芬尼克兹：近忧与远虑

At the end of July 2012, PHNIX Group held a mid-year meeting. Mr. ZONG Yi, the company’s Founder, Chairman and CEO, thought the Group, on balance, had fared well so far. But PHNIX Electric Appliances, one of its subsidiaries, had merely 10 million yuan of sales so far, a long way off from its annual target of 50 million yuan. By way of PHNIX Electric Appliances, PHNIX Group shifted from a B2B to a B2C model and began selling home products online. As the company had low brand recognition and little experience in online retailing, Mr. ZONG contemplated how he could raise brand awareness in a rapid and low-cost manner and coordinate the rates of expansion for its online and offline marketing. He was also concerned about the Group’s long-term development: PHNIX Group had pioneered a “spin-off” business model, encouraging its key employees to set up subsidiaries and serve as shareholders. But when these subsidiaries met with bottlenecks or their founders couldn’t keep up with business development, replacing general managers proved to be a major headache for PHNIX. How would the company overcome the drawbacks of its “spin-off” business model?