Background
Dong Mingzhu was born in 1954 in China. Dong was born the youngest of seven children in a working class family. When she was a child, she wanted to be a soldier.
明珠 董
Dong Mingzhu was born in 1954 in China. Dong was born the youngest of seven children in a working class family. When she was a child, she wanted to be a soldier.
Dong graduated from a specialized institute in Wuhu, Anhui province in 1975 with a major in Statistics. After graduation, Dong an administrative job at a government chemistry laboratory in Nanjing for 15 years.
In 1990, Dong Mingzhu began working for Gree Electric Appliance of Zhuhai, and rose steadily, serving as business manager of marketing and sales, director of operations, and deputy general manager. During the summer of 1995, when Dong was still Gree’s director of sales, China’s young air conditioning industry faced a crisis when several companies engaged in a vicious price war, throwing all manufacturers into turmoil. Facing intense pressure to cut prices, Gree was ready to take action. However Dong convinced her top management not to jump into the price war; her experience told her that the current slip in sales was largely a result of unseasonably rainy and cool weather. Within months, when temperatures climbed, sales rose as well. By leaving prices untouched, Gree was able to maintain a healthy profit margin. A year later, when another price war broke out, Dong’s stubborn refusal to slash prices helped Gree to gain ground against major competitors, a strategic move that eventually led to Gree’s dominance in the market.
In April 2001, Dong was named general manager and under her leadership, the company has experienced further remarkable growth. Again Dong found out that she had to stand up and say no, this time to China’s powerful home appliances retailers, who preferred to squeeze the profit margin of suppliers in order to provide the lowest possible price to consumers. Foreseeing trouble, Dong started to build Gree’s own distribution network based on provincial sales companies that each managed independent retailers in the region and a centralized distribution system for each province. So when the chain stores began to squeeze suppliers’ profit margins to almost zero in early 2004, Dong ordered distribution via Gree’s own system. As a result, Gree achieved enviable sales revenue of RMB13.8 billion that year, an increase of nearly 38 percent over 2003. This strong performance, mainly attributed to Dong’s audacious marketing strategy, shocked the whole industry. In order to further integrate all retailers, Dong established a distribu- tion system that has been dubbed ‘the Gree’s Model’ by Chinese economists. She has kept Gree’s retail partners satisfied through what she called a win-win rebate system, which is one of China’s most successful and innovative recent business practices. In 2006, Gree received the National Quality Award from the China Association for Quality, and was named the most ‘Remarkable Brand’ by the China Brand Research Institute.
Dong is now the vice director of the Chinese Household Appliances Association, vice chair of the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Guangdong Province, and chairper- son of Women Entrepreneurs Association of Zhuhai. For her vision, innovation and entrepreneurship, Dong was twice named among the World’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business by Fortune, in 2004 and 2005, the Top Ten Chinese Business Figures of the Year by CCTV in 2006, and ranked number 93 of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes in 2007.
She has not had a day off in 20 years, and says that she will rest when she retires.She is widely known for her reputation as the toughest woman in China, and peers have been quoted saying "Where Sister Dong walks, no grass grows."
Dong married soon after graduating from university, but was widowed when her son turned two year old. She has not married since, stating that she values her independence and that when married "you have responsibilities toward another person."
Dong married soon after graduating from university, but was widowed when her son turned two year old. She has not married since, stating that she values her independence and that when married "you have responsibilities toward another person."
