Making pharma brand pride of nation
Wang Minghui, president of State-owned pharmaceutical firm Yunnan Baiyao Group Co Ltd, said the company inspires him to make lifelong contributions, and is a national brand that every Chinese should be proud of.
“The medicine is not only a product, it also embodies the national pride of Chinese people. It cures and cares for every Chinese,” Wang said.
A pharmaceutical brand whose origins date back to 1902, Yunnan Baiyao is renowned for herbal medicines that can prevent bleeding and ease painfulness.
In the 1990s, a large number of imported products entered China market, and various traditional Chinese brands, including Yunnan Baiyao, suffered due to the subsequent fierce competition.
The small wound-care products market, the core business of Yunnan Baiyao, was also taken over by the band-aid products of US firm Johnson & Johnson. Wang assumed office during that most difficult time.
“I grew up in the army, and my initial desire was to become a soldier. It would be my honor to die for the country in a battle. Yunnan Baiyao has more than 100 years of history, now the baton is in my hand, and I will try my best to lead the company, to keep running, until I am not able to run any more,” Wang said in an earlier interview.
After Wang took over as president, he realized inheritance and innovation are interwoven. He found the problem of the company mainly came from its single and aged product structure. His purpose was to shift the company’s focus and establish a more comprehensive product line.
He led the company to develop an aerosol-infused product that is more favored by young Chinese consumers, and the firm strengthened the marketing efforts by hiring popular film stars and sports figures as its brand ambassadors. Now, Yunnan Baiyao’s products are more popular. In the third quarter of 2018, the company achieved sales revenue of 6.75 billion yuan ($1 billion), up nearly 12 percent.
Besides, bleeding prevention medicine has been the core competitiveness of Yunnan Baiyao. But common band-aid products don’t perform that function.
Wang cooperated with renowned global material suppliers and launched Baiyao’s own version of band-aid products that can prevent bleeding. By 2008, Baiyao started to top in market shares of the domestic band-aid segment.
Meanwhile, Wang found that ordinary toothpaste couldn’t solve oral problems such as gingival bleeding, swelling and oral ulcers. He oversaw integration of medical elements with toothpastes and launched dental products that can help solve such problems. These were well received in the consumer market.
Under the leadership of Wang, Yunnan Baiyao has accomplished corporate structural reform and innovation, and strengthened its leading position in the domestic traditional Chinese medicine or TCM market.
Earlier, the Chinese version of Harvard Business Review released the best 100 CEOs of China in 2018. Wang made it the list for three consecutive years (2016-2018). The company was the only Yunnan province-based firm that was chosen for the years.
The magazine said listed enterprises should reflect three basic principles: a sense of mission; persistence vis-a-vis values; and the spirit of craftsmanship. The performance of Yunnan Baiyao, led by Wang, underlines these three principles.
During his spare time, Wang likes to read books and literature, and spends around an hour daily to read political and business news, in addition to economic, management and medical magazines, and biographies of military characters.
Sun Lihua, an executive working with Yunnan Baiyao for 11 years now, said Wang is always the first one to arrive at office every morning. The first thing he does is go for a run before having his breakfast at the company’s cafeteria.
“He is someone with a strong selfdiscipline. He believes in having a healthy body to handle the high pressures of work. He is usually among the last who leave office. He is an attentive person and cares about every employee. Once, his office cleaner caught a cold, so Wang gave her medicines and told her to take more rest.”
In 2017, Yunnan Baiyao achieved sales revenue of 24.31 billion yuan, up 8.5 percent year-on-year, which yielded a net profit of 3.14 billion yuan, up nearly 8 percent year-onyear, according to its latest annual earnings report.