Top of the big era

Will the design industry usher in a big explosion in the future?

Lei Jun was not sure about this, but Zhou Buqi was so optimistic, and there must be some truth to it.

For the IT industry, there has been a shortage of a large number of engineers in the past few years... However, over the years, the number of engineers around the world has increased rapidly, and the IT industry has become the most popular major in universities, especially in China and India, which have cultivated An astonishing number of engineers.

But having engineers is not enough.

Engineers develop products. After all, there are still a handful of engineer-led companies, namely Google, Huawei, and SAP.

More and more companies are beginning to favor designers, who lead products, especially Apple's unparalleled success in leading the global IT industry, which has caused countless IT companies to reflect on their own product strategies and product design. began to play an increasingly important role.

but……

Even if the general situation develops like this, is it really necessary for you, Boss Zhou, to do this personally?

Lei Jun was a little dizzy.

This is really not afraid of being busy!

He didn't know much about Zhou Buqi's usual working style, so he felt that his attention to business must not be as focused as his own, which would also consume a lot of energy.

Not to mention anything else, just the few listed companies that he is personally responsible for are enough to shock people.

Ziweixing Global has a market value of US$150 billion, Ziweixing Digital Media has a market value of £18.5 billion, and Changyou has a market value that is about to reach US$50 billion...

Already at this level, are you still looking for new directions and actively building new startups?

Looking at Zhou Buqi, who was full of vigor and high-spirited, seemingly always tireless and chasing the sun, Lei Jun felt a lot of different feelings in his heart.

The inner motivation and yearning were instantly aroused.

Boss Zhou is so successful, and he is still exploring and pursuing on the road of business, but what about himself?

With such a comparison, Lei Jun naturally has a greater vision for Xiaomi's future.

The Internet of Things may really be Xiaomi's key development direction in the future!

Zhou Buqi was embarrassed to fool too much, so he was a little more cautious, "The Internet of Things will definitely be a major trend in the future, and Haier is trying to build Haier Smart Home. However, how long will this future take? At present, it is not yet It’s too clear, maybe ten years, maybe thirty years.”

Lei Jun said with a smile: "Maybe it will be like the mobile Internet. Most people in the industry thought that the mobile Internet would come, but it might not be so soon. No one expected that it would come with such a bang, as if in the blink of an eye. , the mobile Internet has completely eliminated the PC Internet."

Zhou Buqi said: "It's best if it comes quickly. Even if it comes slowly... it doesn't matter. There is another big trend that will definitely come. Seizing this big trend is also one of the reasons for Xiaomi to become a world-class technology giant." The essential."

"oh?"

Lei Jun perked up.

If someone else had said this, he might have laughed, thinking that the world is full of wonders and that there are all kinds of arrogant people.

But this came from Zhou Buqi's mouth, which is very credible.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said: "That's what we just discussed. Over the past ten years, the domestic manufacturing industry has accumulated a strong industrial foundation. Except for some shortcomings in some too high-tech fields, most industries have It can reach world-class or quasi-world-class. Siemens, Apple, HP, General Motors, Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Nike, Uniqlo, IKEA, Oleba...the foundries of these world giants are all in China. This is the core of domestic manufacturing. The biggest advantage is also the biggest resource for future global competition.”

Lei Jun took a deep breath, "This range is huge!"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said: "So it is a world-class giant. How else can it support your expectations for Xiaomi's future?"

Lei Jun laughed and said, "Is it you?"

Zhou Buqi waved his hand, "It doesn't matter whether it's me or you. The key point is not even the shares of Xiaomi I hold. Whether I have shares or not, I want to push this matter as far as possible."

After a pause, he continued: "There are many arguments in China that the manufacturing industry needs industrial upgrading. Only industrial upgrading is the way to solve the production pressure at the bottom of the manufacturing industry. This seems to have formed a consensus from top to bottom. I do not think so."

Lei Jun twitched his lips, "This is a big topic."

Zhou Buqi said: "The country has never escaped from the thinking of planning, and those who make plans are working behind closed doors and do not understand the market at all. Of course, the industry must be upgraded, but this must not be led by plans, but by the market. It is in the market In the process of expansion, upgrading is slowly completed by boiling frogs in warm water, rather than relying on industrial upgrading to find market opportunities. Let the market lead the industry, which has both a market and an upgrade; let industrial upgrading find the market and engage in The bad thing is that it cannot be upgraded and the market is lost. If you approach the market with a non-market approach, you are likely to suffer a double blow from the market and non-market in the end.”

Lei Jun was silent for a moment and said tentatively: "This seems to be beyond our control."

Zhou Buqi said: "But this can become an important strategic judgment for the global development of enterprises. Don't you want me to help you expand Xiaomi to overseas markets? Have you not considered it?"

Lei Jun shook his head.

After all, the flavor of geopolitics is not that strong at this stage.

Not only him, but any entrepreneur would find it difficult to notice.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said: "It's all about my experience in overseas markets in the past few years. China's manufacturing is now so excellent, and now China has become a global manufacturing center. What kind of industrial advantage is this? Unfortunately, it seems that domestic Very few people can make good use of this resource. After all, there are only a few companies such as Midea, Gree, Haier, Huawei, ZTE, and Lenovo. In my opinion, the best among them is Midea. ."

Lei Jun now understood what Zhou Buqi meant.

Compared with those giants, Midea is the one with the least technical content, but Midea's products are sold the most overseas and have the largest product coverage.

Gree sells air conditioners, Huawei sells routers, Haier sells refrigerators, Lenovo sells computers... These large companies all have very clear product positioning and brands.

The only difference is that Midea has a rich product line, which mainly produces small household appliances and gadgets. It quickly opened up the overseas market with its advantages of high quality and low price.

Don’t play with technical advantages, play with market advantages.

Zhou Buqi said: "Competing with large companies in Europe and the United States and relying on industrial upgrading technology is a dead end. In the past few decades, only five companies such as Huawei, Haier, Gree, ZTE, and Lenovo have emerged in China. Only these Five companies can compete head-on with foreign manufacturing giants. What should they do with most domestic manufacturing companies? Without technological advantages, they cannot compete with them?"

Lei Jun said amusedly: "Everyone thinks that you are a pioneer in technology, why don't you feel like you are not?"

Zhou Buqi said: "I am, look at Ziweixing's investment in research and development. But there must be a distinction. If you use the standards of Ziweixing, Alibaba, Huawei, and ZTE to demand Midea, this is not putting Midea on the road to death. force?"

"Um."

Lei Jun nodded.

Zhou Buqi said: "As the old saying goes, students must be taught in accordance with their aptitude. Industrial upgrading is of course right, but you can't teach all students with a set of textbooks. Excellent students can teach more extracurricular knowledge, and dull students can't. You can only teach some simple common sense. If you train according to the same model of assembly line standards, you will not be able to train top scientists, nor will you be able to raise world-class companies. Technology needs to be accumulated. Xiaomi has just entered the mobile phone industry and wants to make mobile phones. It will not be possible to fully understand the technology of the industry in more than ten or twenty years, let alone cover more manufacturing fields. Starting from the market is the best strategic decision, relying on the strength of external foundries. First Don't think about industrial upgrading. Go abroad and win the market first! Without market drive, industrial upgrading is just a castle in the air. In the 1980s and 1990s, Lenovo was just a small, unreliable company under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Many central enterprises and state-owned giants are making computers, and they can still get the most direct purchase orders from the country. What now? Those central and state-owned giants who responded to the call and were highly sought after by the media to do technology research and development have long since disappeared. Instead, they did not do it because they did not Lenovo has survived the constant technical controversies, and only by surviving has it promoted the technological development of the domestic computer industry."

In recent years, one of the most popular business words in China is “capacity reduction”.

It means that too many goods are produced and cannot be sold.

The goods are all piled up in the warehouse, and there is no way to find a channel.

The domestic market simply cannot meet the production scale of the domestic manufacturing industry.

This is how Fanke died.

Supply exceeds demand.

This is too fatal for the vast majority of companies. Large companies such as Haier, Gree, and ZTE are lucky enough to have enough pressure-bearing capabilities, and there are upstream and downstream suppliers who are pressing for payment.

But for some small and medium-sized manufacturing industries, it is too dangerous, and there is a danger of bankruptcy at any time.

That is to say, the control of speech has been relatively loose in recent years, and similar corporate voices can be expressed. After a few years, it would be impossible for them to express their opinions, and they would go bankrupt quietly, and all the workers would lose their jobs.

All big companies gradually grow from small companies to big ones.

Maybe among these bankrupt small companies, there are one or two large companies that may grow into industry giants in the future, but the market has not given them a chance at all.

How to solve this?

Even small commodities with high quality, low price and absolute market competitiveness cannot be sold. If we call on them to upgrade their industries to produce high-tech products, it will only accelerate their bankruptcy.

Zhou Buqi has made some achievements overseas, achieved great achievements, and has great influence.

There is always something to do.

Even if you do it in obscurity, it can become an internal motivation and gain a kind of satisfaction in self-pursuit.

The first step has been taken.

Jingtao has taken off in Japan.

In the second step, South Korea’s e-commerce market has also taken off.

In the third step, Shi Jinglin wants to start a business in cross-border e-commerce.

But this is not enough.

E-commerce is just a platform.

We have to start directly from the manufacturing industry.

Zhou Buqi originally wanted to cooperate with Haier, but the other party didn't want to be tied to Ziweixing's chariot, so he didn't agree. After much deliberation, I decided to look for Lei Jun.

The example of Fanke has proved that Lei Jun also has similar business management ideas.