to the reputation accumulated in the industry over the years, the reason for winning the bid also benefits from the high level of samples submitted. These two "businesses" suddenly boosted the morale of employees.

　　 Boldly test the waters of Beijing and Shanghai

Since he has been paying attention to the changes in public opinion and policies, Zheng Bo has sensitively found some clues from the gradual decline of negative reports on the financial crisis in the media. He thought about his peers in terms of his own mental journey. He thought that panic must have happened to them, and most people must choose to spend the winter in a cat's clothing before the signs of recovery are not clear, Then this is the best time to make a move.

Although some executives of the company still have doubts and have different opinions on whether to choose this time, they finally reached a tacit agreement, and they agreed to weaken the proportion of production and processing in the company and strengthen the position of brand sales.

Zheng Bo targeted Beijing and Shanghai as the base areas for expansion after transformation. This bold move has surprised many people. It is risky to develop new business when the situation is not completely clear. It is hard to know why we should start in the two first tier cities with the highest cost and the most difficult to enter. Zheng Bo's opinion is that Shanghai and Beijing are a window of the North South culture, which is the most favorable for Hongfang to open up the North South market, and it will go sooner or later. It is better to take advantage of the economic downturn to "bargain".

Therefore, Zheng Bo took several senior executives of the company to Beijing International Trade, Wangjing and other business circles to investigate, and finally chose Modern City. They saw with their own eyes that many enterprises in this office building had moved away because of the economic situation, and they were actually a little uneasy. They found a 200 square meter office in Modern City, with an annual rent of 160000 yuan. This rent finally moved Zheng Bo, because he had been paying attention to the housing price in Beijing, which has dropped by at least 20%, almost to the bottom; The search for housing in Shanghai has also started at the same time. The annual rent of a suite is more than 300000 yuan, which has risen to 400000 yuan in less than a year. When recalling the decision at that time in the future, many Hongfang people felt that the move was timely.

With this bottom hunting mentality, while other clothing companies are still downsizing and reducing expenses, Hongfang began to recruit in Beijing and Shanghai. Zheng Bo's explanation for this is that the outbreak of the financial crisis has left outstanding talents in a relative surplus. Beijing and Shanghai are already very attractive to talents, so you can find the outstanding talents you want.

It is worth pondering that Hongfang has opened branches in Beijing and Shanghai, and has successively expanded two projects aimed at young fashion people, among which "Side Gate" is a fashion brand directly facing the post-80s and post-90s generation. Zheng Bo's explanation of this positioning is also meaningful. He said that the financial crisis has taught him to look further and not dwell on the immediate benefits and losses. These two consumer groups are the backbone of future consumption. As their market, the future data will show geometric growth.

　　 Reporter's notes

In the clothing industry, I saw many businessmen talking and dancing, but few people were willing to cry in front of people, especially at the press conference surrounded by a lot of media. Zheng Bo is the first one I saw.

On November 28, Hong Fang was ten years old, and the scene was as lively as other enterprise celebrations. Those words of praise on the table and the glib conversation could be ignored, but this tearful detail made many people see the businessman's temperament.

In the subsequent communication, the bespectacled businessman repeatedly stressed to the reporter that thanks to the financial crisis, he was more "ruthless". This sentence implies the bitterness and determination of a businessman who "lives after death", and also has the determination and arrogance to be confident in the future.

The financial crisis has changed the development track of many enterprises, and also made some businessmen fall from the peak of honor to the bottom. Qingdao, Shandong Province, where Red Textile is located, is a gathering place of textile and garment production and processing enterprises. Last year, the financial crisis experienced a brutal test. Many small enterprises were unable to operate and closed down. Most of the surviving enterprises are also experiencing the pain of transformation. But one thing is gratifying. The boss of the garment processing enterprise who paid the price has really realized the drawbacks of this economic model, and has resolutely taken the first step of self redemption. If there is no financial crisis, perhaps they are still living a simple life of processing with supplied materials, but now they may grow rapidly and actively or passively participate in the pattern of industry reshuffle.

Without setbacks, we can never be truly mature. This is true for businessmen and enterprises. From this perspective, we should all thank the financial crisis.