news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

Text丨Shouyi

A resignation letter from "Wahaha Princess" Zong Fuli began circulating on the Internet this morning. The authenticity of the letter has been confirmed by many media outlets.

This is a resignation letter filled with dissatisfaction and tragic emotions. Without Zong Qinghou, Wahaha's fortunes changed faster than many people expected.

01

Zong Fuli was blunt in the letter, saying that it was the Hangzhou Shangcheng District People's Government and some shareholders of Wahaha Group who questioned the rationality of her management of Wahaha Group after the death of Chairman Zong Qinghou, making it impossible for her to continue to perform her management duties for Wahaha Group and its holding companies...

Outsiders do not know what specific disputes exist between the various parties and Zong Fuli, and of course have no way of judging right from wrong.

But now Zong Fuli’s real identity is the helmsman of a huge enterprise, not “Zong Qinghou’s daughter”.

In other words, as an entrepreneur at the helm, you should strive to gain support from all parties, eliminate all kinds of opposition, cooperate in compromise, and lead the company to find a new direction. Dealing with doubts is an essential quality for entrepreneurs.

The complaining tone of the letter is more like "Zong Qinghou's daughter", as if others should naturally obey and support her like they do to Zong Qinghou, otherwise they will quit.

This kind of resignation will at most earn a sigh of sympathy, but it is difficult to win the respect of all parties.

To put it more directly, even if other forces inside and outside Wahaha really united to bully her, Zong Fuli could not properly resolve this "offensive" and win enough support within the company, which means she has already lost once;

After losing, if she could think more open-mindedly, break up in a decent way, and leave a way for each other to meet again in the future. But she resigned by making the conflict public, which is a broken jar attitude. It is not good for herself or others. This is equivalent to losing again.

It is hard to imagine that a mature entrepreneur would write such a resignation letter. In other words, Zong Fuli, who wrote such a resignation letter, would be a surprise if she did not lose.

02

In fact, everyone knows that it is not easy to take over Zong Qinghou's job.

Wahaha is not a family business at all. Its previous shareholding structure shows that the largest shareholder, with a 46% stake, is Hangzhou Shangcheng District Cultural, Commercial and Tourism Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd. The second is Zong Qinghou with 29.4% personally, and finally the Wahaha Group Trade Union holds 24.6%.

The reason why many people outside misunderstand Wahaha as a family business and think that Zong Qinghou is the only one who has the final say is because, as Zong Fuli said, Zong Qinghou is a "god-like existence" to Wahaha.

Zong Qinghou has absolute say in the company with his personal qualifications and charm. This power is based on Zong Qinghou's personal influence, rather than institutional guarantees such as corporate equity.

Even if Zong Fuli, the successor, inherits Zong Qinghou's 29.4% personal equity, she cannot have full control over Wahaha and must obtain the support of the other two major shareholder groups.

Judging from Zong Fuli’s resignation letter, she obviously messed up this crucial unity work.

In Zong Fuli's own opinion, the failure might be caused by the lack of cooperation and doubts from others, but even in the eyes of the spectators, her abilities and past performance were not very convincing.

Because Zong Fuli was not a newcomer who was suddenly assigned to Wahaha. In fact, she joined Wahaha after returning from studying abroad in 2004 and held several positions within the group.

Speaking of support, Zong Qinghou should have spared no effort in supporting his daughter. But in retrospect, Zong Fuli did not have many convincing achievements except being praised for her "foresight" in replacing spokesperson Wang Leehom.

She has tried to diversify and youngerize products, and has focused on brand building, product innovation, and the development of new channels, etc., but in retrospect, there was little to be said for.

In a large group, there are certainly various reasons why something cannot be accomplished, but if a person wants to prove himself, he must have the experience of accomplishing certain things.

03

If Zong Fuli was not "Zong Qinghou's daughter", it would be hard to imagine that she could win the position of successor to Wahaha with her business performance.

In this sense, Zong Fuli's resignation may be a good thing for both her and Wahaha.

After the resignation letter attracted attention, some people recalled an incident that Zong Fuli had mentioned in a previous interview.

When Zong Fuli took over Hongsheng Beverage Factory, Zong Qinghou sent his most trusted veteran to assist her, but she felt that the other party was not capable enough and ruthlessly dismissed him. In the end, Zong Qinghou quietly invited the person back to his own system.

It is said that during the period when she took over Wahaha, Zong Fuli also replaced some of the middle and senior management, which even caused her to be reported because it touched the vested interests. However, her father Zong Qing was no longer there to help her clean up the mess.

When her father was alive, Zong Fuli wanted to highlight that she was "capable and did not rely on her father's help", but the unfortunate or fortunate reality is that children may not always be better than their parents.

No matter how hard the parents who once had power or wealth tried to "catch babies", some succession plans could not succeed. Therefore, social fairness and mobility have greater possibilities.

For Zong Fuli, she is the daughter of Zong Qinghou, but she does not necessarily have to be a Wahaha princess. She has long been financially free, and it may be easier to find something that suits her than to be trapped in Wahaha and struggle.