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Yong An Tang, Reality Matches the Name, Conscience Brings Wealth2007/11/15
text by Rocky Li, photo by Zhou Bin Yong An Tang was established in 1416, and it has safeguarded the health of people in Beijing for more than 590 years, winning their respect and trust. Today's Beijing Yong An Tang Pharmacy Chain Store Company Limited is a Zhonghua Laozihao (China Time Honoured Brand). Through hundreds of years of ups and downs between prosperity and stagnancy, it has constantly adjusted to the times and has avoided oblivion in modern times. However, the company's management realizes that new requirements of innovation and reform are calling forth the need for new conceptions within the corporation so it can achieve new breakthroughs and overcome new obstacles.
Trusted for Hundreds of Years Yong An Tang was opened during the early Ming Dynasty (1368—1644). This was a dynamic moment in Beijing's history when a lot of herbal drug stores mushroomed in China. More than 200 hundred years later, Yong An Tang met a new challenge from Tongrentang, today's Beijing Tongrentang Group Company Limited, during the Qing Dynasty (1644—1911). A division of labour was created, with people opining: "Yong An Tang in the Inner City and Tongrentang at the Outer City," when the subject of purchasing drugs was raised. Beijing once had a city wall standing roughly where today's Second Ring Road, and the city was divided into inner and outer areas. This is why some city streets have the words nei (inner) or wai (outer) included in them. But whether inside or outside the wall, these two drug stores provided most of the medicines used by Beijing's residents until modern times.
Unique Business Philosophy, High-Quality Products Historically, Yong An Tang was an aggressive company, but did not stray far from its speciality. Yet, Yong An Tang was more than a drug store; it also had its own factory for manufacturing Chinese medicines. The self-contained plant could make 487 kinds of prepared Chinese medicines in 16 categories. This allowed Yong An Tang to safeguard its independent research and development of its products. The company never had to rely on sales of products of other suppliers or manufacturers. Yong An Tang's aggressive business sense was derived from its confidence in its products. This was a confidence shared in high places since Yong An Tang was located in the inner city and since many of its customers were the officials and their relatives and members of big clans. As Yong An Tang was very cautious in its prescriptions, it made few, if any, mistakes and was widely trusted and highly regarded. This derived from the actions of skilled managers such as Yang Zhouchen, who in 1907, just by looking about the plant, could see from the colour of a herbal powder product that it wasn't right, a result of poor processing. He admonished himself not to neglect or to be slack in his management; his staff followed him in exercising great caution. In line with its high-quality products and strict self-control, Yong An Tang has relied upon this business philosophy as their basic concept through out its history. Hence, it is said that "Reality Matches the Name, Conscience Brings Wealth."
Modern Times Bring New Prosperity, Challenges Five hundred and ninety years' of fame based on respect and solid performance is a form of capital for any company. Since the 1990s, Yong An Tang has expanded into a chain operation, the first pharmacy company to use this mode in Beijing. Based on definite principles, such as Uniform Stock, Uniform Distribution, Uniform Management and Uniform Accounting, Yong An Tang has gradually absorbed some smaller drug store companies. By 2002, nine pharmaceutical companies had joined with Yong An Tang, along with more than 20 drug stores. In the same year, the Beijing Yong An Tang Pharmacy Chain Store Company Limited was established, and this company became one of China's top-50 pharmaceutical chain companies. As of 2005, the company controlled 38 directly operated drug stores and 15 associated stores in Beijing, covering the entire city and offering more convenience for its customers. But in today's business operating environment, enough is never enough, and Yong An Tang has done some harm to itself. "The most embarrassing situation for Yong An Tang, a hindrance to our future development is the loss of our speciality products and processing operations," said Li Liqiang, the general office director of Yong An Tang. It seems that during the confusion of a reform drive in the late 1950s someone at Yong An Tang overlooked the need to carefully protect its Chinese medicine manufacturing process information. The formulas for making more than 1,100 prescriptions that had been accumulated over hundreds of years were lost. This greatly, but only partially affected the company's production capability. Yet, it cost the company the very products that had made it so special. "This was a great loss, and it created a dangerous situation for the company. Yong An Tang became the same as any other drug store or pharmacy company, except for its time-honoured brand name and the trust that the people placed in it. We had to stock the same kinds of medicines and sell the same products," said Li. So now the company plans to "rely on Yong An Tang's brand effect and its rich apothecary resources to attract some more investment. Building a new pharmaceutical factory would greatly improve Yong An Tang's prospects." Li said. Address: 118 Dongsi Nandajie, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100010 北京市东城区东四南大街118号 Tel: +86 10 6525 4848 Fax: +8610 6525 4848 |
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