Ding Shizhong's entrepreneurial story
Born in 197, Ding Shizhong is an out-and-out "grassroots" with almost no resources to use. Like any teenager born in an ordinary town in China in 197s, he longed for his family to be rich, and at least he could "afford a motorcycle".
chen dai zhen, Jinjiang, where Ding Shizhong is located, is a small town with an area of only 38.8 square kilometers. It is the most important producer of sports shoes in China and even the world. In the early 198s, shoe workshops were everywhere here, and Ding Shizhong grew up in the shoe workshops since childhood.
After graduating from junior high school, he began to "find his own way out". The only experience that has something to do with the "sports industry" in the future is that his father's shoe-making workshop is producing "sneakers" (not called sports shoes at that time). Since I was a child, Ding Shizhong watched his family take semi-handmade shoes as OEM orders at a very low price, put on Nike and other trademarks, and ship them to every corner of the world. Not only does his family do this, but many families in chen dai zhen regard such orders as a way to get rich. Everyone is satisfied with such a comfortable state.
Ding Shizhong has been interested in starting a business for a long time. "This has something to do with the infection of Minnan culture. There is a song in Minnan called" Love will win ". As early as when I was studying and in the early days of reform and opening up, I saw a large number of Jinjiang people running around the country to do business. At that time, teenagers like us were easily infected by the surrounding villagers, and they had this willingness to start a business from an early age. " Ding Shizhong said.
In 1986, 16-year-old Ding Shizhong had neither capital nor experience. All he had was fearless courage. He came to Beijing with 6 pairs of shoes sponsored by his father, but with the uncompromising stubbornness and cleverness of a teenager, Jinjiang shoes were placed on the counters of major shopping malls in Beijing, including Wangfujing (6859) shopping mall in Beijing. This inspirational story, which shows Ding Shizhong's personality, has been mentioned again and again. "At first, I thought about taking Jinjiang's shoes to other places to sell. At that time, I just caught up with the transition from a planned economy to a market economy. I thought there was a certain commercial space, so I went to a road of entrepreneurship."
During his four years in Beijing, Ding Shizhong not only earned 2, yuan and accumulated the "first bucket of gold", but also opened his eyes to his life: Why can OEM shoes only sell for more than a dozen dollars, while brand-name shoes placed in shops can sell for hundreds? He may be the first person in China to start thinking about the "Made in China Upgrade", and plunged into it and put it into practice.
Make your own brand, make the domestic market and make shoes that China people can afford-his judgment proved to be a bright road in the future. The characteristics of Ding Shizhong's entrepreneurial spirit, such as daring to take risks and loving various forms of innovation, make him unique even in Jinjiang, which is full of entrepreneurial passion. But at that time, Ding Shizhong's move puzzled many people-it seemed too risky to set up a national distribution channel and create an unknown shoe brand without doing a lot of OEM lists. In fact, when Nike and other brands withdrew from Jinjiang, the factory owners who lost the "God of Wealth" suddenly realized that they would either close their doors in a blink of an eye or start to learn from Ding Shizhong and embark on the road of their own brands. And at this point, Ding Shizhong has been on the road.
In 1994, Ding Shizhong returned to Jinjiang with 2, yuan earned from Beijing and founded Anta Company with his father Ding Siren. Father and son decided to name their own shoe factory and products "Anta", which means "start a business with peace of mind and be down-to-earth". At that time, Ding Shizhong set several goals for the company: the first stage is to make an order, the second stage is to make a market, and the third stage is to make a name for itself.
in 1999, Anta invited Kong Linghui to be the brand spokesperson. At that time, the benefit of Anta was less than one million. This advertisement cost 8, yuan, and the risk that Anta took can be imagined.
"At that time, there were many people outside who looked at us with different eyes. It is good for you to spend so much money to hire a spokesperson every year. At that time, many shoe factories in Jinjiang were making foreign orders, and they were very comfortable. So in this case, if you do such a thing, it is equivalent to taking a different road from others. But at the beginning, our dream was different from others. Our biggest dream was to build the popularity of our own brand and sell our own brand. " Ding Shizhong said.
After that, in less than two years, Anta's market share in sports shoes reached 13%. As a result, a stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the success of Anta led to the brand revolution of Jinjiang footwear industry and triggered other enterprises to follow suit.
Kong Linghui once said with a smile that he was predestined friends with Ding Shizhong, because everyone who met them said they looked alike. More predestined, Anta grew up with Kong Linghui. Kong Linghui won the gold medal in men's singles in Sydney Olympic Games the year after he signed with Anta.
since then, Anta has completed the construction from production to self-operated sales system, and focused on penetration in second-and third-tier cities. "We need to become leaders in the value chain." Ding Shizhong said that in the face of more and more imitators, he always thinks about how to run faster and take the lead in Jinjiang, where the competition is getting more and more fierce.
from the beginning, Ding Shizhong set the goal of Anta on a bigger stage, and Anta successively established Anta Fujian and Anta China. In April 22, a company named Jinjiang Shifa became a shareholder of Anta Fujian by investing 3 million yuan in production equipment and related assets, holding 6% of its shares. Jinjiang Shifa is a 1% owned enterprise of Ding Shizhong family, Ding Shizhong's father Ding Siren holds 6% of the shares, and Ding Shizhong's two brothers and their wives each hold 1% of the shares on average.
Later, Ding Sinian transferred the beneficial rights and interests of Anta Fujian and Anta China to Ding Shizhong for free. At the same time, all shareholders of Jinjiang Shifa also transferred the beneficial rights and interests of Jinjiang Shifa to Ding Shizhong for free, and Ding Shizhong became the sole beneficial owner of Anta Fujian and Anta China.
Break the routine
The initial high-speed running began to make Ding Shizhong feel stressed. The fast-growing turnover and expanding team made him understand that relying on experience alone can't exceed the limit of management, and the speed of training talents by Anta itself can't keep up with the growth of the company. "De-familyization" has become an unavoidable hurdle for Anta.
Since 26, consultants in suits have frequently visited various departments of Anta: Kearney helped the company plan its strategy, Haoteng acted as the agent for media distribution, KPMG acted as the accountant, and Zhiwei Thompson outsourced brand management. The top management of Anta has spent a lot of energy to find and solve problems with consultants.
after finishing the internal sorting, Anta went public in Hong Kong in 27, which can be seen as a sign that the company moved from family control to systematic operation. At the same time, professional managers have been invited to Anta by Ding Shizhong, and the management team is becoming increasingly diversified. The abundant talent pool also makes Ding Shizhong more confident to take new risks.
With sufficient reserve funds, Ding Shizhong set his eyes on the American professional basketball (NBA) field across the ocean and sponsored the NBA. When the company went public, Ding Shizhong signed Francis, Scola and Bonzi Wells of the Rockets. In the brand marketing war of NBA stars, Anta has formed a tripartite confrontation with domestic shoe enterprises Peak and Li Ning.
Ding Shizhong chose Francis because he is a Rockets player who is widely loved by China fans and is a good friend with Yao Ming. However, for Anta, Francis' injury and retirement made Anta taste the risks of sponsorship.