The story goes to four years ago. With a clear ring， Wuxi Sunmart Holdings Pte Ltd(hereinafter referred to as Sunmart) officially got listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange， on the morning of August 15， 2007. From this moment， a new member joined in “Jiangyin block” in Singapore.Following the successful listing of Yangtze Shipping and Junxin Science Technology respectively in Singapore Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange， Sunmart entered the stock market as a dark horse. The major leaders of Wuxi government， Zhu Minyang， Gao Pei and Zhang Shixian all attended the Sunmart’s listing ceremony.For the listing， Sun Bingzhong， the General Manager of Sunmart Holdings Pte Ltd， was conscious of the great development opportunities and challenges in the same time. Despite the ups and downs he has experienced during Sunmart’s start-up phase， Sun， together with his team， creates the brilliant today of Sunmart. In the daily changing market， Sun， as a captain， plays in the surf with his business covering spray pumps， aluminum cans， plastic bottles， fast flow of consumer goods (FMCG)， medicines and health products as well.Manage the business and life with honesty“For individuals， life is the most important undertaking that a person needs to devote himself to， and the core belief that should be kept in one’s heart is —Honesty，” Sun once said.Sun added that if an entrepreneur wants to gain development and success rather than earn short-term profits， the honesty is the first key factor. “We should be honest to our clients， our fellows and everyone in the society at any moment.”“We treat each client and customer with sincerity and honesty. We take them as our intimate friends and try our best to think in their position，” Sun said. More and more customers come to enjoy Sunmart’s excellent service due to its concerns for them.In the meantime， Sun kept close contact with the enterprises in the same industry， with respect to the product delivery time， quality insurance and service after sale. He also encouraged his team to cooperate with the partners in diverse levels， including technology exchange and guidance， and build friendships with them. In the eyes of his business partners， Sun was more than an entrepreneur. They often invited Sun to deliver a speech in their company， and shared with his business experience and life philosophy.For the unity of the work staff， Sun insists that it is important to appreciate and trust the staff. Only in this way， the employees will turn to understand their boss. And that will leads to an enterprise’s cohesion.“Also， the enterprise should shoulder its responsibility to assist the government to promote the local economy，” Sun said. “Although Xiake is relatively affluent， it is not enough. We still need to take continuous efforts， and concern about the people here，” Sun said with a smile. “The common wealth will be created by the whole community.”From teacher to business leaderSun was born in Xiake， a small town in Wuxi， Jiangsu Province， a beautiful place in southern China. As an outstanding teacher， if he had not seized the opportunity in 1998， he would have lived in obscurity. However， excellent people are not always satisfied with their current situation and are always willing to pursue their dreams.In March 1998， Sun decided to quit his job， and started his business with nine others. Their company， Jiangsu Snow Leopard Aerosol Spray Cans Co.， Ltd.， was mainly specialized in high-quality spray pumps which were widely used in cosmetics， pharmaceutical products and health care products.In the beginning， Sun encountered his first setback throughout his business career. The low-quality products were unprofitable in the first year after he opened his company. In 1999， Sun also lost a large business contract with Russian “Vodka” due to the quality problem.But， the two heavy blows did not prevented Sun from continuing his business. Instead， he tried his best to overcome the constraints of technological bottlenecks. In 2003， all the shareholders， the management staff and a small number of technical staff form Jiangsu Snow Leopard Aerosol Spray Cans Co.， Ltd.， jointly formed the Sunmart Holdings Pte Ltd with a total investment of RMB 4 million. The reason why Sun started Sunmart was that he wanted the entrepreneurship to last.Taking lead while fighting stormSuperior consciousness and excellent understanding (a special attribute that Confucian merchants own) is the secret of Sun’s success in his industry. Starting as early as possible is largely responsible for Sunmart’s fast growth， which displayed its ability and sensitivity to grasp the market.“We started a little earlier than others， and this is usually the key element that can decide the destiny of an enterprise，” Sun said.At that time， many people still did not know what the internet was. While， Sun frequently appeared on many main websites. Sunmart can become an industry leader in just eight years， and this is Sun’s unique vision.When the majority of the industry started to fight for the domestic market， Sun focused on the international market. From the earliest fair for domestic exports， to exhibitions in Europe， North America， Africa， the Middle East and Hong Kong， Sunmart has become one of the earliest “Going global” companies in 2000. After several years of hard work， Sunmart’s foreign trade volume has accounted for 65 percent of the total company business.Sun has his own thoughts of international competition. He believes that cooperation among domestic enterprises can raise the international influence of China’s plastic industry as a whole. For domestic competition， Sun has more understanding and insights. Sun said that the biggest problem encountered by enterprises is how to get bigger and stronger. Although Sunmart takes the lead in domestic market， it still has a large gap with the international giants.Sun feels that domestic enterprises should help and learn from each other， so that the whole industry can have the strength for international competition.Confucian entrepreneurs value managementSun believes that the way of management has direct effect on the development of enterprises. Therefore， Wuxi Sunmart not only needs elite people but modern management. The most significant case arising from this vision is the implementation of the information management project in Sunmart.The sales revenue of Sunmart rose from RMB 9 million in 1998 to RMB 350 million， symbolizing the rapid growth of the company. Meanwhile， the pressure of management， human resources and information imbalance has gradually become the barrier of further development.Sun decided promptly to invest RMB 15 million into the information management project， in order to transform the company from a private and low-end company to a modern company with international standard. At the same time， Sunmart spent more than 10 percent of company’s net capital in implementing the total solution with ERP/myGS-Smart core technology. Despite the risks of the project and doubt from the leadership， Mr. sun never looks back.“Compared with the investment of RMB 70-80 million on the equipments， RMB 11 million on the management is not big. If the project can reduce the loss in the procedures， it is worthwhile，” He said.After pretesting， Sun initiated to establish a suitable management mechanism — standardized spot management， logistics management and information management. Then he started the CAM (Computeraided management). The Inspur ERP/ myGS-Smart adopted by Wuxi Sunmart covered every management field， such as finance， store management， sales， buying， producing plan， refining， quality control， infrastructure， human recourses， automatic office， decision support， e-businesses. It includes Inspur server， microcomputer， network and networking safety products and system integrating service. The proportion of software investment in the whole plan has amounted to one third. Meanwhile， the period for implementation is one year. Such big project is a great challenge for the three parties involved in the cooperation.Investing heavily in standardization management， in Sun’s view， can effectively reduce the producing cost， raise management and boost up the fame and standardization of the corporation. Although their products can cover the industry in a vast scale， he still believes that they should have their core competitiveness in this industry. Actually， his foreign counterparts have accomplished great sales. Sun was optimistic about the potential of Sunmart.In comparison with advanced technology and sales model， Sunmart’s belief and management， which will definitely guarantee the company to keep ahead of others in the field， is difficult for other corporations to copy.Quality and technology foster the company“For the manufacturing company， the products’ quality is the fundamental base for development，” Sun said. He attached great importance to the quality on the basis of guaranteeing the production capacity. It was a kind of production capacity quality balance， which interrelated with each other. Sun adopted scientific development plan to adjust himself.“Every year we made three plans in short term， mid term and long term. All these plans are made according to the previous status and prediction of the market， in order to guarantee both production and sales.”His next quality plan is to establish a standard area of 200 units with a dust-free workshop， and launch into the global market. Actually， the 100 tech members are the core competence of the company.Further sailingTo recognize the direction is the first step for a further sailing and an enterprise’s development. Sun’s future goal is to make Sunmart an international one， and he is always preparing for that. A further sailing is ahead.It is no big deal for a person to own some fortune. Someone who combines wealth and philosophy together is much stronger. And from Sun， we could read this strength.
