Only by moving towards the mid-to-high-end, made in China, can it be better
A few days ago, after Kobe Steel, Nissan Motor, and Mitsubishi Materials, Japanese chemical giant Toray also publicly admitted to forging quality inspection data. So many well-known Japanese companies have been exposed to fraud in succession, and the Japanese manufacturing, known for its "reliable quality", has fallen into an unprecedented credibility crisis.
Quality and credibility are the foundation of a company's survival. Once caught in a fraud scandal, the company will suffer a devastating blow. But why are there so many Japanese-made options to take risks?
Is it impossible to make high-quality products? Obviously not. The products that have been tampered with quality inspection data are precisely these Japanese companies' leading products that have long occupied the international high-end market.
So, what is the reason for these Japanese manufacturers to be desperate? Aside from the mechanism loopholes, fluke psychology and other corporate individual reasons, the "collective weakness" that Japanese manufacturing appears when it gets rid of the "front and back" is worth pondering.
Since the international financial crisis, major economies have focused on revitalizing the real economy. At the top of the manufacturing pyramid, the United States and Germany respectively put forward strategies such as "re-industrialization" and "industry 4.0". As a chaser, we are also making great strides towards "Smart Manufacturing in China." In the face of the overall rapid upgrade of the global industrial chain, the Japanese manufacturing, which was originally in a superior position in the mid-to-high-end and lived a comfortable life, encountered the "finger attack" of tigers and wolves before and chasing soldiers, but lacked the revitalization plan and management innovation to consolidate its position. And talent reserves, the high cost performance in many fields no longer exists, profit margins are greatly squeezed, and even business operations are difficult. It can be seen from the 9-year high of foreign acquisitions of Japanese company assets in the first half of last year. Some established companies have overdrafted their reputations and changed their positions.
Talking about the scandal made in Japan is not gloating, but a reminder that Chinese manufacturing faces the same dilemma of transcendence and anti-transcendence. Like Japan, China's economy has also created a miracle of long-term rapid development. It has established a complete industrial system through the advantage of a late-comer in the last industrial transfer, and has achieved parallelism in many areas. However, major developed economies are currently adopting tax cuts and other policies to promote the return of manufacturing industries, and more emerging economies are also taking advantage of low labor costs to absorb manufacturing investment. Under the double squeeze, there are more and more low-end parallel runners in the global industrial chain, the living space is getting narrower, and the traditional competitiveness of Chinese manufacturing is getting weaker and weaker. Only by advancing to the mid-to-high end of the industry chain, changing from a parallel runner to a front runner, and constantly surpassing, can we live better.
It is not easy to lead. The leader must have the explosive power to transcend and the endurance to counter transcendence. The Japanese manufacturing that broke the scandal this time lost precisely in endurance. Cultivate the endurance of the leader, relying on the input of elements can not be exchanged, lying on the merits of the book does not work, can only rely on the true skill of continuous innovation. Sustained innovation not only includes technological research, product introduction, and management breakthroughs in the operation of micro-enterprises, but also depends on thinking changes and institutional innovations in the macro-business environment. The two complement each other and blend inside and outside, so that Chinese manufacturing can jump out of the old model of paving the way and consolidating the quantity, so as to step up the threshold and step up the stairs.
Although it is difficult to lead, transcendence and anti-transcendence are both challenges and opportunities. History has proved that every technological and industrial revolution will promote the re-division of global industries, and an economy with core competitiveness will become a new world economic center. On the other hand, made in China, in 2016, the number of domestic invention patent applications accepted and authorized, which are the best measure of core technical capabilities and innovation capabilities, accounted for less than 40% and 20% of all patents, respectively. The pattern in which core technologies in key areas are controlled by people has not yet been substantially changed. This not only confirms that our ability to transcend and counter-transcends is still insufficient, but also means that there is still a lot of scope for us to exert our powers.