ENTREPRENEURSHIP

 

ENTREPRENEUR 1

Name: Ren Zhengfei

Entrepreneurial activities and accomplishments:

Ren Zhengfei is a Chinese entrepreneur and engineer. He is the founder and the CEO of Huawei. Huawei is the world's largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment and the second largest manufacturer of smartphones.

Ren Zhengfei was born in October 25^th 1944, China.

After graduating from secondary school, Ren studied at the Chongqing University in the 1960s, and he joined the People's Liberation Army (PLA) as an engineer in 1974, during China's Cultural Revolution. At that moment the country was suffering from severe food and clothing shortages. In 1982, Ren retired from the army. In 1983, he moved to Shenzhen and worked in the electronics business. He spent a few years working for an oil company. In 1987 he founded Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

Huawei started as a contractor for selling, installing and maintaining server switches and equipment in China. In 1992, Huawei developed the C&C8 server switch of its own.

Ren describes the first period of Huawei from 1987 to 1997 as the years of chaos, in which the company was trying to survive the entrepreneurial stage. During that stage, Ren worked hard to bring Huawei up to the level that the company was able to provide higher-quality service. In the second period, running from 1997 to 2007, Huawei became more structured by hiring IBM to implement management structures.

After that, Huawei got Chinese government contracts in data center building and telecommunications construction of 4G networks.

In the third period, after 2007, Huawei’s strategy was to simplify the management and be creative with the top talents to turn Huawei into an efficient and creative company.

Huawei has also been active in building telecommunications for African countries since 1990.

Skill 1: DEALING WITH STRESS

After Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. was founded, it started as a contractor for selling, installing and maintaining server switches and equipment in China. These were products of other companies. After getting familiar with these products, Huawei developed its own server switches and later a variety of other equipment. So, the stressful period in which Ren did not know the market and the products very well turned to be a learning phase for the company.

As Huawei became larger and larger, Ren found out that management of a big company had different and more complex demands. This can be marked as a stressful situation. Between 1997 and 2007 Huawei hired IBM to implement management structures.

Skill 2: PROBLEM SOLVING

During China's Cultural Revolution, when the country was suffering from severe food and clothing shortages, Ren joined the People's Liberation Army as an engineer. This was a clever thing to do, because he would not be able to find another job anyway. This is a typical example how Ren found creative solutions for the problems.

Skill 3: NEGOTIATION

Ren is someone who can adjust himself to the conditions. Instead of struggling with the problems, he chooses to find his way throughout the obstacles by creating new solutions. For instance, in the time that the country was suffering from severe food and clothing shortages, Ren joined the People's Liberation Army. He worked as an engineer, got some experience which he used later. If he did not do this, he would remain unemployed for a long time. He alienates his wishes with the present conditions, which makes him a wonderful negotiator.

Mindset 1: DEDICATION AND MOTIVATION

In Huawei, it is a well-known fact that the only way to obtain opportunities is through hard work. For instance, in the early years of the company, every new employee was given a blanket and a mattress so that they would work late into the night, then sleep in their offices, and take a catnap during lunch time.

Ren pushed employees to work long hours. In the beginning, Huawei was unable to compete in the big cites. Therefore Huawei initially focused on China's small towns and villages. After investing in research and development, Huawei managed to create its own technology and started to compete with its rivals.

Ren has always worked long hours. Therefore he had little time to build strong relationships with his three children. He has said that while in the military, he spent just one month a year with his family. After starting Huawei, "I had to fight for the survival of this company, spending 16 hours a day in the office," he said. Although they had limited time with their father, two of Ren's children have chosen to work at Huawei.

Mindset 2: POSITIVE ATTITUDE

Customer-First Attitude: Ren’s first and foremost concern has always been the customer.

Adaptability: Ren’s purpose was to achieve Huawei a world leading status. In order to make this happen, he continuously designed strategies to adapt his vision to the challenges he encountered.

Being Humble: Ren has always known his own limitations and has never described himself as someone who knows everything. When he talked about his skills and qualities he always emphasized that he was not the most knowledgeable person. He also cared about the value of being humble. He has always been very careful not to brag about his leadership and has always emphasized the importance of working hard in the success story of Huawei.

Mindset 3: LONG TERM THINKING

Huawei plans the development of the company for 10 years in a row, whereas most of their competitors such as Ericsson and Motorola plan for three months or a year. By this way, Huawei is not affected by the changes in economy.

How did the entrepreneur manage risk?

Ren founded Huawei when China began to implement its reform and opening-up policy. At that time, the Chinese army was too large and needed to get smaller. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were released from the military and looked for a job in civilian life.

At that time, the Chinese economy was changing. This was an important change for Chinese people, as well as for Ren.

He was an ambitious man. After leaving the army, he came to Shenzhen. When he began to work in a market economy and started buying and selling diverse products, he felt strange. He then thought of the possibility of starting a small business. Initially, the registered capital of Huawei was roughly 21,000 Chinese Yuans, which was about 2,000 British Pounds. He did not have enough money, so he borrowed money from different people and founded Huawei. 

 ENTREPRENEUR 2

Name: Lee Byung-Chul

Entrepreneurial activities and accomplishments:

Lee Byung-Chul is founder of the South Korean major company known as Samsung Electronics. Samsung is a South Korean company, which is one of the world’s largest producers of electronic devices.

Lee was born on February 12^th 1910, South Korea and he passed away on November 19^th 1987.

He came from a wealthy family. He studied overseas in Japan for several years. Although he attended Waseda University in Tokyo, he never received his degree.

At the beginning, Lee started with the rice milling business, but this business did not develop much. After that, he build his first company which was a trucking business and started in 1938. He named it “Samsung Trading Co”. The company was exporting fish, vegetables and fruit to China. Fortunately, his business had grown rapidly, until he moved to Seoul in 1947. Samsung was among the top 10 largest trading companies, when the Korean War began in 1950. This company quickly expanded into the largest woolen factories in Korea. The company continued to expand in finance, production of chemicals and shipbuilding. Then, Samsung entered the field of electronics in 1960’s. Samsung Electronics has become one of the best known companies which produces televisions, mobile phones, radios, and computer components during 1960’s.

After Lee’s death in November of 1987, control of Samsung was transferred to his sons. Now, Samsung is one of the biggest electronics corporations.

Skill 1: SETTING OBJECTIVES/GOALS

At the beginning, Samsung Trading Co. was exporting fish, vegetables and fruit to China. Then, his business had grown rapidly, until he moved to Seoul in 1947. When the Korean War began in 1950, Samsung was among the top 10 largest trading companies.

Apparently this was not satisfying enough for Lee. He kept on working hard and his company quickly expanded into the largest woolen factories in Korea.

In the later period, the company continued to expand in finance, production of chemicals and shipbuilding. At the end, after the electronics sector came up, Samsung entered the field of electronics in 1960’s.

Skill 2: PRACTICAL

Talent Management: Lee believed in recruiting and cultivating top level human resources, encouraging top management involvement for finding talented personnel. He said “One genius can feed millions of others. For the upcoming era where creativity will be the most important driver of business success, we need to hire the best. The economic value of one genius is more than $1 billion.”

Skill 3: TIME MANAGMENT

Speed Management: Lee found important to be fast in business. He believed in fast action for preempting opportunities, fast transaction, fast promotion for being on time and fast value creation in rapidly changing world situation. For example, when the smartphones came along, the leading companies as Nokia and Ericson which were the leading manufacturers in the 1990’s did not react as fast as Samsung, and as a result, they lost their market share to Samsung in a couple of years.

Mindset 1: POSITIVE ATTITUDE

Quality management: Lee considers several issues to be important. These are quality improvement of products, services and human resources.

Hard worker: Although Samsung was already a successful company starting from the early years, Lee did not stop and kept improving and expanding his business until he died.

Mindset 2: CREATIVITY

Lee had a creative mind. Samsung Corporation first exported fish, vegetables and fruit. Then, the company expanded large woolen factories. Lastly, they have been working on the electronics field.

Mindset 3: PASSION

If we look at Lee’s biography, we can see that he had a passion for both working and the “Samsung Corporation”. For instance, even during the Korean War Samsung was among the top 10 largest trading companies. Lee did not think this was enough. He continuously expanded the number of fields in which Samsung operated. He became successful in every field he entered. These things would have not been accomplished, if they had not been done with passion.

How did the entrepreneur manage risk?

When we study Lee’s biography, we see that he had done business in several very different sectors and became successful in every sector he entered. This might seem to be strange. If someone is successful in a field, why would he try other sectors continuously?

Actually, in this case it is quite understandable. Lee was a very clever and ambitious man who liked challenges. For him, every new sector was a new challenge. But he did not do all these without planning or without considering the possible risks. He was actually very talented in risk management.

Lee was a bold man who sees the opportunities very fast. Coming from a wealthy family, he was able to make an easy start. He did not have any financial problems at all. However, he was always alert and he kept watching the market and the new trends. When a new field came up, he reacted immediately and he entered the new field without being afraid of taking risks.

After watching and investigating the developments carefully, Lee invested in different fields. Therefore the risk was minimized.

Self-Assessment

 SKILLS

TIME MANAGEMENT: Time management is a very important issue for everyone. Like most people, I always try to finish some tasks on time. I try to manage my time like Lee Byung-chul does. In my opinion, I work carefully, quickly and efficiently. Every week, I prepare a to-do-list. Although there are lots of things to do all the time, at the end of the week I usually finish them. If you have a time management skill, you work efficiently, which brings success.

SETTING OBJECTIVES/GOALS: All of us have dreams. Instead of dreaming all the time, it is better to set an objective or a goal, to turn our dreams into real. I set some goals like Lee Byung-chul and Ren Zhengfei do. I have always dreamed to be an engineer, so I work hard in order to achieve it. I hope my dream to be an engineer will come true and I will do everything to make it happen.  

PRIORITISING TASKS: Everybody must prioritize what he/she does. Every week, I prepare a working schedule and prioritize my tasks. After that I work on my projects as planned, carefully and quickly.  Nowadays, I am busy with plenty of projects, tasks and homework. Some of my homework must be ready for next week and the others for next month. I first finish the projects which are for next week. If I first finish the ones which must be ready for next month, I will not be able to finish the ones which are for next week. That’s why prioritizing tasks is important.

MINDSETS

DEDICATION AND MOTIVATION: If we dedicate ourselves to our work, we absolutely succeed in it. We must not give up, even if we are in a stressful situation. In my opinion, I am a dedicated student. Even if some homework, lessons, projects are difficult, I do not give up, and try again and again in order to succeed. I dedicate myself to learn things, like Ren Zhengfei does. I work hard, search and I do not give up in order to learn something.

PASSION: Having passion for doing something is a great thing. I have been playing piano since I was at the second grade. I love playing the piano, I am passionate about it. If you have passion for something, you dedicate yourself to that work like Lee Byung-chul does. He also has passion for his work and he dedicates himself to his work.  

My strengths 

I believe that my strength is my perfectionism. When I do something I always want to manage it as good as possible. Before I start, I make a very careful research. I look up how other people has done it, if there are different ways of doing it, which materials can be used and how they can be supplied, and so on… This all takes plenty of time, but once I start, I am usually equipped with the proper knowledge and skills, so that the work is done very nicely and smoothly. By this way, I do not only enjoy the preparation phase, but I also have a lot of pleasure doing the task itself. As a result, the end-product is usually something that I am proud of.

My weaknesses 

My perfectionism can also be my weakness. Being a perfectionist, I consider every detail very carefully when I do something. Sometimes I encounter new concepts or ideas which I am not familiar with. I then start a research and usually do not stop until I know every detail and all the aspects. This can be very exhausting and time consuming from time to time. Lately, having some experience on research and projects, I set boundaries for myself in order not to lose myself in the details. Before I start the research, I decide how much knowledge and detail I will need to have for the particular project and I try not to overrun the boundaries. By this way, I try to overcome my weakness.

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