What Is The Marketing Strategy Of Dong Mingzhu, The "Iron Lady Of The Business World"?

We are crossing a ridge.

The 62 year old iron lady, who claims to be in her twenties, has been the biggest trust crisis in four years since she took over as chairman of GREE electric in May 2012.

The results of GREE electric 2015 annual report released recently showed that the world's largest household air conditioner manufacturer and distributor had their first business income and net profit in recent years.

Dong Mingzhu has been receiving frequent visits, media interviews and even for the first time in a local TV show. Even in May 15th, Dong Mingzhu responded to the first public class of the media. "Someone said GREE couldn't do it. I smiled."

Who lives to 100 is a hero. "

GREE, a powerful woman who is strong in iron and dare to speak and dare to do so, is in the process of controversy.

Shouting "let the world fall in love with China" Dong Mingzhu, how to prepare for diversification of this chess game, many people are waiting to see.

"Net red" entrepreneurs

Dong Mingzhu can be said to be the most famous female entrepreneur in China.

She not only personally advertised advertisements for her own products on CCTV, but also spoke with sharp words and distinct personalities. Wherever she went, she always raised topics and concerns.

At the end of 2013, she was most famous for making a bet of 1 billion yuan with Lei Jun.

In the CCTV 2013 annual economic awards presentation, Dong Mingzhu and Lei Jun represent manufacturing respectively.

They are different from each other in arguing the two models.

Dong Mingzhu, who has a straight character, bet on 1 billion, and GREE will not be surpassed by millet in five years.

Although this gamble has been given more entertainment in various interpretations, Dong Mingzhu has been regarded as the voice spokesman for the manufacturing industry and has more and more stars.

Instead of Jackie Chan, she endorsed GREE's products and joined Wang Jianlin to advertise GREE's central air conditioning system. At the end of last year, she even promoted Jingdong GREE's flagship store with cartoon images together with the founder of GREE.

At the beginning of this year, during the two sessions of the national conference, Dong Mingzhu announced the launch from the media.

In the words of Wu Xiaobo, a well-known financial writer, Dong Mingzhu has become another kind of "net red".

Indeed, Dong Mingzhu's every move has attracted much attention.

In response, Dong Mingzhu said in an interview with "First Financial Daily", "if I were net red, it would be more because GREE became a net red."

The "marketing Queen" is accustomed to taking all the opportunities to endorse GREE.

In this regard, she said: "I use true feelings to express, dare to speak the truth."

This kind of bold, stubborn and tough character is not because of the family pressure she suffered when she was a child, but it was related to the experience of the adult.

As we all know, because his son died when he was young, Dong Mingzhu worked alone from Nanjing to Zhuhai. In 1990, he joined GREE and started from a bottom air conditioner salesman. After his struggle, he realized the pformation from "soldier to general".

Dong Mingzhu, who has his own story, personality and feelings, has indeed become the condition of "net red".

But in essence, she is a "challenging" female entrepreneur.

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She spoke with a strong voice because of her past achievements.

She worked with Zhu Jianghong, an old leader, to develop GREE into the largest household air conditioning company in the world in just twenty years.

In May 2012, when she succeeded Zhu Jianghong as chairman of GREE electric appliances, GREE's total revenue increased by 20 billion yuan in 2012, 2013 and 2014 for three consecutive years, and its total business income exceeded 140 billion yuan in 2014.

Dong Mingzhu is a "practical faction". He explored a set of unique marketing methods and sales channel patterns from the actual market battle, which is also one of the cornerstones of GREE's success.

"We didn't look for a consulting company."

Dong Mingzhu told the first Financial Daily reporter.

From the off-season payment, year-end rebate to the regional sales company jointly established by leading agents in various places, Dong Mingzhu said that they all adhere to the principle of good faith, respect the interests of dealers, and face problems and think positively, so as to explore new ways.

It can be said that GREE's innovative marketing model has created a new era of air-conditioning industry.

Since being pferred back to headquarters as GREE's managing minister in 1994, Dong Mingzhu, who is not only marketing, has begun to pay close attention to internal management, even the leaders brought by him.

Due to the improvement of the marketing system and the innovation of the mode of "goods after the first payment", the income of GREE electric appliances in 1995 has doubled by seven times, and since 1996 it has become the boss of the domestic air conditioner industry, and there has been no bank loan from the 1997.

In 2001, Zhu Jianghong was promoted to Chairman of GREE electric appliances, and Dong Mingzhu took over the post of general manager of GREE electric appliances.

In Dong Mingzhu's eyes, "to harm the interests of enterprises, we must resolutely challenge the end."

Yang Mianmian, the former president of Haier group and Yu Shumin, the former president of Hisense group, are also good at executing the same era. They are partnered with Zhang Ruimin, chairman of Haier group board and Zhou Houjian, chairman of Hisense group.

Now, they have retired, and the difference between them is that Dong Mingzhu's personality is less obedient and more challenging than ever, and is still active in the business arena.

She also told reporters directly, "I am a challenge."

This spirit of challenge extends from internal management to external cooperation.

Even in the face of Gome's founder Wong Kwong Yu, Suning founder Zhang Jindong and other strong partners, Dong Mingzhu is still very strong.

In 2004, due to the unauthorized sale of Gome, GREE withdrew from GOME overnight and shifted to relying on the development of exclusive stores. Instead, GREE's revenue increased by 3 billion 800 million yuan.

Dong Mingzhu's experience will be summed up by "adhering to honesty and credibility, and getting everyone's support".

In 2014, after being reestablished with Gome in 2014, after being invited by Suning, he returned to Suning stores in two years.

For this reason, Dong Mingzhu said, "people always obey the truth."

Challenge at the moment

For Dong Mingzhu, the real challenge lies in the present.

The 2015 annual report is the first report of GREE Electric's first operating income and net profit in recent years. Although Dong Mingzhu said last year that he had abandoned the plan to increase 20 billion yuan in 2015, the report card was still lower than expected.

In 2015, GREE electric business revenue fell 29.04% to 97 billion 745 million yuan, net profit fell 11.46% to 12 billion 532 million yuan.

The myth of GREE's performance against growth is no longer sustainable.

The ceiling of the air conditioning industry is really coming.

The three largest domestic white listed companies, GREE electric, Midea Group and Qingdao Haier, fell together for the first time in 2015, and a common factor that dragged down their revenue is the decline in air conditioning business revenues.

In order to cope with the market weakness, from the end of September 2014, GREE has repeatedly launched the price war of air conditioning industry. Dong Mingzhu even put forward a "clearance action" even at GREE's internal meeting.

But her remarks heated up the topic of public opinion, but did not really stimulate the downturn in the air conditioning market.

According to the data of China Yikang, in 2015, the retail sales of domestic air conditioners dropped by 4.8% compared with the same period last year, and the volume of retail sales decreased by 1.1% compared with the same period last year.

GREE is in urgent need of greater diversity.

Because compared with the United States and Haier, GREE's success in the past is specialization, focusing on making the air conditioning business stronger and bigger. So in 2015, the contribution of air-conditioning business accounted for 85.65% of the revenue structure of GREE's appliances, and only 1.56% of the small household electrical appliances (living appliances) accounted for.

The proportion of air conditioning revenue in the US group and Qingdao Haier in 2015 is 46.6% and 18.1% respectively, but it helps them to diversify their business risks.

Specialization is, of course, an important reason for GREE electric to maintain its high net profit margin.

As Dong Mingzhu said, despite the sharp decline in GREE's revenue in 2015, it still has a net profit margin of 12%, and its profitability is among the best in the appliance industry.

However, if we rely solely on air conditioners and bid farewell to the rapid growth of the air-conditioning industry, GREE will hardly achieve sustained growth in its performance.

Therefore, Dong Mingzhu announced last year that GREE started to "test the water" to make mobile phones, and the industry was in an uproar.

GREE's 1 generation mobile phones were not ideal for trial sale last year. GREE's 2 generation mobile phones started selling recently this year, but the industry believes that the 3300 yuan pricing of the 2 generation mobile phones is still not easy.

During this year's "two sessions", GREE held a special press conference on Beijing IH cooking rice cooker and Dong Mingzhu's media.

Reporters noted that Dong Mingzhu from the media pearl shop, mainly selling rice cookers, fans, air purifiers, mobile phones, dehumidifiers and other GREE's "new products".

Whether GREE's successful experience in air conditioning can be copied to other products is the real test that Dong Mingzhu will face.

The owner of a GREE store admitted to reporters that her business was stable in 2015, the real difficulty is this year, and that GREE regional sales companies are dissatisfied with some practices of distributing the Jinghong refrigerator to the exclusive stores.

"Every month, dealers are required to import 10 sets of Hong Hong refrigerators, otherwise they will be fined 2000 yuan per unit, deducting the rebates from the rebates and deducting them from the payment.

This is against the principle of fairness in commercial pactions.

The store owner said.

Obviously, diversified products need professional technology as well.

If the channels match with them, otherwise, even if they are pushed through existing channels, it will be difficult to succeed.

But in fact, in Dong Mingzhu's "chess game", diversified household appliances and mobile phones are only one of the pieces of GREE smart home. Her next "real bet" is intelligent manufacturing, digital machine tools and mold heavy industries.

In September 2015, Zhuhai GREE Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. operated independently.

Last year, 2000 sets of intelligent equipment were produced, and the output value exceeded 500 million yuan.

At the beginning of 2016, GREE electric announced that it was preparing to acquire Zhuhai Silver Dragon New Energy Company and enter the new energy and new energy vehicle industry.

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GREE Electric said in its 2015 annual report that it will continue to take the air conditioning industry as a pillar and vigorously develop new industries such as new energy, living appliances, industrial products, moulds, mobile phones, automation equipment, and so on. GREE will "expand the industry from simple home appliance manufacturing enterprises to new energy and manufacturing enterprises" to realize diversified and steady development.

In May 15th, in the first public lecture of the media, Dong Mingzhu said, "what does a family need in a safe and environmentally-friendly environment? This is a series of products we are developing."

"We already have CNC machine tools, robots, testing and pportation automation equipment and other products.

Independent innovation, I am not anxious to succeed, must grasp the core technology.

Now China's most advanced CNC machine tools are imported.

It is hoped that in the next three years, China's CNC machine tools can be purchased from GREE, which is one of our dreams.

Once again, Dong Mingzhu put forth his words in a modest way.

Controversy and reflection

Most of the Chinese people are concerned about "low key" because they know that "big trees catch the wind," but Dong Mingzhu is never a hiding and tucking man.

She has always been "high-profile", "can not rub the sand in her eyes", dissatisfied with some of her competitors' practices, and she will open fire without mercy in public.

Last year, GREE also produced a new slogan "let the world love China", creating a banner for China and pave the way for diversification of GREE products.

However, Dong Mingzhu's high-profile words and deeds are in sharp contrast to the recent announcement made by GREE electric, which has attracted much controversy.

Performance fluctuation, willful decision-making and personal speculation are three major doubts.

Liu Buchen, a senior observer in the appliance industry, said that GREE's performance in 2015 dropped sharply, and its revenues dropped from nearly 140 billion yuan to less than 100 billion yuan.

Since the second half of 2014, GREE has turned its income downward, which is closely related to Dong Mingzhu's "great leap forward" complex in recent years.

In an interview with reporters in mid April, Dong Mingzhu once said that "no need to panic".

Her reasons include: first, the change of the macro environment and the downward trend of the macro economy; two, the overdraft of the market in the past few years; the three is that GREE Electric has increased by 20 billion yuan every year for three consecutive years, and the air conditioning market needs to digest; last year, GREE took the initiative to adjust the price of air-conditioning, some of which depreciate 200~300 yuan, some even cut 1000 yuan, and the market also needs digestion.

And GREE electric net interest rate reached 12%, with 7 research institutes and more than 8000 researchers' technical support, so there is no need to be nervous or panic at all.

In May 11th, Dong Mingzhu once again made a public high-profile response: "GREE electric 2012~2015 profit nearly doubled, and every year it is a large taxpayer in the country. GREE is pforming, data can not explain all, the development process is the most important."

Liu Buchen also questioned the strategic direction of GREE. He quoted the dealer as saying that the market position of GREE air conditioner was in fact largely laid by Zhu Jianghong. Since Dong Mingzhu came to power, he has been diversifying such as Jinghong refrigerator, big pine small household appliance and GREE mobile phone. It is hard to say which has been successful, especially GREE mobile phone can be said to have failed.

But GREE Electric has 80 billion cash deposits, such a solid family base, enough Dong Mingzhu to be self willed for several years.

In fact, the diversification of GREE appliances is understandable, and is also compatible with the development needs.

Zhang Yanbin, assistant president and Dean of AVC, told reporters that although GREE's business income declined in 2015, GREE's share in the air conditioning market has been consolidated and upgraded. At present, GREE's domestic air conditioner production and marketing scale reaches about 20000000 units a year. GREE's share in the domestic air conditioner market has reached 37%~40%, which is about 10 percentage points higher than that of its main competitors.

"The air-conditioning market is growing steadily, and it is impossible to continue to expand rapidly. GREE needs to diversify and intellectualized."

The key is how to diversify.

What worries the outside world is that GREE has spent 20 years concentrating on making air conditioners to achieve today's status. If Dong Mingzhu announces a cell phone at once, he suddenly announces that he is going to make new energy vehicles. The stalls are spread too fast, can he continue to make fine products? What's more, the mobile phone industry has long been a "Red Sea".

In this regard, Dong Mingzhu said in his speech in May 15th that GREE mobile will mainly cooperate with GREE smart home in the next five years. "As long as you have technology and quality, the red sea will not be established."

An insider of GREE electric told reporters that "Dong" most valued the upstream intelligent equipment industry. Her strategic thinking of "manufacturing as the core" had not changed.

Because the characteristics of GREE smart home lie in environmental protection, energy saving and solar photovoltaic connection, "Dong" wants to extend the GREE industry to new energy sources. The main components of electric vehicles include motors, body and new energy batteries. GREE has strong motor and mold power, and once acquired the silver dragon, it also has the ability of new energy battery, so that it can master the main technology of electric vehicles.

"The core content of GREE pformation is efficiency, and the two is quality, efficiency and quality pformation.

GREE is not only an air conditioner, it is not just a brand.

Intelligent manufacturing not only improves efficiency, but also benefits quality control. "

Dong Mingzhu told the first financial reporter, "if GREE wants to be a centenary enterprise, we must lay a solid foundation."

The implication is that no matter what products GREE will make in the future, machinery and equipment is the mother of industry. As long as GREE can grasp the core technology and capabilities of intelligent equipment and do other diversified products, it can also guarantee quality and achieve independent innovation.

Although it is generally acknowledged that Dong Mingzhu is good at marketing and speculation, he may be infected by Zhu Jianghong's words and deeds, and Dong Mingzhu is never stingy in investing in technology.

She told GREE employees that if there were no core technologies, it would be as if they were being held up by others.

Therefore, Zhu Jianghong put forward a "no core technology enterprises never have a backbone", so far, still in GREE headquarters exhibition hall, a big door on the door, eye-catching stickers.

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GREE, which has always been pragmatic, is now good at topic marketing, which is closely related to Dong Mingzhu's frequent exposure.

Objectively speaking, Dong Mingzhu's star "fan Er", in the current marketing environment, does help promote and enhance the brand awareness of GREE's emerging diversified products.

Some people even quipped that "Dong Jie" accidentally took out GREE mobile phone and could "grab the headlines".

However, it has repeatedly been questioned whether it is too personal speculation or personal brand overshadowing corporate brand, but it will bring risks to the company and is not conducive to the growth of the successor.

Dong Mingzhu told reporters that he was also training successors.

What worries her most is not the ability problem, but the moral question, how to stick to the principle in the social environment.

Most people go with the flow, while others dare to challenge, but they are one-sided.

One day, Dong Mingzhu asked a deputy general, why do you not care about this? The deputy general said, you said you wouldn't let me.

"The most important thing is self actuation.

In what way or system can he not make such a mistake again, or do not let me make such a mistake again? People need to constantly revise themselves.

Dong Mingzhu said.

Tough, like Dong Mingzhu, is constantly revising himself.

Professor Su Yong, director of the Oriental Management Research Institute of Fudan University and professor of the Department of business management, told the first Financial Daily reporters that the performance fluctuations of GREE electric appliances can be understood.

Recently, Apple Corp has also experienced a decline in performance and stock prices. Enterprises are always growing in waves. The overall trend of development is upwards.

As for GREE's diversified thinking, Su Yong thought, "Dong Zong is very competent, but sometimes he puts too much emphasis on subjectivity.

She thinks there is no red sea. If you do well, the red sea will also become blue ocean.

But according to Potter's five force model, as a new entrants, you can make refrigerators, new energy vehicles, mobile phones, and compare with many brands, technologies and channels. What are the advantages of differentiation? Advantages, disadvantages, opportunities and challenges must be clearly understood.

In Su Yong's view, not only can we do it, it can do well.

For example, in the field of mobile phones, the market share of domestic HUAWEI and millet is very large, not to mention Samsung or apple.

The advantage of GREE is worth considering.

Su Yong also said that Dong Mingzhu had personal influence and could be promoted and promoted for enterprise platforms, but it could not be regular and overflowing.

First, people's energy is limited, the meticulous management within the enterprise, the leaders of the enterprise must take part in it seriously; the two is the first hand marketing of the enterprise leaders, sometimes Xiao He and Xiao He, if there is a problem, there will be no retreat.

In fact, the current predicament and breakthrough of GREE and Dong Mingzhu are also a microcosm of traditional dominant enterprises adapting to the new era.

Su Yong believes that the pition from Internet to advanced manufacturing will be dead. But it is very difficult to maintain the existing profits. It is very difficult to do well. We must do well in risk control, balance the old and new industries, and master the pace of pformation.

From the development of GREE, Dong Mingzhu has gone through the storm and has the ability to constantly face the real problems, learn quickly and continue to innovate.

But in the present many public activities, do Dong Mingzhu still have more efforts to understand the real difficulties and needs of the frontline, as a real industrialist, to find a "chess score" that breaks through the dilemma of GREE in a down-to-earth manner and in a timely manner, and challenge the success again?