The private enterprises pay attention to the entanglement of NVC lighting

Beauty's perfect transfer Nessie is not finished

"Being a male does not preach a woman, but does not pass it outside." Midea is breaking this ancient tradition. On August 25th, the giant home appliance manufacturer in the country announced that group founder He Xiangjian will no longer serve as chairman of the group but instead will be replaced by Fang Hongbo. Fang Hongbo’s inauguration was interpreted by the outside world as “a professional manager to replace the founder of the company and opened a precedent for the inheritance of Chinese private enterprises. This is the first of private enterprises with assets exceeding 100 billion yuan”. At the time of the smooth handover of the United States, another listed company, NVC Lighting, was experiencing a series of pains brought about by the guilt of management.

Beauty's de-familyization

He Xiangjian, founder of Midea Group. Born in Shunde, Guangdong in 1942. In May 1968, he and 23 residents raised 5,000 yuan to set up the "North Street Office Plastics Production Team". In 1980, they began to manufacture fans. In 1992, they promoted Midea's joint-stock reform; in 1993, they were listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and became the first Chinese company. A listed company that has been reorganized from a township enterprise. Fang Hongbo, male, 45 years old, master's degree, joined the United States in 1992, started from the grassroots staff, became the backbone of business, has served as the general manager of the United States Air Conditioning Division domestic marketing company, deputy general manager and general manager of the air conditioning division, the United States Vice president of electrical appliances, vice chairman and other staff. According to information provided by Midea Group, under the leadership of Fang Hongbo, Midea's air-conditioning business currently ranks second in the country, and in recent years, it has entered the washing machine and refrigerator fields through the acquisition of Little Swan, Rongshida and other enterprises. In 2010, the Group’s revenue reached 100 billion yuan.

On August 25th, Midea Group announced that the group’s founder, He Xiangjian, will no longer serve as chairman of the group, but instead will be replaced by Fang Hongbo, who will also serve as chairman and president of the listed company, Midea. At the same time, Huang Jian, former president of the Nippon Group, served as president of the group, and Cai Qiwu, president of the former Electromechanical Group, served as senior vice president of the US group. Yuan Liqun and Huang Xiaoming, former vice presidents of the group, respectively served as senior vice presidents of the group, and Li Jianwei served as president of Midea Holdings.

After the adjustment is completed, the board of directors of Midea Group will be served by all professional managers. According to public information, most of the new members of the board of directors Fang Hongbo, Huang Jian, Cai Qiwu, Yuan Liqun, Huang Xiaoming, Li Jianwei, Li Feide, etc., all have master's degrees, and they are between 35-45 years old in their personal career. -20 years.

It is worth noting that while the company was handed over to the professional managers, Midea Group also announced the future of founder He Xiangjian and his only son: He Xiangjian did not retire, but only managed more decentralized and authorized operations. We will continue to care about and support the development of the United States as a founder and a major shareholder. He Hefeng, an only son, will take the position of a majority shareholder in the US board of directors, but he will not take any executive positions and will not participate in the daily operations and management of the United States.

“The professional manager of the United States took over the founder of the company and opened the precedent for the succession of Chinese private enterprises. Among the private enterprises with assets exceeding 100 billion yuan, as far as I know, this is the first.” Wang Jipeng, a famous management expert, said.

NVC management rights

At the time of the smooth handover of the United States, another listed company, NVC Lighting, was experiencing a series of pains brought about by the guilt of management. On August 29th, shortly before the press release, NVC’s board of directors issued a paper announcement stating that the company’s independent non-executive director Alan Russell Powrie resigned due to differences of opinion regarding the company’s future strategic direction. In a month, NVC has resigned four senior executives.

In fact, the most important incident occurred at the end of May. At that time, Wu Changjiang, founder and chairman of the company, announced his resignation as chairman and CEO. Some people speculated that this was related to Wu Changjiang being taken away by the government department. Wu Changjiang then demanded to return to the board of directors but was opposed by the board of directors headed by the chairman. Since then, NVC Lighting has staged a fantastic capital suspense drama around the return of Wu Changjiang. Many incidents including company employees’ strikes, dealers’ stand-opening doors, suppliers’ suspension of goods, and high-level resignations have taken place. The plot can be described as ups and downs.

However, for the industry, the reason why NVC is so eye-catching is that it reflects the deep contradiction between the founder and the investor, founder and professional manager. After Wu Changjiang left his post, his position was replaced by the largest shareholder private equity fund Softbank Safari and the third largest shareholder international industrial giant Schneider. This change of power was interpreted as “the founder was represented as a professional manager of foreign capital. People were sternly expelled from the established company." This statement can not help but think of the “national-US dispute” years ago. ‖

However, unlike the “very yellow” and “very good” sentiments triggered by the US-China dispute, NVC Lighting's situation is completely one-sided: not only the Internet and young people criticize the offensive and “occupy the nest”. Softbank Saifu representatives, NVC lighting all middle class, general staff, suppliers, distributors also formed an unprecedented united front, unanimously banner banner to the high-level propaganda Wu Changjiang return.

The founders and investors, founders and professional managers, are they right or wrong? As the founder of the company, should Wu Changjiang return? To this day, the final outcome of NVC has not yet emerged, but NVC Lighting's performance has been hurt.

The "stick" problem

US and NVC, He Xiangjian, and Wu Changjiang are just the opposite sides of a coin, reflecting a common problem that has been placed in front of domestic private enterprises from different perspectives: What is the logic of the change of corporate management rights? Is it the appointment of a professional manager or is it continued to be held by shareholders and their heirs?

Statistics from public statistics show that in the next 5 to 10 years, 3 million private enterprises in China will face the problem of succession. Obviously, after nearly 30 years of history, Chinese private enterprises have gone through years of arduous entrepreneurship and have come close to withdrawing from the commercial arena. Many companies are entering an old and new phase, and how they will be The transfer of the baton to the next generation to maintain the sustainable development of the enterprise is an important issue for these companies.

According to surveys, 90% of the family founders want their children to take over. In their eyes, the hard-won country is not a last resort and must not be handed over to “outsiders”. There are many reasons why entrepreneurs do not dare to decentralize their power. One of the important facts is that the current professional manager’s market system is incomplete, and professional managers still have many flaws in professional conduct. In particular, the "Gome Incidents" that took place in the previous period also made them worry that such incidents would reappear on their own: In the eyes of entrepreneurs, GOME events are like a vivid risk management case lesson, clearly demonstrating a ambition. The professional managers used superb professional skills to introduce other investment funds that also had bloodthirsty instincts to snatch control of a private company.

Is it the succession of children or professional managers? Although from the perspective of corporate governance, there is no natural difference between the two, but as the first generation of entrepreneurs gradually withdraw from the historical stage, second-generation and third-generation successors may not be enthusiastic about corporate management, professional managers boarding It is only a matter of time before the history stage becomes the protagonist of corporate management. Perhaps the path of the “de-familyization” of the United States from the inside out for 15 years can provide private entrepreneurs with such an enlightenment: For a modern enterprise that has exercised separation of ownership, management, and supervision, it is completely It is possible to cultivate a compact professional manager team from the inside; even if the founding shareholders do not experience the company's operations, they can use equity constraints to influence and even determine the company's course at the shareholders' meeting and the board of directors.

"Of course, the country uses strict laws to ensure that professional managers are able to perform their duties diligently and is a necessary institutional guarantee for shareholders to decentralize their power and professional managers faithfully perform their duties. It is also an important trend in the development of commercial legislation in China." Lecturer, Shandong University of Political Science and Law Dr Ma Fengchun said.

Entrepreneur voice

Yin Mingshan, chairman of Chongqing Lifan Group, said: “I know that if I hand over my class to family members, our company will slowly die; and if I rush to the professional manager, our company will be faster. I'm dying. Between slow death and dying, I choose to die slowly."

Huawei’s Chairman Ren Zhengfei: “Huawei is not North Korea. Huawei’s cultural foundation is meritocracy, not nepotism. It is hard work for everyone to conquer Huawei today.” According to Huawei’s announced shareholding structure, Huawei holds only 1.42%. Ren Zhengfei's appointment of successors with such a weak shareholding is undoubtedly an extremely difficult matter. This kind of shareholding structure makes Huawei's most likely succession method a "group succession," and behind it is the famous EMT (the highest responsible agency for Huawei's daily operations).