Commentary on Huawei's R&D 1 I recently read a book: Huawei's R&D (2nd Edition) by Zhang Lihua. It's so well written! Huawei is a well-known company. I have read Huawei's books for a long time, and there are seven or eight books without ten. It feels almost the same, and it's nothing new. This "Huawei R&D" feels different after reading more than ten pages! I feel that the writing is very deep, organized and vivid! Such an awesome author is rare! Why didn't I know that before? So I quickly found the author's profile in the book. I knew at a glance that the author had worked in Huawei for many years. I tell you, people really understand!
From the author's own experience and the content of this book, it can be seen that outsiders and insiders write differently! A well-written insider can be very vivid, profound and clear! Unfortunately, many books about companies and business leaders are written by outsiders, and the depth is far from enough. For example, Wu Xiaobo's The Great Failure is a good book, but compared with this book, its depth is still obviously insufficient. I have always felt that when writing about commercial warfare and internal management, it can be written more deeply and vividly. "Huawei R&D" showed me that this can be done completely!
This is the first gain from reading this book. It is also my biggest gain! Because I know what I can achieve by writing books in the future. Zhang Lihua this book, not bad!
The second harvest is to summarize Huawei's successful experience in combination with the books I read in the past. The reasons for Huawei's success are as follows:
First, the background of the times is to catch up with the great development of the communications industry. At that time, communication technology was changing from analog to digital. Foreign communication has developed rapidly, and China is even faster, catching up with the Internet tide. The great success of any company is inseparable from the background of the times, that is, keeping pace with the times and creating heroes.
Second, Huawei is first and foremost an excellent sales company, and Ren is a marketing genius.
This may be different from many people's cognition. Many people may think that Huawei's technology is excellent, and it started with its own research and development products. No! Huawei started by selling communication equipment in Hong Kong. At that time, there were hundreds of companies selling communication products in Shenzhen alone, with little technical content. However, Huawei still stands out in the fierce competitive sales, setting up some strongholds all over the country and making the first pot of gold. Therefore, Huawei's sales force has been super strong. Huawei finds business opportunities by expanding the market, and then promotes research and development.
Third, doing research and development is not only a last resort, but also a profit-driven.
If you don't have your own products, you will feel constrained everywhere in sales. For example, Hong Kong manufacturers could not supply in time, and production could not keep up (demand was in short supply at that time). Some customers had special requirements and needed customized research and development. Therefore, in the marketing process, Ren deeply felt it necessary to do R&D and production in person. So Huawei began to imitate the products of Hong Kong companies. To put it bluntly, it is a cottage, and then it is labeled as its own company, which is considered to be independent research and development. In fact, the technical level of the company was very low at that time, starting from scratch.
Another stimulating factor is ZTE. ZTE was established several years earlier than Huawei, when it had strong technical force and had already started independent research and development. 1992 ZTE's revenue 1 100 million, with a profit and tax of 60 million! Such a high profit is definitely a stimulus to Ren. So he started an amazing gamble and began to invest huge sums of money to make switches. At this time, Ren attracted Zheng Baoyong, a technical expert, and Huawei embarked on the road of technology!
So, why is the profit from R&D so rich?
Because the wages of foreign technicians are high, the products are of course expensive. Therefore, even though Huawei's later products are 30% cheaper than similar foreign products, its core chips and operating systems are independently developed, and the cost is much lower, so there are still rich profits.
Although it is driven by rich profits, don't think it is easy. In the 1990s, there were thousands of companies in the domestic communication industry, and there was a "Greater China", which was the most powerful of these four companies. But now that "huge" has passed, ZTE is much worse than Huawei. Looking at the entire business community in China, Huawei is the best!
Huawei's road is "trade technology". That is what Liu Chuanzhi has always said: "Trade first, then factory, then technology." But Lenovo has been shouting for more than 30 years and is still a two-way trafficker. Huawei is the real "trade technology"!
So, why can't you associate it?
I can only guess one or two about this:
(1) Although the communication industry is also high-tech, the threshold is much lower than that of the computer industry. Although Huawei's technicians have worked very hard and successfully made powerful products in more than a year, the difficulty is definitely lower than developing CPU and operating system in the computer industry. In addition, the computer industry pays more attention to compatibility. Therefore, it is more difficult to ask Lenovo to become a technology company.
(2) Lenovo had the opportunity to become a technology company, but missed it.
In the 1990s, Ni Guangnan, the chief engineer of Lenovo, proposed to engage in technology, but was rejected by Liu Chuanzhi, which also created a sensational "Liu Ni dispute". Although it may not be successful if you follow Ni Guangnan's path at that time, Lenovo has completely become a two-way trafficker since then. The so-called technology is all superficial embellishment.
(3) Ren Zheng Fei has more courage and strength than Liu Chuanzhi!
Both of them are famous entrepreneurs and have great strength. However, Ren is better than Liu Chuanzhi in sales ability and internal management ability, especially his mind is bigger! This leads to the fourth point.
Fourth, Huawei is wholly owned.
Although I put this in the fourth point, this is actually why Huawei is the best enterprise in China! Because: in line with the trend of the times, there are not a few companies with excellent marketing and excellent technology. But the question is how long can they last? If you want to be excellent all the time and continue to be excellent, you must give full play to the abilities of all employees (not individual geniuses)! For Huawei, it depends on full shareholding.
Huawei's full shareholding has the following characteristics:
(1) Real full shareholding. Including drivers, doormen and chefs, you can buy internal stocks if you want. This fundamentally eliminates the confrontation between labor and capital. In most companies, employees without shares and managers with shares are already antagonistic in nature.
(2) There is no compulsory purchase, but the dividend of the buyer is very high, with an average of about 50% per year. So don't buy it in the first year, and often buy it in the second year.
(3) Rolling development. Stock dividends are often invested in buying new shares in the second year.
Therefore, Huawei relies on full shareholding, which not only improves cohesion, but also solves the financial problem. Because Huawei has always been a fast-growing company, it has never been listed and has been short of funds. Employees continue to use dividends and even the company shares, and the funding problem is greatly alleviated. Huawei's R&D has made a very in-depth and vivid exposition on the benefits of full shareholding, and highly praised Huawei for building the largest middle class in China through full shareholding! Huawei has truly achieved * * * prosperity!
I also read an article recently, saying that Genghis Khan's greatest military achievement lies not in how fierce he fought, but in his great innovation in management. According to Genghis Khan's regulations, whoever takes the loot will be his (in the past, a large number of slaves had no loot, so they had no enthusiasm), while Genghis Khan only wanted 10% (while other tribes and chiefs got most of it). This greatly improved people's enthusiasm for fighting and made everyone feel that they were fighting for themselves. It seems that a wise leader with full shareholding and decentralized ownership does have great benefits, both ancient and modern.
Fifth, we attach great importance to internal communication and have strong technical management ability.
Many of Huawei's research and development are later than ZTE's, but because of its strong technical management ability, it often comes from behind. The author has also discussed this in detail, and I have gained a lot from reading it. But this is a relatively microscopic category, so I won't say much.
These are the reasons why I think Huawei is so successful.
Please note that I didn't say that Ren Zheng Fei was technically far-sighted. Because Huawei's R&D is basically extensive and meager, Ren is not a technical expert. He not only grasped several important technical trends, but also lost some important technical trends such as PHS and CDMA, which led to the stagnation of Huawei in the last few years of 2002. Therefore, I think the more important reasons for Huawei's success are its marketing, management and broad mind.
Huawei, Ren, Niu!
The book "Huawei" tells the story of how Ren, the head of Huawei, started from scratch and started to create this giant enterprise from being cheated of 2 million yuan. After reading this book, we have a deep understanding of Huawei's thrilling, ups and downs and difficult independent research and development process in the process of rapid growth.
What impressed me most was Huawei's approach and attitude towards the market and technical talents. In the market, Huawei's "market first, customer first" is actually what we call "customer is God". For talents, Huawei provides rich meals and bathing conditions. These small favors not only make employees feel warm, but also reflect Huawei's attitude towards employees-attaching importance to talents.
In the rapid rise of Huawei, we will meet many competitors. It seems that Huawei's advantages over other enterprises are good product quality, steady and continuous growth of technical talents and reasonable distribution system. At the same time, the internal operation mechanism of the enterprise solves the problem of short-term interest distribution; The pursuit of entrepreneurs solves the problem of long-term development goals of enterprises; It has a positive incentive mechanism, which solves the dynamic problem of enterprise development. After these ups and downs, Huawei has become a successful enterprise.
Through the analysis of Huawei enterprises in the book Huawei R&D, we know that the survival of enterprises depends on the continuous innovation of products, while the long-term, stable and lasting development of enterprises depends on continuous research and development.
There are many places in the book Huawei R&D that are worth learning and learning from. Let me learn to give up, learn to pay, learn the kind of mind and boldness of vision on Ren Zong, and learn the kind of selflessness and dedication on him.
After reading the book "Huawei R&D" in one breath, it seems to relive the glorious course of Huawei for more than 20 years with the pace of the author. It has the passion of youth, the hardships of starting a business, the joy of success and the pain of failure. Successful enterprises are different, but no matter how many opportunities, technologies, talents, strategies, markets, funds, relationships and other conditions you have, effective management is an indispensable magic weapon for the success of enterprises.
Speaking of effective management, I want to talk about manufacturing enterprises first, because my first job after graduation from university was in a production workshop of Samsung Electric. There is almost no creative work here, only repetitive work according to standards and processes, and almost all operators engaged in production work are a group of young people with relatively low academic qualifications and quality. Therefore, how to make a group of young people with low quality and disobedience work hard according to strict standards and produce products with good quality and quantity can only be achieved by meticulous management. Here, the work requirements, operation methods and precautions of each station are posted in the most conspicuous place; Every process requires strict training and practice, and even such simple things as how to clean, change water several times and wipe several times have unified requirements. It is this strict, meticulous and clear management that magically turns scattered young people into a whole, thus creating wealth and value far greater than 1+ 1=2. No matter how these operators behave in life or society, as long as they enter the workshop, the atmosphere and management requirements here will turn everyone into a person-there is no extra mind to think about other things except work. Although there are complaints and dissatisfaction, when you get the bonus, the saliva of hard work and complaints instantly turns into joy. In fact, we do not hesitate to work overtime and sweat, just hoping that the sweat we pay can be exchanged for the fruits of harvest. Management is a tool to turn everyone's efforts into gains. It is not responsible for one person, but for everyone.
In 2004, I came to Beijing from a manager in the production workshop and entered the mobile phone design room. At that time, the mobile phone design company should be regarded as a high-tech industry. The culture here advocates open, beautiful, free working hours and relaxed work requirements, but the quality and cultural level of employees are quite high. Different from manufacturing enterprises, it is mainly engaged in creative mental work, and the core and value of the company are reflected in the competitiveness of products, which means that the greatest wealth of R&D company is technical personnel, but how to effectively manage this group of high-quality and highly educated personnel is almost the biggest problem for every design company. I have worked in three design companies. At the beginning, people were buzzing and enthusiastic, but they all ended in failure. There are market reasons, strategic factors and financial problems, but the biggest problem I see is that I can't manage R&D effectively.
Because R&D work is different from production work, it is impossible for everyone to design a perfect schematic diagram, structure stack or ID modeling with a single operation instruction, let alone software programming. However, the book Huawei R&D describes in detail Huawei's attention and investment in R&D; Importance and dispersion of R&D engineers; Methods and concepts of research and development management. Huawei's success made me realize that the success and growth of R&D enterprises depend on R&D, and the successful and effective R&D depends on management. Therefore, whether it is a production enterprise or an R&D enterprise, people should take care of things, but how to manage and how to manage them is a matter of level, which will directly affect the life and death of the company. Although I manage one thing at a time, I still dare not teach others how to manage R&D effectively. I just summarize the main problems I have seen in R&D enterprises, and hope that enterprises can change their thinking and innovate management from these aspects:
1, where passion burns: R&D engineers need enthusiasm in their work. With enthusiasm, they have initiative, sense of responsibility and sense of belonging. It is an art and a need for enterprises to lead the passion of combustion technicians. Ren Zong of Huawei is such a master of art..
2. Keep your word and do what you want: There are many R&D problems, so it is common to postpone R&D projects. It seems that there is never a project I have experienced that is not postponed, which leads to the engineers' coping and the unrealistic progress of PM. Because the project manager knows that even if there is enough time, it will be delayed. It's best to compress the work from five days to three days, so that it will be two days late. But all the projects are so compressed, the engineer's inspection time is gone, the probability of error rate is increased, and the repeated work caused by errors will inevitably cause greater delay and waste.
3. Experts are in charge: the management of R&D personnel must be "fighting violence with violence", that is, technicians are managed by the highest-level technical experts. No matter SOURCING procurement or PM project manager, anyone who has dealt with the technical department knows that it is difficult to ask technicians without technical knowledge, and it is impossible to judge whether the explanations given by technicians are correct, so they are passive in their work, let alone effective. Just like Huawei, all personnel of R&D are led by Zheng Baoyong, including personnel administrative power. Only those who really know the technology can distinguish the authenticity, tap talents, convince people with morality and ensure the effectiveness, fairness and competitiveness of the R&D team.
4. Role transformation: The work of R&D enterprises is mainly divided into technology, management and marketing. Those who know technology may not know management; Those who know management may not know the market; Those who know the market and don't know the technology are selfish departmentalists who stand on their own position. Even though they have done their best for the company, they can't help blaming and complaining to each other. Because they have no experience, they can't understand each other and communicate effectively. In this regard, Huawei attaches great importance to training the company's backbone personnel. Many managers are tempered by multiple departments and roles, so it is of great significance for technicians to experience different positions for better research and development.
5, no regrets: life is like chess, shopping malls are like battlefields. Regardless of R&D failure or strategic mistakes, enterprises should, as always, give everyone confidence and hope. Enterprises should be brave enough to take responsibility, and should not be timid and give too much blame and pressure to R&D personnel. Only in this way can a culture create real warriors and employees who are willing to live and die with the enterprise.
What does research and development depend on? It depends on people! What do people depend on? It depends on management! So-there is no effective research and development without effective management!
How did Huawei grow from a small enterprise to an international company? For details, please refer to Chapter 4, Huawei R&D.. So, what are Huawei's successful ways?
1, focusing on independent research and development.
Huawei did not stop at the level of product agency, but invested a lot of money in product research and development. Even in the most difficult financial situation, Ren still invested most of his money in research and development.
2. Pay attention to talents.
Huawei's emphasis on talents is mainly reflected in the following aspects:
1, high salary. Huawei's salary is very high to attract talents.
2. Give enough research and development funds. Many Huawei people used to be teachers in colleges and universities and researchers in research institutes. Because of long-term neglect, I finally switched to Huawei and let them do whatever they want.
3, the use of talent, regardless of seniority, only ability. This is obviously different from the current institutions and state-owned enterprises.
3. Pay attention to management.
Huawei has long attached great importance to management and introduced many MBA talents into enterprises. And spent $50 million from IBM to hire people to guide the management of the enterprise.
4, pay attention to customers, and the products are inexpensive.
In the process of continuous independent innovation, the price of Huawei products is obviously lower than that of competitors, which is one of the important magic weapons for Huawei to win.
In a word, Huawei's success is not accidental, but the result of proper management.