Liang Jianzhang it prodigy back to Ctrip to open two degrees of entrepreneurship

The legendary Liang Jianzhang back in the IT world.

April 25 this year, Liang Jianzhang as the CEO of Ctrip back to the public view, a person hold Live 4.4 Spring edition Ctrip Wireless app Conference audience. Let the once-leading online tourism eldest brother Ctrip climb out of the mire of the heavy responsibility finally fell on the shoulders of Liang Jianzhang.

May 8, Liang Jianzhang surrendered his return to Ctrip since March, the first "report Card": 2013 quarter, Ctrip total operating income of 1.2 billion yuan, continued to grow, up to 27%, but net profit of 153 million yuan, continued to decline year-on-year, down to 26%.

However, in the prestigious "computer prodigy" appears, will be recycled ctrip to revive its vitality, he lacks only time.

People stories

Cliff Edge Nuggets

As "Ctrip four Gentleman" one, 2000 successor Hanting as CEO Liang Jianzhang found Ctrip's first nuggets point, will when the money has been burned beyond the edge of Ctrip pulled back.

"Hello, here is Ctrip Travel Network, what can help you?" "I want to go to the moon." "Please wait a moment ... Hello, there is no flight to the moon, but you can consider the Earth, we recently launched a 100-day tour of the world's high-end tourism projects ... "This is the end of April this year, Ctrip's new mobile client product launch, Liang Jianzhang as an anonymous user and Ctrip customer service of a dialogue. Although Ctrip's app has been upgraded many times now, Liang has shown a passion for traditional call centers.

13 years ago, Liang Jianzhang and other four people is the call center as a link, will be as a new industry of the Internet and traditional hotels, air tickets, travel agencies combined to form a Ctrip "mouse + cement" business model.

1999, the 30-year-old Liang Jianzhang resigned from Oracle's China District advisory director of the post, with friends Shen and hanting into the Internet Entrepreneurial Army, the company was established soon, the operation of the travel agent fan also joined the entrepreneurial team, four people known as "Ctrip four gentleman."

With 10 pages of slightly rough business plan, the "Gold Team" easy access to financing, but the "online travel encyclopedia" positioning to make ctrip living beyond their means. When Liang Jianzhang became Hanting's second CEO in 2000, he was burned to the edge of the cliff. Fortunately, he found the "small travel agents can also make money," the secret will not need to distribute, do not worry about inventory, operating cost of the lowest hotel booking business as Ctrip first Nuggets point. In addition to running business, after a series of strategic acquisitions more Ctrip laid a solid foundation.

Jiliuyongtui

The 13-Year-old has become famous in the former computer prodigy, in will carry Ctrip to the peak of peak, the choice of Jiliuyongtui, to the United States to complete their outstanding doctoral studies.

More than 40 years, a doll face Liang Jianzhang was called "prodigy" since childhood. In the early 80, when the vast majority of Chinese did not know the computer, the 13-year-old because of the development of a computer to write poetry program, and got the first National computer Program Design Competition Gold Award. 15-Year-old directly enrolled in Fudan University computer undergraduate class, 16-Year-old into the United States Georgia Tech University, 20-Year-old received a master's degree and began to pursue a doctorate, 22-year-old Bo did not graduate to join the Oracle company. Later, in order to return to business, he deliberately apply for the Oracle company in China District advisory director.

As Ctrip CEO, Liang Jianzhang from "technical male" successful "soft landing" for enterprise managers. Under his impetus, Ctrip successfully landed on Nasdaq on December 9, 2003, becoming the first Chinese tourist company to be listed in the United States.

By the age of 35, Liang Jianzhang more than 1 billion, not only in the eyes of outsiders, Liang Jianzhang evaluation of their own life is also "smooth sailing," he said confidently: "We do not have the most difficult time ..."

With Ctrip gradually into the heyday, Shen, hanting successively left the venture, Liang Jianzhang on January 23, 2006 to transfer the CEO position to fan, the United States to study economics doctorate, only retained the chairman of the post.

In fact, since 2005, Liang Jianzhang began to think about the next goal of life, the realization of entrepreneurship, money, he thought of the more than 20-year-old unfinished "Hombo career", "suddenly there is a chance." Removing the CEO position, Liang Jianzhang went to the United States to read a blog at Stanford University, study human Resources, education and economics, read books, go home from school, tutor his son, and occasionally take part in the "three" life of the company's high-level meetings.

Second business

Seven years later, graduating from the Liang Jianzhang is not the original Liang Jianzhang, Ctrip is not the former industry boss, "two startups" to become a new proposition Liang Jianzhang.

"Ctrip hope to achieve two times through the" thumb + cement "model! "At the end of April 2013, Liang Jianzhang, a white-shirt, coy-clad product manager, imitated Steve Jobs ' launch of a new product presentation style and" aggressively marketed "the threading version of the app. Some media later used the "shy chief executive back" as the title of the press conference.

Although 2003 to 2012, carrying Cheng from 173 million yuan to 4.2 billion yuan, net profit from 53.8 million to 714 million yuan, but also under the leadership of the third CEO fan a series of investment and mergers. However, Ctrip from holding the telescope can not find the opponents of the era, entered the age of hegemony.

Starting from the second half of 2011, Ctrip has experienced the main business commission rate dive, stock price plunge, market capitalisation of the situation. Slow innovation, heavy burden on the line, big enterprise disease and other characteristics, but also make Ctrip buckle "midlife crisis" hat. Finally in the second half of 2012, has always been arrogant Ctrip announced 500 million U.S. dollars to open a price war, September, Ctrip launched 5 of the app group.

"For me, after all, I am the founder, I am more involved in Ctrip than the general business managers, I have a deep feeling in all aspects of it, this is one of the driving force of my work now." Liang Jianzhang to the reporter to confide.

Return to CEO position Liang Jianzhang, will lead Ctrip to start again.

Character sketch

Reason and passion under dual identities

People close to Liang Jianzhang describe his character in terms of "reason". "A child, in a rational way of designing a computer program, to write the sentimental things of poetry, is a somewhat surprising pattern from now on." A person familiar with Liang Jianzhang told reporters that once Ctrip management in the grassland meeting, Liang Jianzhang casually asked: "Who knows how many sheep on the prairie." It's a big mistake to think he's really just asking, but in fact, he's inspiring people to get answers through rational reasoning, and one of the themes of that meeting was "how large is China's online tourism market".

"The first contact with him will mistakenly think he is slow, in fact he is too clever, the average person can not keep up with his speed of thinking." "The above people evaluate, Liang Jianzhang is not a person without passion." After the return of the Liang Jianzhang did do a lot of unexpected things: This official with threading CEO identity appearance, not good at hype he also efforts through the current IT industry's most fashionable press conference style to display Ctrip's internet gene; to many media to send his "Chinese too much" a book, Hope " The idea that more people are not necessarily bad things for the economy is more known.

Today's Liang Jianzhang, in addition to the entrepreneur's label, but also a more important identity, that is keen to study the Chinese population issues scholars. Under such dual identities, his reason and passion are intertwined.

In 2010, when returning to the college reunion, a children's clothing factory in Zhejiang, the old classmate's "spit", let him deeply feel that the family planning policy in 30 years will make China's demographic structure changes drastically. The old classmate said: "China's youth apparel industry is a sunset industry, because the number of young people quickly reduce each year, and then in a few years will be diverted to do middle-aged and old clothing." ”

Liang Jianzhang therefore carefully studied China's population problems. After returning from the United States in 2012, he and scholar Jianxin together a book called "Too Many Chinese". Since 2011, Liang Jianzhang has also served as a guest researcher at Peking University's National Development Institute.

And as an entrepreneur, after the handover Liang Jianzhang to the internal appeal of Ctrip again to be validated. "James (Liang Jianzhang English name) back, the company's internal confidence is very high." "said the people inside the Ctrip. Look for the "travel is the first can skip the computer side, the realization of mobile phone booking to replace the computer field," Liang Jianzhang to Ctrip dedicated to the unusual passion.

How much energy is the passion of a rationalist? This question is enough to attract countless eyes.

People dialogue

Liang Jianzhang: Ctrip lacks time

Q: What interesting things have you found after you return to Ctrip?

A: Compared with the 2006, the service industry, including E-commerce in the broad sense of life services, has formed the trend of mobile phone plus artificial, you can completely skip the part of the mouse. The travel industry is best suited to the concept of the hit, the industry will follow the trend, we hope to remain in the front of the industry.

Q: "Thumb + cement" mode will not reduce the call center personnel? Will you adjust your current asset model after your return?

A: As the proportion of wireless subscriptions increases, the share of labor is likely to decline, but the absolute number will not be affected. The artificial service must still exist, just go in the advanced direction. Ctrip will maintain a strong human service team for a long time, and we will never reduce the cost of artificial service and lower the standard of artificial service. Now the call center ratio is 50%, and after two or three years, wireless bookings are estimated to rise to one-third from the current 10% percentage point.

Ctrip assets of heavy and light to see how you look, Ctrip performance of the scale of the competitor's five or six times times, the size of the staff is so many times. Ctrip's "heavy", but also because we have invested in some hotels and other areas, but in the future investment in other areas, some must be very light, such as mobile.

Q: Is Ctrip exerting wireless strategy under pressure from outside?

A: The portable drive itself is a success, but there are still a lot of new companies coming up. Because this is a very fast market, so that is not ctrip itself out of the problem.

(Ctrip Wireless) is to specialize in a good, or do a full set of good? The advantage of focusing on one is that the team is more focused on doing something. But the full range of services also has its advantages, such as booking tickets, hotels can be combined with each other, and one-stop service can avoid users repeatedly input some information.

We have to maintain the latter advantage. And in order to cultivate the former advantage, we began last year to implement the division system, so that air tickets, hotels and other independent teams have autonomy, like small companies as more flexible. I hope both of them can be balanced.

Q: Many companies do wireless end is not profitable, Ctrip future in the wireless side of the profit model?

A: The first challenge for wireless is to put a huge amount of information on the wireless side, and the process needs to be streamlined and the information displayed in the best way possible. The second is to remove ads, and now there is no place on our wireless side to advertise. Rely on advertising to survive the media nature of the company, their mobile phone side of the profit model does exist, but for E-commerce, mobile phone is a better trading platform, marketing is not as complex as the Internet, the cost of the corresponding is relatively low, in the profit model is alive.

Q: In the past, Ctrip bought more, the team seems to be relatively large, whether to continue to expand this year?

A: Ctrip is not a lot of acquisitions, investment will be more active. Ctrip used to be a holding company and can now share in the joint. In terms of travel, the mobile industry has a lot of opportunities. Our team will not be big. The way we account for small stocks is also strategic investment, which helps startups, and in many cases does not.

Q: How do you look at Ota, vertical search engine, such as Taobao three kinds of mode of development, competition and cooperation?

A: The main keynote of the future development of online tourism lies in the leisure market, there are many forms of business, but basically to meet the consumer's travel booking, including information acquisition. This service can be done by call center, PC, mobile phone. The last thing to win is the best service and the best experience.

I think OTA represents the Commission model, the whole tourism industry is the most mainstream, but also the best profit model. In the market with mature price system, vertical search is not worth much, but it can be the supplement of marketing channel.

Q: Airline tickets, hotels and other products are getting lower commissions, online travel new nuggets point where?

A: On the whole, the main keynote of the future development of online tourism is the leisure market. We will still focus on air tickets, hotels, holiday, business travel four major businesses, but we will also for the leisure market, the one-stop service to do more extreme, such as Ctrip investment in a few business, such as high-end tourism market, Honghu, holiday apartments rental management, passers-by home network; , as well as the railway ticket business of the network of friends, these are the broad sense of "one-stop" service is an important component.

Q: What is the lack of Ctrip now?

A: Ctrip is short of time, we work overtime is to speed up running.