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Today, Wahaha has become a hot topic again.

The news that Zong Fuli, daughter of Wahaha founder Zong Qinghou, had resigned as general manager of the group quickly spread to various groups through this small picture.

Subsequent responses from all parties did not deny the news, and some dealers even confirmed that there was indeed a dispute among the top management and said it was being resolved.

There are many speculations from all sides.

I am more inclined to believe that this is a problem arising from the handover of such a huge enterprise as Wahaha, and the core issue should be the conflict in management concepts.

1. Wahaha is a private enterprise, not a state-owned enterprise

Wahaha is completely different from traditional enterprises. It is not composed of countless holding subsidiaries under a head office, but a corporate cluster consisting of a partially held core company and countless fully held non-core companies.

Industrial and commercial registration shows that Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co., Ltd. is held by Hangzhou Shangcheng District Cultural, Commercial and Tourism Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd., Zong Qinghou, and the Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co., Ltd. Grassroots Trade Union Joint Committee (Employee Stock Ownership Association) with shares of 46%, 29.4%, and 24.6%, respectively. Zong Qinghou is the second largest shareholder of Wahaha.

However, this structure was left over from the cooperation with Danone, and the company actually controlled by the Hangzhou Shangcheng District Government has replaced Danone.

In addition to this company, Zong Qinghou also controls hundreds of companies that have or have no equity relationship with Wahaha Group. These companies correspond to the company's supply chain, channels and other businesses.

So, on the surface, state-owned assets are the largest shareholder of Wahaha Group, but Zong Qinghou actually controls everything about Wahaha through this complex structure, making it a true private enterprise.

2. Zong Qinghou is a superman entrepreneur

Wahaha is an enterprise with highly decentralized factories, highly decentralized products and highly decentralized markets. In such an enterprise, Zong Qinghou's management model is a centralized management model.

When Zong Qinghou was at his peak, he had to sign for every trash can he bought. There were no real professional managers in the group, nor were there any deputies who could handle everything on their own. Zong Qinghou directly managed dozens of people.

Therefore, Zong Qinghou can be said to be the busiest entrepreneur. He basically works from morning to night and is a well-known "ox horse" in the business world.

Wahaha does not have a modern professional management system. The internal middle and senior management personnel are composed of Wahaha's old employees and cadres as the core system. This has resulted in Zong Qinghou's comprehensive control over the company, so that even if Danone acquired its shares, it could not really intervene in the management. Because it is not a professional management system, these old employees only recognize Zong Qinghou, and even if someone else came, it would not be able to do anything.

At the same time, Wahaha is not yet a listed company. Corporate managers do not need to accept various investment market rules, do not need to release financial reports to the outside, and do not need to worry about short-term business. There is sufficient flexibility in corporate management.

Therefore, under Zong Qinghou's leadership, Wahaha, through its complex corporate structure and this loyal subordinate management model, has actually formed an independent management system centered on him personally that can ignore any shareholder.

3. Succession is difficult

In such an enterprise, it is actually impossible for Zong Fuli to take over.

Because she is not Zong Qinghou, she does not have that kind of authority, nor does she have the experience of leading a team in decades of business wars, nor does she have the relationship with core management cadres.

Only Zong Qinghou can manage the existing management structure.

If she wanted to take over smoothly, Zong Fuli would inevitably have to carry out a large-scale reorganization according to her own ideas. This process would be extremely painful.

First, this kind of restructuring will bring huge pain to the enterprise and cause people's hearts to change;

Secondly, shareholders may worry about their interests being damaged and thus intervene;

Another possibility is a complete failure, which will lead to the collapse of the company's core management system.

As a second-generation entrepreneur who has studied abroad, Zong Fuli is very likely to want to replace the original management system at Wahaha with a modern manager management system.

In this process, we are not sure whether resignation is a tough statement, an adherence to principles, or something else.

But one thing is that without Zong Fuli, the core owner, Wahaha will not be able to operate.

4. State-owned assets cannot manage Wahaha

There are some rumors that state-owned assets are going to swallow up Wahaha, which is of course just speculation.

The possibility of this speculation being true is basically zero, because state-owned assets only own shares in Wahaha Group, but do not have control over hundreds of other Wahaha companies.

More importantly, state-owned assets cannot control Wahaha.

Zong Qinghou created a management miracle in which one person could manage such a huge enterprise without the need for a deputy. However, this miracle also brought a result: no one, whether it was his daughter, state-owned assets, or the employee shareholding association, could take over his job under the existing management system.

The SASAC hopes that Wahaha can develop stably. After all, as a shareholder, they hope to have stable returns, but Zong Fuli is the only person who can become a manager.

My guess is that resignation is just a showdown between Zong Fuli and other shareholders and management cadres. You have to realize that I am the only one who can control this company. I am the only possible manager. Either you give in and let me manage the company according to my ideas, or I will mess it up for you to see. I am not short of money, so why should I be afraid of losing such a small amount?

Zong Fuli is more likely to think that if Wahaha doesn't change according to my ideas, then why do I need it? If you want to play, go ahead and buy my shares and hundreds of companies. If you don't buy, can you play?

In the end, the old officials and other shareholders should compromise. After all, the company needs a real owner, and there can be no third person except Zong Fuli.

Of course, the above is just my guess.