It has been almost a year since the "noodle king" Chen Keming resigned as chairman of Keming Food. After the "second generation" Chen Hong took over, the company handed over a good semi-annual report.
Chen Hong, like other "second generations", not only has to think about how to make the old employees left by his parents "soft landing", but also leads the team to find new growth points for the company. Recently, in an exclusive interview with the first financial reporter, Chen Hong said that he actually did not have the pressure to be a "second generation", and the real pressure came from consumers and the team.
The management style is very different
The 45-year-old Chen Hong is about to complete a year as chairman of Keming Food, and it has been eight years since he served as the general manager of Keming Food.
Although he has been working hard for many years in the country laid by his father, in fact, Chen Hong, who just graduated, was not in a hurry to enter the family business immediately to inherit his father's business. In the early years, Chen Hong went to work for Qingdao CIMC, and later went to Spain for further study.
Chen Hong told the first financial reporter that the reason why he was not in a hurry to enter the family business at that time was because when the scale of the family business was not large, learning on a larger platform could help him improve his ability, so that he could run the entrepreneur better.
Chen Hong and his father Chen Keming are 27 years apart, father and son have different educational backgrounds, in different social environments, different eras, and Chen Hong has received a Western education, so his management style is very different from his father.
"We might be different when it comes to performance management, maybe I'll be relatively impersonal. But I have always insisted on supporting the sustainable development of the company with contracts, and I believe that the best relationship between people is one that does not owe each other and achieves each other. Talking about the management differences between him and his father, Chen Hong said.
Chen Hong believes that his management style has reduced the "trouble" of many others complaining to him. "If others talk too much about feelings, reasoning, and hard work without credit, then the efficiency of the enterprise is not high, and ultimately we have to face the pressure of the market."
The father and son will have different views, and Chen Hong treats this very rationally. He argues that this requires empathy and understanding what is behind the way different people think and behave. "Don't assume you're right. If it is correct, provide sufficient data. If you can't provide enough data, your perspective may be from a personal perspective. It could also be a problem with the way you communicate. ”
As a "second generation", Chen Hong realized that he was facing certain challenges and risks. In his opinion, the attitude towards difficulties, the ability to cooperate with others, and the ability to learn on his own are all very important. These points are important indicators to examine whether a "second generation" has the ability to take over, and they are also risks or problems that often arise.
When the "second generation" of many family businesses takes over, the most difficult problem may be facing the "old ministers" left by their parents, although these employees have deep salary experience, they may be more conservative in their thinking, and often have differences with the younger "second generation".
In this regard, Chen Hong believes that if the organizational ability of the "second generation" has not been developed perfectly, it will indeed be somewhat difficult. This requires the "second generation" to establish its own team within two or three years, with sufficient influence and voice. At the same time, it is also a good way to help old employees improve their lack of learning ability, so that these people can "soft land" and give them enough face and respect with benevolence. In this way, it not only gives them a step down, but also allows the enterprise to have new attempts and developments.
Where the real pressure comes from
Chen Keming's nickname is "The King of Dried Noodles", which is enough to reveal his prestige in the dried noodles industry. When asked if he would feel pressured to face the "halo" of his parents as the "second generation", Chen Hong said: "I don't have pressure, when I introduce myself, I say that I am 'fighting for my father'." ”
Behind this seemingly joke, what Chen Hong wants to express is that he may have more support resources and a better environment than his peers.
"Actually, there is nothing special about it (as the 'second generation'), not that we have to surpass whether our parents are good or not, because the problems we encounter at each stage are different. However, the attitude, learning style, and learning habits are the same when encountering difficulties. What our parents gave us was not pressure, but more of the entrepreneurial spirit or family culture they had built, which we hope to pass on and carry forward. ”
So, what is the real source of work stress? Chen Hong believes that it comes from the mission that needs to be undertaken by consumers and teams. "We need to strive for a better development platform for our team members and obtain better economic returns. Of course, this pressure is also the driving force, and it is interesting and rewarding to take on this kind of mission. ”
After working in Keming Food for many years, Chen Hong believes that the biggest difficulty and challenge is his learning ability. "You have to have enough learning ability to maintain the company's competitiveness and keep the company growing. It may not be our peers who are competing with us now, but people who have crossed over to cross the border. For example, some health care product manufacturers engaged in the pharmaceutical industry have mastered synthetic biotechnology and have precision health management products and services, which may seize our high-end market. In addition, AI technology, which is much discussed now, can help us make more accurate decisions, improve efficiency, expand channels, etc., all of which need to be learned. Including how to communicate with post-00 employees, it also needs to be learned. ”
During his tenure as general manager, Chen Hong made some attempts to change management and introduced the rotating general manager system. He told reporters that the introduction of the rotating general manager is mainly because of the need for talents when developing new businesses in the future. "Due to the limited business processes that each department is exposed to, they will look at these businesses from the perspective of their own department, which will more or less involve the perspectives of individuals and departments, which will hinder teamwork and cross-departmental cooperation, which will increase the difficulty of cross-departmental cooperation. The rotating general manager system can achieve the purpose of promoting cross-departmental communication and inter-departmental cooperation. In this way, they may make some decisions that will be more beneficial to the development of various departments of the company, not only from the perspective of their own department. ”
Chen Hong believes that employees should be given more opportunities to try. "A lot of bosses will say that these people don't see the big picture. I wondered, why don't they see the big picture? Are they looking at the company as a whole? If you don't give him the opportunity to look at the big picture, that's still true. We want to expose them to more data and information and see things from the perspective of a general manager. ”
How to break the total shrinkage of the dried noodle market
Chen Hong has also been seeking changes over the years, hoping to continue to bring new possibilities to the company on the basis of the good business created by his father.
On July 12, Keming Food released a performance forecast showing that the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies in the first half of the year is expected to be 85 million yuan ~ 125 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 664.98% ~ 1024.98%.
This is Chen Hong's first semi-annual report after taking over as chairman. Chen Hong told the first financial reporter that the reason for the good performance of this annual report is that the company's marketing strategy has changed, and on the other hand, the company's acquired pig breeding business has picked up.
Regarding the specific changes in marketing strategy, Chen further said: "We no longer participate in the market competition for products with negative gross margins, which is equivalent to increasing profits. We put more energy into products with more potential and prospects in the future. For example, soft elastic surface, at present, in the industry, our process has advantages, and our full-line production equipment also has advantages. In addition, we have tighter control over our marketing expenses, which has also reduced some costs and expenses. ”
Even though the dried noodle market is currently in a plateau period of shrinking total volume and intensified competition, Chen Hong is confident in the development of the company's dried noodle business in the future, because he believes that the consumption potential of some subdivisions is increasing.
"Although the total consumption of noodles by Chinese people has decreased, the consumption structure has changed. Consumers are less price sensitive, their ability to pay and their average customer value are increasing, and the proportion of high-priced products is growing slowly. As a result, market sales revenue is also increasing, and the overall market size has not decreased. Specifically, the market demand for subdivided pasta products such as soba noodles with high dietary fiber, noodles containing gamma aminobutyric acid, products with low GI, and products with flavoring packets from various regions is increasing rapidly. In short, we will focus on the segments that are more capable of paying payments. ”
At present, Keming Food not only has the business of producing food, but Chen Hong has also incorporated the flour processing business into the company.
Chen Hong said that from the data analysis in recent years, the establishment of flour milling business has significantly improved the company's gross profit margin. At the same time, the reduction of costs has improved the competitiveness of low-end products. The sales volume of low-end products will be increased, and the network coverage of the company's products will be positively affected, and the sales of high-end products will also be driven. However, for the planting business, Chen Hong said that this is just exploration. "After exploring the upstream business for several years, we came to the conclusion that the conditions are not ripe, and the main problem is that the concentration of arable land in China is not high, so the transaction costs between enterprises and farmers are high."
In the future, Chen Hong said that he will continue to expand the product line. "Now we are facing a lot of cross-border enterprises competing with us, and in the process of developing professional products, we are facing a certain scale of gross profit to support the refined management. Our relationship with distributors and the dependence of our channels on us are all related to the scale of gross profit, so we need to expand our product line to expand the scale of gross profit. ”
(This article is from Yicai)
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