1990 In the summer, Hongbin Peng was admitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with excellent results. During his time as an English translator in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hongbin Peng was smart, diligent and popular, and his leaders and colleagues were very kind to him. His life path is covered with flowers, and he can climb up step by step. However, in April 1994, Hongbin Peng submitted his resignation report. Thousands of people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were shocked: there is no such precedent-the report naturally has no following.
China is essentially a country with a strong concept of "official standard". Thousands of years of feudal rule instilled the idea of "learning officials" Although in the new society, "official standard" still has its fertile soil. From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be a self-employed, in the eyes of colleagues and family, Hongbin Peng is no different from a madman!
His classmate Deng Yuanshan is from the Department of Planned Economy. When Hongbin Peng resigned, he happened to pass by Beijing to visit him. At that time, Hongbin Peng had just got married and lived in a small house in Wang Hongbin Foreign Affairs College. In order to entertain old classmates, Hongbin Peng bought a chicken neck and chicken offal to cook. Lacking pots and pans, Hongbin Peng went to borrow them from his colleagues. Colleagues who have always had a good relationship don't understand him and refuse to borrow it, which makes everyone very embarrassed.
Hongbin Peng finally left without saying goodbye. He is too energetic to spend his life in an institution with excess talents. Since the future can be calculated, we should find ways to realize ourselves in different environments.
Hongbin Peng recalled it today and didn't blame his colleague cool thin. He said, "when my future can be calculated, I am eager to take another way to express myself better." Since it won't be bad, it will at least feel better than keeping it. " Meet a noble person to help.
"Before resigning, you should look back and have no worries", because diplomats can't resign casually. It takes at least three years to resign completely, which was something that Hongbin Peng considered at that time. He met Shijie Lv, who works in the Central University of Finance and Economics, and soon became best friends. At all costs, Shijie Lv selflessly transferred his wife's registered permanent residence from Panzhihua Iron and Steel Company in Sichuan to Beijing, and then transferred his personnel and work relationship from the original unit to Lan Tu Company, laying a foundation for entering the business world.
Like most villagers in Zhongguancun, they sell computers. I want tens of thousands of yuan to buy shares in Lan Tu. At that time, Hongbin Peng was penniless. Where can I raise such a large sum of money? Uncle Zhang Da is another person who extended a selfless helping hand to him. Zhang Da is from Meishan, Hongbin Peng and Sichuan. In the early 1980s, he opened a famous Dongpo restaurant in Beijing Chinese Academy of Sciences. I heard that Hongbin Peng was going to Zhongguancun to make a fortune. This fellow elder stuffed all the turnover of 20,000 yuan that day into Hongbin Peng's hand, which became the foundation of Lan Tu's share capital and the rise of Hongbin Peng, and Lan Tu became the first springboard of Hongbin Peng.
With their sense of smell and hard work, a group of them immediately settled a business: they made the overall configuration of more than 30 computers for a ministerial-level organ and earned tens of thousands of yuan of hard money. The next day, a computer earned 180, and it was as busy as a bee. In the following year, the computer industry became more and more boring.
One thing made Hongbin Peng and his partners Wu Lugang, Zhao Bin and Wang Wei very unhappy: they worked as a general agent for a Korean computer monitor manufacturer, and finally opened the market. When the business reached a scale, they came to Beijing to do it themselves.
Just as a senior porter, he felt that there would be no way out.
Hongbin Peng has a strong ability to survive. He will do anything as long as he can make money. For business needs, he and Shijie Lv started several companies together: Mansour Advertising Company, Mansour Clothing Company and Xizhimen Dafeng Restaurant.
He always likes to do business that no one else has done. His wife Chen Xiaoli's parents produced a famous "White Liped Deer" brand yak cashmere sweater in Qinghai and Xining, so he was the first to take it to Beijing and rented a small shop in Xidan to sell it.
He also made and sold a kind of "Lan Tu Popsicle Box", which is much better than that made by refrigerator manufacturers. Unfortunately, Ben Li Wei didn't make it.
The days of starting a business are very difficult. In order to maintain the company's operating expenses, he rented a basement in garden village, used several for himself, and subletted the rest to other small companies. It rained and the basement was full of water, so he rolled up his trouser legs and scrubbed hard.
Those days were hard, but Hongbin Peng was happy. Once, a customer in Tongxian asked for a computer, so he boarded a tricycle to deliver the goods, and traveled more than 70 kilometers back and forth. Late at night, it was raining in Mao Mao, and his clothes were soaked, but Hongbin Peng rode a tricycle, humming pop songs and pedaling his bicycle quickly.
Xu Peng is his partner with the village chief. After graduating from college, he was assigned to a military factory in Mianyang to sell civilian products. I heard that Xu Peng is going to resign and go to sea. Hongbin Peng wrote a letter to encourage him. There are only two sentences in the letter: "We are in an era of change. We are a very lucky generation! "
He traveled all over Beijing looking for business opportunities. On one occasion, he won several furniture businesses for his company. In the new world, he vaguely felt that the architectural decoration industry was promising.
There are times when business is in recession. Once, a man in Hanchuan, Hubei asked for a batch of goods of more than 10 thousand yuan, claiming that the goods had been remitted. But the goods were still on the way, and the guy called and said that the quality of the products was not good, and he had to take the money to him to pay the handling fee before he could ship it back. Obviously, I still want to cheat. Hongbin Peng reluctantly lost more than ten thousand. Later, I learned that the liar in Hanchuan cheated many people in the country!
After two years of traveling around, although I didn't earn much money, I made many friends, accumulated valuable practical experience, found the basic feeling of doing business, and most importantly, completed the role transformation from diplomat to businessman. Hongbin Peng thought: Looking for new business opportunities. Hongbin Peng will travel to Europe to visit the birthplace of human industrial civilization and how people there work and live.
Hongbin Peng has his own unique viewpoint: knowledge is not equal to knowledge, and only those who have knowledge can succeed. Knowledge consists of three elements: knowledge+experience+comprehension. He will take Wan Li Road to Europe to experience something.
It is difficult for me to get a visa, and there is no invitation letter and guarantee from foreigners. Hongbin Peng, who has great dreams, has not been stumped. He told the visa officer of the British Embassy in fluent English that Britain is the birthplace of industrial civilization, and there are many great writers and poets, such as Shakespeare, Dickens and Shelley-I like reading Wuthering Heights and A Tale of Two Cities since I was a child, and I want to see this great country. The reserved Englishman smiled. He had never heard such a friendly visa reason, so he gave a polite "OK". No, flattering praise is also a virtue of human beings.
He went to England first, and then to Europe. It's called tourism, but Hongbin Peng doesn't want to be between mountains and rivers. Traveling to Europe is not so much about spending money on experience as about "realizing dreams"-he wants to find a decent business opportunity. Hongbin Peng believes that if you want to find new business opportunities, you must find a new project that can develop into an industry, so that you can become a boss as soon as you get involved.
On this day, Hongbin Peng came to a building materials supermarket named Bau□house, and a product named "laminate flooring" made him shine at the moment. This kind of floor is made of natural trees through advanced technology, which is the product of the latest contemporary technology. Based on the characteristics that laminate flooring is superior to traditional solid wood flooring, Hongbin Peng is determined to introduce the world-famous brands of laminate flooring to the China market and consumers as soon as possible. Hongbin Peng's choice this time decided the time when laminate flooring appeared in China.
Hongbin Peng believes in such a business creed: always cooperate with powerful people.
The meeting between Hongbin Peng and Edgar's boss was dramatic. The head of this family business has already taken a fancy to the huge market in China. He participated in various international exhibitions in China for three years in a row, but he didn't even sell a square meter of laminate flooring. When Hongbin Peng told his ambition and marketing plan in fluent English, the boss was deeply moved by the young people in front of him.
Hongbin Peng believes that there were two reasons why he hit it off with Iger at that time: "First, I am a businessman myself; Second, I can speak a foreign language. Generally speaking, people who can speak a foreign language can't do business, while those who can do business in China can't speak a foreign language. And I have both, which makes it easier to communicate with them and generate mutual trust. "
Opportunities always favor those who are prepared. When he was studying in university, Hongbin Peng insisted on writing a composition in English every day, no matter how busy and tired he was. Now he has benefited a lot from it.
Some people say that the successful selection of a project is equivalent to the completion of half of the project. What kind of thinking dominated Hongbin Peng's choice this time? "At that time, one of my ideas was that laminate flooring was a mass production product. It is not a labor-intensive product, but a production-intensive product. I found that a machine can produce millions of square meters of floor, and the labor cost is almost negligible. In addition, considering the raw materials of laminate flooring, German forest resources are not as scarce as China. At that time, I predicted that the protection of forest resources in China would be strengthened day by day, so this product made in Germany must have a bright future. I chose laminate flooring. " During this trip, Hongbin Peng also introduced Marburg wallpaper through Dr. Walter.
Today, Hongbin Peng, who has achieved great success, said, "Everyone has the seeds of great dreams. Dreams are the mother of human civilization. The ancient people's dreams of "clairvoyance" and "clairvoyance" have all come true today, which is proof. Therefore, if you want to create a better life, you must dream boldly and seize every possible chance of success. As parents, teachers and leaders, we should be good at sowing and discovering the seeds of great dreams cherished by children and subordinates. " Brand is eternal.
"Only by shaping one's own brand, implementing the famous brand strategy and striving to become a market leader rather than a follower is the only way to survive, otherwise the enterprise will never make great achievements."
The road to being a boss comes out step by step. Hongbin Peng adopted the brand marketing strategy of market leader.
After coming back from Europe, he obtained the exclusive agency of Iger's laminate flooring. His first thought was that such a good product must have a resounding China name. After returning to China, the first thing he did was to register the trademark with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
In order to establish a brand image, Hongbin Peng benefited from a book he participated in writing when he was in college-Eight Competitive Cases in the World. There is an experiment in the book: some people ask consumers to taste Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola whose trademarks have been torn off, but consumers can't tell them apart, and they are equally delicious; After labeling, most people think Coca-Cola is delicious. Hongbin Peng thought, "A world-famous trademark, the brand is more important than the general manager. The brand will live in people's hearts for a long time, while the general manager will die of old age. Who cares what his name is
Hongbin Peng said, "I dream of owning an international brand like Nike. Although it doesn't have its own factory, it can provide the best things in the world to the society. "
After two years' exploration in business circles, Hongbin Peng realized that the famous brand demonstration effect of the world economy made open China step into the famous brand era from the "product era". Our market is driven by famous brands, and famous brand products have become synonymous with high performance, high profit and high market share. Brand-name products are usually market leaders and industry leaders. Leading brand-name products represent continuous competitive advantage and broader profit space. Just like loyal fans, consumers seem to have been hypnotized by famous brands, which makes the life cycle of famous brand products much longer than that of ordinary products.
In his view, the only way to survive is to shape their own brand, implement brand-name strategy, and strive to become a market leader rather than a follower, otherwise enterprises will never make great achievements.
Hongbin Peng spent some time naming "Edgar" China. Names must be catchy and easy to remember, and animal names are best remembered. The name should be very friendly and can convey the characteristics of products and enterprises to the society. The biggest feature of laminate flooring is that it is not afraid of stepping and pressing, while the elephant is docile and friendly, dignified and powerful, which meets the requirements of the above elements.
There is another consideration for Hongbin Peng to name elephants: international brands generally dare not name animals because some ethnic groups like them and some don't; Elephants are friends of all mankind, with no taboos and great affinity. In addition, using elephants as trademarks and cartoons is not only good in image, but also easy to design.
I have some trouble registering a trademark. First it was named "Elephant", which was rejected by the Trademark Office. Later, it was named "Icon" and successfully passed the registration. Hongbin Peng was overjoyed, and registered trademarks in Germany, France, Austria, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Together with the image of an elephant in under the greenwood tree, the ancient German surname "Iger" became a veritable international brand. Since then, Hongbin Peng has been out of control, registering more than 50 trademarks in the fields of building materials, furniture and services. Hongbin Peng is very clever. When he found that Shijie Lv, his biggest and most important partner, likes to study knowledge and public welfare activities, and Shijie Lv gave him all the management work, he felt a little unbalanced. He secretly decided to leave him and go it alone. Then he "cunningly" quietly changed the legal representative of Lan Tu Company, changed the legal representative of Shijie Lv to himself, and then transferred the trademark of "Icon" to his own name. Three years later, Shijie Lv, who was kept in the dark, realized that it was too late. Lan Tu Company had been transferred and cancelled by Hongbin Peng. In this way, Hongbin Peng completed a gorgeous turn, completely holding the icon trademark, becoming the largest boss in China. Therefore, the whole world knows that the "icon" belongs to Hongbin Peng, but few people know what the "icon" has to do with Shijie Lv. Finally, the two became strangers.
In a sense, Hongbin Peng is not only the first person to launch laminate flooring in China, but also the first person to establish a brand image in China building materials market.
Talking about the brand image of "Icon", Hongbin Peng still feels proud and lucky: "At that time, I only had a subconscious mind. In the future, I will sell not only a good product, but also a brand. " "At that time, I had only one intuition. In modern industrial civilization, only the brand is eternal. Quality, service, intelligence and business opportunities are all concentrated on the brand. If you don't register the trademark, everything will be wasted and everything will become a thing of the past. "
On the eve of 2000, Hongbin Peng gave me a book he wrote, Icon. The book "Made in Germany-Theory and Practice of Virtual Management" also smells of ink. He raised his whole set of views to the height of theory.
This is a person who is good at summing up the past and guiding the future.
Success often lies in being one step or even half a step ahead! Hongbin Peng thinks that modern commerce is different from traditional commerce. Socialized mass production objectively promotes the internationalization of circulation. The important theory of international circulation is the assertion in Marxist economics-"destroying space with time". What matters is not the distance of market space, but the speed at which goods reach the market, that is, the time; Only in this way can we replace more economic space with shorter economic time.
After signing a contract from Europe, Hongbin Peng went through the trademark registration formalities nonstop, and the samples of Iger company arrived in June+10, 5438. Hongbin Peng first trained his partners, and then everyone took samples to various trade fairs, large and small. Their behavior is the same as that of employees in big companies. However, although people are very fond of these polite young people and are curious about the samples in their hands, no one is willing to pay for them.
Becoming a market leader is not so easy.
The most representative question for consumers is that the solid wood floor is so thick and your floor is so thin (8 mm)-is it ok? Based on this, Hongbin Peng realized that he must set up his own shop, and use intuitive and rich pictures, materials and field experiments to dispel customers' doubts and let them move from curiosity to buyers.
Hongbin Peng came to the decorative building materials street where the building materials building is located, and his intuition told him that this is a land of geomantic omen, and this is the only place where he can do business. 1996 On the eve of the Spring Festival, Hongbin Peng was almost desperate, and Building Materials Street had nowhere to live. But he still walks up and down this street every day. Good luck finally came to him-Hall 8 on the third floor of Building Materials Building was cancelled. This is a 1 17 square meter exhibition hall, and the location is also good. But on hearing the rent price, the old ministers of the icon were shocked-400 thousand a year! 400,000 yuan is a small amount for today's icon company, but it was astronomical at that time! Sheng Xiang's chief financial officer recalled that at that time, the company's total liquidity was only 654.38+0.7 million, but Mr. Peng made such a decisive decision, and now he is scared to think about it.
Hongbin Peng gritted his teeth and paid a monthly rent of 33,000 yuan. Then he asked a professional designer to design the exhibition hall, and the rest of the money was used for decoration. In order to catch up with the construction period, all employees of the company fought day and night. This is a gamble, an adventure and a life-and-death battle. Success will make icons shine today; If he fails, Hongbin Peng will be empty-handed, even if his spirit is not exhausted. I don't know how many years it will take him to surface. In addition, due to heavy debts, there is a danger of extinction of 100%.
If Hongbin Peng does not have a thorough understanding of the market prospects; If Hongbin Peng does not have full confidence in the products he is optimistic about; If Hongbin Peng didn't pursue his dreams all his life; If he doesn't insist on going to the broker every day-hitting a wall-and then going to the broker ... If, if, too many ifs, countless opportunities will pass us by in our ifs, and Hongbin Peng believes in "as long as he is alive, he really keeps pursuing, and market opportunities will not be repeated".
..... How did Hongbin Peng leave the "icon"? So far, there is no official information, which is puzzling. Hongbin Peng never talked about it in public, only said the word "leave". This is perhaps one of the most difficult things for Hongbin Peng. It is not clear whether breaking up with Shijie Lv will have the same effect.
After leaving his idol, Hongbin Peng became the "air" of the floor industry.
The Yangtze River flows eastward, and the waves are empty.
In the economic tide of China in the past 20 years, many heroes have been prominent in this hot land for a while. Times make heroes, and heroes also make times.
But this statement is understood separately.
When the tide of the times is surging, there will always be a group of people who will meet because of the wind and rain, take advantage of the trend and make things happen. But when the trend of the times changes, some of them disappear with the trend.
It's easy to come and go when times make heroes.
Others seized the fleeting opportunity when the tide came. Standing on the cusp of the times, when the environment changes, they can always follow the trend, sail against the current, and even quietly change the wind direction around them through personal actions, so that the direction of society or industry is also quietly changing. But this kind of effort and commitment is unimaginable.
I am suspicious of the sea and the air, beating drums all around, the tide is rising, and the red flag is not wet.
Heroes make the situation difficult, the heart difficult and the body difficult.
What is a hero? The ancients said that cleverness is called English, and courage is called male. But in my opinion, those who are willing to bear both physical and mental difficulties for their dreams are heroes. Only such a person can not be reconciled to fate and destiny, and use his inner enthusiasm to save Paramore's life.
Some people encounter a failure and will never get out of this shadow.
Some people have experienced a ups and downs, climbed to the bottom, and can't climb up any more.
In fact, it's not that objective conditions really forbid it, sometimes it's just a matter of mentality and will.
Hongbin Peng has a pet phrase: When a person faces the sun, his eyes are bright; when his back is to the sun, he can only see shadows. In 2005, Hongbin Peng returned to the floor industry and became an annual event of the floor industry. The relationship between idol and Hongbin Peng has become a sensitive and delicate topic.
In people's dramatic thinking, returnees sometimes mean avengers. There is no doubt that the return of The Count of Monte Cristo, The Cow Mang, or The Risklev of Wuthering Heights are all such interpretations.
But entrepreneurs obviously cannot make such an inference. Because no matter who goes or stays, that brand has become a part of his past life, and no one wants to ruin his past. When Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, left Apple, he sold all his shares and kept a dollar symbolically. Hongbin Peng didn't even keep a dollar of icon stock, but sold it all.
You can imagine how upset the Sri Lankan people were at that time.
But when Apple needed Jobs, he still didn't follow. Put all your heart and soul into Apple's career.
Even like Niu Gensheng, when he left Yili, he suffered great injustice.
But when confronting Yili in the market, he will try to surpass Yili, but he will never have the idea of destroying Yili.
This seems to be the common law of entrepreneurs divorced from their mothers: to live together in competition and surpass their once excellent mothers.
Hongbin Peng is the founder of the icon, but isn't he a member of the matrix?
He must have been restless when he left. Even this injustice sometimes manifests itself in a special way, but it will not be the kind of life-and-death
We will even say that if one day the icon is really unlucky and encounters great difficulties and difficulties, who will miss the brand most at that time?
There may be several people, but one of them must be Hongbin Peng.
However, in the E0 trademark war in 2006, the two sides fought inextricably. When the idol was riding a tiger, He Weng took the initiative to settle out of court and took the lead in withdrawing the lawsuit from the court.
Competition and symbiosis, opponents and colleagues are always subtle and objective opposites in business.
Once the sea was difficult for water, except for icons, which were not peaks. For Hongbin Peng, who doesn't want to repeat himself, it seems that what he is trying to surpass is just his former self.
……
The starting point of an organization's success often begins with strategy.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei's road to success in Shu and Han started from Longzhong. Cao Cao's road to northern reunification began with welcoming the emperor back to Xudu. The real imperial road of Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty began with Zhu Sheng's nine-character mantra: build a high wall, accumulate a wide grain, and be king slowly.
There are similarities in the management of enterprises in reality.
In marketing, we call it strategy. Later, Rhine Sunshine was a natural child and began to grow wildly after birth, but before birth, this "child" faced a serious problem: whether it should be born or not.
At that time, Kono already had a brand in China market: Kono Senhua, and it had formed a certain accumulation effect. Why not make this brand bigger and stronger, and start a new stove? From the perspective of eugenics, isn't it more distracting to have another child if one child can't be raised well?
Debate focus
The focus of the debate is on several aspects:
1, when a unit cannot solve the battle alone, it is necessary to add another unit.
Against each other: continue to develop Knoxville, make Knoxville bigger and stronger, and sprint to the commanding heights of the market. There is no need to produce a new brand.
Supporter: Knosenhua certainly wants to develop, but from the current point of view, his overall positioning determines that there is limited room for brand growth. It is impossible to dominate the mainstream market in a short time by relying solely on the Knoxville family. If the market is also a battlefield, when the first army cannot complete the task, there should be a second army to join the battle. This is multi-brand competition and group army combat.
2. The blank mind of consumers is the blank market.
Confrontation with each other: the competition in the floor market has been highly heated. In a highly homogeneous market, there is no subdivided blank market at all, and there is no market opportunity for new brands.
Supporter: All opportunities can be created by people. The blank area in consumers' minds is the blank area of the brand. Difficulties are a dialectical method. It is difficult when an enterprise's execution ability can ensure the implementation of the strategy, and it is also difficult when the enterprise's resource ability is not available.
When Haier launched Pathfinder TV products, it was the most competitive time in the TV market. When Sofitel launched functional soap, it was the time when personal cleaning care products were monopolized by foreign brands and joint venture brands. Kono's century-old experience can ensure that we can define a floor product that belongs to consumers in China according to the needs of consumers in China.
3. Divide brands with different niche markets.
Opposition: Even if we have a new brand, how big is its space and will it cross Knoxville?
Supporters: China's urban middle class is on the rise. This group of people will be the mainstream of consumption in China in the future, and their life interest and consumption aesthetics will play an exemplary and guiding role for the whole society. No flooring product meets the aesthetic definition of the middle class. China's future middle class is the main niche market of this new brand, and Knoxville will be positioned at the next level of this niche market: the well-off market.
4. impress consumers with lifestyle
Oppose: even if a new brand is defined, how can we approach consumers when the means of floor competition are exhausted?
Supporter: Let the floor represent a way of life. Pay attention to the inner world of consumers, what kind of life they are eager for, and present this lifestyle to him.
..... Hongbin Peng finally made a decision: "Changing the existing brand image is not a one-off event, but the market is changing rapidly and time waits for no one!"
Kono should create another brand. On the one hand, we should echo Knoxville, enrich product lines, diversify products and occupy more markets. On the other hand, through the new brand, new image and new definition, a new round of subversive revolution in the flooring industry has been set off, which is an effect that cannot be achieved by transforming the original brand.
All right, the supporters win. Rhine sunshine got the pass.
But it didn't have a name at that time. Perhaps for most readers, these words are too boring, but boredom is a prominent feature of a career in its initial stage. What I did was thought, but it was destroyed. Since the brain is born to direct actions, it often means that it is doing its best under the surface. Sometimes it's a boring dogma, sometimes it's a wild imagination, sometimes it's an epiphany.
Debate before sunrise.
Stephen Wynn, the gambling king in Las Vegas, is recognized as a business wizard. His words describe the most precious trait of entrepreneurs: ordinary people can only see tangible objects. A truly visionary discovers what is invisible. Running a school is different from selling goods. Because Hongbin Peng is not good at education, he has not achieved the expected educational effect, which is far from his previous ambition. Even in the face of a situation that was not recognized by peers, including his collaborators, they also raised differences.
"But he is a person who can't even run a school well. He will collapse the second school without saying anything. " This is another understanding. How far can Hongbin Peng go? I hope he can turn around again in persistence.