Competitiveness is the most commonly used word in the media, and it is also the most familiar word.
When it comes to enterprise competitiveness, people may list market share, profitability, technological leadership, independent property products, customer stability and so on.
However, what is the core competitiveness of enterprises? Maybe people will have different opinions. And the core competitiveness of different industries may be different.
So, let's take a look-what is the core competitiveness of enterprises?
CNOOC: Benchmarking Management
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"Benchmarking Management" originated from Xerox, the first company in the United States to learn from Japan in the late 1970s and early 1980s. 1976, Xerox, which has been the leader in the world copier market, was challenged by Japanese companies, and its market share plummeted from 82% to 35%. Faced with the threat, Xerox began benchmarking research on Japanese companies, and the result was to regain the market.
The development process of Motorola is another positive and negative teaching material of benchmarking. 1974 Motorola was forced to withdraw from the TV market under the great pressure of Japanese companies. It persisted in its position for several years, until the mid-1980s, when it began to study in detail the operation mode of Japanese enterprises, especially how the best Japanese enterprises established their competitive advantages on a global scale. Not only did they compete with Japanese companies, but in order to shorten the delivery time, they also specialized in pizza delivery shops and fedex companies, thus setting their own new delivery standards and greatly shortening the delivery time. It can be said that without the benchmark of that year, there would be no success of Motorola today.
Benchmarking management is an art, and its result should not only be a pile of data, but also include data-based analysis to help enterprises find out the gap and gain core competitiveness.
The office of China Offshore Oil Corporation is a busy organization. Now, they have one more job, which is to prepare a set of analysis reports.
In this group of reports, CNOOC's economic and technical indicators are broken down in detail and compared with the top five international oil companies one by one. In management, this practice is called benchmarking, which means that enterprises compare their products and management methods with advanced enterprises to enhance their competitiveness. This is the first time that a state-owned enterprise in China has conducted such a large-scale benchmarking with overseas enterprises.
Among the five overseas companies as a reference system, Statoil is the most important one, because the comparison between CNOOC and the other four companies is only at the core business level, while the comparison with Statoil is all-round.
Statoil was founded in1972,2001and listed in new york and Oslo. Fortune magazine listed it as a global top 500 189, and world oil company 14.
China Offshore Oil Corporation was established in 1982 and listed in new york and Hongkong in 2002. It is one of the three largest oil companies in China, ranking about 50th among the world oil companies.
However, why did CNOOC choose Statoil instead of Shell or Exxon? Fu Chengyu, president of CNOOC, explained: "It's like a race. Now that I am the 20th, I will catch up with 19, 18, 17, not the first and second. Moreover, Statoil has many similarities with us in the development history, and we have a big gap with it, which is comparable and can be learned. "
Benchmarks are mainly about competitiveness. CNOOC decomposes the contents related to competitiveness into six aspects: company size, sustainable profitability, development ability, management level, internationalization degree and anti-risk ability.
In the comparison between these six items and 65,438+08 items, CNOOC knows that it is at a disadvantage except the net profit from sales. Among them, the ratio of assets to Statoil is 1: 4, the annual output ratio is 1: 4, the operating income ratio is 1: 7, the internationalization degree is1:1,and the R&D expense ratio is/.
Through benchmarking, CNOOC employees felt the gap and pressure. What President Fu Chengyu can't sit still most is that the scale is too small, and the most important thing is the ability of sustainable development. "The ability of sustainable development reflects whether a company can keep up with the big international companies in front. Moreover, it does not mean that it will stop after catching up with Statoil. We must have endurance. This stamina is reflected in the ability of sustainable development. "
Huawei: Technology is king
In the industry, Shenzhen Huawei Company is well-known, and its products cover major communication fields such as switching, access, transmission and mobile communication. When people make phone calls, they use the networks of companies such as China Telecom and China Mobile, but the technical support behind them is likely to come from Huawei. At present, one in every two Internet users uses Huawei's access equipment.
In 2000, Huawei's sales reached 22 billion yuan, ranking tenth in the domestic IT industry. However, its profit surpassed Lenovo and ranked first in the country! Last year, its sales increased by 65,438+06%, reaching 25.5 billion yuan. You know, this is a private enterprise established only 13 years ago! What is the secret of its success?
In 200 1 year, the sales amount was 25.5 billion yuan, while the company invested 3 billion yuan in scientific research, reaching 1 1.7%. This is second only to Microsoft in the world's high-tech industry. With continuous high investment, Huawei gradually leads the same industry in technology. 200 1, Huawei has more than 500 patented technologies, and the intelligent network has also won the first prize of national scientific and technological progress.
In Huawei's exhibition hall, a series of flashers are neatly placed, and communication operators from all over the world visit here every day. Many Huawei products are in short supply, and domestic and foreign operators value the stability and advancement of Huawei products. Because the most advanced communication products in the world are displayed here, some newly invented advanced technologies have become stereotyped products here. At present, CDMA has just been popularized in China, and Huawei's second-generation CDMA products have been displayed.
In the past, all the advanced communication equipment in China was imported. In recent years, due to the rise of Huawei, communication equipment has been greatly localized. In addition, Huawei has independent intellectual property rights, and the price of equipment has also been greatly reduced. The communication trunk transmission network was previously monopolized by large international companies, such as Nortel and Alcatel. Huawei entered this field from 1995, and now it has occupied 40% market share. According to experts, this group breakthrough of optical network, just like the group breakthrough of switches in China, has strengthened the core competitiveness of national industries.
It is reported that Huawei's sales of 25.5 billion yuan last year were achieved by the latest technology. More than 50% of the products used in technological transformation of communication enterprises such as China Telecom, China Unicom and China Tietong are provided by Huawei. It is estimated that 600 million yuan will be invested in the research and development of optical networks this year.
Song Liuping, Director of Intellectual Property Department of Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. said: The total number of patent applications of Huawei is nearly 1 1,000. Core technology is very important for high-tech enterprises, and the legal embodiment of core technology is actually intellectual property rights.
In Huawei, if you ask any employee, he will tell you that Huawei wants to make itself a dumbbell-shaped enterprise. In other words, R&D and the market are sufficient, but only the core technology is needed in production. Between R&D and the market, Huawei pays more attention to the former. In the words of Huawei President Ren, it is "the ability to master core technologies is Huawei's life". Huawei has said this for 10 years, and it has done it for 10 years! This has enabled Huawei to maintain a high profit margin envied by the same industry, and it has nearly 1000 independent intellectual property rights, so that Huawei's products have been adopted by Germany, Italy, France, India and other countries 1000, and it has turned itself from a customer of Cisco, Lucent and other international companies into a competitor.
Comments and descriptions
The discussion on technological innovation began with the innovation theory put forward by Schumpeter, an Austrian-American economist before the war. Technological innovation refers to economic and technological activities related to the research and development, production and commercial application of new technologies. Innovation is the driving force of enterprise development and can enhance the competitiveness of enterprises. Since 1970s, technological innovation has been regarded as the main symbol to measure a country's economic growth and competitiveness in the international market. From the implementation of 1985 patent law to the end of 20011,the total number of patent applications accepted in China was 1.3 million; Among them, the total number of 200 1 China patent applications is about 200,000. 1998 There were 2.2 million U.S. patent applications, 790,000 in Japan and 600,000 in Germany.
For eight consecutive years, IBM ranked first in the number of patent applications in the United States, and in 2000, it obtained 2,800 patents, of which 1/3 has been applied to production. In 2000, the company relied on intellectual property rights to create at least $6,543.8 billion in revenue from the right to use. IBM has 34,000 patents worldwide, including about 20,000 in the United States. It is also a non-domestic enterprise with the largest number of European and Japanese patents.
For an enterprise, R&D investment also reflects an aspect of technological innovation.
In 200 1 year, Microsoft spent as much as $5 billion on research and development, accounting for 18% of its sales. 65,438+065,438+0% of the annual turnover of Longxun Company, that is, more than 4 billion dollars, is used as the research and development funds of its subordinate Bell Laboratories. Nokia spent $2.7 billion on R&D in 2000, accounting for 9% of its annual sales. Toshiba's R&D expenditure in 20001year was about $2.6 billion, accounting for 5.5% of the annual sales.
CIMC: Good quality and low price
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Unlike many domestic enterprises, CIMC has been playing chess and participating in the competition according to the rules of the international market. This forces them to look for the sharp weapon for enterprises to win, and the change of production mode is their "trump card".
Whether in the domestic market or the international market, to attract customers and occupy the market, first, it depends on your quality, which will always be first-class; Second, it depends on your price, because your production cost is low, you can compete at a lower price than others, you can survive in the market, and you can compete with any enterprise.
With China's entry into WTO, many enterprises want to go abroad, such as home appliance enterprises. The smaller the cake in the domestic market, the thinner the profit. It is a wise choice to explore the new world overseas. But can you act according to the rules of the international market? Do you have a cheap trump card like CIMC?
China International Shipping Container Group Co., Ltd. may not be known to the general public, but it plays an important role in the industry: container production and sales volume ranks first in the world for six consecutive years, with annual sales reaching 9 billion yuan, accounting for 38% of the global market share; 200 1, and the earnings per share of the interim report was 0.996 yuan, which was the highest in the national stock market at that time.
It is such a big company, but there are no high-end office buildings, let alone spacious and bright offices. The office area is less than 2000 square meters; Even typists are included in the headquarters staff, no more than 120! They have worked in this environment for 10 years. However, President Mai Liangbo believes that: although the company space is small, the market pressure is great; CIMC became the first in the world under the stimulation of market pressure.
"Since 1996, it has been the first in the world. I think good quality and low price are the most fundamental reasons. Can reach the world-class level in quality; And this level is widely recognized by your customers and the market; And the price of this level is much cheaper than others. "
The container manufacturing industry mainly depends on the international shipping market, and the degree of internationalization is quite high. Large international shipping companies have a set of internationally accepted rules for doing things. Since the establishment of CIMC, it has been playing chess.
For a large company with annual sales of 9 billion yuan, the marketing department has only 10 employees.
The first thing they do when they go to work is to reply to emails from international customers. The international shipping industry is highly concentrated, and CIMC has more than 65,438+000 customers worldwide. If there are any problems in sales, the marketing staff must solve them within 24 hours. Therefore, the company did not set up a sales company or agency in any country or region, but moved among shipping companies in large countries through e-commerce means and field visits. This not only ensures close contact with customers, but also saves huge sales expenses.
In CIMC, no matter the president, sales manager or ordinary employees, they all think that product quality and product price are the two magic weapons for the company to explore the international market. Liu Xuebin, general manager of Shenzhen Southern CIMC Container Manufacturing Co., Ltd. said: "We think we should reduce seven kinds of waste, namely, overproduction, inventory, action, waiting, rework and transportation, and there are many such wastes in enterprises. For example, how many movements does our factory produce with value-added labor? How much is there on a person? His work may require a lot of waiting and preparation. If efficiency can be improved in this process, the production cost will be greatly reduced. "
The production of a container has to go through 200 processes, and workers need thousands of actions; Each company has made accurate calculations and given the most efficient arrangement. If the steel plate is welded on the machine tool, the company stipulates that the workers must weld the left side of the steel plate first, and then weld other parts. Accurate production design process can improve the quality of containers and reduce the cost. A container enterprise like Shenzhen could only produce more than 1000 containers a year ago, and now this output can be completed in one day.
Although the international container price has dropped from $3,000 in the 1980s to about 1300 now, CIMC still has considerable profit margin, and the output value created by each worker exceeds 800,000 yuan each year, effectively making up for the losses caused by the price drop. South Korea, once the world's number one container manufacturer, is fading out of this industry under the great pressure of CIMC.
Galanz: Comparative Advantage
After China's entry into WTO, some people exclaimed "The Wolf is coming", while generous people shouted "Dancing with the Wolf". Galanz didn't make a fuss, because it is a "wolf" in the international market!
In Galanz's newly-built air-conditioning workshop, two production lines are started at the same time, one is Galanz's own brand, and the other is a foreign brand produced for Carrefour. In June 5438+ 10 this year alone, Galanz exported more than 65438+ air conditioners to France!
Yu, deputy general manager of Guangdong Galanz Enterprise (Group) Company, said: "Our G-8 alliance engaged in air conditioning is to integrate their production lines and develop on the shoulders of giants with our integrated technology."
The "integration" mentioned by the boss is to follow the mode of Galanz's microwave oven production and call it OEM according to international practice. OEM generally refers to mixing domestic production factors such as equipment, raw materials, capital and technology with international brands, and then selling the finished products to trademark dealers, commonly known as OEM.
Galanz's predecessor was an enterprise that produced down products. Starting from 1993, 10000 microwave ovens were produced. 1996 moved the advanced production lines of many well-known overseas manufacturers to China in the form of OEM, and the production scale expanded rapidly. At present, the annual sales volume reaches120,000 units.
Reducing costs is a sharp weapon for them to compete for the market. Yu finally calculated an account: the weekly start-up time of imported production lines of European, American and Japanese enterprises is generally 24 to 30 hours, while in Galanz, the weekly start-up time can reach 156 hours. In this way, the production cost per unit product is reduced by 5-8 times. Initially, the core components of microwave ovens imported from France cost $38. Yu Xiansheng told the French: "You move the technology and equipment to Galanz for production, and we will sell them to you for $5 each." The French signed it without hesitation. The shrewd Galanz found his own advantages in the comparison.
Zhao Jing, deputy general manager, said: "When we have a clear understanding of our own advantages and can be our own brand, we should do our best;" Seeing that others are better than us, we also take a step back and broaden our horizons. "The overseas sales department under her command has more than 80 elite soldiers, and has extended its sales reach to more than 200 multinational companies, of which more than 80 are world-renowned brands, such as General Electric in the United States and Panasonic in Japan. According to the latest statistics, in 200 1 year, Galanz ranked second in the export of domestic household appliances enterprises. The global market share of its microwave ovens has increased from 198 to 12% to 35%, the foreign exchange earned by export has increased from 1996 to 200 million US dollars, and 50% of its output has been exported to overseas markets.
What is the core competitiveness that Galanz pursues in the development process? Yu said: "If you don't do it, what you have to do is specialization, scale and intensification. Get an absolute comparative advantage in this field. "
Comments and descriptions
In recent years, internationalization has become a major trend of world economic development. Multinational companies have become the pioneers of world economic development. More than half of the income of many multinational companies comes from outside their own countries.
General Electric Company of the United States conducts business in more than 0/00 countries and regions around the world, among which manufacturers have been established in 26 countries. In 2000, sales outside the United States amounted to $53 billion, accounting for 465,438+0% of its global revenue.
Coca-Cola also has a large overseas business, which is carried out in more than 200 countries and regions around the world, 70% of which is produced overseas and 80% of its profits come from overseas. Its share in the global carbonated beverage market is 43%. In China, 98% of raw materials and packaging have been localized.
Welch, former president of American General Electric Company, said: Internationalization can only be the internationalization of enterprise business, not the internationalization of company organizational structure. To study the market, we should study our competitors and find our own position. Do you build your own industrial chain, or do you join this industrial chain and become a part of the global industrial chain?
The key is to give full play to their respective comparative advantages. The most important thing is to know what you should and need to do. In other words, go first, and then think about how to run.
Chinalco: Monopoly Competition
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Some people say that the history of modern economic development in the west 100 years is a history of enterprise merger. Judging from the development track of world-class large enterprises, almost all of them have experienced a process of acquisition and merger, first eating and eating, and then strengthening and combining. The fundamental purpose of merger and acquisition is to expand production scale and enhance market competitiveness.
M&A can shorten the construction period and speed up the investment turnover. According to the data, it usually takes 1.5 ~ 2 years for a new enterprise to be completed and opened, and it takes 3 ~ 5 years to form a certain scale. In contrast, it only takes 3 ~ 5 months to acquire a company, and even if the transformation takes shape, it will take 1 ~ 2 years at most. Merger and acquisition can make use of existing production equipment, technology and personnel, save the time of building factories, and thus shorten the payback period of investment.
At present, China enterprises, especially listed companies, have also started a new round of strategic restructuring and mergers and acquisitions. The combination of weak and weak, strong and weak, strong and strong, big fish eat small fish, fast fish eat slow fish, the enterprise is developing, growing, changing coaches and even dying in this kind of acquisition and merger. This is a good thing.
After the "September 1 1" incident, the world economy fell into depression and the new york stock market suffered heavy losses. However, Chinalco was determined to burn its bridges and went public here in February 65438.
But just a few years ago, after the Asian financial crisis, international giants such as the United States, Canada and Switzerland. All aim at domestic aluminum enterprises and prepare to break them one by one and buy them at low prices. China aluminum industry, however, goes its own way, with large and small factories and mines standing side by side. But because of the protection of tariffs and so on, life is still passable.
"Entering WTO" is both a challenge and a pressure, so people in aluminum industry should plan ahead. Forming a joint force, becoming bigger and stronger and forming a joint fleet may be the only way out. In June 2000, under the guidance of the State Council, China Aluminum Company was established, integrating 12 enterprises, becoming the largest electrolytic aluminum producer and the only alumina producer in China. Because the large enterprises that once dominated the market lost their legal personality overnight, the discussion of "engaging in new monopoly" is endless.
However, Guo Shengkun, the chairman of China Aluminum Company, has a firm attitude: "Monopoly competition has become the general trend of the international economy, and multinational corporations are the protagonists of international economic activities. If China Aluminum can't form a unified team, these small sampans will be swallowed up by the sea of Wang Yang. Whether it is to protect national industries or international practices, it is feasible to set up an aluminum company. "
200 1, 1, China aluminum company reorganized its assets according to the requirements of modern enterprise system, established Chinalco Co., Ltd., and decided to go public overseas.
Easy talk? Overseas shareholders require that the production cost per ton of alumina be lower than the international standard 130 USD, and the rate of return be kept above 10%. However, at this time, the cost of China Aluminum Industry is $65,438 +056, and the market price is erratic. It seems impossible. The overall deterioration of the market, it is necessary to reduce costs, but also to ensure profits, people really feel the impact of the market economy.
Without the modern enterprise system, it is impossible to achieve these goals. In China Aluminum, let alone the decision made by the leaders, that is, the bucket of oil and water saved by every ordinary worker is linked to the requirements of overseas stock markets for enterprises. In No.2 Alumina Plant of Shanxi Aluminum Plant, the maintenance cycle of 15 oil separator is 3-5 days, and each time it needs to consume10.5 barrels of oil, and the cost is about 1000 yuan. By strengthening operation management, overhaul quality management and parts quality management, the average overhaul period is extended to 15 days, sometimes reaching 15 days, saving 400,000 yuan a year.
In less than 1 year, the output of aluminum industry in China has increased by 8.8%, and the production cost has been lower than the international average.
The confidence of listing against the wind also comes from the excellent indicators. They really succeeded. It reached 1.7 1 HK$ in Hong Kong and $20.10 per share in new york, exceeding the issue price by 24% and 14% respectively. As a result, the underwriter exercised the over-allotment right and then sold 654.38+62 million shares. China Aluminum Company raised $487 million.
The successful listing shows the competitiveness of China Aluminum. 198 Alcoa plans to buy out Pingguo Aluminum Factory for $65,438+600 million, and now it wants to buy 50% of Pingguo Aluminum Factory for $500 million!
Through the reorganization of assets, the scale of China Aluminum has grown, and through the establishment of a modern enterprise system, China Aluminum has successfully listed overseas. While participating in international competition, it has further promoted the improvement of China aluminum enterprise system. This is a virtuous circle.
Lenovo: refreshing the concept
Liu Chuanzhi, the founder of Lenovo, has some unique understanding of the core competitiveness of enterprises:
"For the core competitiveness, our understanding may be different from others from the beginning. For example, some news media or investors often refer to core competitiveness as R&D capability and market development capability, and think that Lenovo means that the market is doing well. Then we studied it for a long time. Is this thing our core competitiveness? I don't think so. Our core competitiveness is that we have the means to formulate strategies that can constantly generate new things.
"We believe that Lenovo's core competitiveness has a very good management foundation. We define this management concept as three elements of our management: building a team, making a strategy and leading the team. Although these are conceptual and methodological things, they do guide us to overcome one difficulty after another; It can constantly generate new competitiveness under changing circumstances. So we think this is our core competitiveness.
"When it comes to human resources such as business leaders, I think one of my important advantages is that when I am in charge of Lenovo, I put myself in the position of a master and regard Lenovo as my life. Then we have people like Yang and Guo Wei, who regard Lenovo as their life, and a group of people come out below. So I think this set of things itself is our core competitiveness.
"I think my main ability is to know where I can cultivate Yang and Guo Wei. They did better than me. Frankly speaking, they did better than me, which is my credit or contribution. I once received the chairman of Citibank in the United States, who was retiring; Come to China and tell me that you don't judge him now. I told this story everywhere, and I was really touched. So, today, I think Yuan Qing and others are doing better and really capable. At this time, I think it is really the embodiment of my core competitiveness.
"It should be said truthfully that the brand is also a kind of competitiveness. A long time ago, we wanted to have our own brand, but it was precisely because of the situation at that time that we were unable to do that. We don't have that much money and technical strength, so we took a road of trade and technology. We sell things to others first, accumulate funds and learn methods through this, and then walk here step by step. What does this mean? In fact, at that time, we knew how to make a strategy. At that time, when many enterprises like Zhongguancun were with us, many enterprises were brilliant or didn't do much. At that time, the three links and the two seas were much louder than ours, but later, because the environment changed and the situation changed, their strategies could not keep up. So, I don't think it is anything else. It is the ability to formulate the strategy itself. In addition, there is the question of how to implement it after the strategy is formulated. "
Comments and descriptions
The so-called core competitiveness of enterprises, people may have different views; Moreover, in different industries and enterprises, the content of core competitiveness will be different; Moreover, it is an enterprise, and its core competitiveness may be constantly changing at different stages of development. So, can you analyze personality and extract * * *?
Some experts have summed it up very well: the core competitiveness is unique to your enterprise. First, others can't easily imitate what they can't steal; Second, if you can't buy it, you can't open your mouth like two shoes; Third, the ability to take away belongs to enterprises, not individuals.