Interview with Zheng Baotang, General Manager of Giant (China) Co., Ltd
Kunshan 20 years, quality and innovation go hand in hand!
Kunshan has more than 100 bicycle and spare parts enterprises, accounting for two-thirds of Jiangsu Province's exports and one-quarter of the country's exports. And Giant, which has seven companies in Kunshan and an annual turnover of 6.2 billion in China, undoubtedly plays the leading role in the industry.
In September 1992, Taiwan's giant group was located in Kunshan. In 1994, Giant (China) Co., Ltd. was officially put into production in Kunshan. Adhering to the new century business philosophy of "global operation, local roots; local operation of global brands", Giant has been constantly innovating, transforming and upgrading, gradually occupying half of the domestic market, and has been ranking first for many years. In February 2004, it was awarded the title of "Famous Trademark" by the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the first Taiwanese businessman to win this honor. In September 2007, Giant passed the assessment of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China (AQSIQ) once and for all, and obtained the qualification of "export inspection exemption", thus becoming the first Taiwan funded enterprise in the mainland to successfully apply for export inspection exemption. On September 19, 2010, the groundbreaking ceremony of Giant's China headquarters, R&D center and carbon fiber technology project marked the official launch of the establishment of Giant's China regional headquarters, with a total investment of 300 million dollars.
"At present, Giant has become the largest bicycle R&D, manufacturing and sales company in mainland China. Its marketing network spreads all over the world, and its output value ranks first in the world. One out of every six high-end bicycles is Giant, which also benefits from the riding culture vigorously promoted by the enterprise. The riding culture leads more people to ride and get healthy physique," said Zheng Baotang.
However, the road of Giant's bicycle kingdom is not smooth.
In 2004, Giant encountered an unprecedented "bottleneck": the government's macro-control, the export tax rebate was reduced from 17% to 9%, the RMB continued to appreciate, the price of raw materials was rising, and electric vehicles occupied a large number of market shares.
Innovation is the foundation of transformation. The first step is to change the internal staff of the company, improve the values of employees and strengthen their innovation ability. Secondly, in 2006, Giant set up G-TEAM (Giant Cooperative Promotion Association), which is committed to promoting TPS (Toyota production mode), improving the product quality of supporting manufacturers, strengthening the corporate constitution of the company and supply chain, and building East China into an industrial cluster with great international competitiveness for Chinese premium cars, so as to ensure the sustainable operation and healthy development of Giant's system. G-TEAM will also hold regular discussions, hold improvement results presentation meetings, and invite member factories to observe and learn.
"Enterprise operation needs to keep pace with the times, transform and upgrade, otherwise, it will inevitably be eliminated." Zheng Baotang realized this early, He said: "Transformation and upgrading is accompanied by the development process of enterprises. Enterprises need to constantly respond to and change the changing market, policies, consumers, etc. Of course, this is also inseparable from the accumulation of enterprises at ordinary times. It is like changing from quantity to quality. Only with a certain amount of 'quantity' can a 'quality' leap take place."
Giant has been accumulating, focusing on safety production, product innovation and marketing development... So when the market changes, it can timely bring forth the new.
In 2008, Giant took the lead in entering the women's market and established the women's brand Liv, which took women's preferences into consideration and integrated fashion elements to create a lightweight and fashionable women's bicycle.
In 2009, in order to meet people's needs for comfort and leisure in daily life, Giant launched its brand Momentum to lead a fashionable, personalized and modern urban lifestyle.
In addition, electric vehicles, baby buggies, e-Cycling, etc. are also growing the team of the Giant family. Zheng Baotang's dream of "hoping that a family can ride different brands of Giant's cars to travel together" has also become a reality.
In 2014, when e-commerce was popular all over the country, Giant officially launched its official flagship store, becoming a member of the online sales force. Considering the particularity of bicycles, the main function of the flagship store is to clean up the roots and promote brand culture.
At the China Bicycle Culture Festival and the 2014 Asian Bicycle Boutique Expo, which just ended in Kunshan, several brands of Giant joined hands to make a grand appearance.
Not long ago, Giant was awarded the honorary title of "Top Ten Transforming Enterprises" by Kunshan Municipal Government. "Constant dripping wears away the stone, and it is not a day's work". Today's success of Giant is inseparable from the accumulation of continuous transformation and upgrading in the past decade. Although "moving forward" is no longer the advertising slogan of Giant brand, it seems that the spirit of Giant is engraved in its development process.
Bicycle culture "preaches", spare no effort.
Zheng Baotang said that while others do advertising marketing, Giant is cultural marketing. This culture is bicycle culture. There has never been a shortage of bicycles in China, but a lack of bicycle culture. Over the past ten years, Giant has been committed to promoting bicycle culture. For this reason, in 2008, Giant established the Jiangsu Giant Bicycle Sports Foundation.
The Foundation is funded and operated by Giant. Through sponsoring public welfare bicycle projects, it improves the software and hardware environment for bicycle development and promotes new bicycle culture. In recent years, the Foundation has successfully held "Beijing Rides Shanghai" activities for many times, funded the Taihu Lake International Road Cycling Race for many times, and participated in bicycle carnivals all over the country for many times... Open the official website of the Foundation, and the long activities bear the efforts and persistence of Giant in promoting bicycle culture along the way.
During the Chinese Bicycle Culture Festival and the 2014 Asian Bicycle Expo, Giant Bicycle Sports Foundation and Kunshan Youth Federation also hosted the Kunshan Youth Adult Ceremony and the Second Kuntai Youth Bicycle Adult Ceremony. When talking about the original intention of holding the Bicycle Adult Ceremony, Zheng Baotang said, "Cycling is like life. You have to pedal hard constantly, or run forward, and you will encounter all kinds of road conditions, so you must focus on it. Life is the same, and you have to work hard, never stop, and the road is long. You can make progress only by working hard." Zheng Baotang felt that, It is suitable to complete the rite of passage for children by riding. "In addition, in the process of preparing for the rite of passage, parents who learn to ride bicycles also accompany them to ride. Children spend more time with their parents and have more communication with them. Children in the rebellious period have fewer conflicts with their parents. When their families are harmonious, the society will be harmonious."
Speaking of this, Zheng Baotang launched a business card. He said that he often couldn't help "preaching": on his business card, "riding a bicycle is happy, healthy, athletic, environmental friendly, parent-child, tourist, harmonious and fashionable". This is the essence of the bicycle culture that Giant has tried to spread for many years.
In addition, in daily life, all employees of Giant are also promoting bicycle culture. Zheng Baotang proudly said that Giant is the only company where all the top leaders and grass-roots employees are riding bicycles. "Every Giant person is a propagandist of bicycle culture!". It can be said that it is the dedication and efforts of the whole staff to promote that make Geon reach a height that others can hardly reach.
"Little Green": "Hand in hand with Kunshan to build a bike friendly city"
Bicycle lanes on both sides of the road, public bicycle networks all over Kunshan, specially built bicycle slow lanes in the east and west of the city, cycling clubs one after another... Giant, which has been committed to spreading bicycle culture, has been rooted in Kunshan for 20 years, and its influence on Kunshan is self-evident.
It has to be mentioned that public bicycles, which can be seen everywhere, have become the preferred means of transportation for many citizens in Kunshan for short trips, and become a brilliant color in Kunshan. They also have their own unique name - "Little Green". According to statistics, the utilization rate of public bicycles in Kunshan ranks first in the country, which is 2-3 times that of other cities.
In August 2011, Kunshan public bicycles were officially launched. By the end of 2013, the total number of vehicles has exceeded 10000. All cars have a common symbol - "Giant". When it comes to "Little Green", Zheng Baotang is very proud because he personally participated in the design of bicycles. Considering that citizens like to ride bicycles to buy vegetables, Zheng Baotang attaches great importance to the firmness of the car basket. It is said that someone once saw a child in the "Little Green" car basket without any problem. In addition, Zheng Baotang also has his own unique intentions on anti-theft and weight reduction. In the process of launching public bicycles in succession, Giant has also continuously improved and upgraded the brake, handle and other parts to further improve the safety, comfort and practicality of bicycles. In the end, these public bicycles were delivered to Kunshan Municipal Government at a very low cost. For 20 years in Kunshan, the development of Giant cannot be separated from Kunshan, so Zheng Baotang said that he wanted to "do something for Kunshan".
Zheng Baotang has done more than that for Kunshan. He said that as an enterprise manager, Kunshan is a place suitable for work and can do something; As a citizen living in Kunshan, he also believes that Kunshan is a city suitable for life, livable and convenient. He loves this city and hopes Kunshan will become better and better. Therefore, his contribution can be seen in more places: he is one of the first members of the "Kunshan Cycling Association" established in May 2010. Now he still keeps the habit of riding once a month and leads the national cycling trend with other leaders. In November 2013, the 12 km long bicycle slow lane in the west of Kunshan City was closely related to the promotion of cycling culture. In addition, according to Zheng Baotang, Kunshan Municipal Government is preparing to build a bicycle museum near Xiaxi Road. After completion, it is also a beautiful scenery in terms of Kunshan bicycle culture.
[Postscript] "Driving too fast, walking too slowly. Only bicycles can retain the beautiful scenery of life." Over the past 20 years, Giant has been moving forward, working hard, constantly moving forward, focusing on and exploring. Giant is creating beautiful scenery for beautiful scenery. Maybe there is still a long way to go in the future, but I believe that promoting cycling culture will lead Giant to achieve greater development.
