Xinhua Wensuan is a large state-owned cultural enterprise and an A+H listed company; the company is mainly engaged in book publishing, printing and distribution. The book industry itself has certain public welfare symbols. As a large cultural enterprise, Xinhua Wenxuan has long been actively involved in various social welfare activities in many aspects, such as organizing the annual large-scale cultural exhibition – Tianfu Book Fair, launching Tianfu Line Reading Activity, construction of farmhouse across the province, donations to the disaster areas, and the environmental protection brand activity of “one paper, one wood, one environmental protection”, and so on.
Dai Yong, deputy general manager of Xinhua Publishing House Group’s Xinhua Wenxuan Reading Service Division, has been engaged in book distribution and bookstore diversified business management for 30 years. He is also responsible for the management of multiple formats of Xinhua Wenshuan’s chain stores, education and training in bookstores and Kids Winshare children’s theme bookstore.
01 Exclusive Interview
ICSO: In the face of the current tide of goodness in business and capital, how should enterprises reform in order to practice sustainable development?
Dai Yong: If culture can bring connotation to business, then public welfare can add temperature to business. In today’s globalization, participation in public welfare actions is far more than just a synonym for enterprises and the rich class. We need to adhere to the concept of social participation and social empowerment, adapt to the current trend of decentralization and Internetization of business, and explore some mobile and entertainment-based ways of participation in public welfare that are more acceptable to young people. In general, public welfare should not only be bigger, but also adapt to the changing characteristics of miniaturization, light participation, and sustainability in its operation, and lower the threshold of public participation in public welfare.
ICSO: What do you think about the concept of “Business for Good”?
Dai Yong: Traditional Chinese culture has always emphasized the role of good causes, and the simplest way to summarize it is to say that good people are rewarded for good deeds. A sustainable society requires many individuals and enterprises to take up social responsibility. A good enterprise, a good brand, must have a higher pattern of public welfare awareness, public welfare to pay for the cost of social value, and can not simply be understood as an increase in corporate costs. Enterprises should explore the social value in their main business and realize the social value, which is reflected in their strategic development plan, and enhance the enterprise value in the social value, in order to realize the sustainable growth and development of the enterprise.
02 Exclusive Interview
ICSO: Tell us about the changes and innovations in your industry in recent years, and what are your competitive advantages in the same industry?
Dai Yong: The book publishing and distribution industry in which I work, especially bookstore chains, is facing a lot of problems such as the digital transformation of the industry, the shift in C-end consumer behavior, and the transformation and upgrading of the sales organization and model of the enterprise, etc. However, the market change itself can bring both crises and opportunities. The old bookstore with the influence of many unfavorable factors as a driving force, innovation to become a new type of bookstore with multi-cultural space, cultural IP management as the trend, the trend itself shows that the cultural force, cultural value of the operation of the continuous enhancement of the re-engineering, is the trend of the development of the cultural enterprise and the driving force. And to build the enterprise’s inherent innovation power, organizational strength in order to allow enterprises to play a leading role in the industry market.
03 Exclusive Interview
ICSO: As a business leader, how do you see the behavior of business to the good?
Dai Yong: Xinhua Wenxuan has always put the realization of social benefits before economic benefits while seeking sustainable development of the enterprise. At the same time, the phrase “all for one, one for all” can convey the concept and spirit of public welfare to every ordinary person. In conclusion, enterprises should operate in compliance, educate people with culture, do a good job in social demonstration, control profits with righteousness, and combine the internal driving force of enterprise development with the contribution of social benefits, in order to realize a real and sustainable business for the good.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Xinhua Wenxuan will rely on its professional ability to help all walks of life to perform good deeds, and gradually build a community of interest, responsibility and destiny between the enterprise and all relevant parties in the society, so as to promote the development of business for the good.