Which one is stronger, the boss of Yili or the boss of Mengniu?

Read this report

In 1998, Yili Vice President Niu Gensheng was suddenly kicked out by President Zheng Junhuai. Before that, Niu Gensheng was in charge of national production and operations, and his performance had been particularly outstanding. Niu Gensheng started from scratch, suffered difficulties and suppression from his old employer Yili, and managed to fight his way through numerous sieges. Six years later, Mengniu's sales and market share surpassed Yili to become the first in the country.

What is even more dramatic is that today, 6 years later, Zheng Junhuai was imprisoned for ill-gotten gains, but Niu Gensheng became famous after spending one billion of his wealth! It’s really thirty years of Hedong and thirty years of Hexi! The wind and water are turning, the sky is full of ice and fire!

This kind of thing is very rare in China and abroad!

There are too many secrets hidden behind the legend. Why did Zheng Junhuai turn against Niu Gensheng, who had been assisting him for 16 years? How did Niu Gensheng create Mengniu out of thin air in just 6 years? For the past six years, Niu Gensheng and Mengniu have been keeping silent to the outside world.

Late at night on April 7, 2005, at Niu Gensheng’s home in Horinger County, Hohhot City, Inner Mongolia, our reporter Chen Bin talked with Niu Gensheng all night long. And the secrets about Mengniu that are unknown to outsiders.

Though Niu Gensheng was forced to revolt

This magazine exclusively revealed: Niu Gensheng submitted his resignation to Zheng Junhuai three times. The first two times he was persuaded to return by Zheng Junhuai. The third time he submitted his resignation at the board meeting, Zheng Junhuai said: I didn’t mean that! Niu Gensheng said: Then I take back this resignation! When Niu Gensheng reached for his resignation, Zheng Junhuai quickly pressed it tightly with his hand.

Zheng Junhuai: Yili has him but not me, and Yili has me but not him!

In the first half of 1998, Niu Gensheng, who was the vice president of production and operation of Yili, suddenly felt something was wrong. He had been working at Yili for 16 years, but recently he felt some trouble in the use of resources, which was the transfer of resources. A very small amount of funds is constrained by many departments. At its most extreme, Niu Gensheng had to file a report for approval before buying a broom.

In a sense, Niu Gensheng was the number one contributor to Yili back then. More than 80% of Yili's turnover came from various business units under Lao Niu's supervision. In addition to his performance, Niu Gensheng's prestige among Yili employees is no worse than Zheng Junhuai. People's belief in Niu Gensheng comes from his way of doing things and his charisma: when an ordinary worker got seriously ill, Niu Gensheng was the first to donate, and all of a sudden he donated 10,000 yuan. ; For a while, when the commuter bus driver was busy, Niu Gensheng took over the job. A new worker, who didn’t know Niu Gensheng, kept praising Niu Gensheng to others: “The new fat driver has such a good attitude, he can stop wherever he is told; he was rewarded for his outstanding performance” A sum of money can be used to buy a good car. Niu Gensheng converted it into four vans and distributed them to his direct subordinates. Niu Gensheng basically distributed all of his annual salary of more than 1 million to his employees.

Niu Gensheng went to Zheng Junhuai to report the problem. For the first time, he felt the strangeness and distrust conveyed in Big Brother's eyes. Niu Gensheng seemed to understand something. If it were just prestige and good performance, it would not be the reason that Zheng Junhuai and Niu Gensheng would eventually turn against each other. After many visits, the reporter finally got the truth from several old employees who knew both Yili and Mengniu. The trigger for the breakup lies in differences in corporate development strategies. When reporters mentioned this, Niu Gensheng had no objection.

Zheng Junhuai’s strategic thinking is to seek improvement while maintaining stability, while Niu Gensheng’s strategic thinking is to advance boldly and use all available means and resources to make Yili grow beyond the norm. However, Zheng Junhuai is worried that if Yili follows Niu Gensheng’s path, If his strategic thinking develops, he will lose control of Yili, which he will never allow to happen. At this time, Zheng Junhuai had already made up his mind to eliminate Niu Gensheng. When Niu Gensheng realized this, it was already difficult for him to realize his ambitions in Yili.

Niu Gensheng submitted three resignations to Zheng Junhuai in one ***. The first time and the second time, Zheng Junhuai said something to persuade him to stay: I didn’t mean it, you misunderstood! Niu Gensheng had no choice but to withdraw his resignation. But Niu Gensheng found that his environment not only remained unchanged, but also became increasingly worse.

Niu Gensheng submitted his resignation for the third time at a board meeting of Yili. Niu Gensheng placed his resignation in front of Zheng Junhuai, putting the resignation on the table for the first time. Niu Gensheng said to Zheng Junhuai: Brother Zheng, if you want me to leave, I will officially resign now, at least not because I personally affect the development of the company. Zheng Junhuai's face looked a little ugly, but he still said: I didn't mean that! Niu Gensheng took the words and said: Then I will withdraw this resignation! When Niu Gensheng reached for his resignation, Zheng Junhuai quickly pressed it tightly with his hand and said to Niu Gensheng: You can avoid it first, and we will discuss it before making a decision! As soon as Niu Gensheng left, Zheng Junhuai, who was rarely excited, suddenly shed tears and said to the people present: Yili has him but not me, and me but not him! After the meeting, Zheng Junhuai talked to Niu Gensheng and told him: Don’t you want to resign? Then I will remove you from office. We adopt a transitional approach. The company arranges for you to study at a university, but there are two conditions: first, you must leave Hohhot 500 kilometers away; second, the study time must not be less than two years. After staying in Yili for 16 years, your performance was very good, and your employees loved you very much. Suddenly you left the company without any explanation, without resisting or complaining. Could you really accept this reality calmly at that time? the reporter asked.

Niu Gensheng frowned and said very emotionally: I was very uncomfortable at the time. I have been very uncomfortable three or two times in my life. This was one of them, almost to the point of wanting to die.

Reflection: Exiled to Peking University, facing the wall for ten years and trying to break through it

Niu Gensheng, who had been with Yili through thick and thin for 16 years, came to Peking University and rode a broken bicycle all day long. between classrooms. When Lao Niu was sitting in the classroom listening to the class, the students sitting next to him were all students around 18 years old. Lao Niu was already 40 years old at the time. I didn't know at the time whether it was honorable or shameful. When you arrive at Peking University, people ask you what you do? Sitting with some young girls and boys all day seems disharmonious. Fortunately, I have a diploma from the Academy of Social Sciences, and I was doing teacher training at that time, so I named myself a visiting scholar. Being a visiting scholar is not easy. Niu Gensheng must first resolve the grievances and pain in his heart before he can calm down and integrate. Go into an unfamiliar campus environment.

Fortunately, I can think openly. There are many more sad things in my history. When I was eighteen or nineteen years old, I got into fights in society because of my loyalty and righteousness. I was arrested by the Public Security Bureau and put in a detention center for interrogation and administrative detention. Three months, two months, okay. There is no sentence. Later, the leaders of the Hohhot Municipal Law Committee visited Mengniu, and I knew one-third of them. They all trained and educated me back then. Niu Gensheng laughed.

I experienced this kind of thing before I was 20 years old, and it got better naturally afterwards, so I can still get by in terms of face. Fortunately, I didn't go to a famous university, so I just enjoyed my study life at a famous university. I used this time to do a lot of research and study, and listened to a lot of lectures by economists, trying to figure out what I didn’t know. As long as I didn’t know, I would learn it. How do university teachers teach? What are the ways and methods of learning? What are the ways and angles of thinking? When you sit in the classroom at Peking University and listen to lectures, can you really let go of the company in your mind? The reporter did not believe that Lao Niu lived such a leisurely life.

I can’t let it go! When I attended lectures, I always came with questions. Niu Gensheng said.

A subordinate who has followed Niu Gensheng since Yili told reporters: After Lao Niu came back from Peking University, his perspective on problems and his way of doing things have become much more mature than before. Lao Niu used this period of time to re-examine his various experiences and lessons learned in Yili for 16 years, and transformed the stress response model originally formed in the enterprise into a rational thinking model. As the saying goes, after seeing each other for three days, you should look at each other with new eyes. Think about it, Lao Niu has been thinking and summarizing for half a year. He already thinks higher and further than ordinary people. How much progress has this precipitation and sublimation made in his thinking? Niu Gensheng studied at Peking University for a semester. For Lao Niu, this semester was not only a study, but also a process of reflection.

After ten years of facing the wall and breaking through the wall, when he finished studying, the draft of Mengniu may have been formed in his mind.

Helpless: risk your life to survive

Do you want someone like me? One day at the end of 1998, Niu Gensheng, who had officially resigned from Yili, strolled to the talent market in Hohhot. He stood in front of a company's recruitment counter and asked about the recruiters. How old are you? the other party asked. 40 years old. Lao Niu replied. I'm sorry, but at your age, our company is on the list of laid-off workers. The other party replied bluntly with a smile.

Niu Gensheng didn’t really want to find a job through the talent recruitment market. Lao Niu’s idea at the time was to see how valuable he would be if he left the familiar environment and the dairy industry. I was somewhat recognized, only to find that I, who had been engaged in management work for many years, were not wanted at all in other companies. Other companies do not mean that Lao Niu cannot find a good job. After a dairy company learned that Niu Gensheng resigned, the boss immediately approached Niu Gensheng and was willing to offer a high salary to invite Niu Gensheng to join. Niu Gensheng proposed a condition to the other party: use my Lao Niu’s management experience and network resources to invest in the company and make me a shareholder. As a result, this condition scared the other party away. Niu Gensheng later said to his subordinates: They thought my request was a fantasy! Later someone commented that the company did not realize that Niu Gensheng was a money printing machine.

Since there is no appreciation from the new owner, Lao Niu plans to do something to make a living on his own. Niu Gensheng originally wanted to open a seafood food stall. He had chosen the house and considered the model, but it turned out that an invisible force made the plan difficult to bring to fruition. Only then did Niu Gensheng realize that although he had left Yili, the shadow that Yili had cast over his head had not dissipated.

Since the seafood stall cannot continue, then it is okay to set up a factory that shines shoes for others, right? No way! They clearly wanted to kill them all and did not want to give Lao Niu a way to survive. At this time, a group of brothers who had followed Niu Gensheng were dismissed from their posts by Yili. They found Niu Gensheng together, hoping that Niu Gensheng would lead them to a new path. These people are: Yang Wenjun, general manager of Yili's liquid milk, Qiu Lianjun, chief engineer of Yili, Sun Yubin, general manager of Yili's refrigeration business department, and Sun Xianhong, general manager of Yili's advertising planning department. In addition to the heads of Yili's human resources and finance, all the heads of Yili's business departments are here. Niu Gensheng.

Niu Gensheng thought about his predicament, and then said to them: The soldiers who mourn will win! Since we are not allowed to do anything, we will build another Yili! Let's all come up with a new name. As a result, everyone named it Mengniu.

Hide your capabilities, bide your time, accept adversity and fight back

This magazine exclusively reveals: ×× company funds support ×× brand company and plans dozens of media outlets to maliciously slander Mengniu. After the public security organs found out, the local government took three punitive measures against XX Company: a fine of 60 million yuan and a public apology. This will not happen in the future. Then ask Niu Gensheng for his opinion. In addition to not doing so next time, Niu Gensheng suggested not to implement the other two measures.

In January 1999, Mengniu was officially registered and established as Mengniu Dairy Co., Ltd. with a registered capital of 1 million, which was basically the money Niu Gensheng and his wife made from selling Yili shares. As soon as Niu Gensheng's Mengniu was established, his old subordinates who were still working in Yili began to defect to the company in batches after hearing the news, a total of several hundred people. Niu Gensheng once warned them not to abandon the bright future and turn to the dark side. Faced with the three-no environment of no market, no factory, and no milk source, no one can guarantee that Mengniu will have a bright future. However, the old subordinates joined Mengniu’s team without any hesitation. Among Mengniu's new management team, Niu Gensheng only hired one person from outside, and that was Lu Jun, Yili's former deputy party secretary, who had been transferred to the appointed director of Inner Mongolia Securities. Niu Gensheng once said to his subordinates: All competition starts from the design stage. Lu Jun is not only an expert in the party and government, but also an expert in the dairy industry and a master in securities. Niu Gensheng’s purpose of inviting her here is very clear: Mengniu must do something right from the beginning. The establishment of a joint-stock company will give Mengniu a healthy start.

Just eight months later, on August 18, 1999, Mengniu carried out a shareholding reform, and its name became Inner Mongolia Mengniu Dairy Co., Ltd., with the registered capital soaring to 13.98 million yuan, and the share price was 13.98 Ten thousand shares, the sponsors are 10 natural persons. In order of investment amount, they are: Niu Gensheng, Deng Jiuqiang, Hou Jiangbin, Sun Yubin, Qiu Lianjun, Yang Wenjun, Sun Xianhong, Lu Jun, Pang Kaitai, and Xie Qiuxu. Among them, Deng Jiuqiang is the boss of Hohhot Light Industry Machinery Co., Ltd., which provided ice cream and milk industry equipment to Mengniu. He later defected to Niu Gensheng and became Niu Gensheng’s vice chairman. Xie Qiuxu is the chairman of Guangdong Chaozhou Yangtian Printing Co., Ltd. When he used to cooperate with Yili to print milk and ice cream packaging boxes, he met Niu Gensheng and became a close friend of Lao Niu. Later, he cooperated with Mengniu, and within a period of time, He is the largest natural person shareholder of Mengniu. Most of the others are management and technical talents from the original Yili Company.

Secret negotiations, virtual management

Everything is difficult at the beginning! In a 53-square-meter building in Hohhot City, Niu Gensheng moved a sofa, table and bed from home, and Mengniu's development miracle began. Know yourself and the enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without danger! Niu Gensheng knows that his shortcomings are that he has no market, no factory, and no milk source. He also knows that his strong point is talents. The group of people who followed Niu Gensheng were originally the leaders of Yili liquid milk, ice cream, and planning and marketing. They are all top talents in the industry in terms of operations, sales, marketing, raw materials and equipment. Lao Niu decided to adopt a virtual management method and exchange talents for resources. Because Yili interfered, several negotiations at the beginning of virtual management were disrupted. Niu Gensheng had no choice but to build a plank road openly and cross Chencang secretly. In February 1999, Niu Gensheng signed a cooperation agreement with a dairy company in Harbin after secret negotiations. Niu Gensheng sent eight people including Yang Wenjun to take over the company. While their management has brought good benefits to the company, Mengniu products are also freshly produced from this factory. Lao Niu is a sensible person, borrowing a chicken to lay eggs is just a temporary measure! From January to April 1999, Niu Gensheng, who was in Hohhot, remotely commanded a team of 8 people in the Harbin factory to start producing the first batch of Mengniu products. They built their own factories in full swing on the relatively desolate and barren land.

The billboards were smashed, a blessing in disguise

On April 1, 1999, the people of Hohhot woke up to see that the 300 billboards next to the main streets in Hohhot were all Mengniu advertisements. : Learn from Yili, strive for national industry, and strive to become the second brand of Inner Mongolia dairy industry! On May 1, just as people were still discussing Mengniu, 48 Mengniu billboards were smashed beyond recognition overnight. The smashing of Mengniu's billboard caused the public to pay more attention to Mengniu, and Mengniu began to become more mysterious and more beautiful. Media reporters at the time followed the clues and found the spokesperson of Mengniu, and found that this person turned out to be Yili's former vice president in charge of production and operations. Niu Gensheng. Niu Gensheng was unwilling to be interviewed by the media, but he was willing to chat with reporters. During the chat, the reporter discovered that there is such a unique entrepreneur in Hohhot.

When a reporter asked why Niu Gensheng was dismissed from his post by Yili, Niu Gensheng replied: If you ask me to die, I have to die! Who smashed up the Mengniu billboard? Niu Gensheng did not give an answer. In Lao Niu's view, the answer was known to everyone, but he would rather let everyone understand it tacitly.

Whose company is Mengniu? Niu Gensheng said that he was not the registrant because the dangerous environment did not allow him to show his face.

Is Mengniu cloning Yili? Niu Gensheng said it was not cloning but filling gaps. He mentioned examples of Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola, BMW and Mercedes-Benz competing at the same time but developing better.

Can Mengniu do well? Niu Gensheng said: When making shoes, you must have the thought of making shoes for yourself, only then can the shoes be made well!

Keep a low profile and bide your time, gain a lot of help

Boil the beans to burn the pods, and the beans weep in the cauldron. They are born from the same root, so there is no need to rush into mutual conflict. In early 1999, although Niu Gensheng remained anonymous and hid behind the scenes, he did not escape the fate of continued suppression.

In order to block Mengniu and compete for milk sources, competitors had some of Mengniu's milk trucks stopped midway and the milk was dumped on the spot.

In order to reduce conflicts and unnecessary troubles, and protect himself to the maximum extent, Niu Gensheng quickly formulated a three-no policy for milk collection: Mengniu will not do it wherever large companies such as Yili have milk stations (no (Building milk stations); Mengniu will not handle (will not accept) milk from non-dairy stations; Mengniu will not handle anything that is inconsistent with Yili’s acquisition standards and prices.

At the same time, Niu Gensheng launched the concept of China's Milk City and launched our unique brand - China's Milk City through public service advertisements. Hohhot's slogan puts Yili ahead of itself when mentioning Yili on many occasions, and branding all dairy companies in Inner Mongolia that all dairy companies in Inner Mongolia will prosper and lose. The direct result of this is that Mengniu has won the support of the government, tied its destiny to the overall economic development of Inner Mongolia, and promoted its competitors while protecting itself.

Niu Gensheng is not a man of three heads and six arms. He just doesn't sleep for a day, and he only has 24 hours at most. How can he handle so many things at the same time without losing control of his position?

If a person can live again after death, then he will definitely be able to accomplish anything in his second life. It is impossible to start a new life again, but it is possible to start a new business. Before I started Mengniu, I had been raising cattle, growing grass, and doing dairy business for 21 years. I have experienced the entire process of the company from small to large, from scratch to something. 21 years later, I started the dairy industry again from scratch. I looked back and thought about the things I had experienced in the past: what I had done every year at that time, and now if I were to do it again, could I improve efficiency by doing the right things? ? Can the mistakes that have been made not be made again? This is what practice makes perfect, and accumulation makes you better. So said Lao Niu.

When it comes to feelings, my feelings for Yili are actually no less than those for Mengniu.

In 2003, Yili held a huge celebration to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the joint-stock system. Activity. What Zheng Junhuai and all the Yili people did not expect was that Niu Gensheng went uninvited. Lao Niu said some touching words to the employees of Yili on the spot: I have worked in Yili for 16 years and only in Mengniu for 5 years. My best years have been dedicated to Yili. I have shed far more tears, sweat and blood here than at Mengniu! So, when it comes to feelings, my feelings for Yili are actually no less than those for Mengniu. At the end of the event, Niu Gensheng received a tea set, which is now neatly placed on the coffee table opposite Lao Niu's desk. Perhaps this proves Lao Niu's complicated feelings for Yili, and perhaps this makes Lao Niu always remind himself of something. However, in any case, Niu Gensheng's emotional move in Yili has achieved results, at least making those Yili employees who know or do not know Niu Gensheng have some other views on Lao Niu.

Never do it again and never do it again!

From 2003 to 2004, an undercurrent of questioning and slander against Mengniu and Niu Gensheng in some media gradually formed, and some local gangsters began to use poisoning and other means to threaten and intimidate Mengniu. It happened one after another.

At this time, Mengniu has accumulated enough strength, and it will use sunshine to deal with such dirty tricks. The public security organs came forward, the undercurrents and underworld forces were identified and destroyed one by one, and the relevant responsible persons were punished by law. Among them, a brand planning company was solely responsible for defaming Mengniu with false news. Investigation found that XX Company had made a disguised contract of 6 million yuan in order to support this company. The slanderous press release involved dozens of media and nearly a hundred articles.

After the case was investigated, the local government formulated three punitive measures against XX Company: First, XX Company publicly apologized to Mengniu in the news media to restore Mengniu’s reputation; second, XX Company could pay 6 million pairs of Mengniu. For defamation, the loss caused is at least 10 times this amount, and the compensation for economic losses is 60 million; third, ×× company must not set an example and never do it again!

The local government asked Niu Gensheng for his opinion. Lao Niu said: The grassland brand is one piece, with Mengniu and ×× Company each having half and half. ×× Company’s apology damages not only ×× Company’s brand, but also everyone’s brand. , so no need to apologize. 60 million is not a small amount. Most of Mengniu’s employees come from XX company, so just think of the 60 million as Mengniu paying tuition for its employees. Article 3: I accept it and hope that XX company will not follow this example and never do it again! Lao Niu has a motto: Small victories rely on wisdom, big victories rely on virtue. Niu Gensheng understands his motto this way: In fact, it is to compete with yourself! If any problem occurs, first find the cause within yourself. Because it is easy to change yourself, but difficult to change others. If both sides of the conflict are 50/50 responsible, then you should start by changing yourself. When you take the initiative to change, you will find that the other person will also change accordingly, and the changes are not in the same proportion. Often after you change 10, he will change 30. It is true that if you respect him a foot, he will respect you a foot. What should you do if the other person remains the same after you changed 50? You still have to insist on competing with yourself. Because that is not the case in 95. When you compete with yourself countless times, looking back, the effectiveness of the law of large numbers becomes apparent: you change the world by changing yourself! As the old saying goes: A soldier who mourns will win. In fact, Niu Gensheng knows very well that forbearance is a knife in the heart. Compared with Mengniu, which has just started, if it resists Yili's banning move head-on or even fights with attacks, it may intensify conflicts. If the dispute gets too serious, who will go after a big profit and tax company and help a small one? Lao Niu, who uses retreat to advance and has a rather bloody personality, actually has great wisdom.

Knowing yourself and your enemy will lead to victory with speed

Exclusive revelation: When Niu Gensheng saw Yang Liwei, he said to him: Li Wei, apart from your parents, your wife and children, Your immediate family members, the leaders of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, in addition to your team and comrades-in-arms, in addition to the friends who know you, among all the strangers you do not know, I am the most concerned about your affairs...

The community is surrounded by supermarkets, and all products are free to taste. Niu Gensheng knew that he could not directly conflict with Yili in the market, so he set his first target in Shenzhen. Yili had just been defeated here. Yili adopted the strategy of advertising in the media first and then following up in supermarkets, but it failed completely because the people in Shenzhen basically recognized the taste of foreign brands. Yili spent millions in advertising fees but got nothing.

Niu Gensheng understood Yili’s shortcomings and weaknesses among Yili’s strengths, so he decided to adopt another set of tactics: Mengniu’s people dressed in Mongolian clothing carried banners and slogans to the gates of each community. It writes about pure natural and pollution-free milk from the prairie of Inner Mongolia. It’s your fault if you don’t drink it. It’s my fault if you drink it and don’t buy it. All Mengniu products are given to residents for free to taste. As a result, residents in the community would ask if they drank well when they went to the supermarket. Mengniu's products quickly became popular in major supermarkets in Shenzhen.

Relying on this strategy of surrounding supermarkets and offering free tastings of all products, Mengniu's products have rapidly entered the markets of Beijing and Shanghai since 1999. From 1999 to 2001, Yili's main business income and total profit increased at an average annual rate of more than 40%. In 2001, the main business income exceeded 2.7 billion yuan; Mengniu doubled its growth rate at a rate of more than 300%, with sales income exceeding 7.24% in 2001. billion.

We are the leader of Tetra Pak pillows

In 2000, Mengniu’s funds were still very tight, but Niu Gensheng suddenly decided to use milk trucks, sauna workshops and flash evaporation equipment to transport milk. The car sauna workshop is the first of its kind in China.

Every time the milk tank truck delivers milk from the milk source base to the factory, it must be cleaned with acid, alkali, steam and boiling water under high-pressure spray equipment to maintain the original flavor of the milk to the greatest extent. The sauna equipment costs more than 3 million yuan, and the annual operating cost is also more than 3 million yuan. The flash evaporation process removes a certain proportion of water from 100% original milk, thereby making the milk taste more pure. However, for every ton of milk produced, it earns 300 yuan less than similar companies that do not flash evaporate. As a result, these two measures, which others viewed as unnecessary and cost-increasing, soon made the quality of Mengniu milk well-known among ordinary people, and sales increased significantly. In some cities, the supply of Mengniu milk exceeded demand. Mengniu made less money, but its quality was on a par with other products.