Getting richis glorious
In 1986, 16-year-old Huang Guangyu also known as Wong Kwongyu, who dropped out from middle school, left his village in southern China for Beijing. He wanted to make a living by selling things. With Rmb 4,000 (US$ 480) in his pocket he and his older brother rented a shabby market stall in the capital starting to hawk small and cheap household electronic appliances.
The rest is now history.Eighteen years on, Mr Huang is still in the business of selling things, but in a big way. As the founder of the GoMe Electrical Appliances, China’s largest consumer-electronic retailer chain, he has recently been named the richest businessman in mainland China and the first retailer to ever head ing China’s rich list. Euromoney, the London-based financial information service, estimated put his personal fortune at $1.28bn. Eagle Tower, Mr Huang’s 32-storey headquarters in central Beijing, boasts double helipads on the roof.
Sitting in his vast office with a minimalist touch, the question on everyone’s mind is:How did that happen?
“The Rich List doesn’t mean a great deal to me,” he says, in his vast, minimalist office. “It can be misleading and I don’t even really know my own worth. I am who I am. Nothing changes that much. I was 17 than when I started the company, now I am 35, getting a bit older.”Huang, who secured a Hong Kong listing for the business in June. kick-starts the conversation with a wry smile.
A sharp dresser with a meticulous slicked-back hairstyle, he insists that his staff’s business cards carry details of GoMe’s three cardinal rules: no gift from clients, no kickbacks and no personal favour. He may well be among a few big business bosses in China nowadays who doesn’t play the power game of golf and is, predictably, a workaholic.
his aides disclose. His motto, “Boundless Commerce, Harmonic Mutuality’, now also trademark slogan for the company, has almost a Buddhist or religious tinge. Of course, capitalism is relatively new in 21st century China. Huang, like many private entrepreneurs, is, tiptoed, feeling his way.
In the real world of increasingly cut-throat competition, Mr Huang’s his rivals in China’s retailing sector often describe himHuang as a “price butcher” and, in spite of dropping out from middle school, a sharp business mind to be reckoned with. He has steadily built his retailing empire through a simple but tested formula: “Small profits plus large sales.”
Such a strategy has so far won loyal customer bases. Overall profit margin is about 5 per cent, says Mr Huang. However, profits from many of his household electronics goods could be as low as 1 per cent, according to some independent observers.
Has he been ruthless with price-slashing measures in order to drive smaller competitors out of business and gain a larger share of the market? “Well, I don’t do anything deliberately to edge out my competitors. The end result may suggest it is the case. In any business, you will have to adapt in order to survive,’’ he argues.
Up to now,The GoMe retail chain has more than 160 stores across China with a workforce of more than 10,000. Mr Huang confirms that he is aiming to set up GoMe stores in all Chinese cities withhat have a population of between 400,000 and 500,000. That means adding more than 600 outlets.
“In the next four or five years we project to achieve about Rmb120bnYuan ($19.3bn) in total turnover. With the acceleration of urbanisation in China’s rural areas we may extend our retailing network into the vast countryside. Although we are now leading China’s electronics retail sector we want to make it even bigger in turnover and extend our market dominance,” he says.
Inmajor big cities such as Tianjin, near Beijing, GoMe has dominated the local market, attracting more than 70 per cent of the customers.
This month, in a move eagerly awaited among global retail giants, China will be fully opening its retailing sector to foreign investors, fulfilling its commitments in accordance with its WTO agreement. Beijing has been incrementally opening up to bigmajor foreign retailers since joining the WTO but at times restricting them for expanding too fast, as has been the case with France’s Carrefour.
Is he worrying about the arrival of “foreign wolves”? For now Mr Huang is not that concerned.
“If foreign retailers want to enter China they will have to really understand how the market works here. It’s not only about investment of money. It’s more to do with your mindset or perception. Retailing is different from other sectors, technology, for instance. Foreign operators will have to go through what I call a ‘naturalisation process’ first. They are not coming to China to change the consumer society here. Success or failure really depends on whether they can seamlessly interact with Chinese society.”where they operates business.” He feels that foreigner retailers have good management practices but should not assume that China will be easy to navigate.
Any practical advice for foreign retailers as well as his future competitors?
“They shouldn’t rush. Avoid taking major business decisions blindly. Study the sector in question carefully. Make sure the timing and local conditions are both right for your entry. By the way, success or failure is only at your own device. Don’t blame China if your business venture does flop.”
While foreign retailers focus on China, Mr Huang, who has parleyed soaring demand for household appliances and property into a conglomerate that is now expanding into securities and trading, has been planning to make the his first attack on the global retailing market.He already has five GoMe superstores in Hong Kong. and 10 to 12 would be optimum for competing there.
Using Hong Kong as springboard and strategic base for his expansion in south-east Asia, he is reported to have reportedly, has a business plans in place for to open outlets in Vietnam and Malaysia.
Getting rich is glorious. In the mid-1980s, Huang Guangyu was one of the first private entrepreneurs to answer the calling from the late Deng Xiaoping, then China’s paramount leader and the chief architect of the “open-door” reform.
Twenty-five years on, capitalists in the Communist-ruled China are alive and kicking. Protection of private property has, at long last, entered the party constitution, which traditionally outlawed private ownership.
The party has also been encouraging celebrated private entrepreneurs to become party members and “red capitalists”.
In China today, where political capital is at least as vital as money assets, many young and ambitions businessmen waste no time jumping on to the bandwagon.
“Are you now a Communist party member?” I ask.
“No. I am not a party member. I consider myself patriotic but I don’t get involved directly in politics,” says Mr Huang.
Why not?
“Even if I want to join the party, I don’t think I am qualified because I am a Catholic. So I am religious,” explains Mr Huang. “My family in Guangdong province has a long Catholic tradition, which can be dated back to four generations ago.”
In theory, communism only accepts atheism. But how is he going to repay the country for what has been bestowed upon him? “There are two things that I can contribute, I think. First, I duly pay my tax, second, I will try to create more jobs’.
从零售大鳄到新首富
1986年，16岁的黄光裕辍学，离开老家广东汕头，北上闯荡。怀揣4000元人民币，他与哥哥先入内蒙古做小买卖，再转道北京落脚。当时，他谋生的思路简单，也就是靠买东西谋生。不久，他在京城租下个破旧的小商铺，开始叫卖便宜的小家电。
尔后发生的一切，已成历史的一段脚注。时过18年，黄光裕仍在做买卖的老本行，不同的是，现在做大了。他创办了中国规模最大的消费电器零售企业――国美电器集团（GoMe），最近又登上2004年中国大陆财富排行榜榜首。这是零售商头一次当上中国大陆首富。根据胡润百富榜的估算，35岁的黄光裕身价12.8亿美元。目前他旗下的资产除了国美电器，还坐拥鹏润地产，他都是绝对大股东。在管理模式上，似乎仍多有东方家族企业的影子。夫人，妹妹及妹夫都在国美最高管理层任职。
位于北京城中心的鹏润大厦是黄光裕的经营本部，共32层。除了当今中国高档办公楼眩眼的豪华之外，鹏润大厦楼顶上还专设两个直升机停机坪。他的助手解释说，因中国现行的空中管制条例，停机坪无法使用。当时明知停机坪暂时并无实用功能，仍请设计师特意加入，是为了体现公司的前瞻意识，为未来而谋略。
黄光裕的办公室，很开阔，陈设上却是简约，去掉了不少大商人案头堆砌的浮躁与杂乱感，感觉倒更像是书房。不过，见到首富桂冠加身的黄光裕，每个人大概都在想同样的问题：他的4000元是如何变成105亿人民币的？
“外国零售商不要太急，不要盲目进入中国市场，要确保天时地利。顺便说一句，成功或失败，事在人为。如果你的生意真失败了，不要怪罪中国。”
“财富榜对我的意义其实不大，还可能误导” 黄光裕脸上有满足，但也写着些无奈。“其实，我并不知道自己身价多少。我还是我。要说有变化的话，公司刚开办时我17岁，现在我35了，老了一些吧。”。今年六月份，黄光裕巧用资本运作，“左手倒右手”，使国美电器在香港成功上市，大涨身价, 并从2003年《中国百富榜》的27位拿下今年的首富地位。
不打高尔夫球
黄光裕，衣着考究，梳个一丝不苟的大背头。说话声不大，略微带着老家的广东口音。他坚持让所有员工的名片背面都印上国美公司的三项基本原则：廉政承诺――一不：不接受客户礼物；二不：不收取回扣；三不：不以权谋私。这是很有中国特点的。他在经营上的座右铭是：“商者无域，相融共生。”据说，在这点上，他和也是汕头老乡的亚洲首富李嘉诚颇有同感。这八个字，无商场赤裸裸的搏杀之气，却有佛经的味道，已成为国美的公关标语。助手说，黄光裕不会打高尔夫球。有人说，在中国的大老板中，不嗜好权贵游戏高尔夫运动的人，现在已是硕果仅存。
毕竟，资本主义还是21世纪中国的新生事物。黄光裕和其他私人企业主一样，正踮着脚尖，小心摸索着前进。
在日渐激烈的商业竞争里，黄光裕的对手常称他为“砍价杀手”。他年幼时学业虽不出众，中途辍学，却有机敏的商业头脑，并有韧性。他靠的是一个简单却历经验证的营销法则――“薄利多销”，一步步建构起他的零售王国。
到目前为止，这种经营战略已为国美赢得了忠实的客户基础。他说，国美的总体利润率约为5%。不过，有些独立的研究发现，国美销售的很多家电产品的利润率最低时仅1%。
那么，他是否在用这种杀价手段，淘汰小竞争对手，以获得更大市场份额呢？“这怎么说呢？我从来不会刻意排挤竞争对手。可能最终结果让人觉得我好像在排挤别人。做任何生意，都是适者生存。”他强调说。
国美王国
国美零售链下共有160多家商店，遍布全中国，员工已超过万人。黄光裕透露说，他计划把国美的地盘开辟到中国所有人口规模在40万到50万的城市去。这样一来，又将增加600多个网点。
“在未来四至五年，我们预计实现销售总额1200亿元（193亿美元）。随着中国农村城市化步伐的加快，我们的零售网络还将拓展到广大农村去。尽管我们现在已是中国最大的电子零售商，我们希望进一步扩大销售额，巩固市场统治地位。”他说。
在天津等大城市，国美已垄断了当地市场，吸引了70%以上的客户。曾记得，国美当年进入天津之际，曾遭当地强烈抵制。时过境迁，天津已是国美的一片天地。
今年12月是全球零售巨头们渴盼已久的日子。中国将兑现入世承诺，完全向外商投资者开放中国的零售业。其实从加入世贸组织起，中国就在逐渐向大型外国零售商开放国内市场，但常常怕他们扩张太快，又加以限制，法国超市集团家乐福就有过这样的遭遇。
外国“零售狼”来了？
害怕“外国狼”到来吗？黄光裕说，眼下，他并不担心。
“如果外国零售商想打进中国，他们首先得了解中国市场是怎么运作的。这不仅仅是投资的问题。这和心态有关系。零售业和其它产业不一样，比如技术行业。外国零售业运营商先得过在中国‘本土化’这一关。他们不是来改变中国的消费社会的。他们成败是否，主要看能不能与中国社会融合起来。”他觉得，外国零售商在管理上优秀，但这并不等于他们能在中国市场上驾驭自如。
有没有实用的建议与他未来的竞争对手分享呢？
“他们不要太急。不要盲目地作重大商业抉择。要先认真研究具体的领域。确保进入时天时地利。顺便说一句，成功还是失败，都是事在人为。如果你的生意真是失败了，不要怪罪中国。”
外国零售商聚焦中国之时，黄光裕却在谋划走出去，进军国际零售市场。现在她已在香港开办五家国美大商场。为了达到相应的竞争规模，香港的国美门店总数应该达到10-12家。此外，他以香港为跳板和战略基地，准备向东南亚扩张。据报道，他已有商务计划，要把分店开到越南和马来西亚等地。
1980年代中期，中国改革开放的倡导者邓小平号召说――致富光荣。黄光裕大概是率先响应这一召唤的私人企业家之一，当时人们称之为“个体户”。
爱国不从政
25年之后，在共产党执政的中国，资本家阶层正悄然间茁壮成长。保护私有财产终于写入了宪法，而1949年之后，私有财产在中国长期受到诟病，得不到法律保护。过去几年，期待与时俱进的中国共产党还开始鼓励著名的私营企业家入党，使他们成为“红色资本家”。
当今中国，政治资本和金钱资本同等重要。很多年轻有为的商人毫不犹豫地顺应时势，成为执政党的新鲜血液。
采访临近结束，我问：
“你现在是共产党员吗？”。
“不是，我不是党员。我爱国，但是我不想直接从政。”黄光裕回答得很干净。
为什么不愿意呢？
“……即便我想入党，也不符合条件。因为我是天主教徒。我是信教的，”他说。“我的老家在广东，四代人都信奉天主教。”理论上而言，共产主义意识形态只接受无神论的说法。
面对中国首富的名号，面对对私营企业家呼之欲出的公共责任与义务，面对中国日益严重的贫富差距与就业的困境，他将以何种方式来回报这个给了他机会的中国社会呢？“我想，我可以做两件事。第一，我纳税；第二，我创造就业。”
黄光裕如是说。
