Huazhu

"Actually, a company like Huazhu needs both types of people. It needs an entrepreneur like me; a founder and a disrupter, who is a leader. I’m a sensitive person and a laid-back leader with something of an artistic temperament. A company also needs a professional manager of which Jenny Zhang is an outstanding example. She has received formal training, has managerial experience in a large enterprise, is exceptionally smart, and also loves the business with genuine passion."

"Another aspect is that if a company is not strong enough, it is not possible to sustain its expansion. Solid beams and pillars are very important to the sound structure of a building. If you want to expand your business, you must also make it stronger. In the hotel sector, it’s common that some hotel chains at the initial stage of their business aggressively seize territory but neglect quality control in their products and services as the companies grow, granting franchise contracts without proper due diligence. In the end, the size of these companies is indeed big, but so too are their problems. Huazhu encountered similar issues, such as receiving consumer"

"For a newly-established enterprise, rapid expansion is the first priority. In a primitive market like China, a company that is not able to swiftly seize its territory will be crushed by others in no time. This is like playing a video game. Without a controlled territory, a company will have no chance to survive. This is the strategy I follow. When Huazhu was just established, our first strategy was ‘120% speed and 80% quality,’ since we could not achieve ‘120% speed and 95% quality.’ Territory seizure comes first. The second strategy is to target regional centres and seize territory around first and second tier cities, including second tier cities that are nodes to first tier cities. After territory seizure is achieved, we change the strategy to ‘95% speed and 95% quality.’"