New reading of the barrel law: short board relativity

"The Death of Aetna". In ancient Greek mythology, there was a famous hero named Antai, the son of the earth god Gaia. Antares is incomparably powerful, but his power comes from the earth. In battle, as long as Antai's body does not leave the earth, he is invincible. And once it leaves the earth, Antai will lose his strength and be powerless. Rival Hercules discovered the Achilles heel of Antaeus. So, in one engagement, Hercules lifted Aetna into the air. In the end, Antai lost his life.

The story of the Greek giant Antaeus being killed because of its only deficiency reminds people of the "cask law" in management.

I. What is the "barrel law"?

The law of wooden barrels was proposed by American management scientist Peter, which refers to the amount of water a wooden barrel holds, not depending on the tallest piece of wood surrounding the barrel, but the shortest one. plank. The barrel can only be filled with water if all the planks surrounding the barrel are the same height. In order to increase the overall capacity of the bucket, it is not necessary to lengthen the longest board, but to make up for the shortest board in turn.

To understand the law of barrels, we need to look at it with two questions: Who is the short board? What will happen if there is a short board?

In the workplace, the law of barrels plays an extremely important role. We often see a person's strengths and expertise, while ignoring the shortcomings. The success of an entrepreneur depends on his management and management capabilities; the success of a team leader depends on whether he has superb leadership skills. This also tells the team leader: the weakest force in the team affects the overall strength, and it is also a manifestation of poor organization.

Similarly, a person's success often depends not on how long his strengths are, but on how short his weaknesses are. People's shortcomings are the key to success. In this world, there are many people with operational and management skills, but many companies will still encounter crises and failures, because many people are constrained by their own shortcomings and cannot succeed at all.

Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, attaches great importance to the law of barrels. He believes that from the perspective of a company, disadvantages determine advantages, and disadvantages determine life and death. The law of barrels is a cruel law in market competition. Focusing on the use of advantages, but also constantly increasing shortcomings, Sam Walton summed up ten principles for Wal-Mart's growth in the continuous operation and management for many years. In fact, to build a perfect business empire, sometimes there must be no shortcomings.

If a person wants to achieve something, and an enterprise wants to rank in the upper reaches, he must not only see his own advantages, but also be aware of his own shortcomings. The law of barrels tells us that when we look at problems as a whole, we will consider them more comprehensively.

If you don't like not being good at not thinking about something, it may be because you don't know enough about its importance.

The law of wooden barrels tells us that, whether it is the comprehensive strength of a country/region, the strategic layout of an enterprise, or even the self-development of individuals, it is necessary to develop a moderate and balanced development, otherwise the overall competitiveness will not be improved.

Second, how does the law of wooden barrels work?

Ali, the absolute overlord of the cross-border e-commerce track

On September 6, 2019, Ali invested 2 billion US dollars to acquire NetEase Koala. From Ali's point of view, does it really need NetEase Koala?

As a giant in China's Internet, Ali has strong opponents in various business lines. The huge business system is like a wooden barrel composed of multiple boards of different lengths. In fact, cross-border e-commerce has always been the key layout of Ali, and building barriers through cooperative mergers and acquisitions is the top priority of development. According to the "2018-2019 China Cross-border E-commerce Market Research Report" report released by iiMedia Research, in 2018, NetEase Kaola ranked first in the domestic cross-border import market with a market share of 27.1%, and has been ranked first in the cross-border e-commerce market for three consecutive years. Share first. Tmall Global ranked second with a market share of 24%, and Haitun Global ranked third with a market share of 13.2%. After the merger of NetEase Kaola and Tmall International, the combined market share of the two will exceed 50%, and they will become the absolute overlords of China's cross-border e-commerce track. In addition, the combined and optimized supply chain logistics system will expand the market advantages; and then the right to speak will be enhanced, which can further increase the profit margin.

The short board supplement of the barrel law depends to a large extent on the company's prospect prediction and strategic layout.

Gree, one specialty can lead the era of intelligent manufacturing

On the Internet, the topic of Dong Mingzhu has never stopped. However, there is a lot of debate in the industry on Gree's diversification strategy. Regarding strategic choices, Drucker said: "Decision is to synchronize the time scale of a large number of differences into a time machine of the present." The current decisions made by managers are focused on the present, but to a greater extent, they are focused on In the future, make continuous preparations for future development and transformation.

In 2014, Gree Electric clearly proposed to "develop Gree Electric from an enterprise specializing in the production of air conditioners into a diversified group enterprise". In 2017, Gree Electric's annual report made it clear that Gree Electric would be a diversified global industrial group. In 2018, Gree Electric updated its development strategy and proposed to be a diversified and technology-based global industrial group, covering four major fields: air conditioners, household appliances, high-end equipment and communication equipment.

Why should Gree Electric be driven by diversification? Compared with its old rival Midea, Gree's road to diversification is obviously more than a beat slower, and it doesn't seem to be smooth. One can't help but wonder: Isn't it good to be a professional air conditioner? After all, Gree was the number one in China's air conditioner industry ten years ago. But if you put Gree's business system on the barrel law, it will be clear at a glance.

"Made in China 2025" emphasizes the development of integrated innovation and engineering application of a new generation of information technology and manufacturing equipment, focusing on key links in key manufacturing fields. Although intelligent manufacturing engineering and high-end equipment innovation engineering are not Gree's advantages, they are very important layout directions. As an industry leader, Gree also has a set of quality management. The development of intelligent manufacturing and robots is one of the needs of its own business. The core value of intelligent equipment at present is to enable Gree to greatly reduce costs and increase efficiency, and improve the overall Gree's core competitiveness. The second is the rise of intelligent manufacturing, and the development of domestic robot business is very good. If Gree can win the recognition of manufacturing manufacturers through its self-developed products, its desire to become an intelligent manufacturing service provider is not too far away. At the same time, Dong Mingzhu also emphasized that the decision-making of every Chinese enterprise should be combined with the direction of the country. Only when the country is strong, we are strong. We are still in the imitation stage, not leading and creating.

Strategies look to the future. Looking at the layout of mobile phones and getting involved in new energy vehicles, Dong Mingzhu obviously has foresight: mobile phones are connected to smart homes, and new energy vehicles are related to the field of unmanned driving. These industries have huge development opportunities in the future. After all, it is not something that every entrepreneur has the courage to do to make a lot of investment to improve shortcomings, and new growth points are in the future.

For the same example, we can also pay attention to Luxshare Precision. Luxshare Precision, which adopts an integrated growth strategy, is also diversifying its layout. On the one hand, it continues to improve its long-term strengths, and on the other hand, it increases investment to supplement its shortcomings. It should be noted that we found that among the various factors that affect strategy formulation, the idea of promoting growth has the greatest influence subtly, which makes the strategist ignore the inspection and judgment of the unfavorable factors of the strategy, and makes the organizational growth fall into the trap. . This is also the biggest debate about Dong Mingzhu's car making.

Three, the law of barrels Balanced development ≠ Average development

"Useless" basic science, why is it necessary?

In the past few years, many Chinese technology companies have made innovative breakthroughs in the Internet model, but they have not done much in cutting-edge technology. As the food of emerging technology, the chip is firmly controlled by others. How much competitiveness can the best model innovation bring? Don't put your hopes on spending money to buy technology and market for technology. Only by self-improvement can you not be pinched by the throat.

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a ban on ZTE’s export authority, which will prohibit U.S. companies from selling parts, goods, software and technology to ZTE for a period of seven years until March 13, 2025 . The reason is that ZTE violated U.S. sanctions that restrict the sale of U.S. technology to Iran. In fact, the United States has been sad about ZTE many times, which reflects the predicament of China's chip industry.

Ma Huateng once commented on the ZTE incident: "No matter how advanced mobile payment is, there is no mobile terminal, no chip and operating system, and you are not strong enough to compete." Ma Huateng said that if scientific research results are like building high-rise buildings on the beach , the foundation is unstable and the future risk is high. With industrial upgrading, enterprises need to rethink. Basic scientific research is the foundation and source of innovation.

Some people will ask, why does Huawei not have the same situation as ZTE? Just imagine that if Huawei hadn't been silently improving its shortcomings, the consequences would also be unpredictable. Regarding Huawei's "spare tire" HiSilicon chip, Ren Zhengfei revealed that it is actually difficult for Huawei to make its own chips, but he still gritted his teeth and slowly survived.

Ren Zhengfei once again emphasized the importance of basic scientific research. At present, Huawei has at least 700 mathematicians, more than 800 physicists, more than 120 chemists, 6,000 to 7,000 experts in basic research, and more than 60,000 various senior engineers and engineers. "We have more than 15,000 scientists and experts in basic research that turn money into knowledge, and we have more than 60,000 applied talents who develop products and turn knowledge into money. Huawei has always supported scientists outside the company to conduct scientific research.

In order to support basic scientific research in China, in 2018, Tencent announced that the Tencent Foundation would invest 1 billion yuan in start-up funds, and launched a "Scientific Exploration Award" aimed at supporting young scientists, encouraging and funding Young scientific and technological workers invest in the research of basic science and cutting-edge technology.

Shenzhen's long-term development must make up for the shortcomings in talents and education

For a long time, the four front lines of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen have Cities compete with each other in various fields. The "2018 China Cities Competitiveness Report" interprets the strength of a city from different perspectives, from comprehensive economic competitiveness to sustainable competitiveness, from livable competitiveness to business-friendly competitiveness. Shenzhen In 2018, it took the lead in the competition for urban strength, with strong performance in many indicators and a strong development momentum. Shenzhen is full of a strong entrepreneurial culture, with outstanding financial, technological and manufacturing industries, and its economic strength is strong. This is Shenzhen's long board. Ma Huateng said that Shenzhen To build an international science and technology innovation center and a comprehensive national science center, there are many advantages, but it also needs to make up for the shortcomings in talents and education. In his view, in addition to the talent attraction policy, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area needs to do well.” "Science and technology brand", we must make practical moves in cultivating the innovation ecology of production, education and research.

From individuals, teams, and organizations, to industries and industries, and finally to national comprehensive strength and cities Competitiveness, the "barrel law" can play a greater role. When we truly understand the barrel law, the problem is easily solved: when a person fully realizes the importance of a certain skill to himself, it will promote Study hard by yourself; when an enterprise realizes the importance of being related to itself in a certain industry, it will make efforts to make layout, research and development, and do basic scientific research and innovation. And when a city needs to make itself more Competitiveness and vitality will balance education, talent and economic development.

In various fields, the "shortcomings" are relative to the "longboards". By investing in the "shortcomings", the It's probably the "longboard".