Writing and recording are inseparable from the help of the pen. From ancient times to the present, the changes of the pen have experienced a long development. Cangjie used stone (or perhaps a knife) as his pen when he made characters, which can be regarded as China’s earliest pen prototype. According to the “History of Writing Instruments”, the reed pen used by the ancient Egyptians to record writing on the grass scroll in 3000 BC (earlier than the Yellow Emperor) is recognized as the earliest pen used in human history.
Reed pen
With the development of the times, straw paper was gradually replaced by animal skins, and quill pens came into being around the Middle Ages. Compared with reed pens, quill pens write more delicate and delicate text on animal skins and other papers. The brush that we all know well is said to have been created by Meng Tian, a well-known general in Qin Shihuang’s period, but since no clear written record is found, the true situation of this statement is beyond doubt.
The use of feather pens and brushes has continued for a long time in the history of human writing. In the Western world, since Bryan Donkin announced the creation of a metal pen patent in 1811, and in 1822, John Mitchell officially mass-produced fountain pens with metal nibs. After 11 years, human writing tools have entered a new era.
The popularity of fountain pens and the birth of hero cards
Although there are metal nibs, the development and perfection of fountain pens has gone through a long process. In earlier European and American movies, it is not difficult to find that many people use a pen composed of feathers and metal nibs to write with ink. This is what the fountain pen looked like in the early days-dip pen. However, wisdom is undoubtedly the best gift that God bestows on mankind. With the advent of water storage pens, the structure of fountain pens has been gradually improved, and it has been used today. In the 1930s, fountain pens officially entered the vision of the Chinese people.
Prior to this, in China, from the nobles to the Li people, they still used brushes to write. However, since 1931, with the popularization of Western culture in more areas of China, fountain pens began to become a rush of Chinese literati. Gradually, the brushes that had lasted for thousands of years faded out of the stage of history, and fountain pens began to prevail in China. In the fountain pen market at that time, the most famous one was the American “Parker” brand fountain pen. There was no local brand in China that could compete with it.
Under such circumstances, industrialist Zhou Jingting stepped forward. In his opinion, if China can’t even produce a pen on its own, what else is there to talk about in all-round development? Therefore, he invested a lot of money to establish Huafu Gold Pen Factory, which was later renamed “Hero Gold Pen Factory”, which was the embryonic form of the birth of Hero Pen.
However, to become a “hero” is bound to go through tempering. The three major issues of technology, capital, and strategy have become the three peaks that stand in front of Zhou Jingting. Although the factory has been built, the establishment of each department costs money, and the funds, equipment, labor, labor, maintenance, and other expenses are enough to shatter one’s dreams. Fortunately, Zhou Jingting survived.
Not long after solving these problems, Zhou Jingting had to face the problem of the factory being bombed and the old lathe. However, he still did not bow to the difficulties, re-selected the site to build a new factory, and spent huge sums of money to purchase cash equipment, which almost spent all his savings. Therefore, the reason why the hero pen can become a symbol of the times is not unrelated to his unremitting efforts.
Later, with the birth of the Hero 100 Gold Pen, Hero 200 Gold Pen and other series, the Hero Pen slowly began to gain a foothold in the arena and gradually established its own. In addition, because of local companies, the hero pen is gradually narrowing the gap with the American Parker pen. The release of the movie “Heroes to Parker” is the best explanation.
In the 1980s, it was a period of infinite glory for the hero pen. It not only became a symbol of intellectuals, but also a first-choice gift for visiting relatives and friends. And used in the college entrance examination). Today, whenever he mentions the hero pen, he can still recall many memories of the generations born in the 70s and 80s, because in their eyes, the hero pen is not just a simple writing tool, it carries the youth of two generations. .
In the most glorious era of the hero pen, there are countless important documents signed with it. It can be said that the hero pen has witnessed the steady development of China and the improvement of its international status. However, even though the hero pen has been sold in more than 60 countries around the world, and brought huge profits to the pen factory; but his fall is as rapid as the melting of ice and snow.
Decline after glory
No one person or company can go on brilliantly all the way, all success comes with a certain fluke, and all failures are also inevitable. In 1992, Hero Golden Pen Factory became an early listed company in Shanghai. Under the cater of all the opportunities, the Hero Pen Factory should have seized the victory and embarked on a more powerful development road, but due to poor management and stagnant technological development, the Hero Pen began to fall gradually.
Just a few short years after the listing, Hero Golden Pen Factory began to show a loss. Coupled with fierce market competition and incorrect business model, Hero Jinbi Factory has become more and more sluggish. In the three years since 2001, the factory has been losing money for years and has to choose to delist. Beginning in 2004, the hero pen began to decline, and production and sales and profits began to suffer serious losses. In 2012, the hero pen with a market value of over 100 million yuan transferred 49% of its equity at a low price of 2.5 million. , The former giant of the Chinese fountain pen industry stepped down the stage of history. The reason is nothing more than the following points.
Changes in consumer and user population
In fact, there are reasons for the “Heroic Doomsday”, and the most important reason should be the changes in consumers and users. The author started to use pens in the second grade of elementary school. It was in the late 1990s. Almost all elementary and middle school students used pens to write. Whether it was daily homework or exams, the usage rate of pens was very high. And at that time, parents will urge students to practice pen writing. Maybe many younger generations didn’t know that at that time, if anyone could write beautiful pen characters, it would be enough to make him favored by teachers and other parents, and it would be more or less enviable or jealous of students.
However, with the birth of ballpoint pens, gel pens, and other types of pens, the ink is often broken, and fountain pens that need to absorb water are gradually no longer favored by today’s students. Moreover, today’s parents are exactly the people who used pens in the past. The generation with the largest number of them may have been criticized by teachers and parents for not being able to write pen characters. They have all experienced that the test paper could not be completed because of the sudden lack of “water” in the pen. Maybe they used the pen for the first time. My hands are covered with ink, and I can’t wash them off.
Therefore, they did not want their children to experience their past, so they did not let their children use pens. What’s more serious is that some schools no longer require students to use pens. Just last week, my little niece just had her birthday, and it happened that she was in the second grade of elementary school this year. I wanted to give her a pen as a birthday gift. , But I was told by my sister that the school no longer requires children to use pens, and she didn’t want to see unwashed ink on her hands every day when her baby came back, so I had to give it up and replace it with a Disney princess puzzle. I gave a fountain pen as a gift.
These are all realities, and pens are no longer necessary for study and work as they were in the 1980s and 1990s. With the changes of parents and student groups, the demand for pens will inevitably be in a downhill state, and the sales of pens will naturally decrease accordingly. Without sales, profits will of course also decrease. This situation is not only for the hero pen family, but the truth in the business field.
Brand strategy failure
However, due to the lack of sufficient market research in the market expansion, the supply of hero pens has exceeded demand, and as ballpoint pens and gel pens have been selected and accepted by more consumers. In order to reverse the situation, Hero Pen began to transform, trying to build itself as a high-end brand and improve its brand value.
From the mid to late 20th century, Hero Pen made a major adjustment to its product structure in order to enter the international market, from the previous low-end to mid-to-high end. In the early 1990s, it was exported to more than 60 overseas countries in Europe, America and Southeast Asia. In addition, in order to adapt to the trend of regionalization of the economy, Hero Pen has established more than ten branches in major cities at home and abroad as a marketing network to compete with international famous brands.
The sales of mid-to-high-end products with a value of more than 500 yuan are not optimistic. At this price, more consumers will choose to buy international brands such as Parker, Montblanc or Lingmei. This may be a habit of contemporary consumers, who are more likely to accept foreign brands or larger brand products. This also seriously affects the market value of the Hero Pen.
The domestic market is as usual, and the bleak competition in the international market can be imagined. When the author was in the UK, I used to be a purchasing agent for a period of time, and I was shocked by the popularity of Lingmei pens in China during the 14-15 years. Especially pens with a price of around £20 are very popular. The number of orders is almost all around 100 roots, and the profit output is not much, ranging from 30-50 yuan.
Although Hero Pen has completed the equity transfer at that time, the brand is still there. However, I have searched for many pen sellers on the streets of Manchester, but in the end it was difficult to find Hero Brand. Because of curiosity, I also used Lingmei pens. To be fair, without any populist stance, the two pens are also priced at around 300 yuan, and the nib types are the same. I don’t think there is anything about Lingmei pens. Completely beat the hero card.
But this is the market economy, this is the market economy that is dominated by brand awareness and brand value. In fact, in the process of brand building, Hero Pen spent a lot of money on brand expansion. This has led to the loss of sufficient financial support for brand promotion and promotion, which is also a major reason why its brands and products have failed to establish sufficient brand awareness and long-term development in overseas markets.
On the other hand, Montblanc, Parker and even some domestic pen brands have invested a lot in product promotion and promotion. This is one of the important reasons why they can export in the opposite direction and “invade” the Chinese market of hero pens. The decline of the hero pen is not surprising.
The spread of paperless office
In the 21st century, writing has been gradually replaced by office automation software. With this, more and more companies have begun to implement paperless office. This has also affected the development of Hero Pen to a certain extent, except for the financial affairs of some units. Other departments still require the use of pens to fill in relevant documents and students’ calligraphy, pens and even pens have gradually been replaced. This situation has led to a decrease in the target group of Hero Pens, which has affected his sales and market share.
However, this part of the reason has minimal impact on the Hero Pen. Although keyboard input can make writing easier and faster, it still can’t replace the writing experience that the pen tip gives people when sliding on the paper. In today’s society, in addition to being a writing tool, the pen has become a status symbol. An expensive or well-known brand pen brings people’s pleasure, no worse than luxury luggage.
Wrong interbank plan and rigid management system
If we say that the three previous reasons are all interfering with external factors, then this hero pen can’t blame others at all. In the 1990s, Hero Golden Pen Factory launched a diversification strategy in order to expand the market. It invested in gas plants, piano factories, and kitchen equipment as its secondary industries, and even sought development in the real estate industry. However, the blind cross-border operation has made Hero Golden Pen Factory heavily in debt, while its pillar industry pen sales record is mediocre, and unsold pens are full of warehouses.
Driven by this situation, in order to save costs, Hero Golden Pen Factory hopes to reverse the situation through layoffs. However, the negative impact of continuous layoffs has caused a large loss of talents, and fresh blood is unwilling to work in the factory. The employees stay in the factory because of their age. Larger, there is not enough innovation ability, which leads to the hero pen has not been significantly improved on the technical level.
Compared with the continued development of its competitors, the Hero Pen has always been in a state of stubbornness. Not only has it not made progress on the technical level, but it has even reported that it looks like a copy of other brands. Moreover, in the face of the squeezed market share and operating pressure, in order to save costs, Hero Golden Pen Factory no longer renews the production line or maintains the molds, and turns to the road of foundry. As a result, there were problems with its own quality control, and the quality of the pens flowing to the market was uneven, which greatly affected the reputation of its products and further lost market share.