"People Over Forty": Du Sha, Knowing the Destiny

20 years ago, standing on the threshold of 40 years old, he wandered between the campus and the business sea.

Why is a cup of coffee worth a month's salary? The Nankai University economics professor could not understand and was powerless to change. Lamenting that cup of coffee, it is better to maximize his own value. He finally made up his mind: go to the sea!

In the second half of his life, he was already a regular on the rich list, and single-handedly built a leading retail empire in northern China. However, in the last year of "Knowing the Destiny", he personally directed another turning point in his life: he sold the "Home World" home furnishing and supermarket that had witnessed his 20 years in the sea.

No one knows why he took this step, and no one knows his next step. But one thing is certain, advancing or retreating, 59-year-old Du Sha no longer hesitated. His own destiny, God knows, so does he.

40 years old: 10 years of trial and error, doing what can be done

Before forty, Du Xia never stopped fighting against fate.

When he was young, the son of a former high-ranking Kuomintang official, regardless of his "birth", was determined to set foot on the train to the Great Northern Wilderness like other classmates, even if hundreds of Red Guards came with knives to stop him. After resuming the college entrance examination, he was determined to take a postgraduate entrance examination, even though he had no undergraduate degree, and secondly, he had problems with political review. So he wrote a letter to Comrade Xiaoping. After winning the examination qualification, he was admitted to Nanjing University with the first overall score, becoming the first graduate student in quantitative economics in China.

From Du Yucun, the eldest son and successor, Du Sha also saw himself when he was young. However, he said that his son lacked the "decisiveness" and "decisiveness" that he had remained unchanged for decades.

It can be said that his determination to step out of school at the age of 40 comes from the cup of coffee that he can't even pay for a month's salary, and also from his self-proclaimed "reckless" nature. For professionals in their 40s, change actually requires the most courage. Although he was quickly named a professor at Nankai University, his academic achievements could not conceal his material poverty. "I am determined to take a responsibility for my family, so I decided to go to sea." Today's wealth comes from this simple but strong motive.

After forty, all change seems risky. But Du Xia was not afraid, he believed in his ability and persisted, even though his forty years was almost a decade of "trial and error".

The complete knowledge structure in economics, coupled with the "tough mouth" praised by Wang Yue, an old colleague and "comrade-in-arms", allows Du Xia to continue his charisma outside the campus. At that time, if not for Du's agitation, the "China Building Materials No. 1 CEO" may still be teaching microeconomics in the classroom of Nankai University. Even if he has the ability and determination, after nearly ten years of trying again and again, Du Xia really found a stage that suits him.

"Some people ask me the first bucket of gold, and I say the first bucket is failure, the first bucket is horror, the first bucket is disappointment, and the first bucket is that kind of shuddering feeling."

From Planning Gymnastics prince Li Ning bid farewell to the sports world and began. Du Sha speculated in foreign exchange futures and organized artistic performances. His biggest hurdle was when he speculated in foreign exchange at the beginning of his entry into the sea. "The change of three Japanese prime ministers in that year caused the yen to drop from more than 120 to 154. I was unable to return to the sky, and I lost all of it." The 13 million Hong Kong dollars in Du Xia's hands were only 3,000 yuan. Just like when he was young, Du Xia became more and more courageous. In the last few years of the age of forty, his ten years of "trial and error" finally came to fruition, and he was the first to introduce the building materials supermarket model from the United States to China, the prototype of the home world.

Through trial and error, Du Sha has learned the way of doing business outside of books. In the spring of 1995, when he signed a letter of intent for cooperation with Home Depot, the world's largest home furnishing retailer, years of experience taught him that this time he found the right path.

50: Focus on retail, do what you want

No one is born knowing what they want to do, even if he's an economics professor and he's in his forties. However, Du Xia knew exactly what he could do. Taking personal ability as the starting point, his persistence brought a successful end to his 40-year-old, and at the same time opened another spring for him.

At this time, his Kris Group also completed the historical mission of primitive accumulation of capital. In 1996, China's first building materials chain supermarket, Jia World Home Furnishings Toray Store, opened in Dongli Development Zone, east of Tianjin. What Du Sha does to make money and do, gradually focus on one point. Although Chris's culture, trade, manufacturing, real estate and other businesses are profitable, he knows that his "economic acumen and business talent" are limited. The building materials supermarket was still a blank in the Chinese market at that time.

The direction is given, and the execution needs to be sober. At the age of fifty, he is still transforming himself step by step, correcting the deviated course at any time.

"He's not a very person with high emotional intelligence, but later, I think, especially after he turned 50 years old, he himself has undergone a great change." Wang Yue commented on this old colleague who is somewhat "egoistic". . Du Sha, who used to leave after a disagreement, now encounters difficult problems and often goes to the golf course he personally participated in the design of, where he turns pressure into calmer thinking. A person's golf, he can play all afternoon.

In the process of competing with himself, he carried out the "decisiveness" at the age of forty to the end, and at the same time added a thought.

Although it is determined to only do retail, it is not clear from the beginning which business format to do. At first, the home world attacked from all sides: "home" based on building materials, "home" based on furniture, "jiahe" based on catering, and "jiale" based on daily necessities. In the close competition with IKEA, Du Xia quickly found his own supply chain shortcomings in furniture design and production, which is also the core factor for the expansion of the field. Later, he experienced the instability of the catering industry from the SARS crisis. Therefore, the current home world focuses on two main businesses, building materials stores and supermarket chains.

However, "self" has always had two sides. Just after Du Sha cut off the non-core business with extraordinary courage, another risky move almost made him lose the whole game. At least everyone else was mourning for it.

"We hope that from June to September next year, Jia World Group will be listed in Hong Kong, or listed in Hong Kong and the United States at the same time." At the end of 2004, when Du Sha released this rhetoric, he probably never imagined that the listing would become A turning point in the home world. In order to cater to the discerning shareholders, Jia World stores accelerated the expansion, and the North China area even nearly doubled, and the capital chain was in a hurry. If the listing is successful, the stock market will raise enough funds to support the expansion. But man is not as good as God. Due to the tightening of the general trend, the group's listing plan has been delayed indefinitely, and the banner of "Homeworld also supplier hard-earned money" has blocked the doors of supermarkets.

So far, Jia World Supermarket and building materials store have been transferred to Shanxi Meitehao, Home Depot and China Resources in three parts one after another. It seems that it can be directly attributed to selling oneself to pay off debts. But people who are familiar with Du Sha believe that this is actually a follow-up to the general environment, and they have speculated about his next step.

60 years old: a desperate situation, do what to do

It is not the first time that Du Xia has encountered a "hurdle". In his words, "I have a big hurdle almost every eight years, and a small hurdle every year." After failing to speculate in foreign exchange in Hong Kong at the age of 40, he considered jumping from the highest building in the area. From then on, Du Xia did not allow himself to make similar mistakes again. At sixty next year, he will have a wider leeway than when he was forty. Some people say that selling a business is "premeditated".

"Duxia has been making capital from the very beginning, and it has been selling since the day it was established." This is a point of view. Either way, selling for a good price is not a failure.

Faced with powerful foreign and state-owned enterprises, Duxia's supermarkets and building materials stores are facing increasingly severe challenges. "Choosing this industry means running, working hard, and working hard for the flow of funds. I think he (Du Sha) will be in a much better situation if you sell it to Home Depot." The world's "teacher" Home Depot is a responsible and capable player. As a self-made private enterprise, exiting at the right time and at the right price is actually a kind of wisdom.

Although he could not create the glory of a century-old foundation, Du Xia's retirement would not detract from his personal value, nor could it cover up his contribution to China's building materials chain retail industry.

So far, Du Sha has not spoken publicly about the sale of the store, and his next steps are unknown. However, from the temporarily suspended Yidi Department Store at No. 125 Heiniucheng Road, Hexi District, Tianjin, and from an online shopping company operated by Du Sha's cronies, people who follow Du Sha can always find clues of his comeback.

From 40 to 60, it doesn't matter whether Du Xia stops here or not, what matters is that he changed his own destiny to the greatest extent with his personal ability, and also changed the face of the industry. He said that the only resource he could integrate was his own mind.

Feature article:

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The author is the deputy editor of the CEConline website.