Click to read the original text for details **** " **** Upgrading is the most important task for enterprises, because it concerns survival or destruction, development or decline. How to avoid wrong paths on the road to upgrading? What are the correct postures for upgrading? After going through so many tribulations, how can enterprises truly achieve upgrading? This time, we will systematically explain the correct postures for upgrading. " 1 Start with being undefeated ▼ Being undefeated means that others cannot defeat you. Once others cannot defeat you, in turn, you have the opportunity to defeat them. Therefore, the correct posture for upgrading is first to place yourself in an invincible position. The best way to be invincible is to continuously consolidate your existing advantages. Isn't that just staying still? Yes, but staying still is the best offense. In the Battle of Changping, Lian Po held his defensive line, as solid as a rock, without moving. The invincible Qin army, with all its national strength, could do nothing. If Lian Po had been given a bit more time, history might have been rewritten. See how powerful it is to consolidate advantages; those who laugh last are often those who can consolidate their advantages. Consolidating advantages is not just passive defense, but first tightening your own fence, as the saying goes, "dig deep walls, store grain widely." This market is mine; no one can take it away. If you want to take it, you have to pay a great price. When opponents see that the cost is too high and not worth it, they will take a detour. Just like Lulu Almond Milk beverage, the market is neither big nor small, but no one makes almond milk drinks because Lulu's fence is too deep, and entering would cost too much. So whether it's Fortune 500 companies or Wahaha, Nongfu Spring, they all choose to bypass the almond milk market. As a "neighbor," Yangyuan Food had no choice but to create a new category, "Six Walnuts," to get a breath of relief and put Lulu beneath them. This shows how powerful it is to consolidate advantages and tighten the fence. The best offense is defense; this is not an empty statement. 2 Consolidation is for better offense ▼ Of course, only defense won't work; you'll miss great opportunities and won't be able to hold on for long. Consolidation is just the first step, to accumulate strength for a better offense, and when the opportunity arises, strike a fatal blow to the opponent, and the vast market will be yours. Why is the "Black Mamba" the most poisonous offensive species? It's not that its attack is so powerful, but that it is good at waiting. Once an opportunity appears, it strikes with full force, delivering a fatal blow to the opponent. Let's look at Tencent's innovation path to understand clearly. That outwardly cute penguin actually has shark-like bloodthirstiness and coldness; don't be fooled by its appearance. Does Tencent innovate? Very rarely (except OICQ). Look at Tencent's major product matrix: which one wasn't created by others through hard work and innovation, and before they could even stand firm, Tencent, like the Black Mamba, pounced steadily, accurately, and ruthlessly, winning with one strike? Games copied Lianzhong, news copied Sina, email copied NetEase, music copied Baidu. Even the most impressive WeChat was first invented by Xiaomi as "MiTalk," and then Tencent's WeChat was born, and then there was no more "MiTalk." Don't rush to attack; instead, accumulate strength and wait for the right time. On the road to upgrading, we should be the "Black Mamba" that waits for opportunities and accumulates strength, not the reckless "newborn calf" that makes a big show but ends up as someone else's meal. 3 The mass market has great potential ▼ When the Chinese revolution was at a critical juncture, at its lowest point, Mao Zedong proposed a completely opposite development path: abandon the big cities and go to the countryside. As a result, not only did it preserve the flame of the Chinese revolution, but it quickly formed a prairie fire. Similarly, when Chinese enterprises are generally in trouble, I propose abandoning the high-end market and moving toward the mass market. Because the most essential logic of business has never been to go upward, but rather to go downward, spreading infinitely to the mass market. For example, underwear was originally exclusive to noble ladies, but later, because of commerce, it was quickly consumed by the masses, so it spread worldwide. Almost all products you can imagine follow this logic. Xiaomi pulled smartphones from high-end machines above 5,000 yuan down to the mass-market level of 2,000 yuan, leading to explosive growth in smartphones and, of course, the Xiaomi myth. Alipay, with free transfers, brought the unattainable banking industry down from its pedestal. This shows how powerful the mass-market route is. Look at big shots like Wang Jianlin, Ma Yun, and Wang Wei—weren't they all pushed to the top of business by the mass market? Since the essence of business is the masses, we should settle down, bend down, and manage the mass market well. Don't listen to experts who say P&G and Walmart are failing, or that consumption has upgraded, and then say the mass market is no longer viable. Doing business is like stock trading; if you listen to experts, I can only say, "Hmm." It's not that the mass market is failing, but that your mass market is failing. Upgrading is not just about the high-end market; the mass market is also upgrading, and it is still the mainstream. To be precise, it is the upgrade of the mass market that drives the upgrade of the high-end market. 4 Focus is the best upgrade ▼ Bruce Lee said, "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." Focus itself is the best upgrade. Ren Zhengfei said that on Huawei's growth path, there were many temptations, but Huawei chose the dumbest one: to stick to the communications industry, and as a result, it became the world's number one. Because when you focus on one thing, the focus itself is upgrading and innovation. For example, when making phones, Lei Jun, when he first started Xiaomi, bought all the phones he could see and focused on research, only then did he find the upgrade path for Xiaomi phones in the smart era, making it the fastest-growing company of this era. Focus is the foundation of upgrading, so I have always believed that the best upgrades are Chu Orange and Laoganma, which take a product or category to an extreme that others have never achieved, reaching heights others have never reached. Upgrading without maintaining focus is hooliganism. 5 Upgrading never sleeps ▼ How did Rio directly turn downward? HTC's decline from peak to fall took only one month. Benlu was abandoned in the distance of just one street corner to another. On the road to enterprise upgrading, "the boss never sleeps." Employees can rest, machines can stop, but as a boss, you cannot relax for a moment. In today's increasingly fierce competition, there are no absolute advantages; advantages can become disadvantages at any time. Today people are queuing to buy, tomorrow they are gone. Therefore, the road to upgrading is also a road of no return. Once you start the upgrade mode, don't think about taking a break; that's impossible. On the road to upgrading, not advancing is retreating. Look at the schedule of the richest man, Wang Jianlin; do you still dare to rest? An excellent entrepreneur told me that he works 24 hours a day. I said that's impossible. He said that every night when he sleeps, he dreams about how to innovate and upgrade his enterprise, and when he wakes up, he has new inspiration and ideas. Indeed, his enterprise developed very quickly. 6 To upgrade fast, rely on brand leadership ▼ Upgrading is indeed a systematic project, but to run fast, you must have a locomotive to lead. That locomotive is the brand. Why can you sell the same product at a higher price than others? Because of the brand. Because you sell at a higher price, you have profits, and with profits, you can invest in R&D to make better products. The brand is your most loyal moat. Once the brand belongs to you, it will follow you forever, and others cannot take it away. If you are upgrading on the basis of the original, you need to operate with a new brand. For example, when P&G entered the high-end cosmetics market, using Olay wouldn't work; the new brand SK-II achieved great success. Also, Toyota's most brilliant business strategy was to enter the high-end market with the new brand Lexus. When you want to cross borders, go to other fields, or reach a broader consumer group, you should use a new brand. For example, Volkswagen's entry-level is "Jetta," the three-box to two-box is called "Golf," the slightly larger interior is called "Lavida," and the sedan to SUV is called "Tiguan." Use different brands to respond to different markets and cater to different consumer groups. Such a boring marketing strategy can succeed in the global market entirely because different fields have brand leadership. Therefore, on the road to upgrading, with brand leadership, the path will be smoother, easier, and more likely to reach the shore. 7 Cross-border ▼ Upgrading requires cross-border thinking. You cannot just circle within your own industry or circle; otherwise, the road will become narrower. The infinite integration of modern commercial society is becoming more and more widespread, and breaking business boundaries is a major trend. The more integration, the more exciting; the more cross-border, the more successful. If Tencent hadn't crossed into the communication field with WeChat, relying only on QQ might not have withstood the impact of mobile internet. Last year's hottest beverage, Tea π, is it a tea drink, fruit and vegetable drink, or functional drink? Tea π is all and none. It is precisely because of its cross-border characteristics that it carved out a bloody path in the fiercely competitive beverage industry and established its unique advantages. Can we not cross borders? Yes, but it's quite dangerous. Because more and more disruptive cases are not from within the industry; competition within the industry is just about a few more points of market share or losing a few markets. Cross-border competition, that is, "barbarians" from outside the industry, wants the entire market cake, so you must be on guard and must have cross-border capabilities. For example, the emergence of Tesla is a disruption to the entire automotive industry. LeEco's entry into the TV industry caused collective panic among Skyworth, TCL, Changhong, and Konka. Now, 7-Eleven convenience stores are eyeing the fast-food business. Therefore, cross-border is an essential upgrade skill in this era. Without cross-border thinking, it is easy to hit the industry ceiling. As enterprises develop to this point, many industries have hit the ceiling. But enterprises still need to develop and progress. What to do? Only seek cross-border development. No cross-border, no upgrade. Source: Sales and Market (ID: cnmarket) -END-