In the SARS epidemic 17 years ago, many enterprises and the industries behind them almost "died" under the influence of the epidemic.

Some of them survived hard; some "PUBG" got unexpected surprises.

What happened to them at that time? Seventeen years later, how are they doing? Can you live a better life than you did then?

In today's article, let's talk about those enterprises that almost died of SARS. What kind of "self-help" actions do they have this year?

Once "ruined", now "painless", New Oriental Education & Technology Group's growth history

Before 2003, New Oriental Education & Technology Group had just settled the copyright dispute of ETS (American Educational examination Service Center), and the enterprise had entered the channel of rapid development, and everyone was full of confidence.

The rapid spread of SARS has undoubtedly dealt a head-on blow to this fast-growing enterprise.

Overnight, enrollment plummeted and cash flow was hugely disconnected by 20 million; then, in an effort to control the epidemic, the government ordered schools to close, which meant refunding students' tuition fees.

Yu Minhong recalled:

Up to now, there is still a long line of refund students from our office on the fourth floor to downstairs. But the bank limits New Oriental Education & Technology Group to 500000 in cash a day.

I raised the limit only when I found the bank leader myself, and I borrowed more than 20 million from my friends....

The student's refund has been settled, but the cost has to be paid. At the most critical time, New Oriental Education & Technology Group's cash flow will be cut off in a week.

Yu Minhong ran around in many ways, borrowed another 7 million, and held on for the time being. During this period, New Oriental Education & Technology Group's hearts and minds were not distracted, and none of the employees stopped working.

During that time, many small and medium-sized training institutions across the country closed down. Four months later, the epidemic was lifted, the school resumed classes, and students swarmed in and were fully accepted by the staff who had been refreshed by New Oriental Education & Technology Group for a long time.

In that month, Yu Minhong paid off the debt, New Oriental Education & Technology Group continued to develop at a high speed, and his income that year was no lower than that in 2002.

This year, New Oriental Education & Technology Group survived the SARS period by borrowing money. But this battle also made New Oriental Education & Technology Group, who was almost broken in cash flow, aware of the importance of capital intervention.

Compared with being caught off guard in 2003, New Oriental Education & Technology Group, who has deep pockets and experience in dealing with the epidemic, is obviously more calm and responsive.

On January 22, New Oriental Education & Technology Group set up emergency teams in various schools and institutions to disinfect, take body temperature, and distribute medical masks and other materials every day, which attracted a lot of favor from parents:

With the spread of the epidemic, New Oriental Education & Technology Group, who had already begun to lay out various online courses on the 25th, gradually moved the courses of each campus to the online.

It not only avoids the spread of the virus, but also does not delay the class, and the user feedback on this wave of operation is quite good:

If SARS in 2003 is a disaster for New Oriental Education & Technology Group, then this epidemic is just an innocuous little allergy.

Therefore, New Oriental Education & Technology Group not only did not borrow money everywhere, but also donated 2000 w backhand. (it's a pity that I donated it to someone by mistake, crying)

On January 27, New Oriental Education & Technology Group announced that 1 million spring class live courses would be provided free of charge to primary and middle school students across the country, and the "New Oriental Education & Technology Group Primary and Middle School Winter Holiday Class course" (online) would be provided free of charge to the children of health care workers in many cities.

It not only really helps the health care workers who have children at home, but also adds a wave of "social responsibility" BUFF to themselves, and customers may even get.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group, who was not panicked in his heart, took this move quite calmly.

The e-commerce business that was "forced" by SARS saved JD.com 17 years later.

In 2003, JD.com was also called "JD.com Multimedia" at that time, and his business was offline retail of IT products.

The ravage of SARS has dealt a heavy blow to the retail industry, which is extremely dependent on passenger traffic, and JD.com multimedia is no exception. Fearing that his employees would be infected with SARS, Liu Qiangdong shut down all JD.com 's multimedia counters.

In just 21 days, JD.com lost more than 8 million, and the company only had 20 to 30 million on its books. In other words, in another 2 or 3 months, the company may be dead.

In one discussion, someone "creatively" asked that if customers could not meet to trade, could they trade through the Internet?

As a result, JD.com multimedia employees began to post online to promote CD-ROMs, gradually opening up the market. Liu Qiangdong himself will personally reply to the post, and even personally deliver goods to the surrounding list.

This allows JD.com Multimedia to take the opportunity to clean up losses and open up the market.

I have to say that the employee who put forward the proposal was really prescient!

As a result, Liu Qiangdong became so interested in the Internet that he even set up an independent website "JD.com Multimedia website" in 2004 to sell products, and JD.com Multimedia changed its name to JD.com Mall in 2007, no longer just selling IT products.

At JD.com 's annual meeting in 2013, Liu Qiangdong himself mentioned that "in 2003, we entered the field of e-commerce because of SARS."

Seventeen years later, Liu Qiangdong does not need to worry about JD.com being hit hard as he did then. We can not go out, a lot of things can only rely on e-commerce.

The e-commerce who was "forced" by SARS saved JD.com at that time and JD.com now.

Not only that, JD.com is now capable of taking responsibility for the epidemic.

At the beginning of the outbreak, JD.com urgently mobilized a large number of suppliers to ensure the supply of masks, alcohol and other protective equipment.

In addition, 1 million medical masks and 60,000 pieces of medical supplies were donated.

In these more than ten years of development, JD.com has already extended a large number of industries, such as JD.com Finance, JD Health and so on. In this epidemic, JD Health opened a free consultation channel to guide users to do a good job of self-protection and preliminary treatment.

Trip.com has been "attacked" by the epidemic for the second time. Can he stay calm this year?

Compared with New Oriental Education & Technology Group and JD.com, Trip.com and the tourism industry behind him are not so lucky.

In 2003, the growth rate of domestic tourists dropped sharply from 11.99% in 2002 to-0.91%; the growth rate of total domestic tourism spending also showed negative growth. Many enterprises have begun to lay off staff because of economic pressure.

Sun Maohua, COO of Trip.com, once said publicly that Trip.com also had a very difficult time during SARS. Although Trip.com did not lay off staff at that time, all the cadres worked for half a day and got 60% of their salary.

Why didn't Trip.com lay off staff? At that time, Liang Jianzhang, founder of Trip.com, predicted that SARS would stop within a few months, so the company must withstand it and maintain its original scale.

Therefore, during this period, Trip.com still insisted on "practicing internal skills", and all the people in the call center (customer service center) went to work, honed the process and trained them.

Sure enough, a few months later, when the epidemic ended, the tourism industry attracted "retaliatory" growth, and people who had been bored at home for a few months began to travel.

Due to layoffs and downsizing, many enterprises are unable to adapt to the changes in time. Trip.com rose rapidly as a result of his original decision.

Seventeen years later, the epidemic hit again, Trip.com and the entire tourism industry faced the same dilemma again.

The Spring Festival is supposed to be the "peak season" of the tourism industry. as a result, all tourist trips can only be cancelled because of the epidemic. Chen Gang, CEO of Qunar, revealed in an interview with thepaper.cn that at present, Qunar has invested 1 billion yuan, and Trip.com must also have suffered heavy losses.

According to the experience of SARS in 2003, there should also be the best part of a wave of tourism after the end of the epidemic. Trip.com seems to have to pray that the epidemic will end as soon as possible, and then it will be the beginning of spring.

What will Trip.com do next? We don't know yet.

However, in an interview with @ Travle Star Sea, many travel-related companies said they still need to wait and see until February or March.

Some enterprises said that during this period, they will also do other high-frequency small projects, such as short-term travel or enterprise team building.

Zeng Yin and Yang mistakenly ate the "epidemic dividend". Can Haidilao International Holding be stable after 17 years?

The catering industry and the tourism industry can be said to be "brothers and sisters".

The outbreak of pneumonia this year happened to be in time for the Spring Festival. Because it is impossible to have dinner together, a large number of New year's Eve dinner orders have been cancelled, and the hoarded chicken, duck and fish cannot be consumed.

This situation can not help but remind people of SARS in 2003. During the period of atypical pneumonia in 2003, consumer confidence was greatly affected. The catering industry was "frozen" and the closure rate of restaurants in serious areas was as high as 70%.

Haidilao International Holding was not spared, the turnover plummeted, and the usually crowded store became deserted.

Yang Xiaoli, the manager of the Xi'an store at that time, thought about it and came up with a strategy:

The guests don't want to come to the store, so we'll deliver the hot pot to the door. Deliver food on the first day and pick up the induction cooker on the second day.

Today, there is still a long line of retreat.

So Haidilao International Holding published an advertisement in the newspaper. In the era when takeout was not yet on the rise, delivering hot pot to your door is still a new thing.

The reservation phone was quickly hit, and Haidilao International Holding lived through the most difficult time by delivering hot pot to her door.

Not only that, this move was also reported by the "focus interview" column at that time, which brought a huge amount of exposure to Haidilao International Holding. At the wrong time, Haidilao International Holding accidentally ate a wave of "epidemic dividend."

In the pneumonia epidemic 17 years later, the situation in the catering industry is also not optimistic. Hong Kong media even used the scary title "waiting for the catering industry to die" to describe the current catering industry.

Catering stocks fell collectively, with Haidilao International Holding and other enterprises falling by their daily limit on January 21. Xibei Group also reported a "loss of NT $700 million to NT $800 million and closed down if it could not resume work for three months."

The New year's Eve dinner was cancelled, no one came to the door, and the cost of manpower and raw materials increased. The catering industry is struggling, many stores are closed, and those still open have to rely on takeout to make ends meet.

How did Haidilao International Holding respond to the epidemic this year?

When Haidilao International Holding closed the city in Wuhan on January 23, he urgently set up the epidemic prevention and control headquarters, and five core executives, including Zhang Yong and Yang Xiaoli, went into the battlefield.

First, let the waiters wear masks, conduct strict physical examinations, and disinfect and ventilate all the stores (including Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas stores) every day.

Outbound personnel are also required to wear disposable masks, gloves and shoe covers to ensure the safety of staff and consumers.

I thought Haidilao International Holding still planned to use his old line of work to deal with the epidemic, but on January 26, Haidilao International Holding announced that the national market was closed, and the service of takeout "sea salvage" was also suspended.

As of today, all the stores are not open for the time being. @ Tiger estimates that Haidilao International Holding has lost at least 700 million yuan.

Not only that, Haidilao International Holding also organizes closed management for employees who do not return home during the Spring Festival, providing cleaning and cooking services.

And organized a 16-person psychological counseling team to provide psychological counseling for employees.

As the first catering group in China with a revenue of more than 10 billion yuan, Haidilao International Holding, with deep pockets, has obviously put the health and safety of his employees in the first place.

But more small and medium-sized enterprises have no time to think about it, and they are faced with the dilemma of broken cash flow.

At present, the cold winter of the catering industry is inevitable, but it can be foreseen that after the end of the epidemic, the catering industry is bound to usher in "retaliatory" growth.

Other catering enterprises that are "on standby" due to the epidemic can mobilize more spare manpower to develop dishes and plan activities at the same time as they struggle to survive, so as to attract more customers and try their best to "restore blood" when the industry recovers.

I hope Haidilao International Holding can survive this particularly cold winter safely and last until the spring when the flowers bloom.

Winter is cold, but spring is beautiful.

Conclusion

From 2003 to 2020, the virus remains dangerous, but advances in technology and business models have given companies more room for survival.

At a time when the epidemic is spreading, life is difficult for both individuals and enterprises.

The purpose of this article, of course, is not to encourage enterprises to "make money in the country", like those black-hearted businessmen who sell fake masks, to regard the epidemic as a business opportunity.

Instead, I want companies to think about how they can seize fleeting opportunities while assuming social responsibility, not only to "live", but also to "live better".

In the face of smart and responsible enterprises, I believe consumers will not refuse to work with them for mutual benefit.

After all, who doesn't want a win-win situation?