Sichuan Changhong Electric Co., China's largest TV set producer, made a top management reshuffle July 8 last year, with Zhao Yong succeeding Ni Runfeng as the Shanghai-listed firm's chairman.

This management overhaul gave Zhao a chance to rejoin Changhong after he left the company for four years. Actually, for Zhao, he had never left Changhong. He always cared about the company even when he was busy with his business as the vice mayor of Mianyang, the city where Changhong is headquartered.

Ten years ago, at the invitation from Ni, Zhao quit his job as a teacher at China's prestigious Tsinghua University to seek a career at Changhong. Four years ago, he was named as vice president and general manager of Changhong but he resigned mainly because he disagreed with Ni in Changhong's development strategies.

Zhao is facing great challenges and difficulties in overhauling Changhong, once regarded as China's TV king with a dominant market share in the country.

Fierce competition from both domestic and foreign electronics makers, coupled with hefty anti-dumping tariffs imposed first by the European Union, then by the U.S. Government, had largely dented Changhong's profit margins.

To make things even worse, Changhong said in its 2004 interim report that U.S. retailer Apex Digital Inc. owned it US$485.1 million in accounts receivable by the end of June last year, accounting for nearly 98.6 percent of Changhong's total accounts receivable.

The firm is expected to post its first loss since its shares were listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 1994.

Zhao was born in Mianyang, Sichuan Province in June 1963. At the age of 28, Zhao obtained his doctor's degree in pressure processing from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tsinghua University. He did his postdoctoral study and worked as a teacher at the same department for two years.

At that time, his wife was working for Changhong in Mianyang, a place far from Beijing, where he worked.

In 1993, when Zhao was trying to move his wife to work in Beijing, he met Ni Runfeng, former board chairman of Changhong. That meeting completely changed the course of Zhao's life.

Ni's eagerness to seek talents for Changhong impressed Zhao. Ni, well known for his ability in steering Changhong from a small electronics plant to the world's second-largest TV maker, invited Zhao to work for Changhong instead of taking his wife to Beijing. Moved by Ni's sincerity, Zhao accepted the invitation.

Zhao began his career in Changhong as vice chief engineer and director of the firm's techniques institution. He later became chief engineer of Changhong.

Zhao became the "young commander in chief" of the TV set giant at the age of only 37 in June 2000 when he was appointed as vice president and general manager of the company. He was even dubbed as "China's first general manager with a postdoctoral background".

Zhao's career in Changhong seemed to go smoothly because of his ability and devotion to the company. But he had to give up the top position and even leave Changhong, where he had worked for seven years.

The reason for his resignation was unclear and Zhao refused to make any comment about it. It was reported that Zhao had to leave mainly because of his disagreement with Ni in Chonghong's development strategies.

Though Zhao had been in the top position for less than eight months, he enjoyed high prestige among researchers by awarding those who had made great achievements in research and development.

Zhao turned down olive branches offered by TCL Corp. and Konka Group, two other major TV and mobile phone giants in China, and chose to stay in Mianyang as the city's vice mayor in charge of industry.

Most people had thought Zhao had separated himself completely from Changhong and his career in the company had come to an end. But Zhao had never forgotten Changhong although he was not an employee of the company. It was reported that documents about Changhong could be found on Zhao's desk even at his busiest time in office.

People always like to compare Zhao with his predecessor. In 1985, 41-year-old Ni became head of Changhong Machinery, the predecessor of Changhong. Nineteen years later, 41-year-old Zhao succeeded Ni as the company's president.

Actually, Zhao differs a lot from Ni, who was one of China's most successful home appliance tycoons and the most powerful man in Changhong for twenty years.

It was under Ni's management that Changhong became China's largest TV maker from a small State-owned factory developing and producing military-use and civil-use radars. Although Ni is blamed for some of Changhong's current troubles, his influence on the company cannot be ignored.

Having worked as a teacher at Tsinghua University for two years, Zhao acts more like a scholar than a president of a large company. He is refined and gentle with his glasses and thin figure, a typical image of most professors in China.

Last July, when Ni quit his position as the president of Changhong as he reached the retirement age of 60, Zhao was chosen as the new president.

The adjustment was both unexpected and reasonable. Zhao's youth, courage, insight and especially his emotion and familiarity with Changhong distinguished him from the other candidates.

Established in 1958, Changhong was once a military machinery manufacturer. It grew into China's leading TV maker within 10 years, with its brand value reaching 26 billion yuan (US$3 billion).

The firm posted a net profit of US$22.1 million for 2003. But the Apex Digital debacle and a loss of US$12.1 million incurred as a result of unsuccessful bond trading are expected to push Changhong to report its first loss since its 1994 listing. Some analysts expect Changhong to take 10 years to recover from the loss, if at all.

"Changhong's mistake is too obvious," Zhao said. As the company is facing various problems in operation and management, Zhao is really facing great difficulty in overhauling the giant.

Having worked in Changhong for seven years, Zhao was clear about what he should do to help the company out of trouble.

He had made some suggestion about the reforms of the company in his work summary when he first acted as the president of the company. He also sent the original copies to second-tier managers to promote the "rebuilding of Changhong." Zhao was doing what he should have done four years ago.

He reformed Changhong's operation and management system by establishing a new administration structure and market operating system.

In Ni's time, the company was organized in the framework of "locomotive engine mode," a method whereby the president had the outmost power in deciding affairs in the company.

Zhao abolished the mode and set the new "joint fleet mode" to give more independence to each coordinate department, which greatly improved the efficiency of the company.

Zhao realized the best way for Changhong to outstand from numerous competitors was to develop technology and widen its product portfolios.

Zhao set the slogan of "technology decides everything" to promote the research and development of technology in Changhong and set 5 million yuan aside to reward technicians who make great achievements in technical innovation.

Changhong used to focus on color TV sets, and paid little attention to other products. But Zhao would like to lead his company into more fields.

Beyond most people's expectation, the low-key Zhao made a formal announcement that Changhong joined the Intelligent Grouping & Resource Sharing (IGRS) at the 6th China Shenzhen Hi-tech Fair on July 12 last year.

After joining the IGRS, Changhong can promote the industrial process of the criteria and enhance its information home appliance products with the accumulated powerful R&D capacity and market promotion capacity in the information home appliance industry.

Last October, Zhao launched the market promotion campaign of "Changhong shines in October, cultivating a new generation of digital class" and achieved great success.

"We launched the campaign of 'Changhong October' to show the world that Changhong is still alive and to give confidence to our staff, consumers and all who care about Changhong," said Zhao. "By the end of the year, we will shout out that Changhong is not only still alive, but very healthy!"

Now, most people are pinning their hopes on Zhao to turn around Changhong. They expect Zhao to guide the company to overcome all the difficulties and rebuild the shining kingdom of Changhong again.

(Shenzhen Daily March 11, 2005)