Wang Shi: Why can't China become an innovation center?

This route taken by China enterprises is quite successful. Paldi is the largest residential development company in the United States, and it has always been the goal of Vanke. In 2007, we surpassed it. Haier originated in Germany, but now it is the largest household appliance enterprise in the world; China IT industry represented by Tencent is also a representative of imitation and innovation.

After China's reform and opening up, the business community was imitated. Isn't it the same in Japan? /kloc-In the 8th century, China teacups were the best-selling tea sets in Europe at that time, and were also sold in Korea and Japan. But soon Japan stopped importing and copied it itself; Then Europe stopped importing China teacups and replaced them with Japanese ones. Because the Japanese found that Europeans with high noses would touch their noses when using China tea sets, they expanded the cup mouth, which is also imitation and innovation.

What are the reasons for following the strategy? Take the bicycle race as an example. The average score of the team competition will definitely be better than that of the individual. Because according to fluid mechanics, the person who suffers the most resistance is the one who leads the rider, and he must follow closely, because the resistance is reduced. Relevant figures also show that the success rate of basic innovation is 26%, while the success rate of imitation innovation is 90%, which is the late-comer advantage. However, the dividend of the late-comer advantage is limited after all, and it depends on innovation.

Cultural block

Innovation is not simply to increase the cost of research and development. The story of the Romans begins: When the Chinese Empire was building the Great Wall, the Romans were building roads. China's urban culture is wall culture. Countries have walls and cities have walls. There are walls inside the walls of the Forbidden City. What about Rome? All roads lead to Rome, not obstacles, but smooth roads. The story of the Romans also raises a question, why did the Romans succeed? In terms of wisdom, the Romans are inferior to the Greeks, in terms of wealth, the Romans are inferior to the Carthaginians, and in terms of strength, they are inferior to the Gauls. Obviously, this is related to the openness and tolerance of the Romans. Before building a city, the Romans had to build roads and bridges. The Romans were engineers and built the Roman Empire with pickaxes.

I believe that Zheng He's navigation skills and formation organization ability were very strong when he went to the Western Ocean. But why couldn't Zheng He discover the new continent like Columbus? Because there is no motivation. In the Middle Ages, East-West trade was monopolized by Middle Easters, and Columbus had to find a new navigation route. This involves two problems: first, we must believe that the earth is round, and as long as we go along a road, we will definitely come back; Second, in order to discover wealth, spices and gold, I dare to take risks and even never return. For these two points, Zheng He's team did not. This is the dominant rule of being banned, that is to say, the most adaptable and successful society (organization), such as the Ming Dynasty, is difficult to innovate. In fact, it is because of the burden of past success that it is difficult to transform. The dilemma of Nokia and Sony today is that the dominant rules have been banned, which makes people feel embarrassed.

Enlightenment lies in education.

After the great discovery of navigation, the first people to deal with East Asian countries were Portuguese and Spanish. When East Asian civilization accepts Western civilization, there are two paths: Catholicism and Protestantism. China accepted Catholicism, but the Tokugawa shogunate was nervous that the Catholic Church would affect the stability of the rule, so it accepted Protestantism. Japan accepted the Netherlands instead of Portugal and Spain, because the Netherlands is Protestant and Protestantism stresses the spirit of capitalism.

During the Edo period, Japanese educator Fukuzawa Yukichi founded a foreign school to teach Lan Xue. The so-called orchid studies, in a narrow sense, are Dutch technology and science; Broadly speaking, it is to learn western science and technology through Holland. Medicine, geography, astronomy and mathematics were first introduced to Japan. In other words, Lan Xue became a science in the Japanese Edo era. In nearly 100 years, intellectuals have completed the training of western positivism. At the end of the Edo period, the lowest literacy rate in Japan reached 60% and that of men reached 75%, which was the highest in the world at that time. From 65438 to 0949, the illiteracy rate in China was still above 80%. In other words, the literacy rate in 1868 is much higher than that in China after 70 or 80 years. At the same time, the intelligentsia systematically accepted western ideas, which laid the foundation for the Meiji Restoration.

Don't deliberately pursue middle school as the body

Middle school is physical, and western learning is useful. Now it proves that we can't go on. Don't emphasize middle school as the body, because it will hinder the innovation now.

After I went to Harvard, I looked back at the traditional culture of China and found that the traditional culture of China could not be lost, otherwise it would not have come from China. The Meiji Restoration was fully westernized, and Japanese traditional culture was not lost. On the contrary, Japanese native culture has gained priority in the international arena. The Nobel Prize PritzkerArchitecturePrize in the construction industry is won by Americans, followed by Japanese, Britain and China, that is, Wang Shu. Wang Shu insisted on the traditional architecture of China, but he did not stick to the tradition, but combined the traditional architectural language with modern architecture.

Since China's traditional culture has not been submerged for thousands of years, it must still exist. In this case, we must study hard with an open mind. What about management? I think there is only one kind, and there is no distinction between Chinese and western styles. Modern industry and modern enterprise management are both produced by western Christian civilization, so we should take it as the doctrine, learn from it and innovate and imitate it. Further down, when you do your best, talk about how to innovate. Before I am outstanding, my intuition is that it is impossible to engage in Confucian educational methods if I give up halfway.

[This article is based on Wang Shi's speech at the China-Europe Entrepreneurship Camp. ]

Ask and answer. A

Q: Many people feel that the status of businessmen in China is still very low, and complain about the bad environment.

Wang Shi: Aren't you pursuing democracy? Isn't it yearning for fairness? Not the pursuit of justice? Let's start with you. Entrepreneurs start with your business. Where there are ordinary people, there are emperors. If you are dictatorial, autocratic, opaque and behind closed doors, how can you expect an emperor to be honest, transparent and fair? Everyone, every enterprise, every unit and every family is a living water. If we are democratic, just and fair, it will naturally merge into a surging wave.

Wang Shi: Many people don't abide by the bottom line of doing business, but at least I am. Of course, this is more difficult, but it will be competitive after it is difficult. I used to say no bribery, but now I still don't bribe. Real estate has a golden rule, lots, lots or lots. Vanke is located in the suburbs and can't get good land, so Vanke has been a suburban developer for quite some time. What shall we do? We must go to the market and get it back. We need the best market research, the best planning, more care, and do well in all aspects of property management and community support, which forms a competitive advantage.

WANG Shi: Vanke is not only the largest in China, but also the largest in the world. However, I never took this as a goal, and this is the result. Followed by pursuers, China Shipping, Poly, R&F, Evergrande, Wanda, beyond Vanke. If my goal is the biggest, I won't let you surpass it, so we need to expand rapidly. I'm telling the management now, what happened to the second and third? With the acceleration, there are two problems, one is that the quality cannot be guaranteed, and the other is that the funds may be cut off at any time. Now Vanke's first position has not changed, and the second is always changing. Those who want to surpass Vanke often have bad results.

Q: Some people say that starting a business must do what you like.

Wang Shi: Vanke wants to be a video recorder, but it doesn't have a license; I also want to do insurance and finance, but I can't get in. For a long time, I didn't like real estate at all, and I didn't like businessmen, but the situation was better than others. In this society, business and real estate are more likely to succeed. It's one thing not to like it, but it's your profession and you should be responsible. Therefore, we should study it carefully. From the history of urban development, from ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, ancient India, ancient China and so on, you will find that real estate, urban planning and development are the most comprehensive systems, involving not only engineering, but also aesthetics and technology. I do now, but it's only been four or five years.

If I had changed, I wouldn't have had a chance. Life can't be tossed for 20 years. Life is too short. If you don't like it, don't give up easily. What are we doing? You're doing great. I have been a soldier, a railway worker, a national cadre and an engineer, so I don't like them. But be careful in everything you do. When you really choose a career you like, you will find that doing things you don't like seriously is a good experience in life.