Chapter 1086 Business Strategic Direction of France

The view that the situation in France is more complicated than in Britain is not derived from Xia Yu's random analysis, but the real situation.

Of the current three European giants – Britain, France and West Germany – Britain is undoubtedly the most lenient towards Jews, and this is due to a combination of factors.

The most obvious is the situation of the Three Kingdoms during World War II.

Needless to say, Germany had fallen, and all the Jews in the country had been purged by Germany, but Britain, which was protected by the English Channel, held its homeland, so the strength of Jewish families and consortia in Britain was preserved.

Not to mention, London is also the financial center of Europe, and there are a large number of listed companies in the UK, and Jewish families and consortia are masters in this area, and they can easily control or influence many companies, and naturally, they can influence the attitude of the British towards them.

On the contrary, in France and West Germany, especially in West Germany, those families were not keen on making the family business public, and they valued the control and future development of the company, which greatly blocked the penetration of Jewish power in this respect.

The situation in France and Germany has also made many families' control of certain fields unchanged for decades or even hundreds of years.

Even if the nature of the French state has changed a few times, it has not changed these families, because whether France is a former constitutional monarchy or a current republic, it is still those families who rule France, and they have not changed at all.

This can be seen from the fact that the Bourbons, Orleans, and Bonaparte families who once ruled France still exist at the same time! (It really still exists, this is a European tradition, because for this reason, there are always dynasties restored in ancient Europe, and ancient China rarely retains the remnants of the previous dynasty)

According to statistics, the proportion of family-owned enterprises in the top 250 enterprises in France and West Germany now exceeds 40 percent! Many of them hold 80 percent, 90 percent, or even complete shares!

This proportion is very terrifying, because as far as Xia Yu knows, there are less than one-third of the family-owned enterprises in the United States, and most of them are wholly-owned acquisitions or joint controls by major consortia in the later stage.

As the saying goes, flies don't bite seamless eggs!

Many of France's "tempting good eggs" are seamless, and many of the business methods that Xia Yu is good at can't be used at all in the face of many companies in France!

And the connection between the major ancient families in France is also very close, if the degree is not grasped well, stabbing one is like poking a hornet's nest.

If it weren't for this reason, France would not be the most difficult country for American capital to enter.

This can be seen from the fact that in later generations, France often acted as a maverick, did not give face to the United States, and even sang the opposite.

Among the three European giants in later generations, Britain was the most obedient, Germany was stuck by the American garrison so it couldn't be tough, and France was as rigid as ever.

The government in capitalist society represents the will of capital, and capital in the United States manipulates the government to achieve its own goals, and French capital can of course influence the government to resist or even fight back.

......

That night, Xia Yu went back to recuperate, and after getting up and having breakfast the next day, he stayed at home to formulate a strategy for the French settlement.

After thinking about it, Xia Yu still decided that his career in France should be more based on the tertiary industry, supplemented by the secondary industry and the primary industry.

It's not that he doesn't want to deeply penetrate the industrial manufacturing industry that is related to people's livelihood and affects the foundation of France, but the reality of the situation does not allow it.

The vast majority of France's heavy industry and military industry do not need to be considered, and a large part of it is owned by Chinese enterprises, and the remaining part is also the family industry of some French families, which is difficult to take away.

For example, the two major French automobile companies, Peugeot Citroen Group and Renault Automobile Group, the former is in the hands of the Peugeot family and the government, although the Peugeot family only holds 25 percent of the shares, but the voting rights are as high as 38 percent, and the French government also holds 14 percent of the shares.

As for the latter, not to mention the Renault Automobile Group, which is now the second largest car manufacturer in France or a French military giant, produced guns and ammunition, aircraft and light tanks for France during World War I, and produced weapons and munitions for Germany during World War II.

In addition to these two heavy industry and military giants, there are many large industrial groups in France, but Xia Yu knows very well that this time those giants will also not be able to shake off the fate of being nationalized by the French government.

Therefore, it is difficult and risky to engage in manufacturing in France.

Of course, the most important thing is that most of them have no future!

Yes, there is no future!

At this point, at this time, only Xia Yu in the world can make this kind of judgment with great certainty!

Although France began to implement "deindustrialization" a few years ago, aviation, automobiles, rail transit, military industry, nuclear power, and so on still maintain strong competitiveness in the world, and it is impossible for large families and consortia engaged in these fields to watch the decline of family industries.

According to the statistics made by the French government's statistics department at the beginning of this year, in 1980 the added value of the manufacturing industry accounted for 18.49 percent of the gross national product, and the service industry accounted for 57.83 percent.

But Xia Yu remembers that in 2017, the proportion of France's manufacturing added value in GDP has dropped to less than 10%!

And the added value of the service sector accounts for more than 70% of the GDP, which is higher than that of the United Kingdom, Germany and the island countries!

In later generations, France did not have a large manufacturing company that was competitive on a global scale, but relatively few.

France is known all over the world for retail, luxury goods, cosmetics, wine and FMCG!

And these industries are still far from reaching the explosive influence of later generations, and it can be said that the future is extremely bright.

Under the premise that it is difficult to enter the inherent field of large French families and consortia, it is undoubtedly the most appropriate to occupy the track in advance by relying on the vision of future generations.

When the power and money in these latter fields break out, it will be too late for the big families and consortia in France to want to restrict them, and Xia Yu will be able to really gain a firm foothold in France.

With these core pillar industries, supplemented by companies in other fields, the comprehensive competitiveness and influence will definitely not be weak!

With this in mind, Xia Yu took a pen and wrote down four words on paper - fashion, wine, retail, and other industries.

So where does the fashion sector start?

According to the information collected by Leo Martin, it is impossible for L'Oreal Group, which is now the strongest in the field of cosmetics in France, to be acquired, which is indeed a pity for Xia Yu.

But there is no way, Liliane Petain, the only daughter of Eugène Schulaire, the founder of the L'Oréal Group, is the one who is defending everyone, he can't buy it, and no one else can buy it either.

At present, the largest shareholder of L'Oréal Group is Gesparal, which holds 53.7% of L'Oréal Group's shares, but this company is only a shell company established purely for cooperative holdings, with only two shareholders, namely Liliana Betancourt, who holds 51% of the shares, and Nestlé Group, which holds 49% of the shares.

The reason for this control is also that Liliane Betancourt learned in 1974 that the French government wanted to nationalize L'Oréal, so she took a life-saving measure and introduced Nestlé to protect herself.

In that year, the French government was approved by Nestlé in public relations, but Liliane Betancourt and Nestlé were restricted from selling, transferring or mortgaging L'Oréal's shares for 20 years.

It's only been seven years now, and there are still thirteen years left before the deadline, and no one is playing!

If Xia Yu wants to fight the idea of L'Oreal Group, the only way is to acquire the Swiss Nestle Group.

Otherwise, you can only buy a part of the equity from the stock market and become a major shareholder.

In Xia Yu's view, investing in L'Oréal is definitely necessary, but for his strategy, he must have a cosmetics company that he fully controls.

As for Chanel, it is also no fun, this company is not yet listed, and it is more than 70% owned by the Widmore family, which is a powerful family that previously held half of the shares of Felix Amio, the manufacturer of the French Amio bomber, and is a long-established family in France.

And the Hermes company, which has now been passed down to the fifth generation of the Hermès family, has a collective shareholding of 56.2 percent, which is also difficult to manage.

Kering, on the other hand, is now just a timber company that has been established for more than a decade.

On the contrary, LVMH Group, which is second only to L'Oreal Group in terms of market value among French luxury goods companies in later generations, has not yet been established.

Now there are only Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennessy in France, and neither of them has merged.

So, do you need to hesitate?

Let's take these two first!