In recent years, especially since 2018, there is probably no phenomenon in the construction and ceramics industry that has attracted more intense and lasting attention than the "environmental high pressure" that mainly involves replacing coal with gas.
A casual search on Baidu or WeChat public platforms will reveal media reports about the conversion of coal to gas in the ceramics industry. Recently, "Ceramic Information" was in response to the official implementation of the "Ceramic Industry Atmospheric Pollutant Emission Standards" in Guangdong Province, and issued a question on its WeChat official account: "Upgrade standards, reform or withdraw?" The article "90% of Guangdong's construction and ceramics enterprises face life and death decisions" raises the development of construction and ceramics enterprises facing environmental protection issues to the level of life and death.
Is environmental protection really the decisive factor for the survival of the building ceramics industry? No, environmental protection is only one of the important factors, and there are other factors that are more important than it.
01
The elimination of backward production capacity is the general trend
Those who cannot adapt can only withdraw from the stage of history
No one can deny that environmental protection, including coal-to-gas conversion and rising air pollutant emission standards, have a great impact on ceramic construction companies. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many media paying attention to the coal-to-gas switch every day, and there wouldn’t be people in the relevant industry repeatedly calling on the government not to treat the issue of coal-to-gas switch in construction and ceramics enterprises with a one-size-fits-all approach.
For ceramic construction companies, whether it is coal-to-gas conversion or standard-raising (increasing emission standards) transformation, it not only means a suspension of production for several months, resulting in reduced output, sales and personnel instability, but also means the loss of production lines. Substantial modifications have resulted in increased production costs. Coupled with objective factors such as the short supply of natural gas in my country and the lack of a price linkage mechanism, the transformation of production lines for the purpose of environmental protection has put most ceramics companies in a predicament with many worries and difficulties: if you change, you will be embarrassed and burdened; if you don't change, you will not be able to pass the immediate hurdles. . From this perspective, environmental protection is indeed the last straw for ceramic construction companies that are struggling to survive in a market environment of channel fission, consumption upgrading, and sluggish demand.
However, Brother Chan believes that we should see the great significance of environmental protection to the entire country and the ceramics industry. First, the deterioration of the human living environment has reached an extreme level. People long for green water, blue skies and fresh air. Environmental governance in all walks of life is urgent. The coal-to-gas conversion and standard improvement in the construction and ceramics industry are no exception; second, for To eliminate backward production capacity, the government has launched important measures such as switching from coal to gas and raising standards. This is the government's macroeconomic control and is also an inevitable choice for the construction and ceramics industry with severe overcapacity.
Therefore, although coal-to-gas and standard-upgrading transformation may encounter some special circumstances that are not suitable for "one size fits all", and may even cause small-scale setbacks, the elimination of backward production capacity must be the general trend. Operators of relevant construction and ceramics companies must not take any chances. No one can stop the pace of coal-to-gas conversion and standard improvement: If there is no strong determination to implement production without the determination of a strong man, Environmental protection transformation is the only way to withdraw from the historical stage; if you have the determination and strength, it is better to turn long-term pain into short-term pain, complete the environmental protection and intelligent production transformation in one step, and seize the opportunity in the industry reshuffle. .
Many years later, those operators of construction and ceramics enterprises that have survived and grown due to their firm implementation of environmental protection management may be so lucky: thanks to the government's strong promotion of coal-to-gas conversion and standard improvement, otherwise, everyone would have been seriously affected. Overcapacity and rampant vicious low-price competition have made it difficult to survive or die; and those operators of construction and ceramics enterprises who actively or passively withdraw from the stage of history due to fear of environmental protection management may sigh: Fortunately, they withdrew from the construction industry in time. In the pottery industry, otherwise, you may even lose your capital and underwear.
02
Making good products is the basis for survival
Grasping empowerment is the way to survive
Of course, meeting environmental protection standards does not mean that ceramic construction companies will definitely survive. In the past, when the country's environmental protection requirements for the ceramic construction industry were not so high or the vast majority of ceramic construction companies met the environmental standards at that time, many ceramic construction companies were eliminated from the market. Compliance with environmental protection standards is just the lowest threshold for survival at present. Compared with it, good products and good brands are more important factors that support the survival of construction and ceramics companies.
In the terminal market research of China Ceramics Network that Brother Chan participated in, regarding the demand for manufacturers, the interviewed dealers of various building ceramics brands talked most about products and brands. In terms of products, dealers require manufacturers not only to ensure product quality (this is the most basic and should not be emphasized), but also to strengthen product development, that is, the products should have high appearance, unique designs and colors, and high prices. Competitiveness (market segmentation); in terms of brand, dealers require that the brand must have visibility, reputation and influence, that is, it must have word-of-mouth.
Those who can put forward product and brand demands at a higher level are mostly those dealers who are more successful in business; while those dealers who are less successful in business cannot even put forward such demands. They are very demanding of manufacturers. The requirements are usually very naked, and the most important thing is the preferential policies, that is, the products must be cheaper and cheaper. It can be seen thatproduct power and brand power are always the most direct and powerful weapons for ceramic enterprises to win the terminal, especially todayThe construction and ceramics industry is facing a long and cold market environment.
As for why everyone basically doesn’t mention the most popular empowered dealers, which are talked about every day from the top to the grassroots in construction and ceramics companies, because they feel that this is just empty talk and they don’t know where to say it. rise. Why has empowering dealers become an empty talk used by some construction and ceramics companies to deceive dealers? After going deep into the terminal, I realized: Manufacturers may not have figured out what is going on in the market environment of channel fission, consumption upgrading, and sluggish demand, or they may not have a good solution after they have figured it out, or they may not have a good solution. There is a good solution but no team to execute it. For such a manufacturer, apart from requiring its products to be better and its brand to be more influential, and to routinely conduct brand culture training, new product training and promotional activities, what other higher requirements can it ask?
To truly make good products and empower dealers, the current efforts of most ceramics companies are far from enough, and they must make efforts from a broader and deeper level.
03
Without top-level design, there is no future
Without a team, everything is a castle in the air
The so-called broader level and deeper level are top-level design and team.
How important is top-level design? Microsoft's recent return to the world's largest market capitalization company is telling.
On July 19, Microsoft released its 2019 financial report: revenue reached US$125.8 billion, net profit was US$39.2 billion, an increase of 138%; market value exceeded US$1 trillion, surpassing Apple and Amazon, ranking first in the world.
Why can Microsoft return to its peak? Microsoft CEO Nadella gave the answer in his autobiography "Refresh": The core keyword is not transformation or throwing away the past, but refreshing.
What is refresh? That is to redesign the top level and refresh Microsoft. In summary: the first is to redefine the mission and empower others; the second is to bet on new tracks, transforming from isolated relationships to openness, and from traditional business to cloud computing; the third is to refresh the culture, from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. thinking.
Let’s take the example of Microsoft and go back to the construction and ceramics industry.
To do a good job in top-level design, a ceramics company must abandon the extensive management and empirical management that the ceramics industry has always pursued, and reposition itself closely in conjunction with today's market environment of channel fission, consumption upgrading, and sluggish demand. Brand, sort out corporate culture, formulate development strategies, refresh and establish a sound organizational structure, especially create a human resources system centered on recruiting, educating, employing, and retaining people that the industry generally lacked in the past.The information-based management system uses information and intelligent means to open up the direct-to-end sales path including R&D, design, design, production, marketing, warehousing, logistics, installation, after-sales and other links to effectively connect users. In a word, you must establish and implement a business model and operation management system that suits you.
As we all know, the height of an enterprise is actually the height of its top leader. Therefore, the implementation and success of the top-level design of each ceramics company are inseparable from its boss. The most critical factor in whether a good top-level design can be effectively implemented is people, that is, whether there is a team with strong execution capabilities.
"Who doesn't want to transform? But first, there is a lack of funds, and second, there is no talent and team." This is what the dealers interviewed in the terminal market survey said that impressed Zen the most.
Indeed, it is difficult to recruit talents and even harder to retain them. This is not only one of the biggest troubles faced by manufacturers in recent years, but also one of the biggest troubles faced by distributors. Without top-level design, there is no future; without a team, everything is a castle in the air. To solve the problem of life and death in the long cold winter of the industry, construction and ceramics enterprises must first solve the problems of top-level design and team, and solve the problem of business partner model.
The construction and ceramics industry has long passed the era of relying solely on one concept or one type of product. Following the trend, imitating, making one thing or another, and unsystematic changes are by no means true transformation. , even if it is possible to achieve success through opportunism, it is only a temporary success and cannot be sustained and long-term. Today, the competition among construction and ceramic enterprises is far from competition in environmental protection level, competition in products and competition in brand influence. In the final analysis, it is competition in business models, competition in comprehensive operation and management level, competition in talents and teams.
Finally, I end this article by borrowing the views expressed by Li Zhilin, the honorary president of the Foshan Poyang Chamber of Commerce and the chairman of Jianyi Marble Ceramics, at the first and fourth president’s meeting of the Foshan Poyang Chamber of Commerce recently:
“This winter is not just 2019. The price of waiting and expecting the market to improve may be life or bankruptcy. You must be vigilant. The successful model in the past may be the starting point of your future failure. In the past, we had a tailwind ( style of play), you can’t win the second half.”
