1,
Centralization and decentralization have always troubled Chinese entrepreneurs, including Liu Qiangdong .
Since Liu Qiangdong made big news in the United States four years ago, in order to avoid suspicion, Liu Qiangdong took the opportunity to adjust the business strategy of Jingdong , retreated from the front to the backstage, delegated power to the senior management team, and allowed his brothers to do boldly.
Four years later, Liu Qiangdong angrily accused his brothers of deceiving him. He named them at an internal meeting: "One of the top leaders of JD.com is me and the other is Xu Lei.
In the past few years, I have been trying to delegate power and position myself as pragmatic, while Lao Xu is pragmatic. . But you just used PPT and all kinds of new words to deceive me!”
Liu Qiangdong denounced the current situation of JD.com in recent years and said: There are liars among the executives who like to use all kinds of false and empty things to fool him. As a result, no one in JD.com dares to tell the truth, and it suffers from a serious big enterprise disease..
executives praised each other, Wen Tianwuxi, hello, me, hello, everyone, immersed in past achievements. The most terrifying thing about
is that the real business conditions at the grassroots level cannot be reported. Liu Qiangdong’s information channels are blocked by a group of high-paid and flattering executives. When they report to Liu Qiangdong, they avoid the most important and ignore the minor. They only talk about achievements and not problems.
On the surface, Jingdong's traffic is growing rapidly, but in fact the market is being eroded by , Pinduoduo, and Doukuai. Sales and user numbers have stagnated, resulting in a situation where it is not popular but is popular.
Liu Qiangdong scolded an executive in person and said: "I don't want to hear you talk to me about traffic anymore. What's the use of traffic if it can't be converted into sales?!"
There is no doubt that Liu Qiangdong is very dissatisfied with the situation after JD.com decentralized power in the past four years.
He was full of confidence and gave his brothers the greatest trust and power, delegating power to a degree never seen in the 20 years since JD.com started its business. In return, the brothers rewarded him with bullying, mountaineering, and internal fighting.
This year, Liu Qiangdong finally settled the lawsuit in the United States and regained his freedom. He immediately set off a centralization storm within JD.com, announcing a high-profile return to front-line operations, doing more pragmatic things, and regaining the big stick of price war.
Liu Qiangdong said: "Back then, we defeated , Dangdang, and , Suning and based on price, not a new business model." He no longer believes in the new business models boasted by executives, he believes more in his own personal experience.
The four-year decentralization era is over, and JD.com has returned to Liu Qiangdong’s personal era.
2,
In the eyes of consumers, JD.com is largely equivalent to Liu Qiangdong. This is a company with a very obvious personal imprint.
When talking about Tmall , in addition to Jack Ma , we will think of "Arhat"; when talking about Xiaomi , in addition to Lei Jun , we will think of Lu Weibing ; when talking about Pinduoduo, in addition to Huang Zheng, we will think of Duan Yongping .
Speaking of JD.com, before Liu Qiangdong delegated power, we could not think of anyone else. JD.com’s No. 2 figure has been vacant for a long time. The advantage of
centralization is that Liu Qiangdong can build the company according to his own ideals. For example, one executive suggested that he outsource the recruitment of couriers to labor service company , which could save JD.com 4 billion in social security expenses every year.
Liu Qiangdong, who came from a lower class background, instinctively rejected the executive's suggestion, saying that even if he suffered losses, he had to provide social security to the grassroots, and this money could not be saved.
This kind of decision will only happen in JD.com, which has a strong personal color. Companies are rational economic organizations, and no company will refuse a proposal that can reduce costs by 4 billion.
Liu Qiangdong also insisted on investing in logistics warehouses despite the dissuasion of shareholders. JD.com has to spend tens of billions of dollars more for this every year. The major shareholder asked Liu Qiangdong at the board meeting: "Why should we spend huge sums of money to build our own logistics when we can obviously make a profit?"
Liu Qiangdong's answer was "to improve user experience." He did not want JD.com to become the second Taobao. What JD.com wants to do is China's Amazon .
Today, Jingdong Logistics is known as the most valuable investment and the core competitiveness of Jingdong. It is praised to the sky.This is all thanks to Liu Qiangdong's insistence on going his own way. Without his approval, who would dare to risk bankruptcy and invest in logistics that has no short-term results?
After the decentralization of JD.com, there is no replacement for the number two person, and the senior executives share power equally.
Xu Lei, who was promoted, holds the position of top leader, but his authority comes from Liu Qiangdong's trust. It is difficult for Xu Lei to act arbitrarily like Liu Qiangdong. Major issues must be collectively decided at the executive meeting, which will inevitably bring certain problems.
The relationship between Liu Qiangdong and Xu Lei is a bit like the relationship between "fighting the country" and "defending the country". If there is peace and prosperity, Xu Lei's talents will be more than enough to "defend the country". But now is an era where e-commerce giants are vying for the top spot, and JD.com cannot do without Liu Qiangdong, the hero who “conquers the world”.
3,
Liu Qiangdong’s troubles with decentralization are not limited to JD.com, but can be said to be a common problem among Chinese companies.
is like the sports brand and Li Ning . After the founder Li Ning faded away from the front line, the senior management team that took over deviated from the original business strategy and began to focus on the post-90s market, investing large sums of money into it, but it was not recognized by the post-90s generation.
In just five years, Li Ning had a backlog of tens of billions of inventory that could not be sold, forcing Li Ning to return to the front line and announce its "second start-up." Only then did the Li Ning brand survive the crisis.
Lao Ganma Tao Huabi , who is in his 70s, wants to provide for his retirement and hand over the business to his younger son. The younger son abandoned Guizhou pepper and used cheaper Henan pepper, which almost ruined Lao Gan Ma’s brand. Tao Huabi went out to rescue people again. She was over 70 years old and still had to worry about her son. It was hard for her to retire.
is better at decentralizing Alibaba . This has a lot to do with the fact that Alibaba is a team entrepreneurship. Alibaba has the "Eighteen Arhats", and Jack Ma has to discuss everything with them. From the beginning of its business, Alibaba's power has been decentralized, and senior executives have their own teams. The
"partner" system balances the relationship between centralization and decentralization to a great extent, so Jack Ma can live in Japan for half a year without returning, and Alibaba has no major problems.
Alibaba can leave Jack Ma, but JD.com cannot do without Liu Qiangdong. This is determined by the genes of the two companies. Liu Qiangdong once told a story to explain why he chose to do everything himself.
He opened a restaurant when he was in college. The business was good and he could earn hundreds of thousands a year. He thought he could rest easy, so he boldly handed over the management of the hotel to his employees.
Unexpectedly, a year later, employees were embezzling money, eating more and taking more, turning a profitable restaurant into a loss. After this incident, Liu Qiangdong stopped trusting others and turned to trust himself. Liu Qiangdong's distinctive personal characteristics were formed when he started JD.com in the future.
This time Liu Qiangdong has centralized power, returned to the front line, and brought order to the chaos, which is undoubtedly a shot in the arm for the development of JD.com. But what is worrying is that JD.com will suffer from more serious personal dependence from now on, and will never be able to tear off the label of "Liu Qiangdong".
changed a previous news headline to say "JD.com's red sun hasn't set yet!" It won't set either!
Author: Jiangzuo Youan
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