Glass Tycoon Cao Dewang1
Cao Dewang is the founder and chairman of Fuyao Glass Industry Group, one of the world’s largest producers
- Cao Dewang is the founder and chairman of Fuyao Glass Industry Group, one of the world’s largest producers of glass for cars. He is also a great charity person, who has topped the Hurun China Charity List several times and set up the Heren Charity Foundation.
- When Cao was very young, he became very poor because of the downfall of his family and had to drop out of school at the age of 14. He began his business education on the streets, cycling a round-trip 80 km to sell fruit in the city of Fuqing. He spent some time as a chef before landing a job in 1976 at Fuqing Gaoshan Special Glass Factory. In 1983 he was asked to take over the failing factory by the local government. He turned it around, changing its name to Fuyao Glass later.
- The factory stepped into the auto glass sector in 1985, when Cao realised it could be a promising industry and founded Fuyao based on that vision. At that time, no one was actually making auto glass in China, which left auto repair companies with no choice but to import the commodity, and that led to overpriced services and a high cost of car ownership. After some basic market research, Cao found that big companies were not willing to do this small-scale business but small companies were not capable of doing it. He then established the goal of making aff ordable glass for the Chinese.
- At the beginning, Fuyao was really small, with only a million-level registered capital. After nearly three decades, Fuyao has become the world’s largest auto glass supplier. The company has been listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange since 1993. Today, it employs more than 20,000 people globally. It is said that in China, two out of every three cars use Fuyao glass, while in the world, one out of every four cars uses Fuyao glass.
- Being focus is one of the key factors for Cao Dewang’s success. He never diversifies into any other businesses, and just focuses on auto glass. “My next goal is to make glass more perfect,” said Cao.
- Critical Thinking
- 1. What made Cao Dewang succeed?
- 2. What can we learn from Cao Dewang?