Industry iteration, increasingly fierce competition and intensive policy introduction… The story of “overtaking in corners” in the pharmaceutical industry is becoming more and more rare, and only “uncertainty” has become the norm. All enterprises are looking for answers in the “big reshuffle”. How to survive and develop in uncertainty has become a new proposition of the times.
In this context, Wang Xu officially took over Beijing Beilu Pharmaceutical Co.Ltd(300016) , founded by his father from scratch, and became a typical representative of the “second generation succession”.
“I’ve seen a lot of discussions about ‘second generation’. Personally, I think ‘second generation’ is a neutral word. It’s not easy to start a business or keep a business. I think it’s more appropriate to say’re start a business’ than ‘keep a business’.”. A few days ago, in the series of theme research of “new youth – cutting-edge forces in the capital market”, Shanghai Securities News interviewed Wang Xu, Beijing Beilu Pharmaceutical Co.Ltd(300016) chairman and general manager, and walked into his story of “re entrepreneurship”.
Outside of work, Wang Xu is a racing enthusiast.
He said that he fell in love with racing cars because he needed to get away from the complicated work occasionally and devote himself to the concentration and high concentration when driving.
Now, Wang Xu is driving Beijing Beilu Pharmaceutical Co.Ltd(300016) this “racing car” at a high speed on the “inner roll” track of medicine.
smooth succession and absolute decentralization
Wang Xu has a mixed temperament.
The innocence and sincerity of idealism coexist with the shrewd calculation of businessmen. And to understand how a person acts now, go back to his past.
Wang Xu went abroad to study when he was very young. He didn’t live with his father for a long time. In my memory, my father’s most distinctive appearance is that he knows that Wang Xu likes cars, but he is not allowed to take his own Mercedes Benz car every day. “This is mine. If you like it, you will earn it yourself in the future”.
In the days of studying abroad, my father is only responsible for ensuring his basic study and living expenses. If Wang Xu wants to have other consumer demands, he has to work for them.
Since returning to the company in 2011, Wang Xu has not been airborne to the management level, but has been arranged by his father to the most grass-roots pharmaceutical factory. He started as a front-line worker and has experienced layers of experience in sales, regional managers and regional managers. It’s not a dragonfly walking through the field, nor is it given preferential treatment as expected. The chairman’s son has become Beilu Xiaowang for six or seven years.
At the grass-roots level, Wang Xu felt the work enthusiasm of front-line colleagues, understood the understanding of different positions on the company, industry and market, and more intuitively contacted the operation details of the company.
“The work of the pharmaceutical factory makes me understand that Beilu’s attitude towards drug quality is only 100 points, and 99 points are also 0; in the sales of contrast products, I understand the working status and ideas of front-line sales colleagues, understand the market and peers, understand customer needs and trends, and the core expert resources can also be held in my own hands without being constrained by others.” These became the basis for Wang Xu to manage the company and make business decisions.
In this process, his biggest gain is the establishment of “Party B thinking”.
That is a way of thinking: in the future life, whether it is to treat colleagues, friends or family, they are willing to think from the perspective of each other; In the work, we will learn to do things with market-oriented thinking, benefit oriented thinking and practical thinking, take sustainable profit as the guidance, analyze and respond to the needs of market customers from the “perspective of Party B”, uphold an open mind, enhance service awareness, realize the natural binding of customers and improve the market share.
Later, he went all the way to the management post. Wang Xu summarized that it was very smooth. He said he would like to thank his father: “on the one hand, he has a very harmonious and close relationship with the previous generation of executives. I also grew up under the care of the previous generation of executives, and they all support me very much. On the other hand, his father has absolutely delegated power. From daily operation and management to investment and M & A, his previous decisions have won his father’s trust and support.”
The staff of the company said that except for the necessary occasions such as the shareholders’ meeting, it is difficult to see the figure of the old chairman now. In Wang Xu’s view, this is the silent support and recognition of his father.
“If enterprises want to do well, both generations should work hard in the middle. The previous generation should create more opportunities for growth and experience for the next generation. Once they let go, they should have absolute trust; while the next generation should have absolute understanding and respect for the previous generation and have the capital to reassure them.”
In the face of company management, different times determine the different management styles of the two generations. “Starting a business is starting from nothing and building tall buildings on the ground. Like my father, they may pay more attention to the business field of the company at the management level; starting a business sounds like sitting on its own and enjoying its success. I prefer to call the second generation of successors’ chuangji ‘, that is, the Second Entrepreneurship of the enterprise. Now, 30 years later, I have to study and pay attention to product diversification, market internationalization, industrial chain integration and other issues.”
Wang Xu said that as a second generation, he stood on the shoulders of giants. But they will also be considered that they should do well. If they don’t do well, they are lack of ability or initiative, so the actual pressure will be greater. Many of the characteristics of the second generation he is familiar with are “very hard”.
relative innovation and absolute adherence
In the past few years, the pharmaceutical industry has definitely been one of the most serious industries.
Constantly breaking through diseases and indications, constantly adjusting policies, continuous collection and price war, a steady stream of anecdotes about newly listed enterprises and founders, a red sea. Among them, Beijing Beilu Pharmaceutical Co.Ltd(300016) appears “stable and low-key”.
Compared with the cusp of the wind and waves, perhaps the enterprises that stand still but still survive are more interesting: is this “stability” an active choice or a passive acceptance? Is there a moment of wavering in the whole process? In the fierce competition, what results will this self persistence lead to?
As an enterprise manager, in this process, we should not only overcome the external disturbance, but also overcome the inner vacillation. “(before) also paid attention to other hot pharmaceutical segments outside the main business, but stopped in time.” Facing the tuyere, Wang Xu admitted that he had wavered, but finally chose to do something difficult and right.
What is hard and right? Wang Xu’s answer is: “do not simply pursue short-term interests, maintain the original intention, return to the essence of pharmacy, continue to solve clinical pain points for doctors and provide safe and effective solutions for patients.”
Beijing Beilu Pharmaceutical Co.Ltd(300016) is one of the leading enterprises of contrast agent in China and the first professional supplier of contrast agent products in China. Contrast agent products are the main source of the company’s revenue and profit, and also the field that the company has been deeply cultivated.
Last year, the company’s iohexol, ioxamol, meglumine gadolinium pentanoate and iodopanol injection passed the consistency evaluation. Among them, iohexol injection won the bid in the fifth batch of national centralized drug procurement, and began to supply Beijing, Shanghai, Liaoning, Guangxi, Tibet and other 10 provinces and autonomous regions at the end of the year. The company’s new gadolinium butol injection is also expected to be put on sale this year, further enriching the pipeline of contrast agent products. The production line of meglumine gadolinate API built by the company in the biomedical industrial park of Bohai new area, Cangzhou, Beijing has been put into operation, and the production process has been continuously optimized.
The first phase of the 850 ton iodine contrast agent API project of Haichang pharmaceutical, a holding subsidiary, has been officially put into operation, and the second phase has entered the stage of start-up and trial operation, with continuous release of production capacity.
Jiuwei Zhenxin granule independently developed by the company is the first pure traditional Chinese medicine preparation approved by the State Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder in China. By the end of last year, Jiuwei Zhenxin granule had been included in 14 diagnosis and treatment norms, guidelines and consensus, such as the code for the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders (2020 Edition). At present, the product has been gradually applied to the departments of Neurology, psychiatry, sleep and gastroenterology in hospitals, covering thousands of medical terminals in China.
Actively expanding overseas markets and promoting international layout is also one of the key tasks of Beijing Beilu Pharmaceutical Co.Ltd(300016) in recent years.
At present, the company has realized the sales of contrast agents in 6 countries. Miyun factory, which produces contrast agents, has also started the compliance preparation of the EU EDQM GMP certification project. Wang Xu revealed that the EU compliance certification of contrast agent production plants will strive to make substantial progress within the year, and the number of countries and regions that complete product registration is expected to further increase in 2022.
What has not changed in the times and environment is the persistence of Wang Daixue and Wang Xu’s father and son – adhering to the due sense of social responsibility of pharmaceutical enterprises, adhering to the bottom line of ensuring drug quality, and strengthening the goal of Beilu for a century. “Quality based” has always been listed in the first place of Beijing Beilu Pharmaceutical Co.Ltd(300016) core values.
learn to coexist and make trade-offs
On Wang Xu’s desk, there is the herbalist he is reading.
There is a sentence on the cover of the book: “there is no known formula for repeated trial and error in countless compounds.” This is also a description of thousands of medical people.
Work is always full of fine water running in, including countless tangles and pain, which are often not smooth, bold and light. But that’s the essence of work. Wang Xu said that the managers of an enterprise, of course, have to bear endless pressure. But everyone has their own pressure.
“When I first entered the company, like all young people, I just needed to complete KPIs and get the appreciation of my leaders.” Wang Xu recalled that after taking over the management of Beijing Beilu Pharmaceutical Co.Ltd(300016) , no one set goals for him, but the pressure on him became greater and greater. When he became a leader, it was more and more difficult to satisfy himself.
“Pressure cannot be resolved, but it can be a positive force”. Obviously, Wang Xu has learned to coexist with it.
Do a good job in “subtraction” at work, simplify the approval procedures, reduce communication costs and improve work efficiency; Do a good job in “addition”, change “investigation” into “management”, strengthen systematic research, understand the front-line situation and solve deep problems; Do a good job in “multiplication”, have the overall situation in mind, give full play to the functional role in the overall situation, specialize in the technical industry, and improve the professional level of work in the field of responsibility. Despite the stormy environment, Beijing Beilu Pharmaceutical Co.Ltd(300016) still strives to move steadily and far in an orderly manner.
Besides work, Wang Xu likes racing.
I chose to drive a racing car because it was “cheap” — among all racing sports, the most cost-effective is the professional go kart. A top-level professional go kart imported from Italy costs about 60000 yuan. Without modification, the competition is only the driver’s technology itself.
Fall in love with racing, because Wang Xu needs to occasionally get away from his complicated work and devote himself to driving with great concentration.
Wang Xu showed reporters the photos of his (Professional) go kart, but the painting style was not as cool as expected: the logo of Beilu was printed on the front of the car, and the words “Jiuwei” and “Zhenxin” were sprayed on the body. His racing helmet was placed on the bookshelf in the office. Wang Xu wanted to take it down and show the reporter the patterns of nine medicinal materials in nine Zhenxin granules printed on the helmet, but he rubbed a hand of ash awkwardly.
“Now you can count the number of times you go in a year with one hand.”. As the head of a listed company, Wang Xu’s hobby of racing is not expensive, but it is becoming more and more “luxurious”.
It is also worth mentioning that Wang Xu, who has studied abroad for many years and obtained Canadian nationality, has not been to Canada in 10 years since he joined Beijing Beilu Pharmaceutical Co.Ltd(300016) in 2011.
After returning home, he had a deep understanding of the current situation of China Meheco Group Co.Ltd(600056) industry, saw broad opportunities for future development, and re understood China’s business culture. It was also during this period that he had the idea of returning home and taking root. At the end of 2020, Wang Xu submitted an application to the Ministry of public security for the restoration of Chinese nationality, hoping to take root in China’s development in a down-to-earth manner.
“I think it’s a great thing to return to an ordinary Chinese citizen, make a modest contribution to the development of the motherland and provide medical workers with quality and quantity ammunition,” Wang Xu said.
