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The year 2002 marks China's fresh entry into the WTO and also
a key period for Beijing Telecom Group (hereinafter referred to
as the Group) to implement enterprise reforms against the backdrop
of the reorganization campaign currently under way in the nation's
telecom industry. The Group will go deep into the essence of the
"Three Represents" ideology and stick to the principle
of emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts, progressing
with the time and pioneering for innovation. Also, the Group will
draw lessons from the past work to have a good understanding of
the current situation on the telecom front and to orient the enterprise
on the right track. Only by doing so may the Group be fully adapted
to the challenges coming with the WTO and the needs for future competition.
To that end, the Group must accelerate its pace of growth and make
continued efforts to transform itself to a service-oriented enterprise
in all senses.
The corporate goal of the Group is to build itself into a first-rate
telecom carrier with international competitiveness and to equip
Beijing with state-of-the-art communications infrastructure in five
years.
It is not difficulty to achieve the goal in technological or
network senses, but the key to success is to improve the overall
management level and service standard. The First Party Representative's
Meeting of the Group has detailed the goal as follows: to complete
the corporate reorganization by 2004; to establish a sound modern
enterprise system; to put abundant resources on the information
service network; to bring service and management levels in line
with the international standard; to pool a host of top-notch management
and technical talents who are well adapted to the market economy;
to become a first-rate telecom carrier with both substantial market
power and international competitiveness.
The year 2002 is a junction point of the telecom restructuring
process. The Group is faced with both internal and external changes.
Externally the industry is under reorganization, and internally
the enterprise is to transform itself. So our primary task at present
is to find the right way and lay a solid underlying foundation for
further progress and innovations.
In 2002, the Group must further emancipate its mind, deepen the
reform and exploit all possible opportunities. It must endeavor
to get rid of disadvantages and give full play to advantages. In
2 to 3 years, the Group is to transform itself from a "task-oriented
" enterprise in the planned system to a totally "service-oriented"
one in the market system, while keeping on the implementation of
Three Strategies, namely the Talent Strategy, the Service Strategy
and the Cooperation Development Strategy. In this transformation
process, the establishment of a modern enterprise system is of much
importance. For that purpose, the Group is resolute in visualizing
its business philosophy of "doing everything according to customer
needs and for corporate profitability". With the philosophy
serving as a benchmark of our work in the past two years, the overall
corporate outlook has witnessed marked changes. Meanwhile, the service
philosophy of "innovating mechanism, management and technology"
and "wholeheartedly attending to customer needs at all times"
advocated by China Telecom Group Corporation has also been earnestly
applied in the corporate development process.
The aforementioned "service-oriented" enterprise has
several key features:
I. The market demand is the driving force of the corporate growth,
and the powerhouse role of market is fully reflected inside the
enterprise;
II. The external customer service and the internal team service
form a complete service chain, and the ultimate service value is
visualized by how customers are satisfied with and loyal to the
service;
III. The operating mechanism of the enterprise is flexible enough
to get adjusted to market variations and adapted to customer needs;
IV. The corporate profitability is much stressed by all employees,
who contribute to a stable and continued growth of corporate profits.
What the past few months have impressed us most is that whether
it is in terms of the WTO-driven industry overhaul, the business
growth or the competition situation, the key to market success is
shifting from "product overriding all" to an emphasis
on brand and service. Customers are no longer content with uniform
telecom services. One-to-one and personalized services are being
more and more stressed, and the antiquated concept of "just
take whatever I have to offer" will definitely alienate customers
from the enterprise. Customers, network and talents are three core
resources of the Group, and will continue to play a pivotal role
in our market crusade.
To survive in a new environment, the Group must adapt itself
to the heated competition that it may have never been experienced
before. Competition has become a lifeline skill that an enterprise
must learn. So we must fit ourselves into such a skill in the shortest
time possible. Since competition is one of the basic characteristics
of the market economy, and there would be no market economy without
competition, it is an inevitable trend that competition is being
introduced step by step in the telecom industry. All we need is
to make good physical and mental preparations for it to come in
full swing and at the same time improve our overall strength for
continued growth. Though the Group never winced at competition in
any form, we should also be aware of the fact that a long period
of planned system has nonetheless instilled certain inertia into
our mechanism and mindset. So to stand out as a latecomer in the
market, we must take great pains to brave multifarious difficulties.
In the current market scenario, competition does not necessarily
mean a bloody fight with your rivals. Coexistence and win-win should
be what the market is aiming for. If you put one competitor at certain
service into a broader perspective, you may find it a potential
partner for common development. It is also noted that competitors
at certain time or in certain condition may partner with each other
when the industry or society marches into a higher stage. There
implies a key "limit of propriety", and we must look into
far distance.
At present, the staff of the Group must set up keen market consciousness,
profitability consciousness and legal consciousness. Customers are
the most precious resource for the enterprise, and service is the
sole tie connecting the enterprise and customers. The living of
the enterprise is dependent on the support of the general public.
So we must establish an organic link between the growth of the Group
and the socioeconomic and telecom development of the capital to
create a favorable public relationship and a harmonious media environment.
Our main tasks in the coming year are as follows:
I. "Wholeheartedly attend to customer needs at all times".
To that end, customer needs should be placed as our No. 1 priority
to upgrade satisfied customers to loyal ones;
II. The provision of telecom products and launching of new services
should be more of a market-driven behavior rather than a technology-driven
one;
III. The guideline of our internal work should change from "absolute
obedience to cadre words" to a holy respect for market calls;
IV. More emphasis should be given to the service quality instead
of just the service level;
V. Customers should be served in an entire service chain, not just
over an unwieldy counter;
VI. Services should be provided in an integrated and personalized
way rather than a single manner.
Profits are the ultimate goal of enterprises, and no enterprise
thrives in the red. All employees are responsible for making profits
for the enterprise. In this regard, our work list is as follows:
I. Highlight the production capacity, output and return on assets
attributed to the investment, rather than just the wrap-up or expansion
of investment;
II. Highlight the corporate profitability more than the accomplishment
of earnings;
III. Transform the cost-irrelevant extensive business mode to
one that calculates input and output and stresses the usage efficiency
of funds;
IV. Shift the asset operation mode to the capital operation mode.
With the establishment of the market economy and its legal framework,
the behavior of enterprises are being gradually introduced onto
the legal path. We should on the one hand abide by laws in the operation,
and on the other hand learn to leverage the law weapon for self-protection.
In this respect, standardized and precise service agreement and
contracts must be applied and strictly enforced. All employees,
especially cadres at all levels, should take more time to study
laws, especially The Telecom Regulation, The Enterprise Law, The
Contract Law, The Consumer Rights Protection Law as well as relevant
WTO documents to keep from oversights in implementing laws in our
work. For that purpose, we must pay particular attention to the
following two points:
I. Transform mandatory limitations on customer services to explicit
service contracts that identify rights and responsibilities for
both parties;
II. Change the benchmark for business operation from separate
department rules to The Telecom Regulation.
In addition, the Group will set up a new market-oriented and
customer-focused operation and management system, which aims to
streamline the organizational structure, reduce hierarchies, clarify
rights and responsibilities and cut short the management chain.
The Group will also continue to put in order business flows, groom
a smooth business channel and abolish red tapes and administrative
orders in opening up services so as to highlight the powerhouse
role of the market.
In the mean time, the Group must intensify its efforts in the
area of centralized management, especially for the management of
resources, which include communications equipment, real properties
and human resources. It is also urgent to introduce centralized
finance management, which means to set up a sound corporate budgetary
system as soon as possible and gradually enforce the dispatching
of finance professionals. Faced with the WTO entry and the ever-deepening
reform process on the telecom front, we must study the rules of
the capital market and learn how to sharpen the corporate competitiveness
by means of capital operation.
The Group will make every effort to set up an operation mechanism
that adapts to the corporate development and mobilize the initiative
and creativeness out of all the staff to instill vitality into the
enterprise. We must establish a new corporate human resource management
system, continue to adjust and optimize the staff mix and further
reform the employment system. We must reform the payroll system,
readjust the salary structure and further the difference of payment
between posts so as to highlight the importance of "Three Senior"
employees. We must also launch an extensive performance evaluation
move and gradually establish a fair, rational and complete evaluation
system to judge the "moral standard, capacity, diligence and
achievement" of each employee in an objective manner and link
the judgement directly to his or her own payment. We must provide
employees with proper career development opportunities, including
the expansion of duties, exchange of duties at the same level, direct
promotion, sideline promotion and so on. All this will serve to
mobilize staff initiatives and exploit their potentials to keep
the personal development objective in line with the corporate goal.
We must establish a competitive post-taking mechanism and stimulate
the competitive awareness among all employees. Our next step is
to continue the relocation of cadres who "go down" from
senior appointments to give play to the role of stimulation in a
real sense. We must also intensify our efforts in the training activities
and provide the staff with practical courses, such as MBA, marketing,
human resource management and finance, to groom a pleasant learning
ambient in the enterprise.
At the same time, the Group will also comply with the five centralized
management requirements of China Telecom Group Corporation. With
resource management and finance management as two cut-in points
of the effort for intensifying corporate management, we must try
our best to promote the transformation of extensive management to
an intensive one so as to gradually establish the modern enterprise
system and run the enterprise as a real corporation. We must improve
the efficiency through centralized management, and at the same time
stress the mobilization of initiatives of grass root units. To that
end, we must set up effective resource management system and IT
system so as to realize the transformation from function management
to process management.
The Group will further set up its internal evaluation and feedback
mechanism to improve the overall working level of the enterprise.
First, an internal service self-evaluation mechanism will be set
up for employees to carry out self-evaluation and achieve self-improvement.
Second, an in-process evaluation mechanism will be set up to enable
one process to give marks to the previous one. Third, a fair management
evaluation mechanism is to set up to enable the managed party to
give marks to the managing party. Fourth, a customer feedback mechanism
will be set up to collect, process and analyze customer comments
by means of interviews, return visits and questionnaires.
The Group will introduce a marked breakthrough to its marketing
team. With regard to the service, the provision of single telecom
product is to shift to the establishment of a service brand. Price
wars will gradually phase out and non-price competition will gain
dominance. Anyway, the competition will be revolving around the
service brand, and not on the product per se any more. In addition,
uniform service will be replaced by personalized one-to-one service.
In this process, a nice corporate image is of much importance. Employees
are to be dressed in neat work suits to show respect for customers
and reflect the bearing of the enterprise.
We must segment customers to work out differentiated marketing
strategies for different customer segments. We must set out to build
the CRM (Customer Relations Management) framework at the earliest
date, the core of which is to setup complete (rather than discrete)
customer database. That is to say: the business system should be
based on customers instead of services. This is the key to success
in the competition. All departments and units must attach great
importance to serving VIP customers, for whom a "Green Passage"
is to be paved. It is also much necessary to set up a sound billing
account system and a powerful customer service system.
The Group must respond quickly to customer demands in its marketing
work and reconstruct its existing process. Last year we opened the
business office and network office, which only marked the beginning
of the process reform effort. We must aim at a "unified, simplified
and smooth" standard and make frequent adjustments in the actual
work to adapt to changing market and customer needs on a continual
basis. We must build a complete and strong marketing system and
reinforce the marketing strength in terms of staff quantity, quality
and structure. The innovation of the management system must take
regard to market variations, with the marketing process being reinforced
and integrated to the service process. We must exert more control
on the integration of finance, material and contract management.
We must also take advantage of the overall budget management to
establish as soon as possible an ERP system that is based on "product
catalog management - service model - product lifecycle management
- market forecast and planning - finance model - investment model
- evaluation mode".
The Group must try its best to create a favorable development
environment for the enterprise. The first step is to operate according
to The Telecom Regulation and play a model role in this respect.
In particular, the Group must pay due attention to the interconnection
work. In the asymmetric regulatory environment, one the one hand
we must go all out to get policy support, on the other hand we must
strictly abide by regulations. In all cases the best choice for
the Group would be to apply for government support in an active
manner.
Under the current situation, the Group must start to take the
market as the powerhouse in a real sense and place the service at
the top of its priority list. The customer satisfaction should be
our daily and ultimate pursuit. For the time being the main problems
lurking in our staff are an unwillingness to target specific customer
segments, a lack of work initiative and a weak service consciousness.
Therefore we must be active in understanding customer demands and
learning market rules, and observe the service from the outside
of the enterprise and according to the customer feedback.
The strengthening of management and the perfection of internal
work are two cornerstones for an enterprise to develop. The Group
has been persisting in a coherent customer philosophy and has based
all its undertakings on customer demands. This is a fundamental
condition for us to realize the transformation to a service-oriented
enterprise. The product, service and management of the enterprise
must all boil down to total customer satisfaction. Only with customer
satisfaction can the enterprise reap profit and find its room for
survival in the long run. Besides that, the Group must also adhere
to one same profitability target, namely, to maximize profits and
link everything to the corporate profitability.
The Group must also set up a managerial team that adapts to the
requirement of a "service-oriented" enterprise. The team
must have a good command and application of the modern corporate
management knowledge, and fully combine textbooks with the practical
work. It must deal with customers in a whole new way, for only when
the mindset of the managerial staff changes can the style of employees
be really affected and reshaped. So the team must enrich its knowledge
of market economy on its own initiative, get a good understanding
of international financial and legal rules and learn to analyze
the business development model and finance model. The team must
show a strategic foresight by putting the enterprise in the general
domestic and international environment to deal with problems in
any form. In addition, the managerial team must be endowed with
a team spirit and at the same time stress the building of a healthy
corporate culture.
Managers at all levels must stress the cultivation of a clean
environment in which everyone is devoted to his work. Given that
competitive post-taking is the trend, everyone should be ready to
accept an appointment if and when necessary and take no account
of whether it is going up or down the ladder. Since the reform is
not contingent on any personal will and is a corollary of corporate
development, everyone must submit to it unconditionally. The earlier
you realize the importance of competition and introduce the innovation,
the less possible you fall behind the ranks. In that sense, we must
groom a team spirit and synergy consciousness among our staff so
as to set up a high-quality and cooperative staff team. Based on
the rational operating philosophy, we should gradually build our
own corporate value emphasis and guide employees to link the realization
of individual values to that of the corporate value and philosophies.
In one word, we must build a fresh corporate culture for the Group.
In 2002, the Group will continue to coordinate the network infrastructure
construction with the civil planning, rebuilding and construction
of the capital, and combine the integrated broadband service platform
with the informatization of the government and enterprises. In another
word, we must combine our work with the "Digital Beijing"
campaign and the upcoming Olympic building projects to jointly promote
the economic development and public informatization effort.
The overall transformation to a "service-oriented"
enterprise serves the corporate goal and operating philosophy of
the Group. Without wading in the soaring tide of reform, our business
will never march to a new success. Since its founding over one year
ago, the Group has been making progress thanks to its devoted staff
at all levels. The year 2002 marks the beginning of the Group in
its effort to transform the enterprise. In this process, all employees
are to further change their ways of thinking and emancipate their
minds. We must be down-to-earth in each and every work and re-establish
a new corporate image against the backdrop of an industry overhaul.
Zhao Jidong: He graduated from Fudan University in 1975.Currently
he is General Manager and Senior Economist of China Telecom Group
Beijing Corporation.
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