李宁品牌重塑年

Fixing troubled Chinese sportswear firm Li Ning Co. could be an Olympian task for new boss Jin-Goon Kim.

对于新官上任的金珍君(Jin-Goon Kim)来说，解决中国运动服装企业李宁有限公司(Li Ning Co.)的麻烦可能是项艰巨的任务。

Li Ning─named for its founder, a former Chinese gymnast─has struggled in the face of competition from foreign rivals such as Nike and Adidas, as well as lower-cost local brands. Its shares have tumbled 86% in Hong Kong from their peak in 2010, and are down more than a third since January. Profits in the first half of this year were down 85% from a year earlier. Mr. Kim was recruited as executive director four months ago from private-equity firm TPG Group─a major investor in Li Ning, one of China's biggest sportswear retailers. He has previously turned around businesses including Dell's South Korean unit and Chinese shoe retailer Daphne International.

面对耐克(Nike)和阿迪达斯(Adidas)等外国同行及本土低成本品牌的竞争，这个由中国前体操运动员李宁创立的同名公司如今举步维艰。该公司在香港上市的股票距2010年峰值大跌了86%，今年1月以来的下跌幅度超过三分之一。今年上半年，公司利润同比下跌85%。四个月前，金珍君从私募股权投资公司TPG Group加盟李宁，任执行董事。TPG是李宁的主要投资者，而李宁又是中国最大的运动服装零售商之一。此前，戴尔(Dell)韩国子公司和中国鞋业零售商达芙妮国际控股有限公司(Daphne International)等企业曾在金珍君的手里重现生机。

Recently, Li Ning has been discounting heavily and the company is paring back an underperforming store network. Earlier ambitions to expand overseas have evaporated and the company is now refocusing on China. Mr. Kim spoke with The Wall Street Journal's Fiona Law about China's changing retail market and the future for Li Ning.

最近，李宁一直在疯狂打折，同时削减表现欠佳的专卖店网络规模。之前李宁在海外扩张的雄心现已荡然无存，眼下正在重新聚集中国市常金珍君就中国不断变化的零售市场和李宁的未来等话题接受了《华尔街日报》记者Fiona Law的采访。

The following interview has been edited.

以下是经过编辑整理的采访内容。

WSJ: What has gone wrong at Li Ning?

WSJ：李宁是哪里出现了问题？

Mr. Kim: The industry saw a lot of people come in in a short period. Supply outgrew demand. Also, five years ago, sportswear brands in China were wholesalers, not retailers. The focus was on growth, as opposed to merchandising and brand DNA and understanding customers. Chinese retailers need to be more focused on brand. Before, you had to be good at opening stores and taking care of channels. Now, it's a different game.

金珍君：这个行业短期内一下子涌进来好多人，出现了供大于求的局面。五年前，运动服装品牌在中国还是批发商，不是零售商。当时这些品牌把精力都放在了增长上，而不是销售规划、品牌打造和了解客户等方面。中国零售商应更多地关注品牌。以前你不得不做好门店开设和渠道管理，现在不是这样了。

WSJ: Specifically, Which areas does the company need to improve?

WSJ：具体来讲，李宁需要在哪些方面改进呢？

Mr. Kim: The former management team had a lot of good processes but it doesn't mean they were very effective when the market demands the business changes dramatically. Li Ning was fine for the old days, but when the good times stopped and you needed to be a different animal, it was no longer effective.

金珍君：以前的管理团队有很多不错的方法，但这并不是说他们在市场要求李宁大举变革的时候十分有效。以前李宁做得不错，但当好形势结束、需要自身有所变化的时候，就不起作用了。

WSJ: Li Ning's brand has lost some of its appeal for younger consumers. How are you going to fix that?

WSJ：李宁品牌对较年轻的消费者来说失去了一些吸引力。您怎么来解决这个问题？

Mr. Kim: There are a lot of loyal customers that are from an older generation. But it's not enough to focus only on them. Really understanding where your core consumers are and what they want and executing it─that wasn't done well in the past. So one thing we've done recently is invest in the Chinese Basketball Association and Dwyane Wade, because that speaks to the most important sports segment for China's younger generation.

金珍君：上一代人还有很多忠于李宁品牌的客户，但只关注这些人是不够的。要真正去了解哪些是核心客户，了解他们想要什么，并且将他们的需求贯彻在我们的业务当中。有关这一点，以前做得并不好。因此，我们最近在做的一件事是投资中国篮球协会和篮球明星德维恩·韦德(Dwyane Wade)，因为这是在与对中国年轻一代来说最重要的体育项目进行对话。

WSJ: How are you also trying to appeal to Chinese consumers who don't currently buy branded sportswear?

WSJ：请问您怎样吸引那些眼下不买品牌运动服装的中国消费者？

Mr. Kim: There's a big market between the higher-end Nike price point and where most of the local players are. We need to really innovate and focus on performance sportswear as lead products to capture that audience.

金珍君：在耐克等品牌的高端价格点和中国大多数本土品牌之间有着广阔的市常我们要做的就是实实在在的创新，聚焦功能型运动服饰，将其作为主导产品，吸引那些消费者。

WSJ: What's ana good example of that innovation?

WSJ：能不能举个比较好的创新实例？

Mr. Kim: We have built a new product team that's looking at design and branding and the customer that we want to go after─from small things to colors to category design. All of that has to be more professional. Next year, we are going to sell some of the lightest clothes and shoes in the running category. Also we have new antifungal insoles that let you sweat and smell less because of the fabric they use.

金珍君：我们成立了一个新的产品小组，负责设计、品牌打造和目标客户的服务，包括从小细节到颜色再到类别设计等。所有这些都要更专业。明年我们打算销售一些跑步类的最轻质服装和鞋子。另外，我们还有新的抗真菌鞋垫。这种鞋垫由于采用特殊面料，十分透气吸汗，可减少异味。

WSJ: Will the average price point of Li Ning's products change?

《华尔街日报》：李宁产品的平均价位是否会发生变化?

Mr. Kim: No, I don't think there'll be a big change. But for some categories we have gone up too high or too low. So we are making adjustments. For example, in basketball, we believe there's a good young consumer base, so some basketball shoes will be as low as 300 yuan (about $48).

金珍君：不会，我认为不会有很大的变化。但对于一些产品类别，我们存在定价过高或过低的问题。所以我们正在进行调整。比如，在篮球产品方面，我们认为存在一个良好的年轻消费群体，所以一些篮球鞋的价格将低至人民币300元（约合48美元）。

In badminton, where Li Ning probably sells the best products, we are able to go much higher─as high as 2,000 yuan. It really goes back to the idea of being a lot more focused on customers. That's very different from the past where you didn't have to worry about the end-user market.

李宁的羽毛球产品可能是市场上最好的，在这个类别中，我们能够定价更高，最高可至人民币2,000元。归根究底是要回归到更多地关注客户这个理念上来。这与过去有很大的不同，过去你不必担心最终用户市常

WSJ: What are your plans for the store network?

《华尔街日报》：李宁公司对门店网络有何计划？

Mr. Kim: We had a little more than 7,000 stores at the last quarterly announcement. Numbers have stabilized. Some stores will have to be restructured, as they're not in the right place or the right format or they're too concentrated in certain areas. It's not just a simple count but how productive they are. The number of stores will probably shrink a bit in the near term. Growth in the past relied on new store openings, but that's not the case now.

金珍君：根据最近一次季度报告中所说的，我们有7,000余家门店。门店数量一直较稳定。一些门店由于位置不佳或形式不当或过于专注于某些领域而必须进行改造。不止要看门店的数量，还要看门店的效率。近期内，门店数量可能会有少许的缩减。过去业务的增长依靠的是新增门店，但现在情况不同了。

WSJ: Li Ning himself is also now back in a management position at the company. What exactly is his role on a day-to-day basis?

《华尔街日报》：李宁本人目前在李宁公司再次担任管理职位。他在日常运营中究竟扮演什么角色？

Mr. Kim: Mr. Li has the ability to mobilize resources both inside and outside the company. We work very closely.

金珍君：李宁有调动公司内外资源的能力。我们的合作共事非常密切。

He spends a lot of time in management meetings and decision making, and is also involved in government affairs and the sports community.

他花大量时间参加管理层会议和决策，还参与政府事务和体育界活动。

WSJ: When do you expect your plans to show some tangible results, and what will indicate that the plans are working?

《华尔街日报》：你预计李宁公司的计划何时会显示出切实的成果？表明计划开始奏效的指标有哪些？

Mr. Kim: Much earlier than two years. You won't get there fully by then, but you'll see the trajectory. One of the things that would be very indicative of recovery would be the performance of the new products and stores we've already started to clean them up. These are the leading indicators.

金珍君：远远不到两年就会见效。届时效果还不会非常显著，但会看到发展趋势。表明业务好转的指标之一是新产品以及我们已经开始清理的门店的表现。这些都是领先指标。

WSJ: Other retailers see Hong Kong as a showcase for China given how many Chinese tourists visit. But Earlier this year, Li Ning closed its only Hong Kong store. Why?

《华尔街日报》：鉴于大量中国内地游客到香港观光购物，其他零售商认为香港是很好的展示地点。但今年早些时候，李宁公司关闭了在香港唯一一家门店。这样做是为什么呢？

Mr. Kim: We are really focusing on our core market in the mainland. It wasn't my decision. We have a process for approving what stores to open and close. That one store closing was a nonevent for us.

金珍君：我们真正专注于内地的核心市常这并不是我的决定。对于在哪里开店和关闭哪里的门店，我们有一个审批程序。香港门店的关闭对我们来说并不是一件了不得的事。

Résumé

金珍君简介：

Education: B.A. in Government and East Asian Studies, Harvard University; postgraduate research in Nanjing-Hopkins Center in China; Master of Public Policy, Harvard.

教育背景：哈佛大学政府及东亚研究学士学位；攻读研究生期间在中国南京大学－约翰斯·霍普金斯大学中美文化研究中心从事研究工作；哈佛大学公共政策硕士学位

Career: Mr. Kim is a partner of TPG, where he leads the group's operations in Greater China. He has held roles at various TPG portfolio companies, including China Grand Automotive and Daphne International. He is currently the executive vice chairman and executive director at Li Ning. Before joining TPG, he held positions with McKinsey & Company (1996-2000), Internet Business Capital Corp. (2000-2002) and Dell Inc. (2002-2006).

从业经历：TPG合伙人，负责该公司大中华区业务。他在TPG投资的多家公司中担任职务，包括广汇汽车服务(China Grand Automotive)和达芙妮国际控股有限公司。他目前是李宁公司执行副主席兼执行董事。在加入TPG之前，他曾任职于麦肯锡(McKinsey & Company，1996年至2000年)、Internet Business Capital Corp.(2000年至2002年)和戴尔(2002年至2006年)。

Extracurricular: tai chi, yoga and golf, as well as Pu'er tea and collecting art.

业余爱好：太极、瑜伽、高尔夫球、普洱茶和艺术品收藏。