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Miniso and "Intensive EMBA" 17 Years
- Jan 5
- 8 min read
Updated: Jan 20
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Intensive EMBA program.
By examining each company that has grown alongside action education over the past 20 years, we discovered a two-way journey.
Miniso and Action Education have been long-time partners. Several years ago, Chairman Ye Guofu shared, "The 'Intensive EMBA' is an excellent course for Chinese private enterprises. I want to promote Professor Li Jian to the world. "
In recent years, managers from Miniso's overseas business division have traveled from all over the world to attend the "Intensive EMBA" program in batches, seemingly "pushing Professor Li Jian to the world."
Meanwhile, Miniso's overseas market growth has been particularly outstanding in recent years, with a growth rate of 42.6% in the first half of this year.
Only user value can withstand the test of time. The story of action education and MINISO can be traced back to 2007.
01
2007-2013
Before joining hands with Miniso
Mr. Ye Guofu is a serial entrepreneur. As early as the early 2000s, he and his wife, Ms. Yang Yunyun, embarked on their entrepreneurial journey.
From their initial foray into the cosmetics industry to their later expansion into the retail sector, their brand quickly became a nationwide sensation within just two years, rapidly expanding to nearly 1,000 stores across the country.
Behind the rapid development, the pain of operation became increasingly intense, and profit levels continued to decline. Mr. Ye Guofu quickly realized the contradiction between rapid development and lagging organizational capabilities, and the contradiction between outstanding individual capabilities and systemic success.
How to resolve this? Mr. Ye Guofu, Ms. Yang Yunyun, and the core managers of the team studied the "Intensive EMBA" course in batches .
Afterwards, they deepened the core methods of the "Strategic Design" module in the implementation course , benchmarking against world-class companies, learning from Uniqlo, GAP, H&M, and ZARA, studying their business models, and implementing the thinking and methods of "Value Innovation" in the course . They firmly adhered to the total cost leadership strategy , invested heavily in streamlining the supply chain, and strictly controlled the six major links of procurement, R&D, production, order processing, distribution, and retail. They compressed the cycle model to seven days, and the high-speed operation created the company's cost advantage, widening the gap with competitors and laying the foundation for Miniso's extremely high-efficiency operation in the future.
Subsequently, their company experienced another round of rapid development. From 2007 to 2010, the number of stores increased from 1,000 to 3,000, and the turnover increased from more than 500 million to more than 1.2 billion.
At that time, Mr. Ye Guofu felt a sense of crisis. In a media interview in 2011, he said that he was going to prepare for a second brand because after 2010, the domestic e-commerce industry had risen and offline chain stores urgently needed to transform, upgrade and innovate their value.
Subsequently, at a critical juncture in seeking a breakthrough, Mr. Ye Guofu, Ms. Yang Yunyun, and the management team once again participated in Action Education's "Intensive EMBA," capital model, and performance growth model courses in batches and continuously , seeking solutions for brand upgrading, improving organizational performance and human efficiency, and also exploring listing paths.
02
2013-2020
Accompanying Miniso from its inception to its IPO
In 2013, the new brand "MINISO," carrying Mr. Ye Guofu's global strategic vision, was officially launched. MINISO focuses on the preferences of young people, creating a contrast between "high-end" and "low-price," emphasizing "three highs and three lows": high aesthetics, high quality, high efficiency, low cost, low profit margin, and low price.
At that time, Mr. Ye Guofu regarded product strategy as the company's top priority , thus embarking on Miniso's path of ultimate creation.
In terms of product innovation, MINISO collaborates with globally renowned IPs such as Hello Kitty, Marvel, and Disney to launch co-branded best-selling products, and has established a design institute, signing contracts with globally renowned design teams from Finland, Denmark, Norway, Spain, South Korea, and other countries to continuously lead consumer demand.
Making the right products is important, but making good products is even more crucial. The key to achieving the ultimate cost-performance ratio is not just the "price," but rather who can achieve the ultimate "performance" at a low price. This requires a company with an extremely strong supply chain, a highly efficient operational system, and an extremely rigorous quality control system.
In terms of the supply chain, Miniso has won the trust of its suppliers with a model of "volume-based pricing + exclusive customization + no pressure on payments". It has quickly expanded its cooperation with world-class suppliers, including suppliers of world-class companies such as Estée Lauder, Lancôme, Apple, Chanel, Dior, and Hermès , such as Givaudan, Intercos, Luxshare Precision, and Jiacheng Industrial. Through large-scale direct sourcing (from factory to store, from factory to port), it avoids the layers of markups in the traditional supply chain and ensures an ultimate cost-performance advantage.
In terms of its operational system, to ensure rapid product iteration, MINISO implements the "711 strategy ," which means launching 100 new products every 7 days, selected from 10,000 design proposals. This high frequency of new product launches has enabled MINISO to improve customer conversion rates and continuously stimulate consumers to purchase new products, forming MINISO's unique competitive advantage.
In terms of quality control system, MINISO pioneered the "1+1+1 quality control mechanism" . The "1+1+1 control mechanism" refers to self-inspection, external inspection and national inspection. Products must meet three quality inspection standards before they can enter the market.
Miniso's "extreme cost-effectiveness" throughout the entire process has created exceptional user value and fueled its rapid growth. According to media reports, Miniso had 27 stores in its inception in 2013; by 2015, it had 1,300 stores nationwide; by 2017, it had 2,000 stores; and by the end of 2020, it had over 4,500 stores.
In 2020, MINISO seized the opportunity and embarked on a new journey, going public on the New York Stock Exchange and representing Chinese retail on the world stage.
From its inception to its listing, Action Education and MINISO have continued to grow together.
The Miniso team continuously learns from the "Intensive EMBA" course and performance-related courses to improve their management team capabilities.
MINISO executives also participated in the "Principal's EMBA" course to build the company's systemic capabilities and propel MINISO from tens of billions to hundreds of billions.
At the same time, MINISO also maintains close communication and mutual assistance with its alumni across the country, achieving steady development.
03
2020-Present
Safeguarding Miniso's Globalization Path
In 2015, Miniso launched its globalization strategy, opening its first overseas store in Southeast Asia, and then quickly expanding its stores to markets in Oceania, the Middle East, Latin America, North America, and Europe.
In early 2023, MINISO announced a global brand strategy upgrade , firmly believing that "large stores create large performance" and promoting the "super store" development plan globally, using "super stores" as a key driver to become a global super brand.
"To become a global brand, you must occupy the world's top business districts." In May 2023, MINISO's iconic red and white smiling logo appeared at the "Crossroads of the World"—New York's Times Square, becoming the first Chinese new consumer brand to set up shop in Times Square.
Subsequently, Miniso has set up shop in top commercial districts overseas, such as Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York, Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Dubai Mall, and Oxford Street in London, becoming neighbors with luxury brands such as Hermès and LV.
Miniso, a Chinese brand, is illuminating the world. As of March 2024, Miniso has entered 111 countries and regions worldwide, becoming a new benchmark for Chinese brands going global, and its globalization strategy has even been praised by CCTV.
Miniso's globalization journey has accelerated in recent years.
According to Miniso's 2024 semi-annual financial report, the Miniso Group has more than 7,000 stores and half-year revenue of 7.759 billion yuan, an increase of 25%. Among them, the overseas market has become the growth engine, with a growth rate of 42.6% and the number of overseas stores reached 2,753.
As alumni embark on a new journey of globalization, how can action education help them?
In May 2023, just four days after MINISO opened its store in Times Square, New York, MINISO's overseas management team gathered at the "Intensive EMBA" course to unify the global team's understanding , crack the key strategies for their respective national markets, and improve the team's business management capabilities.
Following that, in June, August and September of 2023, Miniso's overseas management team entered the "Intensive EMBA" in batches . That year, more Miniso managers also embarked on the learning journey of the "Principal EMBA" .
In September of this year, the 530th session of the "Intensive EMBA" program was held in Guangzhou. The MINISO overseas team once again traveled from around the world to attend. Tu Baoyan, the team leader and Vice President of MINISO Group and General Manager of Overseas Business Division II, shared the following during the course:
"Last year, Miniso's overseas team studied 'Intensive EMBA' together. Based on the course, we conducted a comprehensive review and found that the company could do better and the entire industry chain could be further focused and upgraded. After implementing the learning, we have also achieved some results."
This time, I continued to lead the management team of our overseas subsidiaries to reach a consensus on collective goals and methods, reduce communication costs, strengthen organizational cohesion, and focus on winning the growth battle. The most important purpose of learning is to generate revenue, and the "Intensive EMBA " has accompanied the growth of Miniso's overseas business.
In 2004, Action Education officially launched "Intensive EMBA". This single course has been offered for 20 years, constantly evolving and upgrading based on different market environments and the needs of enterprises in different eras. It has accompanied the development of one company at different stages and tens of thousands of companies across different eras.
We are honored to have accompanied and witnessed the growth and achievements of MINISO, a great company. Action-oriented education focuses on practical results, and we emphasize that learning drives the development of enterprises. The 17 years of continuous collaboration with MINISO, an alumni-owned company, and the achievements of MINISO at different stages, all demonstrate the success of this partnership between the university and the enterprise.
The story of Action Education and MINISO is a microcosm of the 20 years that Intensive EMBA has served tens of thousands of companies, and it also reflects the significance of Intensive EMBA's continuous upgrades and its companionship of companies.
At the 7th Annual Entrepreneur Principals' Festival of Action Education, Mr. Ye Guofu shared his 17-year partnership with "Intensive EMBA".
