At the end of 2021, Wang Xiangming, chairman of China Resources Group, solemnly delivered a new year’s dedication to all employees. In his dedication entitled “starting for a better future”, the “leader” drew up the blueprint for the 14th five year plan, and “scientific and technological innovation” was defined as the business section based on and “new strategic support”.
Nowadays, a new round of scientific and technological revolution is vigorously reshaping the global economy. Hong Kong, known as an international financial center, is trying to add a second engine of “innovative technology” to meet the coming wave of the times. China Resources, a Chinese funded enterprise standing in Hong Kong for more than 80 years, is injecting scientific and technological strength into Hong Kong.
For a long time, China Resources has provided protection for Hong Kong in many livelihood areas such as meat supply, retail and medicine. Now, the company has found another equally important way to help Hong Kong erect the banner of “international innovation and technology center”, so as to promote Hong Kong’s integration into the overall situation of national development.
From the humble small firm called “Lianhe bank” in Central Hong Kong more than 80 years ago to the current business giant with more than 1.8 trillion total assets, every transformation in the history of China Resources deduces the strongest voice of the times of national strategy.
Standing on the new node of serving the national strategy and galloping across the multi business battlefield as a pioneer, how will China Resources write a new business legend?
embrace the new wave of science and technology
In Wang Xiangming’s new year’s dedication, “scientific and technological innovation” entered the six business areas of China Resources Group as a new section.
This is the “practice” of this enterprise in the world of science and technology in the past year:
In August 2021, China Resources venture signed a cooperation framework agreement with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, each investing no more than HK $100 million in a ratio of 50:50 to establish a company in Hong Kong to build a regenerative medicine innovation center and support the construction, scientific research and development, transformation and industrialization of facilities in the field of regenerative medicine and renewable energy in Hong Kong;
In October 2021, China Resources Capital set up the Hong Kong Science and Innovation Center – runwei chuangfang, to create a platform for accelerating the incubation of science and innovation enterprises and assisting the upgrading and transformation of traditional enterprises, and provide tailored support, services and cooperation opportunities for start-ups and entrepreneurs through the knowledge, resources and networks of partners in Greater China and around the world;
In October 2021, China Resources venture announced that it had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Chengda Enterprise Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the City University of Hong Kong, to establish a science communication platform, and invested HK $100 million in the first phase of the joint venture in a ratio of 50:50, focusing on innovative technologies and start-ups in the fields of life science and health, biomedicine and engineering, materials science and engineering, etc, Help the invested enterprises to become the “unicorn” of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Dawan district;
In December 2021, China Resources venture signed a memorandum of strategic cooperation (MOU) with Hong Kong Science and technology park to establish a joint Incubation Platform for entrepreneurship and technology, with a view to providing support to Hong Kong start-ups, especially those settled in the park, in terms of capital, talents and facilities, and assisting them in transforming scientific research achievements into commercial products that meet market needs.
This is not the first time China Resources has touched on scientific and technological innovation. If the time is set back to a few years ago, China Resources’s “Innovation story” will be more diverse and moving. The continuous action shows that the commercial giant dominating the department store retail field is rapidly sneaking into the field of science and technology. From the content of the action, China resources not only cooperates with Hong Kong universities to expand the scale and momentum of R & D, but also provides an incubation platform for small and medium-sized enterprises, start-up teams and scientific and technological talents. This is the concrete action of China Resources as a firm national strategic participant.
With the signing of the agreement text again and again, China Resources has become more and more firm in joining hands with Hong Kong to enter the forefront of science and technology. On its huge business territory, China Resources is expanding from people’s livelihood business to high-tech fields such as life science, consumer technology and integrated circuits. Today, China Resources is looking for a “road of innovation” to inject unique “China Resources Potential Energy” into Hong Kong’s science and technology.
Take the strategic cooperation memorandum mentioned above as an example.
CR venture not only plans to set up scientific research facilities and provide resource assistance in the park, but also plans to set up GMP cell laboratory or production facilities after the phase II clinical trial stage. It will also use the group’s resources and expertise in different industrial fields to set up an entity operation scene, so that venture enterprises can test innovation schemes to obtain real data and feedback for improvement, Enhance the feasibility of launching the market for large-scale applications.
In his internal speech in 2020, Wang Xiangming proposed a clear roadmap for “innovating China Resources”:
First of all, we should clarify the strategic positioning and business model in combination with “national needs, local directors and enterprise capabilities”;
Secondly, look for R & D or M & A projects from import substitution to solve the technical pain points of China’s neck sticking;
Third, we should look for the most suitable projects for investment in combination with the regional layout of the group and the industrial policies of the local government;
Fourth, in terms of promotion mechanism, it adopts the way of acquiring scientific research enterprises and teams, and makes use of the management advantages of China Resources to make up for the shortcomings of basic research;
Fifth, focus on long-term improvement and promote the cultivation of scientific and technological innovation ability.
These points not only take into account the original management advantages and resource advantages of China Resources, but also take into account the needs of the long-term development of science and technology, but also focus on the pain points of solving the problem of China’s technology bottleneck in the short term, which can be described as deep and comprehensive.
Trade is the gene of Hong Kong. Over the past few decades, relying on the globalized trade network, Hong Kong has emerged as a world-class international shipping center, international financial center and international intellectual property trading center. Hong Kong has created an era of trade. China Resources, which is good at trade, plays an important role in communicating between the mainland and Hong Kong. Now, a new wave of new scientific and technological revolution is rolling in, and the support of China Resources is building a “second engine” for Hong Kong.
In his new year’s dedication, Wang Xiangming stressed that scientific and technological innovation should be taken as a new strategic support, the dominant position of enterprise innovation should be strengthened, the ability of independent research and development should be vigorously improved, and the creation of the “source” of original technology and the length of industrial chain should be accelerated; Actively distribute emerging industries, give play to the driving role of green development and digital transformation, and form differentiated competitive advantages; Give full play to the advantages of China Resources’s high degree of marketization, speed up the construction of talent team, and enhance the enthusiasm of all employees for entrepreneurship.
If there is an era of innovation and technology in Hong Kong’s future, there must be a light and a heat from China Resources.
smart “vision 2028”
On May 31, 2021, a unique innovation acceleration camp was opened in China Resources learning and innovation center. The heads of 67 information technology related innovation projects from 20 profit centers of China Resources participated in the activity. The theme of the camp opening activity is the keyword familiar to the employees of China Resources – “smart China Resources 2028”.
This is another “innovation road” found by China Resources standing on the new wave – China resources needs not only the innovation of opening up the scientific and technological territory externally, but also the innovation of self revolution internally. Cross others before you cross yourself. Only if China Resources is a technology driven group company, can it help more industries and enterprises realize digital transformation, and expand the market scale of science and technology industry in Hong Kong and even the whole Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area.
At present, China Resources is looking for a road driven by digital transformation.
This is one of the “dual engine drive” defined by Wang Xiangming in his new year’s dedication.
This story starts years ago.
In 2018, China Resources, which coincided with its 80th birthday, formulated the group’s new strategy – “smart China Resources 2028” vision plan.
This is a plan to “reshape China Resources” by using the latest achievements of science and technology. In mid-2020, Wang Xiangming took over the baton of the “leader” of China Resources and increasingly raised the digital transformation strategy to an unprecedented high.
“The digital transformation of the world economy is the general trend. In order to adapt to this trend, the digital transformation of enterprises is to reconstruct the enterprise strategic framework, resource elements, organization mode, incentive mechanism and other systems by using digital technology, and innovate the major strategic adjustment of development mode and development path.” Wang Xiangming pointed out in his article in October 2021.
This article, published on the official website of SASAC and entitled “China Resources Group: transformation and innovation of China Resources in the digital age”, emphasizes that digital transformation is “the need to adapt to the changing economic situation”, “the need to meet the changing needs of customers”, “the need to improve industrial competitiveness”, “the need to improve operation and management efficiency” and “the need to deepen the reform of state-owned enterprises”.
This is a ten-year transformation protracted war, which is the digital breakthrough action of “reshaping China Resources”. The key to this action is the cloud strategy of “cloud first, intelligent growth”, which is to build a data center covering the whole group based on cloud computing.
After decades of development, various offline business scenarios and online “feedback” of huge customer groups have formed huge digital assets of China Resources; These data assets will be the basis for supporting business decision-making, business innovation and improving online service capabilities.
In 2019, China Resources introduced Xinhua Group 3 as a strategic partner and officially launched the cloud platform in November. At present, 26 industries under China resources are fully connected to China Resources cloud, which has exceeded the resource service volume of traditional data centers for three years in half a year.
With the help of “cloud”, the resource delivery efficiency of China Resources has been shortened from two days to five minutes, which has been improved several times. The infrastructure cost has been reduced by 30%, the project construction efficiency has been improved by 70%, and the construction cost has been reduced by 45%. Among them, the project delivery cycle has changed from 1 year to 3-6 months, and the number of concurrent projects has increased from 20 to 200 a year.
According to the needs of “smart growth”, in addition to the cloud platform, China Resources is also striving to build an enabling platform for industrial Internet, artificial intelligence, big data and Internet of things, with a view to expanding “smart +” applications through information technology enabling business.
Such a long-term layout is precisely the concentrated embodiment of CR’s self iterative upgrading by using advanced technology.
Wang Xiangming pointed out in the aforementioned article that the future smart China Resources will be committed to building an ecological system of CO creation and symbiosis, promoting the extension of the value chain and driving the overall high-quality development of the industrial chain. For example, through the seamless connection of Wuxi Online Offline Communication Information Technology Co.Ltd(300959) scenarios, from a single manufacturing enterprise to a resource service platform, customers and upstream and downstream enterprises are allowed to participate in the whole process of product design, R & D, production, manufacturing and sales. Customers are no longer a single “consumer”, but become a “producer and consumer” with win-win results with enterprises, which not only improves customer satisfaction, Also enhance product competitiveness.
era of big consumption and great health
In September 2021, China Resources also took an important action: the Xiamen consumption fund of China Resources National Survey, which was established with the participation of China Resources venture capital, completed the strategic lead investment in peak sports. Behind the heavy investment action is the new road that China Resources is entering.
China Resources is closely related to Chinese consumption. From beer and purified water to China Resources Wanjia supermarkets that can be seen everywhere, and then cold medicine that is always available at home, people’s daily life is bound to contact China Resources. This is related to consumption and health.
This is also the proper meaning of investing in peak – the upgrading of sports goods involves not only the coming era of “big consumption”, but also the coming era of “big health”.
The “big health” and “big consumption” under the attention of capital is a new business form integrating scientific and technological elements with traditional industries. When “consumption” becomes “big consumption” and “big health”, what changes have taken place in China Resources, which is deeply engaged in the field of people’s livelihood?
For China Resources, the coming changes not only appear in the field of sports goods where peak is located, but also in nursing homes under the background of aging. Such changes not only appear in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Bay area deeply cultivated by China Resources, but also in the broader mainland market.
It is a new attempt of China Resources to make parents and children have only a “bowl of soup”. In short, in the same “care community”, there are both houses for children and dynamic apartments suitable for the elderly. At the same time, hospitals, large business districts and other facilities are equipped to make several generations live happily on the premise of retaining the original family pattern as far as possible, so as to truly realize three or four generations living together.
In this system, the vitality apartments of the elderly hide “mystery” everywhere: 24-hour emergency response button, and the Housekeeper will arrive quickly within 5 minutes; The spacious child and mother door ensures the smooth passage of wheelchairs here; The height of all buttons and switches in the room makes it easier for the elderly to use; The handrail and anti-skid design of the toilet, the floor heating still installed in the south, mobile alarm, etc.
The realization of this scenario is inseparable from the application of new technical means such as cloud, Internet of things and big data.
“Carry a bowl of soup and it won’t be cold. This is the best distance.” Li Bin, manager of dynamic Elderly Service Department of Nanning CCRC home care community, said.
In terms of economic trend, this is not only the “big consumption” under the background of aging, but also the “big health” business form of new elderly care services.
For children, what the elderly fear most is illness. For example, some elderly people will suffer from cognitive impairment, which is manifested in the disorder of memory, thinking, understanding, language and judgment, and seriously lose their ability to take care of themselves.
This kind of special group, even if the children are willing to look after themselves, often encounter the challenge of insufficient professional nursing ability. China Resources Land’s yuenianhua home care center has taken up this arduous challenge. With the help of new technology, in the new elderly care scene, professional caregivers live together with the cognitive elderly, restore the home life scene of the elderly, and gradually stimulate the positive emotion of the elderly, so as to delay the disease.
When it comes to pension, Wang Weifeng, chief financial officer of China Resources Weilin, an investment company of China Resources venture that focuses on the elderly care services and health consumer goods industry, noticed that in recent years, more and more people around them began to consult the pension business, “pension is becoming a rigid demand of the public”. Based on this, a number of small-scale and sophisticated private pension institutions have emerged in many economically developed regions.
In the pension scenario, technology should be integrated with professionals; Looking at the whole industry, technology and specialty should be integrated with advanced management experience – advanced management experience is exactly what China Resources is good at. Although the above-mentioned pension institutions have unique experience, the high fragmentation leads to very limited coverage. This naturally can not meet all the market demand.
“From the perspective of industry law, the pension industry needs to be integrated, and the emergence of national pension companies is the inevitable trend of the future market.” Wang Weifeng said.
According to him, it is out of this consideration that China Resources Weilin is committed to integrating the pension platforms in various regions, empowering the invested enterprises with the advantages of China Resources and Weilin shareholders in industrial resources, capital operation and enterprise management, and helping these private enterprises move from family management mode to enterprise management mode.
At present, China Resources Weilin has set up five pension platform companies in four regions: Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao, Dawan District, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Chengdu Chongqing metropolitan area. With the help of the platform company, China Resources Weilin has entered 11 major cities in China, with more than 35 nutrition institutions. For the elderly care institutions served, the refined operation brings not only high-quality experience, but also the replication and expansion of successful experience.
Innovative actions in the field of mass consumption enable the elderly to have a poetic life in their twilight years. Such innovation stories are also staged in other sectors of large consumption, urban construction and operation, energy services and other fields.
Standing at the top of the tide of the times, China Resources’s pioneering exploration and vigorous action are creating a beauty that the creator has never seen before. This is reminiscent of the newly released China Resources image film “road finding”. In this film, the self-question and self-answer of Cr people who have experienced difficulties and dangers and saw unlimited scenery are:
– “why did you choose this?”
– “I don’t choose to start only when I see the beauty, but I can see the beauty only when I go on.”
From the small business firms in Central Hong Kong more than 80 years ago to the world’s top 500 enterprises leading the global business situation, “it’s not a good choice to start”. This is the consistent spirit of China Resources. This is a business practice of a Hong Kong based enterprise as a bridge between Hong Kong and the mainland. This is the way for an innovative business organization.
