How can “a cloud” resolve the corporate dilemma in the midst of a century of change?
2024-08-22
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Li Yanxiao, reporter of Chao News Client
Photo provided by the interviewee
"Be a man, build a career, and serve the country with a will of steel."
“May every line of code you write be worth its weight in gold and jade, and may every product you make serve the country and the people.”
“Name each of the company’s ‘little inventions’ or ‘small creations’ after an employee.”
……
On August 21, the theme release conference of "Soul of the Enterprise: Excellent Cases of Corporate Culture in Zhejiang Province in 2023" with the theme of "Riding the Wind and Waves and Standing at the Forefront" was held. More than 100 representatives of entrepreneurs, corporate culture experts and scholars gathered together to discuss the construction of Zhejiang corporate culture in the new era.
In recent years, the topic of "culture" has appeared more and more frequently in conversations between entrepreneurs. From learning traditional culture to forming corporate culture, why? In the context of a century-old era, can the extremely abstract "corporate culture" in tradition solve the dilemmas and confusions that companies and entrepreneurs are facing? In the context of state-owned enterprises and private enterprises working together, what are the similarities and differences between the cultures of the two sides, and how will it bring about a chemical reaction for the cooperation between the two sides?
If the apprentice gives 5% of his income to the master, will the company's efficiency increase by 40%?
Chen Wenbo, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and director of Hangzhou Iron and Steel Group, talked about a past event. In 2015, the 59-year-old Hangzhou Banshan Steel Base completed the last process on the assembly line, the steel sparks went out, 12,000 people were diverted, and the legend of the ten-mile steel city officially came to an end on the stage of the times. This process took only 150 days, which was called the "Hangzhou Iron and Steel Miracle" in the industry at the time. "Behind this is our corporate spirit of 'being a man, building a business, and serving the country with steel will'."
Chen Wenbo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of Hangzhou Iron and Steel Group (Photo provided by the interviewee)
Today, Banshan has transformed into a digital economy town, with three major industrial zones: cloud computing, cloud services, and cloud manufacturing. It has also cultivated and established dozens of digital technology backbone enterprises. The people of Hangzhou Iron and Steel once again shouted the slogan on this land - "Before, we made steel here, now we make numbers here". As a result, a "2+2" industrial development pattern has gradually taken shape, with steel intelligent manufacturing and modern circulation as strategic advantage industries, and energy conservation and environmental protection, and digital technology as strategic emerging industries. Hangzhou Iron and Steel Group has entered the Fortune Global 500 for three consecutive years with stable development.
Behind this is the support of corporate culture.
Zhang Pengfei, Chairman and President of Taichang Group, was born in 1985 and is 39 years old this year, but he has been in charge of the company for more than 21 years.
At the beginning of the century, Zhang Xianrui, the founder of Taichang Group, passed away suddenly in an accident. The 18-year-old Zhang Pengfei was ordered to take over the company with total assets of 400 million yuan and 800 employees. "My father once said that Wenzhou people rely on hard work in the first stage of entrepreneurship, service in the second stage, and culture in the third stage. But when I first took over, my perception of culture was still very ignorant." His initial understanding of corporate culture was at a corporate culture awards ceremony that year. Because of innovation, the company named "Small Inventions and Small Creations" after employees, encouraged employees to actively participate in inventions and creations, and brought many changes to the company's production process. It was rated as one of the top 20 excellent corporate cultures in Wenzhou.
Zhang Pengfei, Chairman and President of Taichang Group (Photo provided by the interviewee)
The moment he stood on the podium on behalf of his father, a seed called "corporate culture" took root in Zhang Pengfei's heart.
"I am very grateful. This is the intangible wealth left by my father." In recent years, Zhang Pengfei has followed in his father's footsteps and tried to establish a "master-apprentice system" within the company, combining the spiritual civilization of "apprenticeship" and the material civilization of "apprentice giving 5% of monthly income to the master", which has effectively improved the overall efficiency by 40%. "It is the seemingly small changes brought about by corporate culture that have allowed us to survive the great waves of these years and develop healthily in the century-old changes."
Tao Xiaoying, chairman of Santi Group Co., Ltd., is now training her son and taking him to participate in the business management of the company. She feels deeply that the inheritance of corporate culture is of great significance. "If corporate culture can be inherited, on the one hand, the company can develop sustainably, and on the other hand, the spirit of the company can also be well carried forward. I am very lucky that our children are willing to be the inheritor." She also specifically suggested that relevant departments could build more communication platforms to allow the new generation of entrepreneurs to encourage each other and move forward together.
Tao Xiaoying, Chairman of Santi Group Co., Ltd. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
Hu Hongwei, executive president of the Zhejiang Business Research Association, agrees with this. He also focused on the topic of corporate culture inheritance and said that the new generation of entrepreneurs have more cultural accumulation and international vision than their parents, which is their advantage. "But they must not put down the banner of the 'Four Thousand Spirit'. I believe that entrepreneurs of any era need to stick to such a spirit." In addition, in terms of the modernization of corporate social responsibility, "I hope our new generation can surpass their parents. Because the current era environment is different from the past, it puts higher demands on them. I believe they can do it."
Yang Yiqing, director of the Zhejiang Merchants Museum, pointed out that the inheritance of corporate culture is two-way rather than one-way. "When we talk about cultural inheritance now, we mostly say that the new generation of entrepreneurs need to learn the 'Four Thousand Spirits' from their parents. This is undisputed, but what is easily overlooked is that parents also need to learn from their children. Parents and children are equal. When children surpass their parents in knowledge, technology, concepts, information, etc., we, the older generation of Zhejiang merchants, must also dare to learn from the new generation."
What are the similarities and differences between the collision between state-owned enterprises and private enterprises?
State-owned enterprises and private enterprises are important components of the market economy and together constitute the foundation of the socialist market economy. Not long ago, the State Council Information Office held a series of press conferences on "Promoting High-quality Development". At the conference, it was mentioned that the leading and driving role of state-owned enterprises should be further exerted to promote the coordinated development of state-owned enterprises and private enterprises. Zhejiang Province also held a meeting to promote the coordinated development of state-owned enterprises and private enterprises. The trend of the people working together for progress is getting stronger.
Chen Wenbo specifically mentioned that Hangzhou Iron and Steel began to explore the way of coordinated development between state-owned and private enterprises as early as 2006 when it reorganized Ninggang. In 2023, it completed a substantial reorganization of 2.3 million tons of steelmaking capacity with the private enterprise Zhenshi Holding Group, and jointly promoted the establishment of a global advanced green high-end stainless steel intelligent manufacturing project, and achieved good economic and social benefits of establishment and profitability in the same year.
Behind this is the underlying common values of state-owned enterprises and private enterprises. Qian Haijun, a model of the times and community manager of the customer service center of the State Grid Zhejiang Cixi Power Supply Company, believes that corporate culture itself is projected onto people. "I think that central enterprises, state-owned enterprises, and private enterprises are actually one family. Whether it is going global or revitalizing China, it is our common pursuit. Moreover, our culture itself has the same roots and we originally have the same core values."
Qian Haijun, Model of the Times and Community Manager of the Customer Service Center of Cixi Power Supply Company of State Grid Zhejiang Province (Photo provided by the interviewee)
Taichang Group is one of the important suppliers of State Grid and China Southern Power Grid, and has long-term in-depth cooperation with state-owned enterprises. Zhang Pengfei observed that both state-owned enterprises and private enterprises are the same in the main path, but enterprises are relatively standardized and private enterprises are relatively flexible, but they all bear the responsibility of development and social responsibility. "I think every truly great enterprise must have solved a problem for society. This is the origin of the enterprise."
On the road to greatness, standardization is the only way. "We need to learn more about the rules and culture of state-owned enterprises. Only with clear rules can we achieve more efficient collaboration. This is consistent with the 'establishment of rituals' in traditional Chinese culture." Zhang Pengfei said that looking back at history, it was the unification of weights and measures, the unification of culture, and the establishment of rituals that led to the great China we have today, "and the same is true for enterprises."
Yang Yiqing also said: "The culture of state-owned enterprises is stable, standardized and safe, while the culture of private enterprises is efficient and flexible. It is ideal to combine the cultural advantages of state-owned enterprises with those of private enterprises and take the best of both. Therefore, it is very important for state-owned enterprises and private enterprises to learn from each other."
"Clouds" will turn into rain, nourishing all things
The fate of a person is determined by his character, while the fate of a group of people is determined by their culture. Yang Yiqing said: "Whether the corporate culture is good or not depends on whether the leaders pay attention to it." There are three types of affairs in an enterprise: important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and urgent but important. Corporate culture belongs to the first type. "When you are busy, you don't pay much attention to it, so 'unity of top and bottom' is the key to creating corporate culture from scratch."
"'All parties in sync' is the key to the transformation of corporate culture from the abstract to the concrete. Corporate culture is everywhere and needs to be implemented in all aspects of operations, management, production, sales, human resources and party building. It is an integration." Yang Yiqing gave an example. If the "people-oriented" company culture is not reflected in the distribution of benefits, employee promotion incentives, and capacity building, it is just a slogan posted on the wall.
Yang Yiqing, Director of Zhejiang Merchants Museum (Photo provided by the interviewee)
In addition, Yang Yiqing said that the "form of expression" of corporate culture is also very important at the moment. He compared corporate culture to "clouds". "Where do the clouds in the sky come from? They are not floating over, but rain falls on the ground, evaporates into the air, and is formed by cold air. Therefore, corporate culture is not abstract, nor is it thought up by experts. It is in everyone's heart, reflected in private enterprises, and first of all in the boss's heart." He further added that visible clouds are not the final result, and will eventually fall to the ground and nourish all things. "In the Internet age, if corporate culture is still the same old way, young people may not be very receptive, and cooperation for the sake of cooperation is just 'superficial prosperity'."
"However, there is no high or low in corporate culture itself, and there is no good or best. Different cultures of different companies have their own characteristics. The best one is the one that suits them and can be refined and implemented," said Yang Yiqing.
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