Background
Xu is a native of Hunan Province, was born in 1963.
少春 徐
Xu is a native of Hunan Province, was born in 1963.
Xu went to local junior and high schools. He obtained a BS in computer science from Nanjing Institute of Technology in 1983.
After graduation, he was assigned work in a machinery plant with some 800 employees in Wuhan, where he wrote a program to manage the wages and even suggested ways to improve the management of the plant. This led to criticism by some workers and supervisors for his arrogance. So Xu applied for graduate study in the Science and Research Institute of the Ministry of Finance, Beijing in 1985, and after completing his masters degree in 1988, he was assigned a job in the Shandong Tax Bureau. However Xu did not like the business environment of Shandong at the time, and left for a government agency in Shenzhen the IT department of a Shenzhen accountancy practice that dealt with firms engaged in business transactions with Hong Kong and Macau companies.
Although Xu was made head of the IT department, he resigned from accountancy and founded Aipu Computer Technology in 1991 after Deng Xiaoping’s visit to Southern China and his official endorsement of the formation of private technological firms. The firm’s capital consisted of a lump sum of 360 yuan from Xu’s pension and his father-in-law’s life savings of RMB5000. He used this to purchase the most critical fixed asset for the new venture an IBM-compatible 286 personal computer. He also recruited a local graduate to work in the venture, providing accounting solutions to small businesses; in addition, Aipu undertook reselling work for AST personal computers. Xu acknowledged that Aipu was too small and that it was only just surviving; he therefore looked for additional capital that would allow it to pursue product development. Xu eventually secured investment from two sources (an American Chinese lady and a Shekou state insurance firm) to fund the expansion.
Kingdee was founded in August 1993 with 20 employees. The new venture focused on the development of the first Chinese accounting software for Microsoft Windows, and successfully introduced its proprietary product to Shenzhen firms in 1995. Nevertheless, Xu recognized that the number of local users was finite and began to establish branches outside Shenzhen that served as bases for direct marketing. As Kingdee expanded, Xu tried to address the issue of financing for further growth, and in 1997 the company received US$20 million from the International Data Group to fund expansion (this was the largest venture capital investment in the Chinese information technology industry at the time). The capital injection enabled Kingdee to invest in the emerging ERP market segment and gain a first-mover advantage with its flagship K/3 ERP product in 1998. Kingdee had established itself in the ERP segment among small and medium-sized businesses by 2000. Since then, it has strengthened its product offerings and has established a firm position as the ERP solution provider among manufacturing firms in Southern China. Furthermore, Kingdee built on its ERP market shares and had positioned itself as a comprehensive enterprise software provider by the mid-2000s. In 2007 it also formed strategic alliances with CPCNet and IBM, targeting Hong Kong and foreign firms with business operations in Southern China.