Related "legends" about Mengniu Yili Enterprises

What do you want to know? I only know that the most talked-about allusion between these two companies is this:

Forced to die and survive

In 1998, Yili Vice President Niu Gensheng was suddenly kicked out by President Zheng Junhuai. Prior to this, Niu Gensheng was in charge of national production and operations, and his performance has been particularly outstanding. Niu Gensheng started from scratch, suffered difficulties and suppression from his old employer Yili, and managed to fight his way through heavy siege. Six years later, Mengniu's sales and market share surpassed Yili to become the first in the country. .

What is even more dramatic is that today, 6 years later, Zheng Junhuai was imprisoned for ill-gotten gains, but Niu Gensheng became famous after spending one billion of his wealth! It’s really thirty years of Hedong and thirty years of Hexi! The wind and water are turning, the sky is full of ice and fire!

This kind of thing is very rare in China and abroad!

There are too many secrets hidden behind the legend. Why did Zheng Junhuai turn against Niu Gensheng, who had been assisting him for 16 years? How did Niu Gensheng create Mengniu out of thin air in just 6 years? For the past six years, Niu Gensheng and Mengniu have been keeping silent to the outside world.

Late at night on April 7, 2005, at Niu Gensheng’s home in Horinger County, Hohhot City, Inner Mongolia, our reporter Chen Bin talked with Niu Gensheng all night long. And the secrets about Mengniu that are unknown to outsiders.

Though Niu Gensheng was put to death, he was forced to rise up in disgrace

This magazine exclusively revealed: Niu Gensheng submitted his resignation to Zheng Junhuai three times, and was "persuaded" by Zheng Junhuai to return the first two times. Submitting his resignation at the board meeting for the third time, Zheng Junhuai said: "I didn't mean that!" Niu Gensheng said: "Then I take this resignation back!" When Niu Gensheng reached for his resignation, Zheng Junhuai quickly pressed it tightly with his hand.

Zheng Junhuai: Yili has him but not me, and Yili has me but not him!

In the first half of 1998, Niu Gensheng, who was the vice president of Yili's production and operations, suddenly felt something was wrong. He had been working at Yili for 16 years, but recently he felt some discomfort in the use of resources, which was the transfer of resources. A very small amount of funds is constrained by many departments. At its most extreme, Niu Gensheng had to file a report for approval before buying a broom.

In a sense, Niu Gensheng was the number one contributor to Yili back then. More than 80% of Yili’s turnover came from the various business units under Lao Niu’s supervision. In addition to his performance, Niu Gensheng's prestige among Yili employees is no worse than Zheng Junhuai. People's belief in Niu Gensheng comes from his way of doing things and his charisma: when an ordinary worker got seriously ill, Niu Gensheng was the first to donate, and all of a sudden he donated 10,000 yuan. ; For a while, when the commuter bus driver was busy, Niu Gensheng took over the job. A new worker, who didn't know Niu Gensheng, kept praising Niu Gensheng to others: "The new fat driver has a really good attitude. He can stop wherever he is asked." Because of his outstanding performance Niu Gensheng was awarded a sum of money to buy a good car, which he converted into four vans and distributed them to his direct subordinates. Niu Gensheng basically distributed all of his annual salary of more than 1 million to his employees.

Niu Gensheng went to Zheng Junhuai to report the problem. For the first time, he felt the "strangeness" and "distrust" conveyed in Big Brother's eyes. Niu Gensheng seemed to understand something. If it were just prestige and good performance, Zheng Junhuai would not eventually turn against Niu Gensheng. After many interviews, the reporter finally got the truth from several old employees who knew both Yili and Mengniu. The trigger for Zheng Junhuai's decision to "break" with Niu Gensheng lay in the differences in corporate development strategies. When reporters mentioned this, Niu Gensheng had no objection.

Zheng Junhuai’s strategic thinking is to seek improvement while maintaining stability, while Niu Gensheng’s strategic thinking is to move forward boldly and use all available means and resources to make Yili “grow beyond the norm.” However, Zheng Junhuai was worried that if Yili developed according to Niu Gensheng's strategic thinking, he would lose control of Yili, which he would never allow to happen. At this time, Zheng Junhuai had already made up his mind to eliminate Niu Gensheng. When Niu Gensheng realized this, it was already difficult for him to realize his ambitions in Yili.

Niu Gensheng submitted three resignations to Zheng Junhuai in one ***. The first time and the second time, Zheng Junhuai said something to persuade him to stay: "I didn't mean that, you misunderstood!" Niu Gensheng had to withdraw his resignation. But Niu Gensheng found that his environment not only remained unchanged, but also became increasingly worse. Niu Gensheng submitted his resignation for the third time at a board meeting of Yili.

Niu Gensheng placed his resignation in front of Zheng Junhuai, putting the resignation on the table for the first time. Niu Gensheng said to Zheng Junhuai: "Brother Zheng, if you want me to leave, I will officially resign now, at least not because I personally affect the development of the company." Zheng Junhuai looked a little ugly, but he still said: "I didn't mean that! Niu Gensheng took the words and said: "Then I will take back this resignation!" When Niu Gensheng reached for his resignation, Zheng Junhuai quickly pressed it tightly with his hand and said to Niu Gensheng: "You step aside first, we Discuss before making a decision! "As soon as Niu Gensheng left, Zheng Junhuai, who was seldom excited, suddenly cried and said to the people present: "Yili has him but not me, and I have not him!"

After the meeting! , Zheng Junhuai talked to Niu Gensheng and told him: "Don't you want to resign? Then I will remove you from your position. We will adopt a transitional approach. The company will arrange for you to study in a university, but there are two conditions: First, you must leave. 500 kilometers away from Hohhot; secondly, the study time should not be less than two years. "

"After staying in Yili for 16 years, your performance was very good and your employees loved you, but you suddenly left without any explanation. The company neither resisted nor complained. Were you really able to accept this reality calmly?" the reporter asked.

Niu Gensheng frowned and said very emotionally: "I was very uncomfortable at the time. I have been very uncomfortable three or two times in my life. This was one of them, and I almost wanted to die." "

Reflection: Exiled to Peking University, facing the wall for ten years and trying to break through it

Niu Gensheng, who has been with Yili through thick and thin for 16 years, came to Peking University and rode a broken bicycle all day long. between classrooms. When Lao Niu was sitting in the classroom listening to the class, the students sitting next to him were all students around 18 years old. Lao Niu was already 40 years old at the time. "I didn't know at the time whether it was an honor or a shame. When I arrived at Peking University, people asked me what I did. Sitting with some little girls and boys all day long seemed disharmonious. Fortunately, I had a teacher at the Academy of Social Sciences. diploma, I was in charge of further training for teachers, so I called myself a 'visiting scholar'. "

It was not easy to be a "visiting scholar". Niu Gensheng had to first resolve the grievances and pain in his heart before he could calm down. Make up your mind to integrate into the unfamiliar campus environment.

"Fortunately, I can think openly. There are many more sad things in my history. When I was eighteen or nineteen years old, I got into fights in society because of my loyalty and righteousness, and I was punished. The Public Security Bureau arrested him and put him in a detention center, where he was interrogated and administratively detained for 3 months or 2 months. Fortunately, he was not sentenced. Later, the leaders of the Hohhot Municipal Law Committee visited Mengniu, and I was a third of them. Yes, they all trained and educated me back then." Niu Gensheng chuckled.

"I experienced this kind of thing before I was 20 years old, and it naturally got better later, so I was still doing well in terms of appearance. It just so happened that I didn't go to a famous university, so I just took care of myself at that time. I enjoyed studying at a prestigious university. During this time, I did a lot of research and listened to many lectures by economists to find out what I didn’t know. As long as I didn’t know, I learned from the university teachers. How to teach? What are the ways and methods of learning? What are the ways and perspectives of thinking? "When you sit in the classroom at Peking University, can you really let go of the business?" Reporter I can't believe that Lao Niu lives such a leisurely life.

"I can't let it go! When I attended the lectures, I always came with questions." Niu Gensheng said.

A subordinate who has followed Niu Gensheng since Yili told reporters: "After Lao Niu came back from Peking University, his perspective on problems and his way of doing things have become much more mature than before. Lao Niu took advantage of this period Time has re-examined the various experiences and lessons I have learned in Yili for 16 years, and transformed the stress response mode originally formed in the enterprise into a rational thinking mode. As the saying goes, after seeing each other for three days, you should look at me with new eyes. Niu concentrated on thinking and summarizing for half a year. He already thinks higher and further than ordinary people. How much progress has this accumulation and sublimation made in his thinking? "

Niu Gensheng studied at Peking University for one semester. For Lao Niu, the semester is not just about studying, but also a process of reflection. "Facing the wall for ten years and trying to break the wall", when he finished studying, the draft of Mengniu may have been formed in his mind.

Helpless: burn the boat, put it to death and live again

"Do you want someone like me?" One day at the end of 1998, Niu Gensheng, who had officially resigned from Yili, was strolling. In Hohhot's talent market, he stood in front of a company's recruitment counter and asked people who came to recruit. "How old are you?" the other party asked. "40 years old." Lao Niu replied. "I'm sorry. At your age, our company is on the list of laid-off workers." The other party answered bluntly with a smile.

Niu Gensheng didn’t really want to find a job through the talent recruitment market. Lao Niu’s idea at the time was to see how valuable he would be if he left the familiar environment and the dairy industry. I was somewhat recognized, only to find that I, who had been engaged in management work for many years, were not wanted at all in other companies. Other companies do not mean that Lao Niu cannot find a good job. After a dairy company learned that Niu Gensheng resigned, the boss immediately approached Niu Gensheng and was willing to offer a high salary to invite Niu Gensheng to join. Niu Gensheng put forward a condition to the other party: "Use my Lao Niu's management experience and personal network resources to invest in shares, and let me become a shareholder." As a result, this condition scared the other party away. Niu Gensheng later said to his subordinates: "They thought my request was a fantasy!" Later someone commented that the company did not realize that Niu Gensheng was a money printing machine.

Since there is no appreciation from the new owner, Lao Niu plans to do something to make a living on his own. Niu Gensheng initially wanted to open a seafood food stall. After choosing the house and considering the model, it turned out that an "invisible" force made the plan difficult to bring to fruition. Only then did Niu Gensheng realize that although he had left Yili, the shadow that Yili had cast over his head had not dissipated.

Since the seafood stall cannot continue, then it is okay to set up a factory that shines shoes for others, right? No way! They clearly want to "kill them all" and don't want to give Lao Niu a "way to survive." At this time, a group of brothers who had followed Niu Gensheng were dismissed from their posts by Yili. They found Niu Gensheng together, hoping that Niu Gensheng would lead them to a new path. These people are: Yang Wenjun, general manager of Yili's liquid milk, Qiu Lianjun, chief engineer of Yili, Sun Yubin, general manager of Yili's refrigeration business department, and Sun Xianhong, general manager of Yili's advertising planning department. In addition to the heads of Yili's human resources and finance, the heads of Yili's various business departments are all headed by Niu Gensheng.

Niu Gensheng thought about his predicament, and then said to them: "The sad soldiers will win! Since we are not allowed to do anything, we will build another Yili! Let's give it a new name." , everyone named it Mengniu.

Hide your capabilities, bide your time, accept adversity and fight back

Exclusive revelation: ×× company funds support ×× brand company and plans dozens of media to maliciously slander Mengniu. After the public security agency found out, the local government took three punitive measures against XX Company: "A fine of 60 million yuan and a public apology. This will not happen again." Then Niu Gensheng was asked for his opinion. In addition to "not being an example next time", Niu Gensheng suggested not to implement the other two measures.

In January 1999, Mengniu was officially registered and established under the name "Mengniu Dairy Co., Ltd." with a registered capital of 1 million, which was basically the money Niu Gensheng and his wife made from selling Yili shares. As soon as Niu Gensheng's Mengniu was established, his old subordinates who were still working in Yili began to defect to him in batches after hearing the news, totaling several hundred people. Niu Gensheng once warned them not to abandon "light" for "dark". Faced with the "three no environment" of "no market, no factory, and no milk source", no one can guarantee that Mengniu will have a bright future. However, the old subordinates joined Mengniu’s team without any hesitation. Among Mengniu's new management team, Niu Gensheng only hired one person from outside, and that was Lu Jun, Yili's former deputy party secretary, who had been transferred to the appointed director of Inner Mongolia Securities. Niu Gensheng once said to his subordinates: "All competition begins at the time of design." Lu Jun is not only an expert in the party and government, but also an expert in the dairy industry and a master in securities. Niu Gensheng's purpose in inviting her is very clear: Mengniu will become a joint-stock company from the beginning, so that Mengniu can have a healthy start.

Just eight months later, on August 18, 1999, "Mengniu" underwent a joint-stock reform, its name became "Inner Mongolia Mengniu Dairy Co., Ltd.", and its registered capital soared to 13.98 million yuan. , converted into 13.98 million shares, and the sponsors were 10 natural persons. In order of investment amount, they are: Niu Gensheng, Deng Jiuqiang, Hou Jiangbin, Sun Yubin, Qiu Lianjun, Yang Wenjun, Sun Xianhong, Lu Jun, Pang Kaitai, and Xie Qiuxu.

Among them, Deng Jiuqiang is the boss of Hohhot Light Industry Machinery Co., Ltd., which provided ice cream and milk industry equipment to Mengniu. He later defected to Niu Gensheng and became Niu Gensheng’s vice chairman. Xie Qiuxu is the chairman of Guangdong Chaozhou Yangtian Printing Co., Ltd. When he used to cooperate with "Yili" to print milk and ice cream packaging boxes, he met Niu Gensheng and became a close friend of Lao Niu. Later, he cooperated with "Mengniu" and worked in For a period of time, he was the largest natural person shareholder of Mengniu. Most of the others are management and technical talents from the original "Yili" company.