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The Forbidden City of Terry Gou
August 11, 2007
Shenzhen, China
Past a guarded gate on the outskirts of this city sits one of the world's largest factories. In dozens of squat buildings, it churns out gadgets bearing technology's household names -- Apple Inc.'s iPods and iPhones, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s personal computers, Motorola Inc. mobile phones and Nintendo Co. Wii videogame consoles.
| In southern China, Hon Hai is the manufacturing camp for some of the most popular consumer goods. |
Few people outside of the industry know of the plant's owner: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.
With a work force of some 270,000 -- about as big as the population of Newark, N.J. -- the factory is a bustling testament to the ambition of Hon Hai's founder, Terry Gou. In an era when manufacturing has been defined by outsourcing, no one has done more to shift global electronics production to China. Little noticed by the wider world, Mr. Gou has turned his company into China's biggest exporter and the world's biggest contract manufacturer of electronics.
Hon Hai's revenue has grown more than 50% a year in the past decade to $40.6 billion last year. It is expected to add $14 billion in revenue this year. That is roughly the equivalent of Motorola's adding, within a year, the sales of CBS Corp.
Throughout his company's rise, the 56-year-old native of Taiwan has maintained a low profile. Publicity, he says, risks helping competitors and alienating customers. "I hate that I [have] become famous," Mr. Gou said in a recent three-hour interview at Hon Hai's Taiwan headquarters. It was Mr. Gou's first interview with Western media since 2002, following more than five years of requests by The Wall Street Journal. "We are so big we cannot hide anymore."
Hon Hai, and its massive Shenzhen plant, provides a window into the sometimes-secretive world of manufacturing in China. Confidentiality is a selling point for contract manufacturers, whose customers count on them to shield their products and plans from outsiders. Secrecy has also been a central issue in China's recent tainted-product scandal, with the often-quiet relationship between U.S. companies and their suppliers complicating regulators' hunt for the source of defective goods. Recently, citing ongoing investigations, Mattel Inc. took nearly a week to identify its Chinese provider of toys believed to contain lead paint.
Hon Hai hasn't been involved in such scandals, and analysts and industry insiders say Mr. Gou has combined discretion with a solid record of quality control and competitive pricing to build a booming empire. The $43 billion market capitalization of Hon Hai -- a public company listed in Taiwan, which uses the trade name Foxconn -- is equal to that of its 10 biggest global rivals combined. Mr. Gou and Hon Hai control additional affiliates that report revenue separately. Mr. Gou is currently worth about $10 billion, a Hon Hai spokesman says.
![[Image]](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/OB-AO207_shiftc_20070810162556.jpg)
The company guards its customers' identities, although some of them are named in its Chinese-language filings to securities regulators. Hon Hai and its affiliates make products not only for Apple, Nintendo, H-P and Motorola, but also cellphones and parts for Nokia Corp., PlayStation 2 sets for Sony Corp. and computer parts for Dell Inc. Those companies did not dispute their relationship with the manufacturer. Hon Hai is also currently the exclusive supplier of Apple's iPhones and one of the few makers of iPods, Taiwan-based analysts say. Apple acknowledged that Hon Hai is a supplier but declined to comment further.
At the center of Mr. Gou's empire is his walled Shenzhen facility, the Longhua Science & Technology Park, which covers about a square mile. Aside from customers, few outsiders set foot inside. A reporter visiting Longhua was barred from viewing protected areas or taking photographs of more than a few scenes.
In addition to its dozens of assembly lines and dormitories, Longhua has a fire brigade, hospital and employee swimming pool, where Mr. Gou does early morning laps when he is there. Restaurants, banks, a grocery store and an Internet cafe line the company town's main drag. More than 500 monitors around the campus show exercise programs, worker-safety videos and company news produced by the in-house television network, Foxconn TV. Even the plant's manhole covers are stamped "Foxconn."
James Lee, a heavy-smoking former banker whom Mr. Gou tapped to run the plant in 1998, is Longhua's de facto mayor. Mr. Lee frets about how to provide more than 150,000 lunches every day in the 10 cavernous employee canteens (that's about 10.6 metric tons of dry rice per meal, at one bowl each). He oversees landscaping, uniform buying, dormitory building and hiring as many as 3,000 new workers a day during peak periods. His administration employs more than 1,000 security guards to keep order and prevent unauthorized visitors from sensitive areas. Administrators also battle what he calls new employees' tendency to litter.
| CUSTOMER | PRODUCTS |
| Apple | iPhone, some iPod models |
| Dell | Desktop PCs/parts |
| Hewlett-Packard | Desktop PCs/parts |
| Nokia | Cellphones/parts |
| Motorola | Cellphones/parts |
| Sony | PlayStation2 videogame console, PSP handheld game unit |
| Nintendo | Wii videogame console DS game unit |
"I have to resolve every single small problem on this campus, with the exception of production," he says over a "Foxconn Coffee" at a company restaurant. He jokes: "Would you want this job?"
Now the plant's space is running out. "We never thought we would expand so fast," says Mr. Lee.
The founder's personality permeates the site and company. A charismatic man who inspires intense loyalty among his lieutenants, Mr. Gou runs Hon Hai with the power of a warlord. On his right wrist he wears a beaded bracelet he got from a temple dedicated to Genghis Khan, the 13th-century Mongolian conqueror whom he calls a personal hero.
"I always tell employees: The group's benefit is more important than your personal benefit," Mr. Gou says.
Mr. Gou has combined a competitive drive with a business model that lets the company build much of its products in-house, saving money on parts. His zeal for cost-cutting prompted a fellow executive to quip several years ago that Mr. Gou is "worth about $2 billion in nickels and dimes."
Longhua's workers tend assembly lines, in shifts, around the clock. They earn wages that seem meager by developed-world standards but are enough to keep new recruits streaming through its gates. The most basic assembly-line jobs pay about 60 cents an hour -- the legal minimum -- although workers can earn higher wages for overtime. Meals are subsidized. Most workers live rent-free in company dormitories inside the walls or off campus.
Last year, a British tabloid alleged poor treatment of Longhua's workers, specifically those who make Apple's iPods there. (At the time, Apple reported that nearly one-seventh of Longhua's workers made Apple products.) The British account was followed by criticism of the company in the Chinese press.
Apple sent a team to investigate, and found a handful of violations of its Supplier Code of Conduct, including over-crowding at three off-site dorms, according to a report the company issued last August. Apple, which asks suppliers to limit workers to 60 hours of labor a week except in emergencies, estimated that one-third of Longhua's workers exceeded the limit. It did not find evidence of forced overtime. Overall, Apple found Hon Hai to be in compliance with its guidelines "in the majority of areas," it said in the report. Apple declined to comment further.
Hon Hai executives say conditions for their workers are better than the average in China, which helps them attract new workers. They say they have built new dorms at the plant and taken other measures to address Apple's concerns. Mr. Gou angrily dismisses the critical coverage.
![[Hon Hai illustration]](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/P1-AI697_HONHAI_20070810175641.jpg)
Mr. Gou started what would become Hon Hai in 1974. He borrowed part of the initial investment of $7,500 from his mother, who with his father had fled to Taiwan in 1949 during China's civil war. In a facility near Taipei, he began making plastic channel-changing knobs for black-and-white television sets.
In the early 1980s, he expanded into the PC industry just as it started to take off. His first products were connectors, the relatively simple but ubiquitous parts that join components in a PC. Though he spoke little English or Japanese, he soon began traveling to the U.S. and Japan, seeking out customers. During the 1980s and 1990s, he says he logged so much time driving from city to city in the U.S. that he memorized the menu at Denny's.
In 1988, with orders surging and costs soaring in Taiwan, Mr. Gou set up his first factory in China, where land and labor were cheaper. Decades-old tensions between Taipei and Beijing were starting to wane, and China was a decade into a massive economic overhaul. Mr. Gou chose Shenzhen, a city next to Hong Kong at the forefront of China's market reforms.
He used his small-but-fast-growing Shenzhen operation in his sales pitch to prospective customers. In 1995, when Michael Dell was visiting southern China, Mr. Gou offered to arrange meetings with local officials he knew in return for the chance to drive the 30-year-old American to the airport, says Max Fang, who was then Dell's head of procurement in Asia. On the way, Mr. Gou made an unscheduled detour to show off his factory.
Dell then wasn't one of the world's top five PC vendors, and Hon Hai didn't yet make parts that Dell bought directly. But Mr. Gou "knew that Michael Dell was a star of tomorrow, so he wanted to meet him," says Mr. Fang, who has known Mr. Gou since 1979. Today, Hon Hai is one of Dell's biggest suppliers, analysts and industry sources say. Mr. Gou keeps a photograph of Dell's founder on a shelf in his Taiwan office.
That same year, Mr. Gou secured a larger plot of land that would become Longhua. When Mr. Fang visited a year later, it had fewer than 1,000 workers. Executive offices were housed in 20-foot shipping containers.
But Mr. Fang was impressed. At the time, Dell and other PC companies tended to buy parts from several suppliers and ship them to their own factories for assembly. Mr. Gou had created a production line that let him do most of the process himself, from procuring the raw steel for PC casings to putting together the finished product.
Headquarters – Tucheng (greater Taipei)
Shenyang, Liaoning Province
Yingkou, Liaoning Province
Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province
Langfang, Hebei Province
Taiyuan, Shanxi Province
Tianjin City
Yantai, Shandong Province
Shanghai City
Wuhan, Hubei Province
Nanjing, Jiangsu Province
Kunshan, Jiangsu Province
Huaian, Jiangsu Province
Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province
Shenzhen, Guangdong Province
Foshan, Guangdong Province
Zhongshan, Guangdong Province
Czech Republic
Hungary
Mexico
Brazil
India
Vietnam
Over the years, Mr. Gou has expanded his portfolio to include a growing share of the PC's insides. Making its own components lets Hon Hai undercut competitors on the price of its finished products without reducing its overall margins, says Adam Pick, an analyst at iSuppli Corp., a market research firm in El Segundo, Calif.
By 2000, Hon Hai's work force neared 30,000 people and its revenue topped $3 billion. Mr. Gou was expanding his soup-to-nuts strategy to more products. That year, Hon Hai set up a subsidiary called Foxconn International Holdings Ltd., now the world's biggest independent cellphone maker. In 2003, Mr. Gou launched a company that is now a leading maker of flat-panel LCD monitors. Last year, Hon Hai bought a major producer of digital cameras.
Now, in some cases, Hon Hai builds much of a product and ships it to its client for the finishing touches. In others, it ships the final products directly to retailers or consumers.
In all, more than 450,000 workers are now employed at Mr. Gou's plants across about a dozen provinces of China. Thousands more work in facilities run by Hon Hai and its affiliates across the globe -- including Hungary, Mexico and Brazil -- as the company sets up plants closer to its customers' operations. The company is one of the biggest exporters in the Czech Republic, where Mr. Gou bought a castle several years ago. Hon Hai is also adding operations in Vietnam and India and expanding into other sectors, including auto parts.
As Hon Hai grew too large for one person to manage directly, Mr. Gou fostered a culture centered on his personality. Around Longhua, his image can be seen in large framed photos of him with Chinese officials, and on the Gou biographies stacked in the factory book store's window.
Executives say he leads by example to keep products coming out on schedule and to customer specifications. Known for his 16-hour days, the founder for years would cruise the Longhua campus late into the night in a golf cart -- modified with a large bicycle horn -- stopping to spot-check production lines or help repair equipment.
Company managers are expected to read and remember a document called "Gou's Quotations." (No. 133: "The important thing in any organization is leadership, not management. A leader must have the decisive courage to be a dictator for the common good.") At meetings, Mr. Gou often stands, and illustrates his ideas with black marker on a giant white paper pad. He encourages discussion, but if someone says something he considers foolish, he may order the person to stand at attention. "He'll say, 'I'm not punishing you, because I'm standing, too,'" says a senior Hon Hai manager.
Industry executives and analysts say customers often start outsourcing one product line to Hon Hai and then shift more there. "You get addicted," says Mr. Fang, who left Dell in 2002 and now runs a venture capital fund that has co-invested with Hon Hai in a company called Ugobe Inc., which makes robotic toys.
![[map]](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/P1-AI698_HONHAI_20070810195718.gif)
Competitors have struggled to keep up. Four years ago, Hon Hai was smaller by revenue than Nasdaq-listed Flextronics International Ltd., the industry's longstanding leader. Now, Hon Hai is so much larger that even after a merger announced in June between Flextronics and Solectron Corp., of Milpitas, Calif., their combined revenue will be about two-thirds that of Hon Hai.
Hon Hai has its vulnerabilities. It isn't, for example, a major producer of laptop computers, which analysts say requires product-design capabilities that Hon Hai lacks. It is exposed to the risks of contract manufacturing, an intensely competitive business with thin margins. Hon Hai relies heavily on a fairly small number of customers: In the tech industry, a single product line can make or break a company's fortunes and, in turn, the well-being of a supplier. The company also faces the challenge of increasing revenue at the rate investors have come to expect.
Hon Hai's sheer physical size also creates difficulties. Longhua was built quickly, and its layout wasn't well planned, says Mr. Lee, the plant director. With its increasing overcrowding, just moving all those workers around is a challenge. Mr. Lee says he once considered building a monorail but the idea proved too difficult. He says the ideal facility would have about one-fourth of the land area and perhaps one-third the workers.
"It's not a good idea to be this size," says Mr. Lee, who is also in charge of building other large factories for Hon Hai.
Hon Hai executives, and outside analysts, say the company has stayed nimble so far largely by splitting its operations among about a dozen smaller, semi-autonomous units. Mr. Gou says he wants to upgrade Longhua's facilities and take on more advanced work, such as research and development. That means shifting manufacturing jobs to other parts of China.
Longhua is incessantly busy, but during breaks and shift changes, the activity explodes. At lunchtime on a recent sunny day, thousands of employees poured out of their buildings. They swarmed in and out of a large cafeteria and browsed in the factory book shop. A line of dozens of new employees, carrying their few possessions, snaked along a crosswalk.
Most of the workers wear uniforms color-coded by their department. Others wear blue jeans and T-shirts. A number stroll in pairs, hand-in-hand. The workers are as young as 16.
Zhou Ruqing, an affable 20-year-old, has worked at Longhua for just over a year as a quality inspector on an assembly line. She lives in an apartment outside the factory with her boyfriend, who also works at Longhua.
Ms. Zhou came to Shenzhen in 2005 after graduating from high school in rural Sichuan province. As a mid-level assembly-line worker, she earns about $230 a month, including overtime pay. (First-year workers can make as little as $90 a month if they do not work overtime.) That doesn't include about $60 a month in housing and food subsidies, plus health insurance. In Shenzhen, that money goes far -- the rent for the small apartment she shares is less than $60 a month.
Another worker, who would identify himself only as Mr. Xiao, started as an assembly-line worker almost three years ago, just after graduating from a technical school in central China, where Hon Hai recruited him. His starting salary was $44 a month at today's exchange rate. Working up to 30 days a month, he could earn up to $157 a month. "I was really tired then, too busy to rest," he said.
Mr. Xiao has worked up to a more advanced post. His basic salary has doubled, although his total pay hasn't increased much, partly because he works fewer hours. He says conditions are better than they were at the time of last year's critical press attention, but "the change is incomplete." He currently works six days a week, spending his off day studying in hopes of landing a different position.
Mr. Gou's role at Hon Hai is changing, too. He says he works just as hard today, but is focusing more on big strategic issues than day-to-day work. He is also devoting more time to charity -- he has pledged to eventually give away one-third of his fortune -- and dealing with changes in his personal life. His wife of many years died in 2005. Last month, his younger brother, who had headed a Hon Hai affiliate, died after a long illness.
Mr. Gou has begun looking for a successor at Hon Hai, focusing on candidates in their late 30s or early 40s and asking senior managers to prove themselves by running their units assertively. There is no natural successor -- his son and daughter don't work at the company.
He says his decision to begin stepping down now is inspired by Chinese history, specifically the Qianlong Emperor, who ruled from 1736 until 1796, when he was 84 years old. Qianlong greatly expanded the Qing Dynasty, making China perhaps the wealthiest country on earth. But his judgment failed in his later years, and the Qing began a decline that led to its eventual demise. "He controlled the whole of China for 60 years," says Mr. Gou. "He stayed there too long. So I want to sit back and give young people more responsibilities, when I'm still young."
--Sue Feng in Beijing and Christopher Lawton in San Francisco contributed to this article.
Write to Jason Dean at jason.dean@wsj.com
但這座大工廠的東家鴻海精密工業股份有限公司(Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.)卻是家本行業之外鮮為人知的企業。
這 家工廠約有員工27萬人﹐幾乎相當於美國新澤西州紐瓦克市的總人口﹐它生動體現著鴻海精密創建人郭台銘(Terry Gou)的雄心壯志。在當今這個製造就等同於外包的時代﹐將全球的電子產品生產業務轉移到中國大陸方面﹐郭台銘的手筆之大無人能及。幾乎是在世人沒有察覺 的情況下﹐郭台銘已將他的公司變成了中國最大的出口企業以及世界最大的電子產品合同生產商。
鴻海精密的收入過去10年每年都以50%以上的速度增長著﹐去年達到了406億美元。今年的收入預計還將增加140億美元。這大約相當於摩托羅拉公司一年增加的收入﹐相當於哥倫比亞廣播公司(CBS Corp.)的年營業額。
在 鴻海精密的崛起過程中﹐56歲的台灣人郭台銘一直保持著低調。他認為﹐過分拋頭露面會給競爭對手造成可乘之機﹐並有可能疏遠自己的客戶。郭台銘日前在鴻海 精密的的台灣總部接受採訪時說﹐他恨自己的名氣。這是郭台銘2002年以來首次接受西方媒體的採訪﹐此前5年多的時間他一直對《華爾街日報》的採訪要求置 之不理。“我們的規模是這麼大﹐沒有什麼能隱瞞的﹐”他說。
鴻海精密及其在深圳的巨大工廠為人們瞭解頗為神秘的中國製造業提供了一扇窗 口。保密性是合同製造商的一個賣點﹐沒有他們的配合其客戶要想使自己的產品和商業計劃不為外界所知是辦不到的。在近來發生的一系列中國產問題產品醜聞中﹐ 產品生產過程不透明也是個頗受詬病的問題。美國公司與其供貨商的關係經常處於保密狀態﹐這增加了政府監管部門追查有缺陷產品來源的難度。美泰公司 (Mattel Inc.)最近就以正在進行相關調查為由﹐拖了差不多一週才說出為它提供問題玩具的中國公司是誰﹐這家公司在為美泰生產的玩具上使用了含鉛塗料。
鴻海精密並未牽涉到這類醜聞中﹐分析師和業內人士稱﹐郭台銘將他的商業判斷力與持之以恒的質量控制和極具競爭力的定價成功結合在一起﹐這才造就了他繁榮興 旺的製造業帝國。鴻海精密在台灣上市﹐其與客戶交往時使用的是富士康(Foxconn)這個名稱﹐該公司的市值達430億美元﹐相當於其全球十大競爭對手 的市值總和。郭台銘本人和鴻海精密還控制著一系列單獨公佈收入的關聯企業。鴻海精密一位發言人說﹐郭台銘的身價目前約為100億美元。
鴻 海精密一向不對外界透露其客戶的名稱﹐不過在該公司向證券監管機構提交的中文報告中會出現過其部分客戶的名字。鴻海精密及其關聯企業不僅為蘋果公司、任天 堂、惠普和摩托羅拉生產產品﹐還為諾基亞公司(Nokia Corp)生產手機零部件﹐為索尼公司(Sony Corp.)生產PlayStation 2遊戲機﹐為戴爾公司(Dell Inc.)生產電腦零部件。這些公司都未隱瞞它們與鴻海精密的合作關係。據台灣的分析師說﹐鴻海精密目前是蘋果公司iPhone的獨家供應商﹐是該公司 iPod為數不多的幾家供應商之一。蘋果公司承認鴻海精密是其供應商﹐但拒絕發表進一步評論。
郭台銘企業帝國的核心就是他在深圳那個高牆 環繞的生產基地──佔地約1平方英里的龍華科技園區(Longhua Science & Technology Park)。除客戶外﹐很少有外界人士能涉足這裡。參觀該園區的記者會被擋在一些保密區域之外﹐並且僅限於在一些指定的地點拍照。
除了擁 有眾多裝配線和職工宿舍外﹐龍華科技園區自己還擁有一支消防隊、一家醫院並有一個專供員工使用的游泳池﹐只要郭台銘在深圳﹐他每天早晨都會到這個泳池遊上 幾圈。在龍華科技園區這個企業城的主幹道兩旁﹐餐館、銀行、雜貨店和網吧一應俱全。遍佈園區的500多個露天大屏幕電視則不停播放著健身操、安全教育節目 以及富士康電視台(Foxconn TV)自己製作的公司新聞。甚至園區的下水道井蓋上也印有“富士康”字樣。
銀行家出身的李金明 (James Lee)在龍華科技園區實際上扮演著市長角色﹐他是1998年被郭台銘挖來負責管理這一生產基地的。每天在園區內的10處大型員工食堂提供15萬份以上的 午餐就是件很令李金明頭疼的事﹐每頓午飯要用掉10.6噸大米。他負責的工作還有景觀美化、工作服採購、興建職工宿舍以及員工招聘等工作﹐用工高峰時園區 每天招聘的新員工多達3,000人。他手下光保安就有1,000多人﹐他們負責維持秩序、阻止訪客未經允許參觀園區的敏感地區。李金明說﹐園區管理部門還 要負責糾正新員工亂丟垃圾的毛病。
他在園區內一家餐館接受採訪時說﹐除了生產問題﹐園區內的大事小情自己都要管。品著一杯“富士康咖啡”的李金明開玩笑說﹐“你想幹這份工作嗎？”
龍華科技園區的規模目前還在迅速擴大。李金明說﹐他們從未想過公司會發展得這麼快。
龍華科技園區和鴻海精密上下到處彌漫著郭台銘的個人色彩。極富個人魅力的郭台銘在下屬中很有威信﹐他以軍閥的鐵腕管理著鴻海精密。他右手腕上戴著一串念珠﹐這是他從一處成吉思汗廟中得來的。郭台銘稱這位13世紀的蒙古征服者是位英雄人物。
他說：“我總對員工們說﹐集體利益要高於個人利益。”
郭台銘將提升鴻海精密競爭力的努力與該公司特有的業務模式結合了起來﹐這一模式就是所需配套產品盡可能多地在公司內部解決﹐將外購零部件的費用省下來。郭台銘的一位同行幾年前在譏笑他這種千方百計削減成本的熱情時曾說﹐郭台銘手里攢下的硬幣就值20億美元。
龍華廠的工人24小時不間斷地在組裝線上倒班工作。他們的工資按發達國家標準少的可憐﹐但卻足以在中國招募到一批又一批的新工人。該廠最基礎的組裝工作每 小時報酬為60美分﹐與法定的最低工資持平﹐不過工人加班可以拿到高一些的工資。工廠為工人提供餐食補助﹐大多數工人住在廠區圍牆之內或廠區之外的免費宿 舍中。
去年英國一家小報曝光龍華的工人待遇糟糕﹐特別是那些為蘋果公司生產iPod的工人（與此同時﹐蘋果公司報告稱龍華有近七分之一的工人生產其產品）。在這篇英國報導之後﹐鴻海又遭到中國媒體的抨擊。
根 據蘋果公司去年8月公佈的一份報告﹐該公司派出的一個調查組在龍華發現諸多違反供應商行為守則的做法﹐其中包括三處廠外宿舍過於擁擠。按照蘋果公司的要求 ﹐供應商應將工人每周的工作時間控制在60小時以內﹐除非有緊急情況發生。但據蘋果公司的估計﹐龍華三分之一工人的工作時間超過了此限制。不過沒有發現強 迫加班的證據。報告稱﹐蘋果認為鴻海總體上遵守了行為守則的“主要方面”。但蘋果拒絕就報告進一步置評。
鴻海高管表示﹐他們手下工人的條件要好於中國的平均水平﹐這也是公司能夠吸引到新工人的原因之一。該公司稱﹐已在廠區內建造了新的工人宿舍﹐並已採取其他措施解決蘋果公司發現的問題。郭台銘憤然否認了那些批評報導。
鴻海是由郭台銘1974年開辦的公司發展而來。7,500美元啟動資金中有一部分是向母親借的。一開始他在台北附近生產黑白電視機的塑料調頻旋鈕。
80 年代初期﹐郭台銘開始涉足個人電腦行業﹐事業隨之開始起飛。他最早是生產電腦的接口線﹐這種配件相對簡單﹐但使用廣泛。雖然不太懂英語和日語﹐但不久郭台 銘仍然開始了他在美日市場尋找客戶的旅程。郭台銘說﹐在八、九十年代期間﹐他大量的時間都花在駕車穿梭於美國城市之間﹐以致於能對丹尼斯 (Denny's)連鎖餐廳的菜單倒背如流。
隨著訂單增多和在台灣的生產成本飆升﹐郭台銘於1988年在土地和勞動力都很便宜的大陸開辦了首家工廠。與此同時﹐兩岸間持續數十年的緊張關係開始緩和﹐大陸也開始了曠日持久的經濟改革。這時候郭台銘看中了深圳這處靠近香港的中國市場改革前沿。
郭 台銘利用深圳這塊規模尚小但發展迅速的業務來招攬潛在客戶。時任戴爾公司亞洲採購部負責人的方國健(Max Fang)透露﹐邁克爾•戴爾(Michael Dell) 1995年到訪華南時﹐郭台銘以安排戴爾與他熟識的地方政府官員見面為交換﹐獲得駕車送戴爾去機場的機會﹐然後郭台銘又在途中安排了一次戴爾參觀他工廠的 小插曲。
當時戴爾公司尚未躋身全球五大個人電腦廠商之列﹐而鴻海也還未生產戴爾直接購買的零配件。早在1979年就認識郭台銘的方國健稱 ﹐郭台銘看準戴爾是顆明日之星﹐因此一心想與他結識。分析師和業內人士表示﹐如今鴻海已成為戴爾最大的供應商之一。郭台銘台灣辦公室內至今還掛有戴爾公司 創始人的照片。
就在同一年﹐郭台銘拿下了一塊更大的地皮﹐後來發展成為龍華廠。當方國健1年後到訪時﹐這家廠僅有不到一千名工人﹐而管理人員以20英尺的集裝箱為家。
此行給方國健留下深刻印象。當時戴爾和其他電腦公司傾向於向不同供應商購買零配件然後在自己的工廠組裝。而郭台銘已建立了一條龍式的生產線﹐從電腦包裝的原材料採購到組裝成成品等大多數工序都包括在內。
美 國加州市場研究機構iSuppli Corp.分析師亞當•皮克(Adam Pick)稱﹐這些年來﹐郭台銘將越來越多的電腦零配件納入到產品序列中來。憑藉自產零配件﹐鴻海得以在降低產成品價格來打擊競爭對手的同時而又不損害自 己的總體利潤。到2000年﹐郭台銘手下有近3萬名工人﹐營業收入突破30億美元。郭台銘還在將他那種“一應俱全”的經營策略覆蓋到其他產品領域上。鴻海 早年成立了一家富士康國際控股有限公司(Foxconn International Holdings Ltd.)﹐如今成了全球最大的獨立手機製造商。他2003年開辦的一家公司如今是液晶顯示器業內的領軍製造商。去年鴻海還收購了一家重量級的數碼相機生 產商。
如今鴻海有時是生產一件產品的大多數零配件﹐並以成品的形式提供給客戶﹐有時則直接面向零售商和消費者出售產品。
現 總共有45萬名員工在郭台銘遍佈大陸的十幾個省份的工廠效力﹐此外出於將生產地向消費者靠攏的需要﹐他在匈牙利、墨西哥和巴西等全球各地的工廠還有數千名 工人。鴻海公司成為捷克共和國最大的出口商之一﹐幾年前郭台銘還在那買下一座城堡。鴻海在向越南、印度擴張的同時﹐還在向其他行業滲透﹐其中就包括汽車零 配件行業。
隨著鴻海精密的規模一天天壯大﹐要想憑一己之力直接管理這家公司﹐幾乎是不可能。面對這種情況﹐郭台銘以自身個性作為基礎﹐培 養了鴻海精密的企業文化。在龍華科技園﹐郭台銘與中國政府官員的合影被放大鑲嵌後懸掛在顯眼處﹐而在工廠書店銷售的郭台銘轉記中﹐也能看到他的照片。
從公司其他管理人員那裡得知﹐郭台銘身先士卒﹐不僅確保產品按時出廠﹐還必須滿足客戶需求。他每天工作16個小時﹐到了晚上依然駕駛著一輛配備了自行車鈴的高爾夫球車在龍華園內巡視﹐數十年如一日。他會時不時停下車﹐或是抽查生產線的運轉狀況﹐或是幫助工人維修設備。
公 司經理往往被要求閱讀並背誦一本名為“郭台銘語錄”的小冊子﹐其中有一條這樣寫道：對任何組織而言﹐最重要的是領導層﹐而非管理層﹔領導者必須具備為了大 眾利益而充當獨裁者的決斷力。會議期間﹐郭台銘往往站著發言﹐一邊說一邊用筆在旁邊的大紙版上勾畫。他一方面鼓勵與會者積極討論﹐但另一方面如果他認為某 人的發言太過愚蠢﹐他可能會命此人起身立正。“他會說﹐我這不是在懲罰你﹐因為我也站著﹐”鴻海精密的一名高級經理說。
業內管理者和分析師都說﹐當客戶把一條生產線外包給鴻海精密後﹐便會把更多的生產線外包給他們。方國健說﹐這就跟做什麼事兒上癮似的。方國健2002年離開戴爾﹐現在經營著一家風險投資基金﹐該基金與鴻海精密共同投資了一家機器人玩具生產企業﹐名為Ugobe Inc.。
對 於鴻海精密的競爭對手而言﹐他們怕是很難望其項背。四年前﹐鴻海精密的收入尚不及那斯達克上市企業偉創力國際(Flextronics International Ltd.)﹐後者穩坐業內頭把交椅已有數年之久。而如今﹐即便偉創力國際於今年6月宣佈與加州企業旭創(Solectron Corp.)合併﹐二者收入相加也僅為鴻海精密的三分之二左右。
但鴻海精密也有其不足之處。分析師指出﹐由於缺少產品設計方面的能力﹐該公司無法在筆記本電腦生產領域傲視群雄。此外﹐它所從事的合同製造領域也存在一定 風險﹐不僅競爭激烈﹐利潤率也不高。雖然擁有眾多客戶﹐但鴻海精密卻對其中的一小部分十分倚重。在科技行業﹐單一產品線既可以成就、也可以毀掉一家企業﹐ 其供應商的禍福命運往往也懸於一線。不僅如此﹐鴻海精密還面臨一道難題﹐那就是如何將收入增幅提升至投資者所期望的水平。
鴻海精密如此龐 大的攤子也帶出了一些問題。李金明說﹐龍華工業園的建造速度很快﹐但規劃設計卻不夠完善。隨著人員的不斷湧入﹐如何保證工人能夠在不同地點間順利流動都變 成了一件難事。李金明談到﹐他曾考慮在園區內建一條小型鐵路﹐但事實證明這個想法太難實現。他說﹐理想的場所面積應該只有現有佔地的四分之一﹐員工人數最 好也只有現有數量的三分之一。
園區發展到現有規模﹐不是什麼好事﹐他說。除龍華園外﹐李金明還負責為鴻海精密建造其他大型工廠。
鴻海精密管理者和外部分析師指出﹐該公司之所以迄今為止依然保持著活力﹐很大程度上歸因於它將業務分散給手下諸多小規模、半自治式子公司的舉措。郭台銘說﹐他想更新龍華現有設備﹐希望能承擔研發這類更加高端的業務。這意味著它將把旗下製造業務轉至中國其他地區。
龍華一刻不停地忙碌著﹐但在休息和交接班時﹐卻能看到另一番景象。近來的某個午餐時間﹐室外陽光明媚﹐數千名工人推擠著湧出車間﹐他們成群結隊地來到餐廳﹐有的則步入工廠書店。人行道邊﹐是一隊拖著行李剛進廠的新員工。
多數工人都身著制服﹐服裝顏色不同﹐代表他們來自不同的部門。也有人穿著藍色牛仔褲和T恤衫。還有人兩兩成對﹐手牽手在園中散步。這些工人中﹐最年輕的不過16歲。
20歲的周如青（音）是位和藹可親的姑娘﹐她剛剛在龍華待滿一年﹐是某組裝線上的質量監督員。她與男友住在廠外的一間小公寓﹐男友也在龍華上班。
周 如青2005年高中畢業後離開了四川農村﹐來到深圳打拼。作為一名中級組裝線工人﹐包括加班費在內﹐她每月能掙230美元。（工人進廠第一年﹐若不加班﹐ 月工資僅為90美元）此外還有每月60美元的房補和飯補﹐以及醫療保險。在深圳﹐這樣的工資還是能夠滿足生活的﹐周如青個人每月承擔房租還不到60美元。
另一名龍華員工蕭先生﹐三年前剛從華中一所技術學校畢業﹐隨即便被鴻海精密招來。他進廠時從組裝工幹起﹐起薪為每月44美元（按現今匯率換算）。要是一個月工作30天﹐他每月最多能拿到157美元。“那時我真的太累了﹐忙得都沒有時間休息﹐”他說。
如今蕭先生已經獲得了晉升﹐基本工資也翻了一倍﹐雖然工資總數沒太大變化﹐但他的工作時間減少了。他說與去年媒體接二連三地進行質疑報導時相比﹐現在的情況好了不少﹐只是“變化還不夠徹底。”蕭先生現在每周工作六天﹐剩下一天用來學習和充電﹐希望能得到另一份職位。
郭 台銘在鴻海精密的角色也正逐漸發生著變化。他表示﹐雖然自己目前仍是一如既往地努力工作﹐但重點已從以往的日常例行工作轉移到了重大戰略問題上。他還更多 地關注於慈善事業﹐曾承諾最終將捐出個人財產的三分之一。同時郭台銘也把更多時間用在了處理一系列生活變故上﹐他結發(sic)多年的妻子2005年去世﹐上月﹐他 的弟弟（生前曾是鴻海精密某關聯企業的負責人）又因久病不治﹐最終離他而去。
郭台銘已開始在鴻海精密尋找接班人﹐重點對象是那些年齡在35-45歲左右的員工。他還開始要求手下的高級經理在各自子公司獨攬專權﹐用這種方式來證明自身實力。郭台銘不大可能從家族成員中挑選繼任者﹐因為膝下一子一女均不在鴻海精密就職。
他 說他之所以作出現在辭職的決定﹐是受到了中國歷史的影響﹐尤其是乾隆皇帝(1736-1796年在位)。乾隆在位時大大提高了清朝國力﹐使得當時的中國幾 乎成為世界上最為富強的國度。但在其執政晚年﹐決策出現失誤﹐清朝開始走下坡路﹐最終導致這個朝代的滅亡。“他控制整個中國長達60年﹐”郭台銘說﹐“可 他在位時間太長。我想休息休息﹐把更多機會和責任留給年輕人﹐雖然我自己還不老。”
Jason Dean
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