文档介绍：(072-083)Q3'01_Legend v4 8/21/01 10:34 AM Page 72
GEOFFREY MOSS
(072-083)Q3'01_Legend v4 8/21/01 10:35 AM Page 73
73
THE McKinsey Interview
puter Legend
in the making
Allan R. Gold, Glenn Leibowitz, and Anthony Perkins
Liu Chuanzhi, the chairman of Legend Holdings, explains how his
company became China’s—and Asia’s—leading manufacturer of PCs.
hen people in most parts of the world want to buy a personal
puter, they usually think first of the well-known brands: Compaq,
puter, and IBM, for example.
Not so in China. There the branded PC of choice is called Legend. Never heard
of it? Perhaps not for long, if Liu Chuanzhi has his way. Since 1984, Liu, the chair-
man of Legend Holdings, has built pany into China’s (and Asia’s) number-
one manufacturer of PCs, with more than $3 billion in revenue. Legend expects
to double that figure in three years.
Although still controlled by the state, Legend is a pany, and its shares
trade on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. Liu is a forceful advocate for going
public and a pioneer in China in the use of stock options. In the following inter-
view, conducted in Hong Kong by Allan Gold, Glenn Leibowitz, and Tony Perkins,
Liu discussed the challenge of shaping a essful market-pany in
China and the prospects for Legend in the petitive technology sector.
(072-083)Q3'01_Legend v4 8/21/01 10:35 AM Page 74
74 THE McKINSEY QUARTERLY 2001 NUMBER 3
The Quarterly: Please tell us about
Hidden dragon the origins of Legend and how you
went about building pany.
Liu Chuanzhi
Liu Chuanzhi: I came out of the
Vital statistics
• 57 years old Chinese Academy of Sciences, where
• Born in Shanghai, China, I was doing work on ic stor-
and raised in Beijing, China age. But I had to put my designs to
• Married with 2 children
the side because there was no way
Education to turn them into products. In 1984,
• Graduated in 1966 with engineering degree from Xian when the market reforms in