【Multinational companies in China】"Many moments move me" Zhuang Zhengsong tells HP's 40-year China story
China News Network, March 3 (Zhongxin Finance, Wu Jiaju, Zhang Ni) "At that time, as soon as I arrived at Hailong Building, I could really feel the prosperity of the industry", "I witnessed the 23 million laptop of HP production base in Chongqing in Chongqing", "When discussing with local officials in Weihai, everyone was so conscientious, doing their best to promote cooperation between HP and the local government, and striving for better development opportunities for China and the whole place"...
HP is one of the representative enterprises of Silicon Valley and one of the first foreign-funded enterprises to enter China. What is HP's story in China over the years? What kind of growth has it experienced with the Chinese market and China's IT industry? What is the future of China's IT industry?
Recently, Zhuang Zhengsong, global vice president and president of Hewlett-Packard Greater China, was interviewed by Zhongxin Finance and talked to us about "HP's China Story" on the occasion of HP's 40th anniversary in China.
"Many moments moved me"
Zhuang Zhengsong introduced that he joined HP in 1990, entered HP China in 2004, worked at HP for more than 40 years, witnessed HP's growth in China, and HP's relationship with China dates back to <> years ago.
In 1983, Chinese authorities invited all members of Hewlett-Packard's board of directors to Beijing for talks. Since then, HP has begun preparations for investment in China. In 1985, as a Sino-US joint venture high-tech enterprise, China HP was established.
Zhuang Zhengsong said that HP had great expectations for the Chinese market at that time, and believed that it could give full play to its own advantages to help this vibrant place in China and help the hardworking people here to do something.
"HP believes that we can contribute and bring some of HP's strengths, some experience. Therefore, for 40 years, we have always adhered to the original intention, we are here 'in China, for China'. ”
He said that over the years, HP has done a lot of localized things. In terms of talent training, HP has just introduced corporate culture and training systems to China. Over the years, many entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs and managers have come out of HP to continue to contribute to China's industrial development and technological innovation in different industries and positions.
"Since 1993, I have been training my customers and partners. I remember once doing training in Shenyang, and a trainee took a train from Shenzhen for nearly 72 hours to Shenyang, where he trained for three days, and then he took the train back that night. At that time, there was no high-speed rail, not even soft sleeper, it was a green leather car, and I was very moved. ”
He said that HP has also brought into China some relatively advanced production concepts, systems, and even the entire ecology that have been implemented in the world but have not yet been seen in China.
"HP has brought the entire industry chain into Chongqing. In 2016, the <> million laptops in HP's Chongqing production base rolled off the line. I witnessed this moment with Huang Qifan, then mayor of Chongqing. HP has produced a lot of notebooks in Chongqing, so Mayor Huang specifically mentioned that he should help HP find a way to get these products to customers as soon as possible. Later, with the Yuxin-Europe railway, I think this is also a very important milestone. ”
"At that time, Mayor Huang mentioned that HP brought the entire industry to Chongqing, and after Chongqing had the IT industry cluster effect, it had more confidence and experience, and then drove the agglomeration of the automotive industry and other industries."
Today, HP has produced nearly 4 million devices in Chongqing and exported them to the world. In 2017, HP established a large-scale printer production base in Weihai, Shandong, driving capital, production capacity, technology and talents to Weihai.
This story also moved Zhuang Zhengsong. "When we went to Weihai to discuss with local government officials, everyone was so conscientious, and they did their best to promote the cooperation between HP and the local government, to help us solve difficulties, and to strive for better development opportunities for China and the whole region, which I think is really great."
"The transformation that Zhongguancun has experienced is not necessarily a bad thing"
In the past, when people wanted to buy electronic products, they often went to the electronic product retail markets across the country represented by Zhongguancun.
"When I came to the mainland in 2004, HP's main channels were near Zhongguancun, and I went almost two or three times a week. At that time, the procurement method was indeed very different, mainly distribution. In addition to PCs, I am also responsible for the distribution of all HP products, including large devices. At that time, I remembered Pacific (Digital Computer City), Hailong (Building) and other places, and when I arrived there, I could really feel the prosperity of the industry. ”
As the sales of electronic products such as PCs have undergone a transformation from physical to online, there are few traces of "electronic city" in Zhongguancun today.
In this regard, Zhuang Zhengsong said that if today's Hailong Building is compared with the past, people may sigh, but now Zhongguancun has experienced a good transformation, not necessarily a bad thing.
"Today, especially in China, more than half of notebooks are sold by e-commerce. A friend once asked me: How can you accept e-commerce at such an age? They thought I should stay in the past. But when your heart is really open and you really look at this matter from the user's point of view, it will not be surprising at all. ”
He said that now to buy electronic products, many people still like to go to physical stores to see, to compare, but when they really want to place an order, they will still go online to see.
"Times are changing, but more importantly, how to bring the most value and the best experience to customers. In the era of continuous evolution, cherishing the feedback given to us by customers and trying to meet the needs of customers is our way of survival. ”
Zhuang Zhengsong introduced that HP has also brought more and more "Chinese experience" to the world based on feedback from Chinese customers.
For example, when HP's game industry in China was about to boom, it cooperated with Chinese companies to research what kind of products were more suitable for customers' needs based on big data, and then went backwards to design and produce new products. In 2015, HP launched its first series of gaming notebooks in China. Today, this series is HP's main product not only in China, but also in the world.
"In this way, we can share some good experience in China with customers around the world, and at the same time, let HP know that China's influence is definitely not just sales." Zhuang Zhengsong believes that in recent years, China's IT industry has faced many new challenges, but it cannot be denied that the Chinese market is very large, so there are many market segments, and the needs of many market segments are actually not met.
"There is still a lot of room for China's IT industry in the future"
Zhuang Zhengsong said that China's IT industry has developed very well, and there is still a lot of room in the future. Such a space can be expanded through market segmentation, by thinking from the perspective of customers, through new ecosystems, including e-commerce and service industries, from first- and second-tier cities, to third- and fourth-tier cities, fifth- and sixth-tier cities, and even county-level cities.
PC is one of HP's core businesses. According to a report by a market research agency, global PC shipments fell by 2022% in 16 and will continue to decline in 2023.
In this regard, Zhuang Zhengsong said that HP is facing this problem very seriously, but there are two things that need to be paid attention to. First, the pandemic has readjusted a lot of the pace, but the total PC demand in 2023 is actually more than in 2019. Second, the entire PC industry is still very large.
"Although the PC industry may not grow as fast as it did ten or twenty years ago, if you look at its shipments and turnover, it is actually very huge, so huge that it is difficult to find another industry to replace it."
Zhuang believes that the PC industry is still worth investing in. Whether in terms of quantity or quality, the PC market is worth looking forward to, and some new application scenarios will emerge, and a new ecosystem is gradually forming. Whether in terms of application, product design, or ecology, PC may now represent more than a simple hardware device.
He believes that in today's work and life, there are more and more integrated scenes. Nowadays, whether you go to a conference room with a notebook or a café, because the way people communicate with each other has changed, the equipment has become different.
"For example, the notebook used to be only word processing, but now it is more of a communication tool, so the camera is important, the microphone is important, the network frequency is important. Its accessories are also very important, you must have good headphones, and you must have good peripherals to match your use case. ”
Printers are also one of HP's core businesses. Zhuang Zhengsong believes that if you observe the past few years, or look at the future development, you will find that there are still many opportunities in the printer market, and now people are more and more aware of the situation of using printers.
For example, in the past few years, the scene of learning at home has become a daily routine, and we will find that it is almost unrealistic for children to communicate and learn in front of the electronic screen all the time, and they have a lot of exercises, test papers, etc. that need to be printed. "Just as people use mobile phones, they also know when they can replace printed text with it and when they can't."
Zhuang Zhengsong said that now China's economy is booming, the capacity of the entire printer market is very large, and different customers have different needs for printers.
For example, home printing may want the printer to not cause trouble, and do not want to find that the ink is dry when you want to print again. Small and medium-sized enterprises want asset-light, while large enterprises pay more attention to security.
"HP has been thinking about how to help small and medium-sized enterprises in terms of products and talent development." Zhuang Zhengsong said, "We hope to give HP's resources not only to channel vendors or large customers, we are more willing to see more small and medium-sized enterprises because of partners like HP, can be more worry-free and focus on their own business." ”
"HP was born in a garage in Silicon Valley and started its own path as a small business, so we know the hard work of small and medium-sized businesses and the potential of them. It is good to see that in the latest survey, Chinese MSMEs are optimistic for 2023. If small and medium-sized enterprises can really do a good job, they will become a good foundation for the entire Chinese economy. Zhuang Zhengsong said. (End)