Huawei 2013 Annual Report Download - page 5

4Letter from the CEO
As Wu Hequan from the Chinese Academy of
Engineering said, data creates value only when it
is mined, analyzed, inducted, and utilized. By Big
Data, I mean the surging and overwhelming data
streams, and the fact that no one knows how
much data has to be transmitted and stored. Of
course, we hope what is transmitted is all useful
information, but we cannot stop garbage from
being transmitted and stored back and forth,
which makes Big Data even bigger. Don’t get lured
by the success of the Internet. We are an Internet
company too, in the sense that we produce “iron
sheet” for pipes that transmit data streams for
the Internet. Moving forward, there will be fewer
companies that can produce “iron sheet” for pipes
as wide as the Pacific Ocean; companies that run
the pipes will be in the number of hundreds, and
companies managing information in the number of
thousands. Don’t envy the prominence of others;
don’t get so stirred about the Internet. Employees
who have such passion should come down-to-earth
and try to use the Internet approach to optimize
our internal supply transactions toward higher
efficiency and timely and accurate operations. Our
annual turnover of commercial notes, including
internal handovers, has exceeded CNY2,500 billion,
expected to reach 5,000 billion pretty soon. And
we have more than 5,000 points of supply. There
is significant value there, from improving contract
accuracy and reducing waste via thorough analyses
of contract scenarios. Why not do the “Internet”
internally to better connect our operations? We
have to remain focused, for decades, on improving
our capability for the information pipes. Don’t tow
our huge ship away from the main route.
The network might loosen what has kept people
within bounds. Without this bondage, can we still
press forward like a torrent? Many people are
amazed when they hear us sing the song Huawei
People. They wonder why so many people are still
singing such a song in such an age. At Huawei we
still have a nucleus of several thousand people.
United together, they rally and lead the rest of
150,000 employees. We will definitely win.
2. We must continue to be dedicated. The tortoise
in the fable is a symbol of persistent effort, and
such a spirit of Huawei must not change. The
tortoise spirit also means that our effort and
dedication should be sensible. We don’t need our
people to have their blood boiled up because that
cannot power up the base stations. What we need
is a controlled passion that allows our people to
work intensely but with order. Value creation has
to be the yardstick for everything we do.
We must be conscious of the power of the United
States. They have advanced systems, flexible
mechanisms, clear property rights, and respect
and protection of individual rights. With such a
sound business ecosystem, the US has attracted the
world’s best talent, in the number of hundreds of
millions, to invent and innovate on the American
soil. The light that never goes out in the Silicon
Valley continues to shine. The US is not lagging
behind; it is still a model for us to learn from. Isn’t
Tesla a good example? Catching up will never be as
easy as coining catchwords. Too many catchwords
are a waste in management. “Enjoying the ride” as
Eric Xu put it, means we make constant effort for
development, fearless of failures or sacrifices. All
the work has to be measured by the value created.