On February 20, 1999, the fifth day of the Chinese New Year, a time for family reunions, a "madman" stood in the sparsely furnished living room of Room 202, Unit 1, Building 16, Lakeside Garden, and declared ambitiously, "We will build the greatest internet company in the world, founded by Chinese people." Seventeen people, mostly sitting on the floor, listened. That "speaker" is familiar to everyone: Jack Ma. His "listeners" were the 17 Arhats, the founders of Alibaba. The creation of Alibaba began that year. Why did Jack Ma found Alibaba in 1999? In April 1998, Zhang Chaoyang founded Sohu; In October 1998, Wang Zhidong founded Sina; In October 1998, Zhou Hongyi founded 3721; In March 1999, Jack Ma founded Alibaba; In November 1999, Chen Tianqiao founded Shanda; On November 11, 1999, Ma Huateng founded Tencent; Before Christmas in December 1999, Robin Li founded Baidu. Today, the big names that still dominate the Chinese market were almost all born between the second quarter of 1998 and the fourth quarter of 1999. This was a great and glorious moment for the Chinese internet. In 1999, the domestic GDP was not optimistic, possibly a lingering effect of the 1998 Asian financial crisis. Although the overall domestic economy was declining, the introduction of internet information made these internet tycoons sense that the internet could bring opportunities for enterprises to make money and realize personal value. Most importantly, China's business model was changing (the budding transition from traditional models to the internet), so it was both a challenge and an opportunity for domestic enterprises. This was the trigger for Jack Ma to found Alibaba in 1999. Moreover, as early as 1999, China and the US reached a win-win agreement on China's accession to the WTO, meaning China had cleared a huge stumbling block on its path to WTO entry. Jack Ma, known as "ET," also anticipated that the future economy would be global, which further confirmed Alibaba's positioning as an international site. Jack Ma is a person who "doesn't understand the internet" This is also Jack Ma's brilliance: in the overall business landscape, he could look beyond the domestic market to the world. Twenty years later, we can use just a mobile phone to handle food, clothing, housing, transportation, and daily necessities when we go out. Alibaba, founded by Jack Ma, not only allows hundreds of millions of buyers and sellers to find each other online but has also become a business ecosystem platform that connects online and offline. As the founder of the internet giant Alibaba, Jack Ma has publicly stated on multiple occasions, "I don't understand the internet; I only understand how to think about business models." But his understanding of the internet is deeper than anyone else's. Many people, when first exposed to the internet, think about the technical issues behind it, but Jack Ma thinks about business models. All business models are tested through trial and error Only by deeply analyzing the underlying logic of business models can enterprises survive in the market. Entrepreneurs who can "show off" in the market must clearly understand the current environment and their own business models. These people can be divided into two categories: "innovators" and "adopters." For "innovators," new things are born in chaos; all new things (business models) are rough and often criticized. But for "adopters," they should believe as much as possible that these new things have disruptive power at the bottom, and they should first accept them with an open mind. The wheel of history rolls on, spinning faster and faster. You must cut off your arm to survive, or jump on and see where it rolls. Looking at today's society, no matter who you are, what resources you control, or how much wealth you have accumulated, there is always a change targeting you, and a crisis fitting you. No model is permanent; no competitiveness is eternal. All our experience and accumulation can be overturned or reset at any time. We can only survive in the cracks. Whether you are an innovator or adopter of business models, you must try with reverence, not reject them outright. Zhang Quanling (former CCTV host) once said, "When the times abandon you, they don't even say goodbye!" So, whether you are creating a new business model or accepting one, you must use a mindset of change to create or accept it. Be careful not to blindly follow trends, or you will be eliminated by the times. Internal and external troubles: enterprise transformation is urgent Now, domestically, the emergence of the internet has caused online and offline traffic to be reversed. Most of the traffic originally belonging to offline has been harvested online. Various hypermarkets, supermarkets, and stores complain that business is difficult, especially traditional physical enterprises. Internationally, the Sino-US trade dispute brings not only trade friction but also severe operational and development challenges to domestic enterprises. Under enormous opportunities and challenges, how to lead enterprises to achieve leaps, grasp the pulse of the internet in time, and seek development has become a headache for modern business leaders. Especially in the "ferocious" internet era, the situation of big fish eating small fish is increasingly intense, so enterprises urgently need to achieve internet transformation; otherwise, small-scale enterprises will be swallowed by large-scale "cross-border platforms" (scale refers to "user numbers"). Just as the ones that defeated Master Kong and Uni-President instant noodles were not Jinmailang or Baixiang, but food delivery platforms like Meituan and Ele.me. In this context, entrepreneurs have begun to panic. Facing increasingly harsh business environments and operational difficulties, they start to seek external help and proactively step out of their enterprises to connect with the new world. To solve the frequent problems and difficulties Chinese entrepreneurs encounter in managing enterprises, and to help business leaders grow and innovate continuously, from November 21 to 23, 2018, the Second China New Marketing President Class was co-hosted by Miduo Big Data Engine, Chain-e-Chain New Marketing, Liu Chunxiong New Marketing, New Distribution, and Beijing Jundu Excellence. Experts including Liu Chunxiong, Lin Feng, Zhao Bo, and Wang Jinghua personally taught courses on 'User Privatization · Channel Digitalization · Long-term Growth', sharing various enterprise transformation cases and solutions, including the theory and practice of the new marketing system, the normalization of one-code-one-item applications, B2B model transformation, and how traditional enterprises can achieve digital transformation. Lin Feng: Insights from Industry Dark Horses: Enterprises Need to Implant Internet Thinking and Use Internet Tools In the internet era, the truly strongest capability of an enterprise is to adapt to change. In this training class, Mr. Lin Feng, CEO of Beijing Chain-e-Chain New Marketing, brought students a highly valuable topic: "Industry Dark Horse Revelations and the Systematic Operation Rules of the Third Marketing Revolution." At the meeting, Mr. Lin Feng spoke in a gentle and orderly manner, making many entrepreneurs present involuntarily follow his train of thought. He elaborated on topics such as what is the core competitiveness, which is more important between marketing and innovation, and what the most successful entrepreneurs mainly did. He used classic cases of well-known enterprises like Moutai, Fenjiu, and Lidu Liquor, combined with the current situation of enterprises developing customers, to analyze step by step how to grasp the core competitiveness of enterprises and enhance customer loyalty. After analyzing the entire Chinese market, Mr. Lin Feng concluded that enterprises must focus on the "consumer user account system" in their operations, build a user-centric approach, and grow around users. This is the business model that enterprises must follow for the next 5, 10 years, or even longer, and it is also the rule that the future internet must follow. Tang Xiangyang: User-centric New Marketing, Lidu Liquor Debuts in the C Position A liquor company, with no promotions in channels during Mid-Autumn Festival and Spring Festival, saw sales uncontrollably double. From consecutive losses to rapid development, ton-price and product gross profit significantly increased. Boss Wu Xiangdong proposed a transfer fee of 300 million yuan for the distillery's operator Tang Xiangyang... In the past two years, the once obscure Jiangxi Lidu Liquor Industry became an internet sensation. A bottle of unboxed liquor sold for 720 yuan, out of stock and hard to find. The company's performance went from continuous losses under five previous general managers to turning losses into profits and doubling sales under the sixth general manager, Tang Xiangyang. Lidu's general manager Tang Xiangyang shared on-site: "How I Achieved Doubling Growth for Lidu through 'New Culture + New Marketing'?" He stated that under the attack of the internet and new retail models, enterprises need to adhere to the new marketing system. Externally, they need to quickly create the consumption scenarios users most want. Therefore, Lidu built "big temples," "medium temples," and "small temples," achieving online-offline integration and marketing digitalization through "store-to-store connectivity," "person-to-person connectivity," and "village-to-village connectivity." Internally, they need to strengthen their core, building a strong sales and marketing team mainly composed of the post-90s generation, with ability as the only assessment standard, regardless of age or experience. This novel model instantly awakened the students present. Mr. Tang Xiangyang is known as "Commander Tang" by outsiders. He is decisive and resolute in his work style, never ambiguous, but also humorous and witty. During the training, he frequently interacted with students, and the attendees were delighted. Xu Yingjie: Practical Cases of Enterprise Internet Digital Transformation Xu Yingjie, General Manager of Jundu Excellence Consulting, brought a special speech titled "A Practical Case of Online-Offline Integration New Marketing for a Regional Enterprise," sharing the secrets behind enterprise internet digital transformation. In the internet era, when communication methods and users change, how can old enterprises carry out ideological mobilization for new transformation? How can traditional enterprises design product value chains by connecting online and offline? ... Teacher Xu stated that in a changing world, no business model is eternal, and no asset is fixed. "The marketing concept in the internet era essentially requires establishing and maintaining the relationship between brands and users, creating blockbuster products, linking traffic with blockbusters, and enabling traffic to self-fission through IP empowerment and other means." Teacher Xu's speech was profound yet easy to understand, with many well-known cases at his fingertips. He explained concepts like new marketing in a humorous way, allowing the students on-site to deeply understand what true "online-offline integration" means. Liu Chunxiong: Using New Marketing to Give Traditional Enterprises Wings for Digital Transformation Mr. Liu Chunxiong, the first person in domestic new marketing system research and a professor at Zhengzhou University, attended as our special guest. As an evergreen in the marketing world, Teacher Liu shared topics such as "From 'Igniting a Market in One Week' to User Operations and New Marketing Rules." How can traditional enterprises connect the three dimensions of "offline, community, and online network"? Teacher Liu stated that the essence of the internet lies in "interconnection": people can connect with people, things with things, and people with things. Traditional enterprises need to embed the four elements of "scenario, IP, community, and communication" into existing business, and promote the "five transformations of products" in the product development process—"socialization, IP-ization, communication-ization, and community-ization"—and learn to "let users actively spread the word." "Teacher Liu completely expressed our thoughts and frustrations. Coming to this special forum today is truly worthwhile," said the entrepreneur students on-site, listening seriously and unable to resist giving the teacher enthusiastic praise. Zhao Bo: Traditional Enterprises Need to Undergo Digital Innovation Transformation of "Long Chain, Medium Chain, Short Chain" In the unpredictable internet era, is the B2B model at a dead end? Can it adapt to the rapid development of new marketing models? Zhao Bo, founder of "New Distribution" and digital strategy advisor for Coca-Cola, Uni-President, and other FMCG giants, resolved the previous concerns of the students on-site. He used cases of FMCG giants like Coca-Cola, Master Kong, and Uni-President to prove the significance and value of the B2B model. For traditional manufacturers, it is not a "flash in the pan" but will further develop; the B2B model will continue to iterate and update. Compared to traditional distribution models, B2B greatly improves product distribution efficiency and reduces channel distribution costs through online order transactions, intensive logistics distribution, and supply chain finance. The ultimate stage of the B2B channel transformation trend will capture small stores (mom-and-pop shops, convenience stores), innovative retail (community group buying, unmanned stores, content/social e-commerce), CVS, and other industry chains. The students on-site said they benefited greatly from this wave of practical knowledge. Although Teacher Zhao Bo is relatively young, his understanding of the B2B industry is not to be underestimated. Wang Jinghua: Every Enterprise Needs a Growth Engine to Quickly Practice New Marketing The essence of business is deeply binding customer relationships, emphasized Wang Jinghua, founder of Miduo Big Data Engine. He shared "Digital Practice Cases in the FMCG Industry & The Road to Mobile Internet Digital Operations for Liquor Enterprises." He believes that wherever customers' attention is, the brand's influence should be there! The key to deeply binding customer relationships is the battle for customers' "mind and time"! All brands in the FMCG industry must transform from "product-centric" to "customer-centric." In the DT era, more than 99% of FMCG enterprises will evolve into "new species," and only a very few FMCG enterprises can become "reconstructors" of the industry. The disruptors of the FMCG industry will definitely come from "cross-border raids," and those responsible for connecting will be the "monopolists" of internet application infrastructure. The key path for FMCG brands to transform into new species is to build the normalization of one-code-one-item applications and the privatization of user data assets, centered on the user account system, ultimately achieving "what you see is what you get" for users. Every successful enterprise must have a big data engine, using data as fuel for enterprise development, and continuously outputting renewable energy to the enterprise through the engine, so that the enterprise can grow healthily. Especially when practicing the new marketing system, this approach is essential. Many students on-site brought their own questions and confusions. They were very interested in the topics and speeches elaborated by Teacher Wang Jinghua, and actively responded to his questions and interactions about the essence and core of marketing. Among them, an entrepreneur student said that he had always been confused about how to build a digital system centered on the "user account system." After listening to Wang Jinghua's special sharing, he felt suddenly enlightened and gained many ideas helpful to his own enterprise's development, which was better than his team blindly exploring on their own. The Most Terrifying Thing: Elimination Has Nothing to Do with You This Second China New Marketing President Training Class was originally expected to have about 60 people, but nearly 120 registered and attended. Peter Drucker said that the key to management is not "knowing" but "unity of knowledge and action"; management is not about verifying logic but about achievements after practice. Because in the wave of industrial internet transformation, all enterprises, regardless of size, are standing at the same starting line again. The past track is narrowing or even disappearing, and the new track is called "user operation." All enterprises must deeply understand the mission of "new marketing": centered on user operation, reconstructing "people, goods, and places" driven by data, and achieving "what you see is what you get" for users. Only in this way can they take the lead on the "user operation" track. The three-day Second China New Marketing President Class was held from November 21 to 23 in Nanchang, Jiangxi. We deeply felt the restlessness of traditional brands seeking innovation and change in the tide of internet transformation. The transformation of traditional enterprise leadership thinking and the deployment of big data engine systems to change business methods are crucial. Industry transformation and the rise and fall of enterprises are really like natural evolution: they look vibrant but are actually ruthless. You always feel you are working extremely hard, but when the track switches, all your efforts are in vain. Dinosaurs were such a successful species, winning all the advantages of that era, but the impact of an asteroid wiped them out completely. Elimination has nothing to do with you. There is a statistic that fewer than 10% of companies that lose their growth engine survive. It's not that the teams don't work hard, but that all past experience and capabilities must quickly switch to another track when the old one disappears. Changing an organization's cognition and capabilities is often more difficult than starting from scratch. This is also why enterprises, even excellent ones, have lifespans far shorter than human lifespans. We often like to equate personal transformation with enterprise transformation, but that's not the case. Enterprises are independent life forms, business is cold competition, and achieving organizational transformation is much harder than an individual switching tracks! The Internet is an Era That Sends Chills Down Your Spine Enterprise internet transformation or reform must come at a cost, like pulling a tooth: it will hurt, but if you don't treat it, it will hurt every day. It won't kill you, but it will often make you feel like dying! So, whether it's transformation or reform, you must study hard and be fully prepared! You must withstand the pain of reform! There is a saying in the market: "Don't transform, wait to die; transform wrongly, seek death." The internet has accelerated the pace of business model changes, from product-centric to traffic-centric, and then to user-centric. Now enterprises must honestly study what consumers need, rather than blindly "building a car behind closed doors" and producing "self-satisfying products" that they think are great. If consumers don't buy, even the greatest products will go down the drain. The internet is an era that sends chills down your spine! If you're not careful, you'll be eaten!! So every enterprise must deeply study what the internet business model is, not just stay at the technical level of the internet; you need to know the ins and outs! More importantly, go with the trend, learn to innovate and transform, and seek patterns in change.