Ding Zhizhong, President of Anta: Boxue Shoes King 2009-7-4 8:0 1:00 News Source: The business field is in a small town near the sea in Jinjiang City, Fujian Province. At first, driven by a simple desire to get rich, Ding Zhizhong became a shoe store owner who never graduated from junior high school. But when he became a modern enterprise manager faster than others, he took the lead in opening up the domestic market, and quickly stood out from more than 3,000 local shoe enterprises and boarded the throne of the small town shoe king! In the conference room of Anta, a department manager cooperated with the projection slide to report the progress of a training project in detail. A young man with a baby face sat at one end of a long conference table. After listening attentively for about 10 minutes, I suddenly interrupted him: "Don't tell me the specific details, just tell me what benefits you will get from investing so much." This heartless young man is Ding Zhizhong, the 37-year-old president of Anta (China) Co., Ltd., from chen dai zhen, Jinjiang City, Fujian Province. Just half a month ago, he led the company into the main board of Hong Kong, raising HK$ 365,438+68 million. On the first day of listing of 10 in July, the company's share price rose by 44%, which made Ding Zhizhong and his family members holding 75% of the company's shares worth more than1300 million Hong Kong dollars. It took Ding Zhizhong less than 65,438+00 years to leave thousands of competitors in Anta town behind. "Anta has grown bigger, and Ding Zhizhong is not good-looking now." A Shishi businessman who started making sportswear on 1983 said. The annual sales of his "Hao Jian" brand sportswear is about 1 100 million. Ding Zhizhong became a veritable local shoe king, but he did not become the president of the local shoe industry association. "He has a domineering spirit in his bones, which is not easy to deal with," said a local media reporter. He is never willing to accommodate others. According to the local people, if it is something he doesn't want to do but has to do, Ding Hui, the founder of Xtep, another shoe company in Jinjiang, will choose to do it, but simply refuse. Perhaps because of this, when Quanzhou City (Jinjiang belongs to Quanzhou City) elected the president of the Footwear Association in 2006, as the boss of Jinjiang's footwear industry, it was originally the only candidate for the president, but it attracted opposition, and Ding finally took the seat. "Ding Zhizhong is a closed-minded person in character. Only a few close friends can understand his inner thoughts. Most people, even the directors of his company, may not know what he is thinking. " A person who has worked beside Ding Zhizhong for many years said. Why can this "difficult-to-deal" businessman surpass more than 3,000 Jinjiang shoe enterprises and become the star of wealth in this labor-intensive industry? "I hope I can have the money to buy a motorcycle like others." Ding Zhizhong grew up in a shoemaking workshop and was interested in business. Later, he recalled that he hoped to live a better life and have money to buy a motorcycle like others, which was his initial motivation for doing business. Chen dai zhen, Jinjiang, Fujian, where he lives, is a place where commercial cells are easy to sprout. The local people have a tradition of going out to sea to make a living. When overseas Chinese earn money, they will send back their capital, bring market information and orders, and thus give birth to local manufacturing. From 65438 to the early 1980s, there were many shoemaking workshops in chen dai zhen, Jinjiang. Overseas Jinjiang expatriates brought initial orders for these workshops. Ding, a local farmer, co-founded a village-run shoe factory in chen dai zhen in the mid-1960s. 199 1 years ago, he sold his family's millet, chickens and ducks and other things that could be exchanged for money. With the support of relatives, he raised 50,000 yuan to set up a shoemaking workshop, which is the predecessor of Anta. According to the information provided by Anta Company, as early as around 1987, Ding gave his son 10000 yuan and 600 pairs of shoes purchased from Chen Dai's shoe workshops for consignment back to Beijing. At this time, Ding Zhizhong was only 17 years old and had not graduated from junior high school. Ding Zhizhong became one of hundreds of Jinjiang people who went to Beijing to sell shoes in 1980s and 1990s. He opened Jinjiang shoe cabinets in major shopping malls in Beijing such as Wangfujing (26.66, -0.02, -0.07%), and the business was very hot. It is said that it was from this moment that Ding Zhizhong became aware of marketing. He learned to study the types of consumers and pay attention to what kind of shoes have a bigger market. According to an insider of Anta, Ding Zhizhong returned to Jinjiang on 1994 with 200,000 yuan earned in Beijing. At that time, the shoe factory had already opened, which was run by Ding's father and brother. Ding Zhizhong returned to Jinjiang and became the deputy general manager in charge of marketing. 1994, after changing several factory names, Ding Jia and his son decided to unify the factory name and product brand as "Anta". In Ding's memory, this brand means "start a business with peace of mind and be down to earth". Two years later, Ding Zhizhong gained the dominance of the family business. As the general manager of Anta, his father Ding officially retired to the second line; Brother Ding has a gentle personality, "does not like to stand out" and is responsible for production affairs. Ding Yali, my sister who graduated from technical secondary school majoring in finance, holds the company's purse in her hand. "Fortunately, Ding Zhizhong has a good father who delegated power to his son as soon as possible. His brothers and sisters also formed a good complementary relationship with him. There is no struggle for power and profit, and there is no intrigue." A person familiar with Anta said. In the mid-1990s, Jinjiang shoe enterprises mainly outsourced and contracted for foreign companies including Anta. 1994 or so, Anta's sales amount to several million yuan, and its profit is even smaller. Ding Zhizhong, who saw the domestic market space in Beijing, felt that Anta should establish its own brand and explore the domestic market. To this end, he immediately found an advertising company to do corporate image design for Anta after taking the helm. In the advertising company he frequented, he met Ye Shuangquan, who later became an important planner of Anta. "Our company often gives some lectures, and he often comes to listen to them." Ye Shuangquan, four years older than Ding Zhizhong, recalled. At that time, he was the account director of an advertising company. Ye Shuangquan remembers that Ding Zhizhong met at that time was like a child, with a baby face and big eyes. He was very pious, eager to learn and shy. He stayed in the company for a year and never said a word to him. 1998, Ye Shuangquan resigned due to the change of advertising company. At the invitation of Ding Zhizhong, he began to join Anta. According to Ye's memory, around 1998, Anta had only four senior executives: Ding himself, Ding's brother, Ye Shuangquan and a director in charge of design. As Ding's assistant, Ye Shuangquan often travels with him. They often discuss business from the plane to the hotel room, "sometimes sleeping in a bed at night to continue the discussion." In Ye's view, Ding is a studious person and a very smart person. Ye Shuangquan introduced to Ding Zhizhong the practice of foreign sports brands such as Nike and Adidas using stars as spokespersons, which was very enlightening to Ding Zhizhong. He decided to follow the example of foreign countries and hire sports stars to speak for Anta, so as to quickly open Anta's brand awareness. Ding Zhizhong's vision is that the spokesman should be a world sports champion. When he asked Wang Qi, a friend in the sports field and then general manager of China Sports Advertising Company, to be the spokesperson, Wang Qi said half jokingly, "Kong Huiling, he is not only a world champion, but also looks like you." On the recommendation of Wang, I had an interview with Kong. These two people get along well. The endorsement was quickly reached. The endorsement fee is 800,000 yuan per year, which is the market price of endorsement by sports stars in those years. For Anta, which was not large at that time, this was a big deal. From 1999, Kong's TV advertisement appeared on CCTV-5. This year, Anta paid 3 million yuan for CCTV-5. "At that time, Anta had just built the second shoemaking production line. The annual profit of a production line is about 6,543,800 yuan. You can see how much bet Anta has made on this advertisement. " A former executive of Anta said. This advertising investment was made by Ding Zhizhong in spite of the company's opposition. Within two months after the advertisement was broadcast, there was no obvious effect, and Ding Zhizhong himself was a little uneasy. But only after two months, the national subscribers began to flock to the Anta factory in Jinjiang, and the Anta sales department was overcrowded. What is even more unexpected is that in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Kong won the men's singles table tennis championship in one fell swoop. This makes Anta, a small brand unknown in Jinjiang area, become a well-known brand in China. "Now we still think that Kong is a person who has made important contributions to Anta." Ding Zhizhong told Southern Weekend reporter. Seven years later, with the congestion of CCTV-5 similar advertisements, the cost of such advertisements rose to 10 times, about 30 million yuan. After becoming attached to Kong, the growth rate of Anta's sales revenue is like sitting on a rocket. According to the data provided by Anta, from 200 1 to 2006, Anta's sales revenue increased from 1 billion yuan to125 million yuan. The success of the celebrity endorsement advertisement of Anta, a "complete pick-up man", triggered the brothers in the same city to imitate each other. Jinjiang Municipal Government also urges other enterprises to "copy" Anta's experience, and rewards and supports emerging well-known brands. For a time, a "brand-building" movement sprang up in the local area, and dozens of advertisements of various stars appeared on CCTV-5, which was also dubbed as "Chen Dai Channel" (chen dai zhen is the birthplace of Jinjiang footwear industry and the place with the largest number of shoe enterprises in Jinjiang). Xtep, Jordan, Delphi, Hongxing Hongxing Erke and other well-known shoe enterprises began to stand out from many shoe enterprises. The homogenization of advertising strategy and the intensification of competition make Anta have to find a new way of life. In advertising strategy, Anta began to get rid of the celebrity endorsement mode to become famous and instead sponsored sports events. For example, the sponsorship fee provided by Anta for China Basketball League (CBA) is 40 million yuan a year. Ding Zhizhong believes that compared with other enterprises that spend tens of millions of yuan to hire international stars, "we are a good business". With brand awareness, Anta began to break the identity boundaries of professional manufacturers of sports shoes, and began to set foot in the field of sportswear in 2002. This move of Anta is also very smooth. After four or five years, sportswear contributes as much income as sports shoes. According to a former executive of Anta, in 2006, Anta broke through two "tens of millions": 6,543,800 pairs of sports shoes and 6,543,800 pairs of sportswear. It is worth mentioning that while launching the clothing project, it also introduces the concept of retail terminal-brand store, which is an important step in the development of Anta. Prior to this, Anta only set up special sports shoes sales counters in major shopping malls. With the increase of clothing and other varieties, Anta has become an independent brand store. Ding Zhizhong, who is good at marketing, believes that brand building depends not only on advertising, but also on strong sales channels. By 2004, Anta's national specialty stores had grown to more than 2,000. This year, in order to further expand the number of specialty stores, Anta adopted the policy of giving profits to dealers. In just two years, the number of Anta specialty stores has grown to more than 4,000, and the Anta retail network covers the main streets of cities above the third level in China. It is a professional manager named Ye Qi who laid the foundation of Anta clothing industry and introduced the concept of exclusive store. He used to be the senior manager of the sportswear department of Li Ning Company, but Ding Zhizhong poached him. In 2002, Ding Zhizhong established the New Oriental Sporting Goods Company in Beijing, specializing in the marketing of sportswear, with Ye Qi as the general manager. The company has all adopted the management team of professional managers. A year later, due to the strategic adjustment of Anta, Ye Qi bid farewell to Anta, but he has made a useful attempt for Anta in the field of clothing and specialty stores. "Ding Zhizhong is a real bringer." A former Anta executive said. Another important event in 2002 was that Ding Zhizhong implemented the reform of separation of production and marketing within Anta. Anta has become a company with fixed production by sales. The internal factory of Anta and the external factory that does OEM for Anta stand on the same starting line. They must win the order from Anta with their own competitive strength. This is a rather advanced change in concept. "Until now, many shoe enterprises in Jinjiang have not completed the transformation of separation of production and sales." A senior person in Jinjiang footwear industry said. Ding Zhizhong's wisdom of change is still stolen from Thomas Consulting, a local shoemaking company. "Let professionals do professional things" is located in Jinjiang, Fujian Province, where the former executives of multinational companies are most concentrated, probably the headquarters of Anta Company. 60% of the directors or deputy directors of Anta come from multinational companies such as Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble. Anta is undoubtedly a place where people from multinational organizations can often meet. Ding Zhizhong hired Zhiwei Thompson to do advertising planning, Kearney to do strategic consulting, and Morgan Stanley to do listing underwriting services ... giving full authorization to let professionals do professional things, which is what Ding Zhizhong is now vigorously advocating. During the contact with Thomas, I got to know Zhu, then the chief representative of Thomas China. Zhu is a Chinese American. He was the vice president of Coca-Cola in China and a member of Morgan Stanley's expert advisory group. He provided management advice for Morgan Stanley to invest in Mengniu, Fu Nan and other enterprises. Soon, Zhu was appointed as strategic consultant of Anta. On Zhu's recommendation, he contacted in 2003, intending to inject capital into Anta. But at that time, Ding Zhizhong thought that Anta didn't need money for the time being. Before 2004, Ding Zhizhong was not a man willing to give up power. But now, Ding has built the decentralization system into a systematic company. "Decentralization and encouragement are the most remarkable management characteristics of Wang Liangxing. Ding's thought comes directly from the influence of Wang Liangxing. " Wang Liangxing is Ding Zhizhong's partner since childhood. In a small circle of friends, Wang Liangxing is Ding's closest confidant. Founded by Wang, it is also a strong force in the leisure clothing industry. Since two years ago, the directors of each department of Anta have been authorized, and they don't have to report to Ding Zhizhong for instructions. Ding didn't let authorization become empty talk. The business director of a company came to his office and reported a situation to him: because a batch of sports shoes delivered to an American customer had the wrong number, the other party claimed $30 thousand. The supervisor asked Ding Zhizhong what to do. Ding said, "Don't ask me what I do! You decide for yourself whether to pay compensation or not and find out who is responsible for this mistake. " The director had to leave Ding Zhizhong's office. With the authorization and responsibility mechanism, Ding is not afraid of making mistakes. On one occasion, a batch of goods that Anta promised to the dealer was not delivered on time. Although the other party did not ask for compensation, Dante took the initiative to offer compensation of 3 million after knowing it. "The compensation shall be paid by the company. Those responsible were criticized. Since then, there has never been a similar mistake. Because they have really compensated, they know that this mistake can't be made again. " Ding Zhizhong told Southern Weekend reporter. After advocating a new management model, Ding Zhizhong also liberated himself from corporate affairs. It is said that now he only signs five documents in the company every day and only attends three internal meetings every month. He spends a lot of time absorbing effective information, communicating with employees and thinking clearly about the company's strategic issues. It is not a long time from rejecting investors to actively listing Ding as an entrepreneur. "That is, in the last three or four years, he has undergone tremendous changes." A person familiar with Anta said. Ding Zhizhong only started to contact golf clubs at the end of 2005. Before that, his most common sport was playing table tennis. In this person's view, back in 67, Ding was not an "entrepreneur", but just an "entrepreneur". "At that time, he had to read the manuscript when he spoke, and he was dizzy when he saw the camera." "I remember around 1999, Ding Zhizhong once suddenly asked me: When will people become mature? I told him: mid-thirties. " He recalled. Before 2004, Ding Zhizhong always felt that the company was not short of money, so he never considered letting the company enter the capital market or even rejecting foreign investors. But in that year, the successful listing of Li Ning Company made him change his mind. He began to realize that listing can not only raise funds, but also standardize corporate governance, eliminate the management disadvantages of family businesses and attract talents more easily. "Now, we are the richest company in this industry, much richer than Li Ning who only got back 500 million yuan." Ding Zhizhong said smugly, "although the money is spent. But one thing must be guaranteed: every penny spent must produce value. " Having said that, Ding Zhizhong still admits that the sense of crisis is always lingering, so that he often can't sleep at night. "Enterprises will die one day. Many private enterprises did a good job, but they suddenly fell down while doing it. " The sense of crisis combined with past experience made Ding Zhizhong continue to thirst for knowledge. In the second half of last year, Ding Zhizhong, Wang Liangxing and others attended Xiamen University EMBA class in the same city. According to Dai, director of the EMBA Center of Xiamen University, he is "hungry" for management knowledge. "His attitude towards learning is very pragmatic, and he is most interested in two courses: corporate strategy and brand marketing. We invited a European brand marketing professor to give an after-school lecture. He asked us to invite more European brand marketing experts to teach. " Now, Ding Zhizhong hangs a banner on every street lamp in Anta factory: "China is the first, the top ten in the world." These banners show the ambition of a small town shoe king.