Entrepreneurship in the imitation of the beginning
Innovation is valuable, but is extremely difficult; the pursuit of innovation will only delay the time may be defeated. Therefore, Wenzhou people have learned to imitate and start up from imitation. An undeniable fact is that Wenzhou people entrepreneurship is to imitate, plagiarize, copy other people's products to start. At that time, many Wenzhou people observed the market and searched for new products when they were operating outside. Once there was a new product in the market, they quickly started to imitate and manufacture it. At that time, the concept of intellectual property did not penetrate into people's hearts. It also creates the conditions for imitation to take other people's good things over and imitate them. This is a stage that the majority of Wenzhou people had to go through. In a no capital, two no technology, three no resources in the background, shrewd and bold Wenzhou people, initially rely on the "imitation", only to hit a piece of their own market. Was Wenzhou's "four economic pillars" of buttons, shoes, clothing and lighter industry, all from imitation.
Buttons as long as the clothes from the field or bought abroad to remove a few, carefully study some of the production out; leather shoes imitation of Italy, clothing imitation of France, lighters imitation of Japan. Wenzhou has a lot of compatriots scattered around the world, when they returned home, wearing and daily necessities have become the target of business-minded people. After arriving, with a night's time it can be dissected, when the compatriots return to the eve, he has seen with their own use of things as realistic, as beautiful imitations on the window. This often leaves them in awe. Couldn't believe their eyes.
Of course, after a successful business venture, they create their own brand. Wenzhou people do not see "imitation" as shameful, but rather it is the Wenzhou people's shrewdness in seeking truth from facts and adapting to local conditions, and they have well practiced the "fetishism" advocated by Mr. Lu Xun.
When the Paris or Italy Fashion Week showed the latest fashion, soon after, Wenzhou market will appear similar fashion, and sold throughout the country. It turns out that they are entrusted to foreign friends immediately at a high price to buy new products, take the plane back to Wenzhou, overnight research, and then according to the Chinese people to improve their habits. In a few days, the new style can be put on the market. This shortens the research and design time. In order to make imitation faster and more timely, Wenzhou people simply moved their factories to the outskirts of big cities. Hong Kong and southern cities have a new style out, they immediately bring samples by fax or by plane, a few days later, with the world's synchronization of fashion production. Compared with long-distance transportation, they saved both freight and time. Now, in Beijing's Xidan, Qianmen, Fuchengmen and some other big clothing malls, no matter which floor, just ask, can see the smart Wenzhou people. They are the messengers.
In the 1990s, Wenzhou eyeglasses enterprises developed to more than 100, and attracted foreign businessmen with new styles, high quality and low price. According to statistics, in 1997, the output value of Wenzhou's eyeglasses industry exceeded 1 billion yuan, and rose to 1.5 billion yuan in 1999, accounting for 1/3 of global sales and selling well in more than 20 countries and regions. Ye Zi Jian, the boss of Ocean Optical Company, became the "king of glasses" through imitation. 1982, Ye Zi Jian, who graduated from high school, was still working as a worker in Wenzhou Candied Fruit Factory, and there were a lot of smuggled "golden silk" glasses in the market at that time. Ye Zi Jian with a month's salary, bought a pair of gold glasses, and then the frame disassembled, with their own understanding of metalwork, split to other parts factory processing, and then their own molding assembly, and finally produced the first batch of "gold" frames. Short time and speed is the key to their imitation success.
Wenzhou Dahlong Machinery Co., Ltd. is cooperating with foreign investors and Taiwanese businessmen, and introducing the technology of imitating Italian shoe machine manufacturers, and making technical innovations on the basis of this. They call this "walking with giants". 1994, they cooperated with Taiwan shoe machine manufacturer Yihong Company to produce parts for it, two years later, Dalong will develop and produce its own shoe machine to the market; then Dalong aimed at Italian technology. They chose Sabah and BC of Italy as their partners, with the Italian side providing drawings of shoe machines of international standards, while Dalung was responsible for the production and sales of shoe machines, and soon became one of the world's first-class manufacturers of shoe machines.
Imitation should be learned
Wenzhou people's imitation is not simply "painting a tiger not a dog", but imitation, research efforts, not only learned the home, but also out of the blue color is better than blue. Wenzhou lighters popular in the world is such a successful example of imitation.
Early 1985, some overseas Wenzhou people living in their hometowns to visit relatives, will gift Japanese lighters to relatives. This small and exquisite, a hit on the blue flame lighter to sell three to five hundred yuan. Some of the clever Wenzhou people have a brain, they will lighters apart, one by one parts carefully study; other parts of the imitation are not a problem, but the key electronic lighter is not easy to imitate into.
So the Wenzhou people came to Shanghai, where the electronics industry was the most developed at the time, to look for a way out. It is also the God help Wenzhou people, Dongfeng Electrical Appliance Factory just a week ago to overcome this problem. Because of the domestic 4.7-volt capacitor, the world's best-selling this fashionable "cat's eye" lighters soon came out in Wenzhou production.
After a short time, no longer open flame of the Japanese wind lighter appeared again. This lighter shell is not stamped, even handmade is difficult to achieve such exquisite. Known as the second generation of Wenzhou lighters, "King of Kings" windproof lighter, Wenzhou, Li Jian's simulation work. The original Li Jian will be removed repeatedly pondered, and eventually found that the lighter shell is "zinc alloy" must be made by die-casting. He and a few friends to buy the relevant equipment and materials, after a few months of hard work finally succeeded.
"Lighter king" Zhou Dahu also rely on imitation started. 10 years ago, Zhou Dahu's a friend on a business trip to Shanghai, back to Wenzhou, brought back a delicate windproof lighter. He saw Zhou Dahu, handed over a "Marlboro", and then pulled out a delicate and compact lighter from his pocket, "snapped" to open the metal cover, at once, the lighter "hissing! At once, the lighter "hissed", a steel blue flame. "You know, this is windproof. Don't believe me, you blow with your mouth." My friend said smugly.
Zhou Dahu's friend is a buyer and seller, Wenzhou 100,000 buyers and sellers in the army. It is this group of people who fly all over the country like locusts, bringing products from Wenzhou to the outside and bringing products from the outside back to Wenzhou. Don't like them, called it "100,000 bacteria"; like them, called it a market hero, it is them, to more Wenzhou people brought the fate of the turnaround.
The Zhou Dahu is struggling to find a way out of the home really see, the turnaround in the palm of a friend's hand, the turnaround is the "hissing" sound of the lighter.
In the metal casing of the lighter, printed with a line of foreign language "MADE IN JAPAN" (Made in Japan). Friends said, the lighter is imported from Japan, in Shanghai as long as the sale of more than 200 dollars.
The original Zhou Dahu said: "How much money you buy, how much money to sell me." Back home, he found a screwdriver, under the lamp carefully dismantled the lighter into a pile of "bits and pieces", and then one by one assembly recovery. This dismantling a spell, firmly his confidence: I can also get the same windproof lighter to.
After a while, Zhou Dahu really set up his own lighter factory. Of course, at that time it was only a humble lighter workshop, relying on clever imitation and copying, the first batch of lighters assembled from the production line, their metal casing marked with the words "Wenzhou produced".
Today, many years later, the products produced by Dahu Lighter Factory have successfully occupied the domestic and overseas markets, including the Japanese market. Exaggeration, today as long as the lighter manufacturers in Wenzhou sneeze, the Japanese lighter market to catch a cold.
Because of good imitation, Wenzhou made the "world lighter kingdom", not only is the manufacturing center of China's lighters, but also to the advantages of cheap and good quality, a wide range of advantages over Japan, South Korea, Europe and other countries and regions, monopolized the situation of the world lighter market. At present, Wenzhou has more than 300 lighter enterprises, the annual production and sales of metal lighters 500 million, accounting for 95% of the domestic market, the country's total exports of 80% of the total amount of the global metal lighter market, 70% of the total.
From imitation to creation
Imitation is the essence of entrepreneurship, but not all imitation can support a manufacturer to survive for a long time, in the intellectual property rights are increasingly popular, innovation is not only to protect others, but also to protect themselves. Innovation is the only way out of enterprise development. A famous American scholar used three "M" and one "I" to summarize the reasons for Wenzhou people's success. The so-called three M refers to mass imitation and creativity (Mass initiatives), mobility (Mobility) and markets (Markets), and "I" refers to the gap (Interstices).
This means that Wenzhou people went out of Wenzhou to all parts of the country and entered the market very early. When others do not have the market consciousness, they have been in the market around the hard to fight. Although at that time they operated some low-tech shoes, clothing and other commodities, but when others began to participate in the market, they have accumulated a certain amount of capital and market experience. Utilizing this gap, Wenzhou people played a good time difference. For themselves to win the development time.
In these three "M" and an "I", good at imitating is a Wenzhou people started a secret, but also a shortcut. It is because of good imitation, in clothing, shoes, electrical appliances, lighters, glasses, hardware and other industries, there are more than 30 world famous brands simply officially authorized in Wenzhou fixed production, including Playboy, Siemens, Marlboro and other world famous brands. This is also regarded as the world's affirmation of Wenzhou's imitation ability. Many people know the story of Yang Lu Chan, a generation of Taiji master, who stole the master to learn the art, but if he only relied on stealing the master to learn the art without his own accumulation and enlightenment, he could not become a generation of masters. Similarly, Wenzhou people will not only imitate, but also create, which is why we have today's success.
Now Wenzhou has gone from the initial imitation manufacturing stage to the brand innovation stage. China's shoe capital, China's electrical appliances capital, China's metal casing lighter production base, China's razor production base, China's lock capital, China's printing city, China's pen capital, China's plastic knitting capital, China's synthetic leather capital, China's plastic film production base ...... have settled in Wenzhou. In the country's newly rated 28 leather shoes inspection-free products, Wenzhou got 14, accounting for exactly half of the country.
Economists say: imitation is an essential course at the stage of primitive accumulation. But when a company has matured, if it can not leave the imitation, to create their own brand, it is like a baby can not get out of the cradle, never grow up. This is the same as what Zhou Dahu said: imitation is not shameful, shameful is just satisfied with imitation, thus not moving forward. The key is to give the things you imitate to the new connotation, give it a new vitality. So in the environment has changed today, people can not go Wenzhou people to start a business to imitate the old road, but to shorten the imitation time as much as possible, and constantly from the beginning to join the new elements, in order to be truly successful.