Family history of mark furniture company

Ke Mei Group, which was born in Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang, was born with the insecurity of "immigrants", which made it a half step ahead of every change in the industrial environment.

"I know more and more about business, so my hair is getting shorter and shorter." Feng Dongming, 17, a young Xinjiang oil painter with long hair shawls and torn jeans, is now the chairman of Ke Mei Investment Group Co., Ltd.

The artist's passion and impulse, coupled with the pine resources in Xinjiang, made Feng Dongming win the title of "Pine King" in the United States. When the OEM of pine furniture was well done, Feng Dongming outlined markor furnishings on the drawing paper, aiming at establishing the furniture retail network channel; Then, two years ago, he made another brilliant stroke, and this branch was for Ke Mei's fine chemical business.

"Now the company is an iron triangle. Here are two wheels made of furniture and chemicals, and the above are retail. This is our business strategic structure. " Feng Dongming, who now emphasizes that he is only grasping the "general direction", sometimes uses the word "sense of balance" when talking about the triangular strategy of building Ke Mei Group's future blueprint.

In fact, if we look at the development process of Ke Mei in 17, "balance" is the key word that dominates every major strategic choice of the company.

Between density and density, longitudinal rein gallops. In Feng Dongming's words, this is quite similar to the brushwork of Chinese painting-horse racing is easy and airtight.

If you can't play, then go abroad

During the period from 1994 to 10 in 2003, Ke Mei Group has been earning US dollars.

The predecessor of Ke Mei Group-Urumqi Decorative Art Research Institute was established as early as 1990. Feng Dongming still clearly remembers the document No.8833 issued by Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region according to the spirit that the central authorities allow intellectuals to run collective enterprises or private enterprises. Both parents and lovers belong to the art circle, and he wants to jump out and "do something different". Feng Dongming believes that the impulse at that time originated from "honor" rather than "money problem".

Of course, it started with art, and there were painting studios, garden studios and interior design studios in the hospital, which mainly helped museums and other places to do decoration design, and later extended to interior decoration.

"When the word' company' is mentioned, we always associate it with' leather bag company'," said Feng Dongming, so he didn't want to transfer the research institute to a company. Of course, as a research institute, you don't need to pay taxes like an enterprise legal person. 1993, at the urging of the local industrial and commercial bureau in Xinjiang, Feng's research institute was transformed into a company system and became Xinjiang Industrial Co., Ltd. The company's name "Ke Mei" is the trademark that Feng Dongming casually took out of his pocket. "This (brush) can create all beautiful things."

Not long after, Feng Dongming began to feel that "the situation has changed". He suddenly found that a large number of interior designers suddenly appeared in Xinjiang, and they didn't do things according to their majors, and kickbacks were flying all over the sky. He painted for a week, but it was far less "effective" than others running all night.

"You said I was an artist, knocking at your door at night. As a section chief of infrastructure, you look at me with questioning and confused eyes, which is tantamount to killing me and humiliating me. At that time, I thought, I have to choose a reasonable and standard game rule. " Recalling the past, when it comes to excitement, Feng Dongming always habitually leans forward to a greater extent.

"At that time, we chose to withdraw from the decoration industry where competition was becoming increasingly irregular." 1992 Susan, who joined Ke Mei group, recalled the choice of that meeting and thought that it was against this background that Ke Mei considered international trade at that time, because foreign business rules were more complete. Susan is now the retail project director of Ke Mei Group.

In desperation, Feng Dongming went to the local Academy of Sciences and spent several hundred yuan searching for news to find a new way out. It is still a rare thing that he can surf the Internet. At that time, Feng Dongming noticed a news that some industries were moving from Malaysia and Taiwan Province to Chinese mainland, one of which was furniture manufacturing. "I do interior design, which is vertical design; Horizontal design is indoor display, and 70% of them are related to furniture. " Feng Dongming said that at this time, family background also gave him some innate advantages. "My father has been a stage prop all his life, and I am familiar with the furniture of the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, and the furniture needed for model operas." At the same time, he believes that as long as "accurate delivery, good quality and reasonable price", it is relatively simple to operate export business.

1992 or so, some foreign furniture brands often can't find a suitable OEM in China. "At that time, the industry was dominated by state-owned enterprises, and the two sides could not bridge the gap conceptually." In Feng Dongming's view, this is an opportunity.

Whoever knows how to ponder can get on this car.

When he was young, Feng Dongming, who often used cotton cloth and white cloth to wrap the Hongshan Mountain in Xinjiang, began to play "taste" at this time.

He put a 120 pine tree in the middle of everything, used half of it as a bar, put it in a pine furniture model room in Ke Mei, Xinjiang, and decorated it with dead leaves of red willows. "At that time, foreigners were stupid, and that kind of leisure and freedom made them feel that China people also knew leisure and had a taste when playing."

Xiang Bing, Dean of cheung kong graduate school of business, likes to take Ke Mei as a case of internationalization of China enterprises. He said, "He studies fine arts and has first-class communication skills with foreigners. He can choose to dock with foreign high-end furniture, so that he can get more gross profit. "

As a result, Feng Dongming, who knew nothing about furniture manufacturing, began to manufacture pine furniture for export.

However, according to Yang Lei, Director of Consulting Department of Furniture Association, the furniture export process in the early 1990s was far from simple, and an export company first needed to find an international trader and partner. At that time, China's largest furniture manufacturing and export base was in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, and most of them were Taiwan-funded enterprises transferred to the mainland.

Rent a van, a box of mineral water, two plastic bags of steamed bread, three trips before and after. Feng Dongming and they are looking for suitable partners in Dongguan. Finally, the general manager of Ke Mei Company found Guo Shanhui, the chairman of Taiwan Province Taisheng Group. Taisheng Group is currently one of the largest furniture manufacturing companies in Asia.

Feng Dongming's ideas and passion touched Guo Shanhui, and he decided to try cooperation. After all, making furniture from pine is a "bit crazy" idea. Compared with rosewood and yellow gorgeous, pine is soft. Taisheng, who is familiar with the American market, will work with Ke Mei to explore the American pine furniture market. 1994 65438+ 10, the first container in Ke Mei was exported to the United States, with a value of about $25,000. After a year of cooperation,1In August 1995, Ke Mei Industrial Co., Ltd. and Taiwan Province Taisheng Wood Factory Co., Ltd. (controlled by Taisheng Group) jointly established Ke Mei International Furniture Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Around 2000, Feng Dongming began to be called "the king of pine" by American furniture manufacturers. At this time, Ke Mei began to participate in the production of all kinds of wooden furniture. Today, Ke Mei exports about 2,000 TEUs a month.

Location: Tianjin: Haigui

Tianjin Port is the only pass for Ke Mei furniture export.

From 65438 to 0996, Ke Mei Group, located in Xinjiang, began to find that the long-distance transportation from the production base to Tianjin Port became an obstacle to growth. Feng Dongming entrusted Tianjin office to inspect the local investment environment. Chen and others, who are in charge of export communication in Tianjin, think that the policies and regional environment of Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Zone are very suitable for further development, so they suggest Feng Dongming to set up a new manufacturing plant in Tianjin.

At this time, Ke Mei Company earns millions of dollars in foreign exchange every year and lives comfortably in Xinjiang.

However, Feng Dongming, then the chairman of the company, decided to rebuild a factory in Tianjin after a field trip in Tianjin. According to insiders, Feng was a "run" on this issue. Feng Dongming's reason is that there are many Fortune 500 enterprises in the Economic Development Zone, and Ke Mei Company should be nearby.

On June 1997, Ke Mei International Furniture (Tianjin) Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Made in Tianjin, Ke Mei") was established, and several factories were put into operation one after another.

In fact, it seems that the location of Tianjin can be regarded as the first step of the transformation of virtue, especially after the change of 1998 national policy.

1998, China implements natural forest protection project. Ke Mei Group began to turn to Russia, Finland, New Zealand and other places to purchase wood. In the same year, the national natural forest resources protection project began to be piloted. From June 5, 2000 to 10, the State Council officially approved the implementation plan of natural forest resources protection project in key state-owned forest areas such as northeast Inner Mongolia (including Xinjiang). In 2005, natural forests in Xinjiang were completely cut down.

At this time, Ke Mei's wood procurement in New Zealand and other places has been stable, and it has invested in the construction of a wood supply and processing base in the Russian Far East, as well as two wood processing and logistics centers in Alashankou Port in Xinjiang and Erenhot in Inner Mongolia, initially forming a supply chain system with Russia as the source, Alashankou and Erenhot as the bases, and factories and customers as the terminals, thus alleviating the pressure of raw material supply in downstream manufacturing industries.

After raw materials need to be imported, Tianjin has become the nearest manufacturing place for raw materials. Most of the wood does not need to be transported to Xinjiang and then turned into furniture and returned to Tianjin Port for export, so the transportation cost is greatly reduced. At the same time, Ke Mei International Wood Industry (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. not only supplies wood to Tianjin, Ke Mei, but also sells wood abroad.

In fact, Ke Mei attaches great importance to the supply of upstream raw materials, which can be seen from the decision to introduce two state-owned shareholders, Fuyun Forest Farm in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and West Tianshan Forestry Bureau, from 65438 to 0999.

These two institutions hold 2.97% of the shares of Ke Mei, which went public later. Feng Dongming's consideration is: "As the person in charge of an enterprise, we must consider our own business chain and anti-risk ability. As a downstream furniture manufacturer, the demand and control of upstream wood is particularly important. We must have the advantage of pine resources in Xinjiang. "

When the export business was still booming, Feng Dongming thought of another problem.

When Feng Dongming started his business, he didn't know about "loan" and even avoided it. Feng Dongming, a self-proclaimed scholar, began to understand the importance of financing for a company after a branch manager of Agricultural Bank of China, who had the task of issuing loans, explained to him how to borrow chickens to lay eggs. 1999, he put forward the proposal of listing in Ke Mei.

1999 10, Ke Mei international furniture co., ltd (hereinafter referred to as Ke Mei) was incorporated, mainly engaged in home manufacturing, retail and international wood industry.

20001October 27th,165438+40 million Ke Mei A shares were listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The survival network of the fearful is king.

In the process of preparing for listing, an international political event prompted Feng Dongming to consider the inherent risks of doing dollar business.

1On 8 May 1999, the Embassy of China in Yugoslavia was bombed.

That night, Feng Dongming watched Phoenix TV news all night. He stood on the bed and stared at the screen.

For Ke Mei Group, which only has export business, if Sino-US relations reverse, then everything may go back to zero.

Feng Dongming began to think that there was not much room for growth in export business, and then thought of political issues and exchange rate issues, and needed to do something to hedge risks.

At the same time, with the rapid growth of China's GDP, the purchasing power of domestic consumers has gradually increased, and people who get rich first begin to talk about "life".

Ke Mei Group, which has been studying abroad for many years, has the idea of "returnees".

"After China's material civilization, we have a responsibility to tell consumers more tasteful home standards in the world. For example, there must be a dresser or antique cabinet in the bedroom, because you must put a dozen pairs of underwear and ten pairs of socks, change them every day and wash them once a week. " Speaking of "returnees" from Ke Mei, Feng Dongming will talk passionately about the necessity of improving the quality of life of China people.

In fact, Ke Mei Group also urgently needs a new market to promote its performance growth, aiming at the furniture retail business.

June 5438 +2002 10, Meikemeijia Furniture Chain Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Meikemeijia) was established, and preparations for opening the store were started, and the store was named Meikemeijia.

As the largest pine furniture OEM in Asia, a considerable number of investors questioned Ke Mei Group's choice to return to the domestic market to do high-end home retail. They are not optimistic about the single-store profitability of large specialty stores, fearing that the retail business will drag down the performance of Ke Mei stocks. In the end, Ke Mei only holds 5 1% of markor furnishings.

In the case that institutional investors are not optimistic, Ke Mei Group decided to buy back some shares of Ke Mei to ensure that the plan to enter the retail industry will not be hindered. Ke Mei Group's abacus is to establish a retail network with 400 stores in the mainland market of China. On the one hand, it will extend the industrial chain downstream; On the other hand, specialty stores are an extremely effective way to build furniture brands.

Investors' concerns are not unreasonable, and Feng Dongming admits that retail and manufacturing are two completely different industries. Therefore, in Ke Mei Group, these two businesses are completely run by two different teams.

In view of the lack of retail experience, markor furnishings teamed up with Ethan Allen, an old American furniture manufacturer and retailer. The way of cooperation between the two parties is: macor Furniture sells both macor furniture and Ethan Allen products.

The latter shifted the management mode to macor Furniture, including helping macor Furniture to carry out personnel training and informatization. In 200 1 year, in the absence of physical stores, markor furnishings decided to spend100000 yuan to adopt Stores retail management system developed by American software vendors, which can be used to manage 400 stores.

On February 28th, 2002, Meike Home's first chain store opened in Tianjin. In the following five years, markor furnishings opened more than 20 chain stores in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hangzhou, with an average of 4-5 stores per year.

This shop is not fast, especially when the chain became popular in the past two years. In this regard, Susan, director of retail projects in Ke Mei, believes that this is "related to the services provided by macor Furniture Company, and can only be accurately realized through the coordinated operation of a system".

In markor furnishings, all sales people are called design consultants. "They need to advise consumers on furniture selection and matching. Many times, the design consultant needs to go to the customer's home before proposing a plan. " Liu Chunjie, head of advertising department in charge of brand promotion at markor furnishings, said, "Behind every design consultant, there are four people on average to provide relevant service support. "The average number of standard design consultants in each store is about 30. In other words, rapid expansion will undoubtedly reduce the service quality of these "design consultants".

Markor furnishings School of Management (former company training department) came into being. At the beginning of the store, 45 days of full-time training was provided for new employees. With the deepening of training, it extends to corporate culture, business skills, management and other aspects. "After the training, our trainers often work in the store with the trainees for one month to give guidance." Chen Peng, the trainer of the college, said that Chen Peng joined Ke Mei Tianjin as early as 1999, and held the positions of planning, design consultant and sales manager.

Not only new employees, but all employees of markor furnishings are students of the School of Management, and they will receive different contents and different levels of training according to different businesses and positions.

"The service has not been standardized, which is why we only open direct stores now, and the expansion speed is not particularly fast. After the system is built, we may consider joining the store. " Liu Chunjie, head of the retail advertising department, said. In addition to service standardization, it is also necessary to realize the standardization of display and distribution.

In the first half of 2007, macor's furniture sales revenue was about 246 million yuan, an increase of 72.90% over the same period last year. Ke Mei realized an operating income of about 5,765,438+0,000 yuan, an increase of 24.78% over the same period of last year, and an operating profit of about 2,565,438+0,766,5438+0.08 yuan, an increase of 65,438+0.08 yuan over the same period of last year. According to the announcement, the increase in operating income and operating profit was mainly due to the expansion of the domestic market by markor furnishings, a holding subsidiary of the company, and the domestic sales revenue increased substantially.

Opportunity strategy: sparse horse racing is airtight.

"From Excellence to Excellence"-this is the topic that Feng Dongming gave to employees at the year-end meeting of Ke Mei Group in 2006. At the beginning of the year, Ke Mei implemented the "Fourth Five-Year Plan" for the company's development. In Feng Dongming's view, the key of Ke Mei Group in 2006-20 10 is to find an "opportunity strategy".

In 2005, the company's annual meeting, his theme was "Blue Ocean Strategy".

In this year, Ke Mei Investment Group began to set foot in the oil and gas chemical industry. On May 6th, 2005, Ke Mei Chemical Industrial Park was officially launched. Located in Korla City, where Tarim Petroleum Headquarters is located in southern Xinjiang, the total investment of the first phase is 165 billion yuan.

"It stands to reason that the road to world quality enterprises should be single-minded. Now we will spend another 100 million yuan or 10 billion to build a new factory, which is fully capable. The problem is that a single stall is big, and the risk is big. We are controlling the scale of manufacturing business. Just as the talent pool has not kept up, we should also control the opening speed of retail stores. The reason is the same. "

At this time, the local government in Xinjiang intends to let Ke Mei Group operate fine chemical projects and make full use of local natural gas and coal resources.

Born in 1958, Feng Dongming, who is close to his destiny, called fine chemical industry "blue ocean". He considered setting foot in the strange field of chemical industry by managing output and capital output. "Just as we used pine resources, fine chemicals also used local resources in Xinjiang. The government also values our modern management, good financing channels and international trade experience. "

The "iron triangle" structure of Ke Mei Group's business strategy has been formed in fine chemicals, furniture manufacturing and furniture retail. After the furniture manufacturing of the group experienced the development stage (2000-2005), the question he considered was: Before 2005, both the United States and its exports were in the dollar zone. Is it extended to the pound area and the euro area to hedge exchange rate risks? And so on. Therefore, when the report of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China came out, Feng Dongming studied it carefully to understand the policy orientation involving energy, finance and other industries.

In Feng Dongming's words, "What is strategic planning? Strategy is a plan for existing competitors to defeat potential competitors. Your plan should be premeditated and flexible. You have to study: what is strategy and what are the rules of strategy. "