Doing business with my father and exercising.
Chen, his father, went to Singapore to do business in his early years. Do rice business first, collect goods from Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar and resell them to Singapore and Malaysia. Later, he managed small pineapple cannery, pineapple orchard and real estate business. 1899, its assets have reached more than 300,000 yuan, and its position in the shopping mall is very small. It's a pity that leitian later relaxed the management of enterprises because of "contamination with foreign cigarettes", resulting in overstaffing, which led to the decline of enterprises. ...
/kloc-in the autumn of 0/890, before Chen Jiageng was called to Singapore by his father's letter, he studied in a private school in his hometown of Jimei for several years. He can't read, but he is diligent. I am deeply touched by hearing and seeing the disadvantages and poverty in the old society. After going abroad, I helped my uncle manage documents and money and goods accounts on my father's rice shop "Shun 'an". My uncle returned to the hippo chef, and he temporarily took over the business of the rice shop. During the period of starting a business with his father, Chen Jiageng was loyal to his duties, honest and self-disciplined, studied hard and managed diligently. He worked as a manager for two years, and "Shun 'an" rice shop earned six yuan, which initially showed his business ability and moral character.
/kloc-in the winter of 0/899, Chen Jiageng returned to China for the third time and buried his mother for three years. After returning to the new, I saw that the situation had changed greatly. Father is sad and silent, uncle is paralyzed in bed, and the enterprise is on the verge of despair. Despite Chen Jiageng's efforts to turn the situation around, people still live beyond their means and are heavily in debt. At the beginning of 1904, Chen Jia Industry had to declare bankruptcy.
Chen Jiageng was deeply moved by the decrease of his family's wealth. He said: "Jia Jun worked hard all his life for decades, and the result was unfortunate. What is left is that he is determined to do it for a long time with endless hatred. What you can do will definitely pay off, so as not to regret it. "
The decline of family fortune made Chen Jiageng deeply realize that if you manage everything, regardless of people and don't manage money, it means that you are not in charge and the enterprise will surely fail. The lessons of the past are the lessons of the future. Chen Jiageng has been doing business with his father for 14 years. He tasted the ups and downs of life for the first time, experienced exercise and learned a profound lesson.
Start over and run pineapples.
Undaunted by the collapse of the enterprise, Chen Jiageng is determined to start all over again. 1904 In the spring, he first took a fancy to canned pineapple. Pineapple is a specialty of Xingzhou, with excellent texture and convenient procurement. Can be canned and exported to Europe and America. Moreover, the production cycle is short, raw materials can be purchased on credit, and the cost is low and the profit is large. He made a decisive decision, simplified as soon as possible, invested 7,000 yuan, used simple factory buildings and old machinery and equipment to put into production before the summer pineapple season, and legally took over a pineapple cannery. At the beginning of the operation, the production and marketing business was booming.
At that time, about 20 companies from Sin Chew, Bobcan Factory and foreign companies were operating this industry, and the competition was fierce. And finding out the market and guiding according to the situation is the key to the success or failure of competition. Smart and resourceful, Chen Jiageng learned that there are dozens of kinds of canned packaging. Strip, square and sheet products are large and produce many products, but the benefits are thin. Although the miscellaneous products are not in batches and the process is difficult, no one produces them, which is profitable. Despite all the difficulties, Chen Jiageng accepted all the miscellaneous products, which is the only advantage. Then, Chen Jiageng found that colleagues often calculate the cost of canned pineapple production on a quarterly basis, while Xiao Fang has many loopholes in the year-end profit and loss. But he practices the same day purchase, the same day production and the same day accounting. It is forbidden to mix, and it is forbidden to waste in the production process. He will practise economy. Every day, from morning till afternoon, he visits the factory. At the end of the year, the account was closed, and the profit was 60,000, which was auspicious and reassuring.
Re-cultivate rice industry and try to grow rubber.
Encouraged by Chen Jiageng's independent operation and success in the first battle, he is determined to make persistent efforts to expand his business in many ways:
-Expand the factory building of pineapple cannery, acquire equipment, buy 500 mu of semi-idle open space at a low price, and plant pineapples. After two years, more than 20,000 boxes of canned pineapples can be produced. This garden was the largest pineapple garden in the local area at that time and was named "Fushan Garden".
—— Invested 20,000 yuan to open a rice shop, and earned 8,000 yuan that year. He also invested 40,000 yuan to set up a cooked rice factory. Rice can cure beriberi, which is very popular among overseas Chinese and Indians. Distribution in India, after the establishment. After the shareholding, it coincided with the price increase of cooked rice, and the profit of that year was 10 million yuan.
Expedition to Bangkok kills two birds with one stone. 19 1 1 In the spring of, Chen Jiageng went to Bangkok on business. Knowing that Beiliu Port is rich in pineapples, and there is no one in the local area to make canned food, we set up a factory to manufacture and harvest rice. During his stay in Bangkok, he also visited a rice mill run by overseas Chinese, and found that a movable roof that can automatically advance and retreat was installed on the drying ridge, which can be opened in sunny days and covered in rainy days and at night. The embankment is paved with light rail, which is extremely convenient for transportation back and forth. After Chen Jiageng returned to the new town, he immediately allocated funds for imitation, which not only saved a lot of labor, but also improved work efficiency and avoided all kinds of waste. He is glad to have achieved many goals.
-try to grow rubber and taste the sweetness. 1906, Nanyang rubber is still relatively rare. One day, Chen Jiageng learned that planting rubber can make huge profits, so he immediately bought a rare rubber seed of 6.5438+0.8 million, intercropped it with pineapple in Fushan Garden, and then planted rubber near the garden at a low price. The following year, when Chen Jiageng was full of hope for the rubber industry, he suffered two major misfortunes: First, his father died; Second, the cooked rice factory caught fire, which caused huge losses and seriously affected the capital turnover. Chen Jiageng had to mortgage the rubber plantation first, and then set up two other rubber plantations after the storm, and made full use of the land in the new rubber plantation to plant rubber and interplant wood and pineapple. Many things happen. In the past few years, only the rubber garden has made a profit of 250,000 yuan, which is the highest in all industries.
1904-1911year is the first seven years of Chen Jiageng's independent venture. He is careful in his work. During this period, he not only paid his father's debts faithfully, but also won the reputation of "pineapple Sultan", and initially explored the experience of planting rubber, and owned four pineapple factories, two rice factories (shops) and two rubber gardens. The accumulated profit is 450,000 yuan. At that time, in Singapore, he was able to make such a profit, and he was already an overseas Chinese industrialist with certain strength. Chen Jiageng is in Nanyang, and his heart is attached to the motherland. At this time, he has decided to start his studies in Jimei in order to serve the motherland.
Seize the opportunity to develop shipping.
19 14, World War I broke out. Ships are tight and transportation is difficult. Chen Jiageng's rice industry needs the help of ocean transportation. We had to rent two ships to sail between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. It has been running smoothly for several months. Rent two more ships to transport the sawdust needed by the British government to the Persian Gulf. After the expiration of the charter, it was decided to buy two second-hand ships (both more than 3,000 tons) at a low price of 700,000 yuan and rent them out for their own use. In the four years of "World War I", the income of shipbuilding industry alone reached 654.38+0.6 million yuan, which was very profitable. 19 18, two rounds were sunk by german ships in the Mediterranean, causing heavy losses. Fortunately, both ships have been insured in advance, with a total compensation of 6.5438+0.3 million, after deducting the principal of 600,000. Unfortunately, the shipping industry has been interrupted since then, and it can no longer profit from shipping.
During World War I, Chen Jiageng continued to operate the rice industry, while the pineapple industry was ceded, and its commercial focus gradually shifted to the rubber industry. To 19 18, there are 3 rubber parks with an area of 5,000 mu and 3 rubber factories with total assets of 4 million yuan. At this time, Chen Jiageng has become an up-and-coming overseas Chinese industrialist.
Focus on rubber and create more glory.
19 19, Chen Jiageng returned to China to organize Xiamen university, and the enterprise entrusted his brother Jing Xian and others as agents. After he returned to the new market on 1922, he saw a new competitive situation in the market and immediately took the following measures to strengthen rubber management:
-bought nine rubber factories in Malaya at a low price, and they were in a state of shutdown and semi-shutdown. Together with the original one, it can produce more than 30,000 tons of adhesive tape every month, and the annual profit is more than 1 10,000 yuan.
-Expanding rubber plantations. Newly opened rubber parks in Singapore and Malaysia, with an area of10.5 million mu, became one of the owners of Nanyang Overseas Chinese Rubber Park.
-Developing rubber factories. Mass production of various rubber products such as tires, rubber boots, rubber shoes, sanitary products and daily necessities. And also created the famous brand-name product "Zhong Biao" Chen Jiageng rubber overshoes. At that time, together with the rubber factory, there were more than 30 large and small factories with more than 30 thousand employees.
-set up distribution offices all over the country, with self-employment as the main factor and agency as the supplement. There are more than 100 distribution offices and agents on five continents.
After the implementation of the above measures, the company's profits soared. 1925 is a historical record, with an annual profit of nearly 8 million yuan (currency) and total assets of120,000 yuan. At this point, Chen Jiageng is a powerful overseas Chinese industrialist not only in Singapore, but also in Nanyang.
The company was hit hard and went bankrupt.
The ancients said: today is a disaster, and today is a blessing. After the end of World War I, the western economy gradually recovered, and the competition among the powers for the eastern colonial economy became more intense. Western consortia saw that rubber products on the market were profitable, so they rushed to invest and set up factories to manufacture them. 1926, the supply of rubber products exceeded demand, and the price of rubber plummeted. From spring to winter, each ton of raw rubber in Singapore-Malaysia market dropped from 180 yuan to 90 yuan. Japan, a neighboring country to the east, vigorously promotes the "southward policy" and adopts national means such as tax incentives and export subsidies to manufacture cheap rubber products and dump them on the Southeast Asian market at low prices. Chen Jiageng's affiliated companies suffered heavy losses under the joint exclusion of many foreign powers and consortia, but their strength was weak, it was difficult to compete, and their operations plummeted. In the annual final accounts of 1926, the enterprise not only made no profit, but also lost more than 300,000 yuan.
1928 On May 3, the "Jinan Massacre" occurred, which aroused the public indignation of Chinese and overseas Chinese. Chen Jiageng took the lead in raising money to help compatriots in distress, and Nanyang Business Daily, which he founded, also vigorously promoted the boycott of Japanese goods. Japanese businessmen and profiteers held a grudge and colluded to set fire to the largest rubber factory in Chen Jiageng, which caused heavy losses. After repeated tossing, Chen Jiageng lost his assets.
Half, weakened.
From 65438 to 0929, the capitalist economic crisis broke out and the world market was in chaos. 193 1 year, Singapore's raw rubber has dropped to an unprecedented seven or eight yuan a load, and rubber shoes have dropped from more than one yuan to twenty cents a pair, but no one cares. Faced with such a fierce economic crisis, Chen Jiageng enterprises have suffered losses year after year. Some people suggest that they stop tuition to maintain their business. Chen Jiageng said categorically: "No, my business can close, and the school must not close." Therefore, he raised funds through various means, including selling some school properties, borrowing money and even selling buildings to maintain the funds of Jimei and Xiamen University. At this time, Chen Jiageng's debt has greatly exceeded his total assets, and he was forced to accept the advice of the local banking group and reorganize his wholly-owned enterprise into a joint stock limited company. At this point, Chen Jiageng was marginalized and lost the autonomy of enterprises. Although the enterprise once seemed to have a new turn for the better, the colonial authorities stipulated that the products could only be monopolized by a British businessman and could not operate freely. Chen Jiageng tried his best to object, but in vain. The British consortium bullied others and even boasted openly: "My British interests are not allowed to be touched by others." Seeing that the business prospect was hopeless, Chen Jiageng decided to close the business starting with 1934.
A few years later, someone sincerely asked Chen Jiageng how to run a business, and he replied, "There are two. First, we must have the motherland as our backing; The second is to have an economic vision and a political vision. " Chen Jiageng's two articles are the fruits of his decades of overseas business efforts.