Culture, Learning from Experience, and Industry Consolidation: Jixun Foo on Business Growth

Verification notes (2026-11-02): This article excerpts an interview with Jixun Foo conducted by Chuangyejia (創業家), compiled by Zhu Dan and reposted by GGV Capital. First-person statements belong to the interviewee; the discussion of corporate culture and investment methods reflects his experience and views. Descriptions of how the internet would transform enterprises over the next twenty years, and of China’s industry structure, retain the perspective of the original post’s publication date. They are not current market descriptions or verified forecasts. The original research and statistics on average product lifespans and pharmacy counts were not obtained. Source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/FQFigOtNuMlR-leqWeeRGw ---- Only by building a sound culture can a company successfully endure business cycles. Companies face different questions at different stages. Early on, survival dominates their thinking. But becoming a business on the scale of tens or hundreds of billions requires the driving force of corporate culture. Even in its early development, Alibaba thought far ahead about culture. Strong values laid the foundation for becoming a large company. To go further over the long term, a company cannot be driven simply by financial metrics and performance appraisals; it must be driven by vision and mission. If a company cannot develop new products within an existing product’s lifecycle, it is likely to be left behind by the times. Vision and mission give product iteration its motivation and direction: pursue a direction, then push and innovate again in that same direction. Only in this way can companies bridge discontinuities in their development. --- Organizationally, talented people choose to join a company rather than strike out on their own because the company can offer sufficient value, a greater probability of success, and career fulfillment. A company needs a good culture, a vision, and a stage on which people can perform to keep attracting outstanding talent. Founders also need the generosity of spirit that makes talented people willing to follow them in fulfilling the company’s mission. I think He Xiaopeng does this very well. His story with Yu Yongfu shows his willingness to trust people with responsibility and delegate authority. I also believe companies must be willing to give young people opportunities. A company needs youthful energy to create more value. --- The key is how you review experience, learn from it, and challenge yourself. Mindset matters. In a constantly changing market, you need to keep learning. Problems arise when you consider yourself successful, become complacent, and lose your anxiety and sense of urgency. I feel anxious every day, mostly about reviewing my own actions and figuring out how to face and solve problems. But I sleep well every night and do not suffer from insomnia. In my view, anxiety, if put to good use, can encourage deeper thinking and continued progress and exploration. --- The market has changed considerably over the past two or three years. Everyone has seen the macroeconomic changes. At the micro level, China’s mobile internet has entered a period of steady development, leaving much less room for consumer-facing innovation. Meanwhile, the internet is rapidly transforming China’s enterprises and industries. Over the past twenty years, the internet transformed the consumer side; over the next twenty, it will transform enterprises, across an even broader scope. To respond to market changes, GGV has adjusted our organization and approach. We need to learn through direct engagement to respond to those changes. --- Comparing enterprise structures globally, regions with well-developed industrial internet ecosystems have a strong tier of mid-sized businesses. China has a weak middle tier of enterprises and a long tail of small businesses across industries. Take pharmacies. In many countries, pharmacy chains are already established, and many mom-and-pop shops have been eliminated or acquired. China’s pharmacy market currently has a fragmented retail base, long chains of distribution across multiple tiers, and low efficiency. The emergence of a strong middle tier elsewhere followed a long period of mergers and consolidation, with software as a service (SaaS) improving efficiency. China’s industrial internet, by contrast, needs to transform industries through internet-enabled information systems. Digitization is not simply a matter of connecting information flows digitally; it requires transforming the entire industry. For example, Meicai, the Chinese mobile fresh-food e-commerce platform we invested in, began by transforming operations through information systems. The next step was to “flatten the chain” to improve industry efficiency. Consolidation requires not only horizontal integration at the retail level but also vertical integration upstream in the value chain. Only then can a strong middle tier truly emerge. Some companies consolidate with the help of capital; others build platforms through information systems and then consolidate the value chain. Both approaches ultimately produce the same result: a tier of mid-sized businesses, with a shorter, smaller industry tail. --- Original article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/FQFigOtNuMlR-leqWeeRGw