Talking about the "1 billion bet" with Lei Jun, chairman of Xiaomi Technology Company, at the end of 2013, Dong Mingzhu believes that with Xiaomi's involvement in the real estate industry, the "1 billion bet" has been cancelled. "Because he was betting on products with me at the

Talking about the "1 billion bet" with Lei Jun, chairman of Xiaomi Technology Company, at the end of 2013, Dong Mingzhu believed that with Xiaomi's involvement in the real estate industry, the "1 billion bet" has been cancelled. "Because he was betting on products with me at the time. It is said that he has now entered the real estate industry. I feel that engaging in real estate does not meet the conditions for a bet with me."

Mentioning "1 billion bet" again is an understatement

December 2013 , at CCTV's "2013 China Economic Person of the Year Selection", Lei Jun made a bet to Dong Mingzhu, saying, "If Xiaomi cannot beat Gree in terms of turnover within 5 years, I will lose one yuan to Dong Mingzhu." Dong Mingzhu did not show weakness at the time and directly Refuting Lei Jun's views and implying that companies that only focus on marketing will not be able to develop rapidly, he also fired back, "Don't mention one dollar again. If you want to bet, just bet 1 billion." More than a year later, what happened to this "1 billion bet"?

Yesterday morning, Dong Mingzhu appeared at the venue dressed in black and a red scarf. The media at the scene became agitated and came forward to ask for interviews. Dong Mingzhu readily agreed. "If you check the changes in Xiaomi, he has canceled the bet." Dong Mingzhu's answer seemed to be an understatement, "Because at that time he bet with me on products, and it is said that he has now entered the real estate industry. I think it is not good to engage in real estate. You meet the conditions for making a bet with me. "The place where

walked was barren of grass? "I don't care"

Last year, Dong Mingzhu proposed a "clearance operation", which triggered a price war and constant war of words in the home appliance industry. Dong Mingzhu said in an interview yesterday that the "clearance operation" will continue this year to "force those low-quality, high-energy-consuming, fake, and shoddy products to withdraw from the market."

"Anyone who analyzes an incident, the key is whether the behavior is correct or not. I mentioned the clearing operation twice, and most people became excited. I think there is nothing to be excited about. You can also clear the area." Dong Mingzhu became a little bit Excited, "It is right to clear the market. If China's manufacturing industry wants to become stronger, it should not deceive consumers with inferior products."

Regarding the previous comment that "where Dong Mingzhu walked, not a blade of grass grew," Dong Mingzhu said, "I don't care." .

html According to news on February 11, Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree, said in an interview recently that Xiaomi has been involved in real estate and no longer meets the conditions for a bet with her, because Lei Jun bet with her on products at that time. The "1 billion" more than a year ago The bet" is now void. After Dong Mingzhu made this statement, Xiaomi Technology founder Lei Jun said that Xiaomi has not been involved in real estate and has no plans to do real estate.

In December 2013, at CCTV's "2013 China Economic Figure of the Year Selection", Lei Jun took the initiative to make a bet to Dong Mingzhu, "If Xiaomi beats Gree in terms of sales within 5 years, Dong Mingzhu and Mr. Dong will lose 1 yuan to me." Mingzhu immediately fired back, "Don't mention 1 yuan here, I'll bet you 1 billion."

The "1 billion bet" has been interpreted by the industry as a "bet" between Internet companies and traditional manufacturing industries. However, what Gree left to the market is an almost solidified corporate image - a traditional home appliance manufacturing company.

According to media reports, Dong Mingzhu attended the third session of the 12th National People's Congress of Guangdong Province on February 9. When asked about the "1 billion bet" more than a year ago, Dong Mingzhu said, "If you check the changes in Xiaomi, He has canceled the bet because he was betting on products. It is said that he has now entered the real estate industry. I feel that engaging in real estate does not meet the conditions for a bet with me. "

Lei Jun posted this yesterday afternoon. A Weibo post seemed to be an indirect response to this matter. He said that Xiaomi has always emphasized focusing on its core business and does not consider entering businesses such as home decoration or real estate. ‘Xiaomi Home Decoration’ reported by the media is another startup company that is trying to use the Xiaomi model to transform the home decoration market. In an exclusive interview with a CCTV reporter, Lei Jun made it clear that Xiaomi has not been involved in real estate and has no plans to do real estate. There are also rumors circulating on the Internet about cooperation with other real estate companies.

Judging from the sales performance of both Xiaomi and Gree in 2014, Xiaomi’s tax-included income in 2014 was 74.3 billion yuan. Gree also released a performance report stating that for the whole year of 2014, Gree achieved total operating revenue of 140.005 billion yuan, reaching the established revenue target of "140 billion yuan".Just after the two parties released their sales results, Lei Jun once said that the gap was small and Gree would lose in one or two years. The possibility of Xiaomi surpassing Gree within five years is 99.99%, which is inevitable in historical development.

Dong Mingzhu has slightly restrained her sharpness in public, no longer pointing out the country or Zang, and she has also begun to play down the bet: "There is no need to care about winning or losing. It is too unstructured to immerse yourself in this bet. Lei Jun and I have different industrial thinking. One is on the water, the other is on the road, they are completely different. "

"Miss Dong, you are not a female classmate without a story." - Song Dongye, "Miss Dong"

Miss Dong Mingzhu does have many stories.

There are several books stacked on the coffee table in front of her desk. On the top is "My Internet Methodology" by 360 Chairman Zhou Hongyi, which she hasn't had time to open yet. On January 13, 2015, Zhou Hongyi revealed on Weibo that he visited Gree, triggering speculation about "Gree 360 ​​being together". Today, when Internet thinking is so popular, learning from Internet companies seems to be a common topic in traditional manufacturing industries.

However, Gree is different. "He doesn't understand manufacturing, so he came to take a look." Dong Mingzhu explained Zhou Hongyi's arrival. Regarding the widely rumored "making mobile phones together", Dong Gu talked about it. In this era of hardware and software teams, Dong may not be willing to join any team because of her pride, but she is very welcome to look around and chat. As for cooperation, I won’t object if the opportunity is right.

This kind of pride has caused Dong Mingzhu to be attacked by admirers of Internet thinking. As the sharpest female leader in China's manufacturing industry today, her bold remarks have attracted enough attention in recent months: even the toughest male entrepreneur would not publicly compare two rivals (one of whom has nothing to do with him). business conflicts) is called "two liars together", and they will not spread the word about "clearing the situation."

"Internet thinking" is occupying the altar. She slaps her in the air and challenges her opponents in turn. No wonder some people say that Dong Mingzhu is the one who understands Internet thinking best and that the bet was just a joke. However, with just a few words, she stirred up the heat again and successfully brought back a win for the manufacturing industry during the Lunar New Year holiday.

Before the outside world had time to digest her shocking words, her internal speech to dealers once again aroused public opinion. This time she mercilessly criticized Haier, Midea, TCL, Chigo, Kelon and other manufacturers one by one, and announced that in 2015 she would use price cuts to launch a clearing operation. Haier and Midea then responded in Internet language: "Auntie, we don't have a date" and "Sister, you can play by yourself."

From another perspective, these actions have increased her and Gree’s fans. To many professional women, Ms. Dong is a god-like existence. At the 2014 China Business Leaders Annual Meeting, fans rushed to take photos with Dong Mingzhu and knocked over an electronic display screen at the entrance of the venue to the ground.

A female manager from Jiangxi used a photo of herself and Dong Mingzhu as her avatar in her circle of friends after the meeting. Because I was too excited when taking the photo, my hands were shaking, so the photo was actually blurry. "As a professional woman, being like this is the pinnacle." This is the reason why she admires Dong Mingzhu.

This sentence inadvertently stated a fact that is often forgotten: Dong Mingzhu, who works hard and does not hesitate to make enemies everywhere, is actually just a professional manager. Gree Electric Appliances is a state-owned enterprise controlled by the Zhuhai Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. In other words, Dong Mingzhu, like her predecessor Zhu Jianghong, is just a "gatekeeper." Some people blame Dong Mingzhu: "Selling so many air conditioners, in the end, the dealer team or the Gree brand does not belong to you Dong Mingzhu."

This cannot affect Dong Mingzhu. At the 2014 Davos Forum, Dong Mingzhu even offended her mother-in-law and directly criticized the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission for "reaching too far and taking too much control."

disdains Internet thinking, is dissatisfied with corruption, and often talks about the spirit of the nation and manufacturing industry. In the current social context, it would be strange if Dong Mingzhu was not controversial.

People who don’t know Ms. Dong say she is anxious. She watches her opponents hug each other and stand in a team. She cannot find the rhythm of the Internet era, so she frequently fires shots and uses headlines to increase her presence. Dong Mingzhu scoffed at this: "Gree's market share exceeds 50%, and the combined sales of the second to fifth place are the same as mine."The opinions of the outside world have never been important to her: "When Gree grew by 20%, they said that I only stepped on the accelerator and not the brakes; when the growth was slower, they said that Gree had hit the ceiling, so what should I do with him? "

In the face of the surging Internet trend, Gree Electric's development model and path are always quite different from other home appliance peers at the same time. Simple denial or worship is too rough.

Recently, Dong Mingzhu said in public He slightly restrained his sharpness, no longer pointed out the country or the person, and began to play down the bet: "There is no need to care about winning or losing, it is too unstructured to immerse yourself in this bet. Lei Jun and I have different industrial thinking. One is on the water and the other is on the road. We are completely different people. "

Apart from the saliva and noise, Dong Mingzhu and Gree are also products of the times. Her brilliance and controversy are footnotes of the times. This era cannot be copied, and there will be no second Dong Mingzhu.

Without Ms. Dong, this The business world will be even more boring.

There are not many personal traces in Dong Mingzhu’s new office. The huge Dongyang wood carvings and pictures of flowers blooming and wealth do not match Dong Mingzhu himself, and the row of bookcases against the wall are empty. " This used to be the reception room. My office decoration has not been completed for a year, so I don't bother to talk about it. Dong Mingzhu doesn't care about these little things. It doesn't matter where she works. Anyway, "when I open my eyes, it's work." ”

She has worn the artificial fur coat for at least three years, and the pearl necklace around her neck has been on the scene for even longer. She does not wear makeup, and there are no famous brands on her body, but her clothes can be matched, with a gray coat and a uniform color. Ocher trousers and brown short boots. She is very slim, with no trace of white hair. Only the lines between her eyebrows reveal her age. It is her habit to frown when thinking.

The only thing in the room that bears the mark of the owner is a picture. The charcoal sketch framed in the frame shows Dong Mingzhu with her usual smile and sharp eyes. “The author of the sketch is a dealer from Gree’s overseas market, and he drew it from photos. "

Before, Dong Mingzhu was more famous in the home appliance industry. After the billion-dollar bet, she became a public figure.

When talking about the bet, Lei Jun said, the more friends the better, and the fewer enemies the better. According to It’s not surprising that Dong Mingzhu often makes enemies everywhere.

Dong Mingzhu doesn’t think so. “I have no enemies. " She said categorically.

"But there is nothing he can do if he thinks you are an enemy. I never think anyone is an enemy." She added, "In fact, in an environment, there must be competition, and peers must also compete. You When we say competition, we become the enemy. This is not competition. Competition is an act that promotes progress. Competing with others to learn from others is competition. I think competition is competition. "

There are grievances and grievances in the world, and friends and enemies will dynamically adjust according to their interests. In 2014, Gree and Gome put aside their differences and joined hands again after ten years. Gree air conditioners, Jinghong refrigerators, and Dasong small appliances were all launched in Gome's online and offline stores. It is said that Dong Mingzhu had planned to write the conflict with Gome into her third autobiography, but the book has never been published. Today, Dong Mingzhu no longer wants to mention the past, “History will always be history. Lots of questions don't complicate it. Now Gome is our partner, and both parties must achieve win-win results. "Although the two companies

had a falling out in 2004, they have not cooperated at all since then. "In fact, we have been selling Gree in the past few years, but through cooperation with dealers, the volume was not large, so no one paid attention. "

Gome Senior Vice President Li Juntao, who is in charge of the procurement and sales business, said, "Gree's sales in Gome have been approximately 10 billion yuan in the past few years, and it is estimated to reach 15 billion yuan in 2015. Our cooperation is market-oriented, and it is not about who is holding hands with whom. I have told many media that whatever consumers demand, they must meet their needs, otherwise the company will fall behind and have flaws. "

As for Gree products, Li Juntao thinks there are three reasons for recommendation: good quality; high brand awareness and some reputation internationally; large market share. In addition, among domestic brands, Li Juntao will also recommend Haier and Midea. These three are basically It represents the domestic brand in the domestic air-conditioning market.

Gree’s alliance with Tmall and Gome has also had a chain reaction in the market, with new players joining the home appliance market. In addition to the strategic cooperation between Xiaomi and Midea, Suning.com has played a very 6+1 "unconventional operation." It is said that Zhang Jindong once criticized his subordinates for his excessively aggressive actions.

Before the billion-billion bet between Dong Mingzhu and Lei Jun appeared, Jack Ma and Wang Jianlin also had a bet, but soon no one mentioned it anymore. The outside world gradually learned that this was originally a plan. Furthermore, the entertainment significance of the gambling game was greater than its actual significance, that is, it was just a joke, and neither party took it seriously.

Dong Mingzhu and Lei Jun also planned the gambling game, but later the gun went off. "You think it wasn't planned? Lei Jun told me in the audience that he wanted to make a bet with you. I turned over a page of your information, and I really couldn't find any flaws in you. We discussed it in the audience, and I said you There’s no need to fight, there’s nothing to fight for, he said I’ll fight you for one dollar.”·

Dong Mingzhu turned this joke into a billion dollar bet on the spot, and her cards were unpredictable to the director. Dong Mingzhu’s reason is: “Because I saw no one in the audience using Xiaomi mobile phones at that time, I felt that Xiaomi did not have its own production line, it was just OEM. Now there are many kinds of things, all with Xiaomi’s (brand) ). But I think the long-term development of an enterprise should be in its own hands and not in the hands of others, so I always stick to the bottom of the smile curve. In fact, I think everyone is more willing to sacrifice and pay. Think differently."

Dong thinks that without the bottom of the smile curve, the smile curve would not exist. She insists on using the bottom of the smile curve to support social development, "I think it is a social responsibility." It may seem a bit high-sounding to mention social responsibility, but the person who said this is Dong Mingzhu. Over the years, whether in interviews or speeches, Dong Mingzhu has always liked to talk about "big principles" and the righteousness of the country and the nation, consistently.

If Dong Mingzhu is not so "real", maybe Xiaomi and Gree will also cooperate. Lei Jun has a close relationship with Gree Electric. Huang Hui, executive vice president of Gree Electric, said that since Jinshan is in Zhuhai, Lei Jun is often in Zhuhai. "When the National People's Congress delegation met, Mr. Dong and Lei Jun were in the same delegation and were very familiar with each other."

In 2013, Dong Mingzhu's personal reputation reached its peak. Although she has left the sales frontline for many years, her experience as a "sales queen" still remains Inspires many salespeople. Someone flew to Zhuhai at their own expense to see her, just to satisfy a curiosity, "What kind of woman is this?"

She is Gree's de facto spokesperson. She speaks simply and directly, and the news headlines come out of her mouth. She has a strong logic, and if you don't talk to her within her discourse system, you will be killed in seconds.

searched the Internet for reports about Dong Mingzhu in the past month, and more than half of them were negative comments, various ridicules, and satires. But there are also people who say good things for her. Li Juntao thinks that Dong Mingzhu is "full of positive energy." "She is a courageous and capable woman, and it is normal to be arrogant. Dong Mingzhu is the soul of Gree, a very enterprising person." "Strong woman."

"Strong woman" is the word that Dong Mingzhu hates the most.

In addition to work, Dong, like other women, likes beautiful clothes. She has been in power for many years. She has never been willing to wear so-called professional women's suits because she thinks they are too rigid. She has clothes worth 20 yuan a piece, and clothes worth a thousand yuan. On the back cover of the second biography "Playing Chess without Regrets", the editor used a photo of Dong Mingzhu wearing a brightly colored dress and playing by the water when she went out. Her expression was as happy as if she had returned to her girlhood, which was very different from the outside world's impression. . This was a chance shot by the photographer, and it is also one of Dong Mingzhu’s favorite photos.

Dong Mingzhu calls herself "introverted, shy, and easy-going." This is not the impression many people have of her. She has no scruples in commenting on her opponents as "thief and liar" in public, and she was once hungry for a whole day because she was worried about the indecent appearance of eating on the train.

Once he returns to work, Dong carries a powerful aura that is difficult for men to match. In the face of Dong's rules, no one can go beyond the limit.

After her husband passed away due to illness, Dong Mingzhu started working as a salesperson at the age of 36, and later became the "Sales Queen" of Gree. The experience of doing sales had a profound impact on Dong Mingzhu. Curiously, the Sales Queen doesn't drink. In that era when "the amount of alcohol consumed equals the amount of sales", she relied on her keen grasp of the market and professional analysis to convince dealers, and she relied on her enthusiasm and tenacity to impress those big men.

In 1993, Dong Mingzhu's sales in Gree reached 50 million, accounting for one-sixth of Gree's total sales. She established her "gold medal sales" status and was appreciated by Gree Chairman Zhu Jianghong.

The old story is, "Without Dong Mingzhu, there would be no Gree" and "Without Zhu Jianghong, there would be no Dong Mingzhu." In 1994, Gree's sales backbone collectively switched jobs to another air-conditioning company, and Zhu Jianghong boldly appointed Dong Mingzhu as Gree's operations director. She offered to take charge of the finances as well, and Zhu Jianghong gave Dong Mingzhu the financial power against all objections. Since then, Dong Mingzhu has served as deputy general manager, vice chairman and president of Gree Electric Appliances.

Zhu Jianghong retired in May 2012. Dong Mingzhu combined the three positions of chairman of Gree Group and chairman and president of Gree Electric Appliances, becoming the "top leader" in an absolute sense. Gree has since entered her era.

Dong Mingzhu has expressed her gratitude to Zhu Jianghong many times. However, she also complained that Zhu was "too talkative". In the eyes of others, one is right and the other is right, and one is a good person and the other a bad person is the most classic management method, but Dong Mingzhu still feels that this is unprincipled. "Many people think that I am not easy to talk to, so they will go to Mr. Zhu instead. There is no such opportunity now." Now the "three public duties" principle promoted by Dong Li has been made into a slogan and hung in the most obvious place in the company.

Many people will say that Dong Mingzhu is paranoid, and some good people have even investigated her growth environment and experience as a child, hoping to find clues. However, when she was a child, she was well-behaved and shy, and she was the seventh eldest child in the family. When movie tickets were distributed, and someone wanted to get an extra ticket to watch with friends, Dong Mingzhu would generously give away her movie tickets. Why did Dong Mingzhu, who was so uncontested as a child, become a domineering female CEO today? Dong Mingzhu's answer is still very rigid. She can give in to her own interests, but not to the interests of the company and the country.

It is conceivable how many people will complain about Dong's management. If Gree Electric's performance had not continued to grow under Dong Mingzhu's management, it would have been difficult to shut up so many dissatisfied mouths.

2012 was the first year that Dong Mingzhu independently took charge of Gree. In that year, Gree Electric's operating revenue exceeded 100 billion yuan, becoming the third Chinese home appliance company after Haier and Midea with revenue exceeding 100 billion yuan. Gree is the only one to achieve a scale of 100 billion yuan in air conditioning as a category.

The family is big and the business is big, but she will not change her stingy nature. Li Juntao visited Dong Mingzhu in Zhuhai for three consecutive years. "Do you know what she invited me to eat at noon? The cafeteria." Friends who are familiar with Dong Mingzhu said that when she occasionally went out to eat, she would count out the drinks she had not drunk one by one when paying the bill. The restaurant refunded the money. Gree, which has more than 80,000 employees and more than a dozen sales companies, has annual reception expenses of no more than 5 million.

Dong Mingzhu herself is a workaholic. She occasionally calls her subordinates at 6 a.m. to arrange work, and then hangs up after the bell rings twice. I feel like it’s inappropriate to disturb my subordinates’ rest like this. Normally she would set aside an hour a day for a walk, but "walking also makes me think about work." She is not completely restless. It is said that she likes watching soap operas, from Korean dramas to the recently popular "All Quiet in Peking".

There is no doubt that Dong Mingzhu has left a deep personal imprint on Gree. She does not avoid talking about this issue: "I am the boss, so of course I must have my imprint." In Dong's view, a person without personality cannot be the leader. Some people say that she is a totalitarian who has a monopoly and personality cult in Gree, but she feels that she likes to listen to other people’s different opinions the most. “Others stand in different perspectives, and even if they are incorrect, they will inspire me. As a person Decision-makers must be able to make decisions after listening to everyone's opinions, otherwise you will not be the leader. "

"For the boss of a company with 80,000 people, how can strength be enough?" Executive Vice President and Chief Engineer of Gree Electric Appliances. Huang Hui said.

In a company like Gree that relies on technical personnel to dominate the world, the term "Whampoa Military Academy" may not be a compliment. Some competitors directly stand outside Gree's door to poach people. The most marketable ones are Gree's technical personnel. In the past two years, there was also news about the loss of Gree technical personnel.

Dong Mingzhu looked like he didn't care. "With so many people gone, isn't Gree still doing well?" For her, the people who left are in the past tense, because they can't come back again. "Gree has an unwritten rule that people who leave are not allowed to come back." Why does Gree have such a rule? Someone analyzed that Gree culture is more like a family culture. She rarely talks about her family. Gree is her home. She is the parent, whether you hit or scold you, she thinks it is good for you, and she will protect you if something really happens. One example is that Gree has many and strict rules and regulations. Once, a female worker from a poor family violated the rules and paid a fine. Dong Mingzhu secretly found the female worker that night and paid her out of his own pocket. Rules and regulations cannot be violated, but Miss Dong’s heart is also made of tofu. Although Gree is also carrying out automation reforms in its factories, Dong Mingzhu has publicly promised that no matter how the economic situation changes, there will never be any layoffs. Under such circumstances, it is unacceptable to Dong Mingzhu emotionally and rationally for someone to switch jobs to a competitor because of high salary and other reasons.

Dong Mingzhu rose from a front-line salesperson to the president of a listed company, and her management philosophy belongs to her own school. The 1 billion bet was originally a joke, but Dong Mingzhu’s self-set revenue target of 200 billion yuan was difficult to give up, even though it seemed to the outside world that this was an almost impossible task.

With Gree’s current status, failure to achieve an annual growth of 20 billion yuan cannot be considered a failure, but Dong Mingzhu said that the undivided authority does not allow herself to make such deviations. This may be the biggest challenge in her 25 years in the industry. Now Dong Mingzhu is like walking on a single-plank bridge, either walking over or falling off.

Only knowing marketing but not technology was once the biggest doubt about Dong Mingzhu from the outside world. She is not a technical person, but she has a keen sense of the market. She once told Gree's R&D personnel, "In ten years' time, the air conditioner product may disappear and become something else. What will it look like? You have to think about it." Huang Hui believes that as the chairman of the board, Dong Mingzhu does not need to pay attention to The technology is so clear, "This is my business." When this technical expert who has worked at Gree for more than 20 years gets excited about talking, he will suddenly stand up and write a series of numbers on the whiteboard, like a teacher giving a lecture.

"He wants to teach others to become experts again." Dong Mingzhu laughed when he heard this. "I always tell him that consumers don't need to become experts. Leave the rest to Gree, and we can do it well."

After Gree entered the 100 billion club, she immediately revealed an even more amazing goal. In 2013, Dong Mingzhu proposed to rebuild Gree within five years and achieve a sales scale of 200 billion yuan by 2017, which is equivalent to an annual growth of 20 billion yuan within five years.

Midea, Gree’s biggest competitor, had shouted the same slogan as early as 2010. After the Great Leap Forward, profits were declining. Midea launched a three-year strategic slimming down in 2012, and its sales revenue in 2014 is expected to be 140 billion yuan. . Haier, which entered the 100-billion club earlier, has seen its growth slow down for many consecutive years. This has been nicknamed the "100-billion curse" in the home appliance industry.

When Dong Mingzhu learned that Haier Group's revenue in 2014 reached 200.7 billion yuan, she asked "Chinese Entrepreneur": "Is it really 200 billion? What can Haier do to achieve 200 billion?"

Can Gree break this curse? Gree air conditioners account for 33% of the global market share, and in China, Gree's market share exceeds 50%. Both Haier and Midea have a scale of 100 billion. Both Haier and Midea have taken a diversified route and have much longer product lines than Gree. Gree’s main business has always been air conditioners. Although it has added Jinghong refrigerators and Dasong small appliances in the past two years, both of them still have Not yet established.

If you look closely at Gree Electric's financial reports for the past three years, it is not difficult to find that Gree's sales growth is firmly locked at 20 billion yuan per year, almost completing the task with decimal points. In 2012, the company's total revenue was 100.11 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19.9%; in 2013, this figure was 120.043 billion yuan, an increase of 19.91%. On January 19, Gree Electric released its 2014 performance report. The company's annual sales were 140.005 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.63%.

Such a precise growth rhythm shows Dong Mingzhu's super control ability. No wonder some people say that even 300 billion or 500 billion yuan is not impossible for her. "She leads the way while whipping her with a whip. Her goals are always ahead of schedule. Back then, many people said it was impossible to do 100 billion yuan. In 2014, we felt it was too much pressure to do 140 billion yuan, but we finally achieved it." Enter Zhang Bo, who has been with Gree for 15 years and has been in sales for 10 years, said.

As the general manager of Beijing Shengshi Xinxing Gree Trading Co., Ltd., Zhang Bo is responsible for the sales of Gree products in Beijing and Inner Mongolia. In the next week, he will go to Zhuhai to attend the Gree Annual Meeting. There will definitely be pressure to make 160 billion in 2015. Sales have increased by 20% after the recent round of promotions, and he is still very confident.

As the scale continues to expand, Gree's growth rate is also slowing down, but even the 16% growth rate in 2014 is much higher than the industry average. According to CMM statistics, air conditioner sales grew by 10.6% in the first three quarters of 2014. Dong Mingzhu pioneered the channel policy of payment first and delivery later in the industry. Dealers must pay before they can pick up the goods. Gree has ensured healthy cash flow in this way.

How does Gree support its annual growth of 20 billion? Simple category expansion cannot support this huge goal. It is trying to expand professionally in the vertical industry chain, such as selling motors, capacitors and molds to other industries. Currently, Gree capacitors have been selected by many elevator factories at home and abroad. Dong Mingzhu pointed out: "Gree is no longer a single professional air-conditioning company. It has achieved diversification in terms of products, back-end technical support and industry leaps."

According to Dong Mingzhu's plan, the high-end products brought about by consumption upgrades It is the first growth space. The market upgrading caused by variable frequency energy-saving and healthy air conditioners has currently reached 40% market penetration rate of variable frequency air conditioners.

In addition, Gree is also vigorously promoting home central air-conditioning. Since 2012, Gree has replaced Daikin as the leader in China's central air-conditioning market. As living conditions improve and product energy efficiency improves, household central air conditioners are extending from villas to duplexes and ordinary residences, becoming a lucrative new growth point for the air conditioner market. According to Zhang Bo's estimate, the growth rate of household central air-conditioning in Beijing has reached 40% in 2014.

Huang Hui, executive vice president and chief engineer of Gree Electric Appliances, believes that central air-conditioning will extend to power supply, lighting, and safety in the future, with energy control and environmental management being the core.

The photovoltaic air conditioner that Dong Mingzhu and Wang Jianlin personally advertised as an "air conditioner without electricity bills" also came from her idea. "Chinese consumers are more concerned about energy conservation, not intelligence." Gree is currently fully promoting the research and development of second-generation photovoltaic air conditioners. Air conditioners can be used to directly generate electricity, and the unused electricity can be sold to the city power grid. According to her vision, in the future, not only will air conditioning, cooling and heating use no electricity, but all electrical products in consumers' homes will be powered by photovoltaic air conditioners, making air conditioners truly the energy center of the home.

In the big game of energy, Gree’s chess pieces are not just air conditioners. It hopes to solve the winter heating problem through air source heat pump technology. Heating in the north is polluting, but there is no heating in the south. Can air conditioning work? "Heat pumps are not a new technology. In the past, the power was too low in low-temperature environments and could not be used in the north. Gree's original two-stage enthalpy increase frequency conversion compressor technology has solved this problem. Now we can achieve strong heating at minus 20 degrees. "Huang Hui said.

In Dong Mingzhu’s view, the core supporting Gree’s growth has always been technological progress and product innovation. On January 9, 2015, Gree Electric won the second prize in the "Enterprise Technology Innovation Engineering Category" of the National Science and Technology Progress Award for its "Independent Innovation Engineering System Construction Based on Mastering Core Technology" project. R&D strength is Dong’s favorite topic: “Other people say what percentage of revenue is invested in R&D every year. In Gree, there is no upper limit on our R&D funding. We can give you as much as you need.” Gree even imitates the national reward system for experts. , established its own expert allowance. Personal allowances can be as high as NT$400,000.

Huang Hui believes that the scientific research environment created by Gree is better than many universities and scientific research institutes. After all, it is easier for corporate research institutes to transfer scientific research results to industry. "Whatever you want to make (mold), we can make it immediately. The school does not have such conditions."On the other hand, Gree has room to allow researchers to try and make mistakes. "Some projects have no timetable. "

But the 200 billion target waits for no one. There are still two years until 2017, and there is not much time left for Gree.

For Dong Mingzhu, e-commerce is the biggest variable.

At least from the perspective of actions, Gree Chess Wait a minute. Perhaps because she believed too much in Gree’s huge store network, Dong Mingzhu didn’t take e-commerce seriously for a long time, which made her believe that Gree’s model could not be replicated until 2014. In November, Gree opened its flagship store on Tmall, but at this time, competitors had already started to go online. Dong Mingzhu explained that she did not want to rush online when the service system was not perfect, which would reduce the consumer experience.

Judging from the trend, Haier and Midea have established their own official shopping malls in addition to Tmall. Haier's RiRiShun has developed into a third-party installation logistics platform for major home appliances, and Midea's Ande Logistics is also following this path. There is no doubt about the traffic advantage of merchants, and the biggest capital of home appliance companies is installation and after-sales, especially for special products such as air conditioners. If Gree, which has been late to the market, wants to make a difference in the e-commerce circle, it must combine its years of accumulation of installation and services. The ability is grafted onto the Internet.

Dong Mingzhu also realized this. Just one month later, on December 1, she personally promoted the Gree store at the dealer conference. When entering a community, you need to open a large store. The store must not only sell household air conditioners, but must have a complete range of categories. Last but not least, the merchant must have a good engineering team.

At present, the Gree store area reaches up to more than 3,000 square meters. , Jinghong refrigerators and Dasong small appliances have all been stationed in Gree’s online mall, which will display various models and categories of products, and the pricing strategy will not be lower than its guide price. The e-commerce platform will forward the information to the nearest dealer. , the latter is responsible for pickup, delivery, installation and after-sales. After installation, Gree headquarters or sales branches and dealers will handle settlement.

Using physical store resources to connect to online e-commerce platforms is currently the most popular O2O model, but how? It will take some time to balance the interests of Gree Mall, dealers, installation and logistics. Dong Mingzhu admitted that the work of opening up is still in progress, and "I will tell you when it reaches a certain scale."

Gree channels are actually changing. In 1994, Gree established the first joint-stock regional sales company in Hubei, gathering funds from four dealers under the Gree banner to form a community of interests. Later, in 2012, Dong Mingzhu restructured the channels and established the model across the country. A sales company called Shengshi Xinxing Gree Trading Co., Ltd. was established. This company controlled all Gree sales channels, and the headquarters’ control over the channels was further strengthened.

The industry once speculated that Dong Mingzhu’s move was to independently list the channel operations. It became the second financing platform under Gree. Haier owns two listed companies, Qingdao Haier and Haier Electric Appliances, and Midea Group also owns two listed companies, Little Swan and Welling Holdings. However, after Gree Real Estate was allocated by the Zhuhai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission in 2014, Gree Group currently has only one listed company, Gree Electric Appliances. Dong Mingzhu denied this idea.

Even if we put aside the idea of ​​going public, Gree's 20,000 stores across the country are still a huge resource and wealth. In 2013, Dong Mingzhu revealed to the outside world that she hoped that the store would not only sell Gree products, but also try to represent other brands, including some foreign brands that have not yet entered the Chinese market. However, this plan did not proceed, and Gree stores still only have its own products. "Dong Mingzhu is too strong, and manufacturers are worried that entering Gree's store will help it become a third strong channel, just like Gome and Suning back then." Analysts from the industry said.

Similarly, will such a powerful channel system conflict with the division of interests online? This is an unavoidable problem.

During the National Day, Gree launched its first price war in more than 20 years, which was the competitive method that Dong Mingzhu claimed to hate the most.She has experienced many price wars in her career. The most exaggerated one was that an air conditioner once dropped to 600 yuan. Dong resisted the pressure and insisted on not reducing the price. Later, the price of air conditioners returned to normal prices. Such irrational prices have never appeared in the industry again. war.

In late November 2014, Gree once again launched the second round of "old for new" promotions, with price cuts exceeding 10%, which prompted other brands to follow suit and adjust prices. According to Zhang Bo's estimate, the price difference between Gree air conditioners and competitors has dropped from the previous 10% to single digits. Not only that, Gree also launched a trade-in campaign, allowing consumers to use old Gree air conditioners to upgrade to new products at a discount of 1,000 yuan. The end of the year was originally the off-season for air-conditioning sales, but Dong Mingzhu used price cuts to turn the off-season into a peak season. The financial report shows that in the fourth quarter of 2014, Gree Electric's sales reached 39.986 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27.82%, the highest growth rate throughout the year.

Dong Mingzhu explained Gree’s price war this way: “I share profits with consumers so that consumers can buy variable frequency air conditioners at fixed frequency prices to accelerate market upgrading.” She said more straightforwardly at the dealer conference: “ The era of huge profits for air conditioners has passed. Gree needs to trade profit margins for scale, and the price of air conditioners will continue to drop.

Home appliance industry observer Liu Buchen analyzed that Gree’s price reduction is to ensure a 20 billion growth mission. "Gree has long been proud of having the highest profit margin in the industry. In 2013, the net profit margin was 9%. In the first three quarters of 2014, the net profit margin was about 10%. According to the industry, the gross profit margin is more than 35%. Now, in order to achieve scale growth, Dong Mingzhu Preferring to give up high profits. If Gree continues to grow to 160 billion yuan in 2015, Gree may pay the price of a drop in net profit margin from 10% to 7% to 8%. "

This means that Gree will give its competitors a chance to catch up in terms of profit scale. Chance. In 2014, Midea Group's revenue reached 140 billion yuan, and its net profit was between 10 billion and 11 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 37% to 51%. Gree Electric's net profit was 14.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30%, and its net profit margin was 10%. If Gree's net profit margin drops back to 8% in 2015, Midea and Gree's profit scale is likely to be the same.

Under capital leverage, manufacturing and the Internet are unevenly hot and cold. The color TV industry has disturbed LeTV. Will there be such a disruptive opponent in the air-conditioning industry?

The Internet is changing every link in the manufacturing chain. Although Dong Mingzhu adheres to the Internet tool theory, he is not indifferent to changes. Gree is actually doing both mobile APP and remote collection of consumer data, but Dong Mingzhu has her own understanding of intelligence: "Is it smart to use a mobile phone to remotely control air conditioners? The first thing Gree needs to do is to relieve consumers from the worries of after-sales service. , Now I can remotely monitor the usage status of all Gree air conditioners in Zhuhai. I think this is also a smart change. "

In Gree, the most obvious manifestation of the so-called "Internet thinking" is marketing. In 2014, Dong Mingzhu did not renew her contract with Jackie Chan, who had been her spokesperson for the past two years. Instead, she appeared in advertisements in person and even invited Wang Jianlin to the platform. In addition to Gree air conditioners, Dong Mingzhu also endorses Jinghong refrigerators. First of all, she appeared in person to save costs, but "speaking for herself" itself is the best sign in the Internet era. Many entrepreneurial companies born in the 1990s will use the "I am the brand" free advertising strategy.

Out of some feelings that are difficult for outsiders to understand, Dong Mingzhu regards Gree and selling air conditioners as her lifelong career. After the Gree New Year Annual Meeting in 2013, Dong Mingzhu had supper with a table of male executives. During the dinner, the topic of the century-old store came up. Dong Mingzhu said: "We will all be gone by then." The atmosphere suddenly became a little low. , but she quickly raised her voice again, "It doesn't matter, we will continue to sell air conditioners in the sky, you all remember!" Many people at the table nodded frequently.

This is a joke after all, Dong Mingzhu also knows that one generation comes and one generation goes. Ms. Dong is 60 years old. She may be able to bring Gree to the 200 billion throne with her own hands, but she will eventually leave the future to the next generation. What kind of person can take over Gree? "It must be someone who has the ability to challenge themselves. Of course, not everyone is willing to challenge themselves."