In the past, parts used in the production of bicycles by Taichung City-headquartered Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd. were easily lost, causing great trouble for sales and after sales staffers. It took Young Liu—the son of Giant founder King Liu and at the time a low-level employee with the central Taiwan company—more than a year to complete the ready-to-ride project aimed at assembling 95 percent of a bicycle before sending it to a customer.
Giant Chairwoman Bonnie Tu said the initiative, which greatly enhanced product quality and management efficiency at Giant, set an example for other business operators to follow and is now a standard operating practice. And she should know. After all, Tu began working for Giant in 1978 as a special assistant of King Liu, remaining in the position for two years.
Giant started as a small outfit operating on the original equipment manufacturing model. “Sometimes the whole factory was very quiet because no products were being made,” Tu said. At the time, the company was often viewed as a research institute instead of a bicycle-maker. When there were no bicycles to make, employees were sent to study and still got paid. Giant did not report a profit until seven years after opening.
According to Tu, the most important thing she learned from King Liu is the importance of prioritizing honesty over healthy bottom lines. She was quite impressed by a case of crisis management concerning problems found with parts in Giant bicycles that had been sent to buyers. King Liu quickly decided to make up for his client’s loss before seeking compensation from the parts-maker.
Young Liu is also quick to acknowledge the wisdom of King Liu in matters of business. After graduating from Feng Chia University in Taichung and completing his compulsory military service, Young Liu went to the U.S. to study for a master’s in business administration. During summer vacations, he worked as an unpaid intern at Giant like he did as an undergraduate.
Young Liu said he often complained about his financial predicament to King Liu. But he was met with brutal honesty: “You have never paid a dime for your education and somehow expect a salary?”
In an effort to make ends meet, Young Liu interned at warehouses and took a number of other tough jobs. He was once sent to a warehouse in Chicago to unload bicycles from containers. On freezing days, moving the big, cold cartons containing bicycles bruised his arms and legs, and tore his jeans and gloves to shreds.
Tu said that among all managers at Giant, her cousin Young Liu is perhaps the only one to have faced such hard times. Sharing a straightforward approach to life and love of an up-tempo working pace, the pair rarely quibbles when it comes to the division of labor.
“She asks the questions and I find the answers,” Young Liu said, adding that in future, Tu will be responsible for risk control and resource allocation while he is set to focus on conducting operations and expanding the business.
In July last year, it became clear that Tu and Young Liu will take the helm of Giant. Consequently, they wasted no time in setting operational goals and policies for 2017. At a media event Dec. 16, 2016, Young Liu said Giant will change its leadership from the traditional top-down model to a collective one comprising Tu, himself and 14 other managers. This is Young Liu’s own idea and one endorsed by King Liu and former CEO Anthony Lo.
Since September 2016, in order to smoothly implement the new leadership model, every Wednesday saw King Liu, Lo, Tu and Young Liu in a coffee meeting from 8 to 9 a.m. “It’s my idea to have those meetings, so we can learn more from [King Liu and Lo],” Tu said. “Such exchanges should’ve begun earlier.”
Nowadays, every Wednesday at 10 a.m., Tu and Young Liu have a coffee meeting with the company’s 14 managers. This is promoting the take up of a new organizational culture and developing better understanding among the new leadership team’s members, Tu added.
“We’ve got a mission and we can’t screw it up,” she said. “We can fly even higher.”
Can Tu and Young Liu surpass the achievements of King Liu and longtime CEO Lo? The story of Giant is to be continued.
[By Lin Pei-xuan / tr. by Pat Gao]
This translated text is the second and final part of “Can the ‘godmother of bicycles’ and the ‘little prince’ surpass the achievements of the founder, King Liu?” The first was published Sept. 1, 2017, by Taiwan Today in Weekly Wrap.