"Master Kong" is now a household name to Chinese families. The owner of the brand, Tianjin Dingyi Intel'Food Co., also the manufacturer of "Master Kong"instant noodles, has become a famous and fortunate company. We owe the fast growth of the company to the opening-up policy of China, and the prospective view of the decision makers. The opening-up policy not only boosted the great vitality of the land, but also created a lot of business opportunities for overseas investors. Tinghsin Group caught the right time to establish Tianjin Dingyi Intel's Food Co. in the right place ---- TEDA, and it from then on strove on the road of Noodle King of China, and the King of the world.

1. Planting the Seeds

It was a new run of great chances for Tanwai businessmen to invest in the mainland in the 1990s. The first generation of modern entrepreneurs in Taiwan were those grappling the development opportunities in 1946, who actually were granted by the fate the advantages of right time, right place and right social trend. However, the second generation of entrepreneurs had to seek for new opportunities. The opening-up policy of mainland China started in the 1980s was regarded the new chance by Taiwan businessmen, who highly evaluated the chance as a new run of great development and achievement.

The decision-makers of Tinghsin Group apperceived the rare opportunity and began to seeking proper places for its investment projects even in 1987. It first established factories in Beijing and Jinan to manufacture cooking oil and egg-rolling cookies. However, the start-up operation could not be called "successful". The Mild-favor Cooking Oil manufactured in Beijing was more expensive than normal brands that lagged the leg of sales. Worse than that was the unqualified staff, which made the business more difficult. When the Tianjin Dingyi Intel'Food Co. was founded, Tinghsin Group had accumulated a lot of experiences from the lessons of the previous investment and it had carried out a lot of market investigations. The investigations revealed the general favorable taste of people in the North China as well as the price level that people could afford.

Tinghsin chose TEDA as the location of the new factory because of the pleasant investment environment. TEDA enjoys a favorite transportation network of ocean, air and land. It is adjacent to Tianjin New Port, convenient in ocean transportation; it is also near the Tianjin International Airport that makes the air transportation an easy thing; Beijing-Shanhaiguan railway passes through the area; roads interweaves a complete net in all directions. The mother city ---- Tianjin, with good industrial foundation, is a major hub of Northern China. The reasons for Tinghsin choosing TEDA rather than the Southern China, one was that many Taiwan investors had chosen Fu Jian and Guang Dong provinces to manufacture similar products; the other one was that they felt the public security in Tianjin would be better than in the South. So, TEDA was finally chosen as the starting point of business development for Dingyi Intel' Food.

It could be said that Tinghsin stepped on this piece of land in the early time as well as the right time. At that time the people in the mainland were upgrading their living standards step by step, and the rhythm of life had become faster, so the need for instant food was enlarged. As a foodstuff and oil provider, Tinghsin is somehow difficult in business progress on the land of Taiwan which only has a population of 20 million. Comparatively speaking, the mainland has a much greater market capacity. In fact, the market capacity of the mainland is about 10 times of Taiwan's.

Tinghsin Group confirmed the investment project in Sept. 1991, and on Aug. 21st, 1992 the grand setting-up ceremony was held in TEDA. When Tinghsin Group chose Aug. 21st as the date of ceremony, it didn't know that the date is very special because it was exactly the day when Mr. Deng Xiao Ping, the General Planner of Opening-up Policy of China inspected TEDA and wrote "Economic Areas are full of hope" here. The coincidence seemed to foretell the prosperous development of Tianjin Dingyi Intel' Food Co. Today, when we look back at the history, the promise has partly come true. Short after the establishment, with its fresh advertisement image, tasty and qualified products and unique bowl-style containers, Dingyi's "Master Kong" instant noodle soon became a big star in the consumer market all over China. The sales rose very quickly, which astonished the competitors. Although some experts predicted that such kind of development trend would last for only 3-4 years, till now, 6 years have passed, "Master Kong" is still a welcomed brand with excellent market achievements.

2. Prosperity

With correct market orientation, stable quality insurance, reasonable price and proper market promotion strategy, Tianjin Dingyi has kept selling "Master Kong"instant noodles in a successful manner. The success of sales helps Tianjin Dingyi grow smoothly. The total investment of the project shifted from 8 million USD as the original scale to 200 million USD, about 25 times of growth. The annual revenue started from 27 million RMB in 1992 to 2.45 billion RMB in 1995. Although the establishment of Guangzhou Dingyi and Hangzhou Dingyi in 1996 shared the South and East China markets, the annual revenue of Tianjin Dingyi still mounted up to 2.3 billion RMB. The number of manufacturing lines of Tianjin Dingyi has increased to 30 from the original 3, 10 times of increasement. Even the manufacturing capacity of each line has been keeping growing, and currently the capacity of each line is 120 million packages per year.

After years of development, the organization structure of the company becomes more and more complete. Now, there are 12 departments including flavoring factory, No.1 noodle factory, No.2 noodle factory, market dep., oil refining dep., transportation dep., and administration dep. Besides, several supplying factories are built to manufacture self-use boxes, folks, PSP bowls, dried vegetables, and packaging plastics. Tianjin Dingyi sets up warehouses in Northeast, North, Northwest, South and East of China, and strategy planning sections in North, Northwest and Beijing-Tianjin area of China so that it can understand the sales situation locally and help to create new promotion ideas.

Currently, Tianjin Dingyi's  "Master Kong"instant noodles are designed into 8 series as Big Bowl, Chinese Cuisine, Precious, Homemade, Crispy and so on, 23 kinds of flavors, 53 kinds of specification, which can maximally meet the diversified favors of consumers. Since the selling of "Master Kong"instant noodles, it always occupies a large market portion, and in 1996 the portion was 25%. With the consistent enlargement of the company scale, new staffs have been recruited constantly, and the current number is nearly 10,000 people. We could call Tianjin Dingyi a big enterprise now. The investor, Tinghsin Group was among the Top 500 enterprises in Taiwan before it invested in the mainland, but lagged behind in the glory list. However, in the Top 500 Foregn-invested Enterprises of China (year 1996) issued by the MOFTEC and National Statistics Bureau, Tianjin Dingyi was No.17 in the list. This clearly verified the strength of Tianjin Dingyi. In fact, Tianjin Dingyi adopts the first class equipment and technology of the world. We imported the best manufacturing lines from Japan, and advanced flour-kneading machines from Germany. Advanced equipment and technology, together with the principle of "quality is the life", all this has made "Master Kong" series the name of quality and promotion. All the efforts have granted solid foundation for the further progress of Tianjin Dingyi.

3. Great Achievements

Tianjin Dingyi wins the trust of consumers in the fierce competition and roots its foot deeply in the market. When some of the other brands are in operation trouble, it grows steadily. In 1992 the annual revenue was only 27 million RMB, while in 1993 it was 20 times than that as 408 million RMB. 1994 saw a big mounting up to 1.58 billion RMB while 1995 tackled the summit of 2.4 billion RMB, almost a double of 1994. Impacted by the establishment of Guangzhou and Hangzhou Dingyi companies, the revenue dropped back a little in 1996 to 2.3 billion RMB. However, when considering the overall revenue of the Group, 4 billion RMB was still an excellent record. The net profits before tax were doubled yearly. For instance, the number of year 1993 was 150 million RMB, while the number tripled to 480 billion RMB in 1994. However, with the enlargement of scale, the growth rate slowed down. In 1995, the number dropped back to 53 million RMB; in 1996, again because of the share of Guangzhou and Hangzhou Dingyi, the number of Tianjin Dingyi dropped even back to 40.5 million RMB. In general, the achievement of Tianjin Dingyi is pleasant under the fierce competition environment.

In 1996, China Enterprises Management Association jointed hands with China Enterprises Association & China Enterprises Information Exchange Center to launch the fourth national-level investigation of products competition evaluation. The organizer raised investigation questionnaires on three media as Economic Daily, Chinese Youth, and Market Watch and gained comparatively fair, objective and authoritative results. The result showed that "Master Kong"had the highest score among the common products, and its service quality, image and diversity were most popular commented by the consumers.

With the support of TEDA government, Tianjin Dingyi has participated kinds of commodity exchange events. Almost on each exchange fair "Master Kong"series are the most welcomed, and the company gets large volume of orders. Especially in 1996, the company followed the organization of TEDA delegation and toured around all over China many times and won a lot of orders. On the Foreign Economic Trade Fair in Urumchi, "Master Kong"signed contracts with total volume about 300 million RMB. In the grand 96'Shanghai National Commodity Exchange Fair, visitors were so many that they closed in the exhibition booths of Dingyi. What a busy scene that people came to Dingyi booth to purchase products and discuss cooperation! In fact, within 4 days we made 100 million RMB of contracts a reality, and this astonished many Shanghai businessmen.

4. Rooting Deeply In The Land

Any company trying to keep its prosperity must cultivate a unique company culture as the psychological root. Tianjin Dingyi, the same as any successful enterprises, owes her achievements to the culture of the company. The culture is demonstrated in the products, the manner of the staff, and the image. First, it introduced the same CIS as the mother company does, and integrated the notion of company operation and culture. Through the vision design the idea of culture becomes a touchable image; the operation notion is transferred into vivid marks and further extends to kinds of company materials as well as staff manners. The culture is demonstrated as localization, people orientation, loving China, and embracing the world. The company notion is Honesty, Dealing with concrete matters, and Innovation. Honesty means the products are qualified with nice materials, reasonable price, to be serious in self cultivation and doing business. Dealing with concrete matters means that the company should consider the unique situation of the mainland and develop common ideas upon the products and strategies in a modest but practical manner. Innovation means be different from others, creating unique style and characteristics. One of the head of the company once said: honesty is the root of human beings, the basic attitude towards life and career; no matter to develop our careers or make friends, keeping the heart of honesty will promise the longevity of business and friendship. Dealing with the concrete matters is the right way of personal & business development since many people drop from the attic in the air to the ground because of their unpractical ideas of life. Innovation is the prediction of surpassing the competitors, also an important factor of growth.

The company notion of Tianjin Dingyi, "Honesty, Dealing with Concrete Matters, and Innovation" has played an important role in the process of its development. Tianjin Dingyi regards the staff as the most important matter, and our staff is the root of the company, the source of innovation. In fact, the company has developed a complete training system to help make the notion vital. The system carries out training for normal staff, middle-level cadres and high level managers. The training aims to bring forth the first class talents and the talents will create first class products and enterprise. As Mr. Zhao Hui Jing, the Vice Chairman of the Board said,"Any first class products and enterprises rely on the first class staffs. We peculiarly attach importance to the human resources, and everything relating with the company development are under the effect of people. In order to gain the most excellent staff, we allocate large portion of human resources, materials and money to training. Hopefully, the training could help make our staff from a narrow-knowledge people to wide-knowledge talents, from normal technicians to experts." The focus on human resources ensures the goal of Dingyi, "To Create First Class Products & Enterprise".

Tianjin Dingyi obeys the duty of social responsibility as well. We understand that "Fortune comes from the society, earned by enterprises, and should benefits the society, that is the way of sustainable development". Since its foundation, Tianjin Dingyi has devoted heartily in the commonweal activities. It donated money and materials valued 1.5 million RMB in 1994; while in 1995, it set up scholarships in Tianjin University and Nankai University, showing the warm heart and feeling of responsibility of overseas Chinese. Dingyi also donated about 1 million RMB of cash and materials in 1996 to help the old and the children in need, support education, and rescue the people in disaster areas. The deeds of Tianjin Dingyi make known its pursuit as "self-development benefits the society".

5. Embracing the World

Tianjin Dingyi operates in a serious and practical manner. It also casts the vision into long-term target, and plans the blueprint of the future. Looking back, Tianjin Dingyi's smooth development in the mainland has brought forth good social and economic benefits, caused the establishment of tens of series companies, and further enlarged the scale of Tinghsin Group. We could say that Tianjin Dingyi is a big tree planted in the mainland, and the tree blooms a series of strong branches, which prospers the Mother Tree of Tinghsin Group luxuriantly green. Facing the future world, Tinghsin will be built into a brand of China, a brand of the world. Tianjin Dingyi, as the son of Tinghsin, will follow the Mother to enter the global market. "Master Kong"is now a famous brand in China, and we have registered a brand "Mr.Cun" correspondingly in the overseas market. After the set-up of Tianjin Dingyi, Tinghsin Group set up companies in Guangzhou, Huangzhou, Chongqin, Wuhan and Ha'erbin, who all produce "Master Kong" series instant noodles. With the successful experience and achievements of Tianjin Dingyi, together with the grand record of the brother Dingyi companies national wide, Tianjin Dingyi will realize its dream of "becoming the Noodle King of China & of the World".

"Master Kong" the Chef, Brings Happiness To Every Family!