Quang Dong Province, Gwangju City, in an office building surrounded by a glass curtain wall.

At this moment, an old foreigner with slightly curly blonde hair and black-rimmed glasses sat in his seat, staring at a document in his hand and frowning.

On the paper header of the printed material, the word PG is prominently marked.

This is the Greater China headquarters of Proctergamble Baojie Company, and this blonde and blue-eyed foreigner is the president of Greater China, Shi Shengwen.

There were also several project directors in charge of different products standing around him, all of whom were urgently summoned here to report their recent situation to the foreigner president.

With the rapid development of Phantom products, the market for personal care products such as shampoos, facial cleansers, skin care products, and toothpaste and soap has quietly entered a white-hot market competition stage.

Relying on decades of accumulation, although Baojie Company did not fall so quickly, the erosion of the phantom has made the president vigilant and has to convene senior management to discuss coping strategies.

"I just want to know, what's so unique about this Phantom?"

Staring at the declining sales data of various supplies, Shi Shengwen looked at several local Chinese executives in front of him and asked in English.

"We've bought and tried their products ourselves, and they haven't been particularly good at what they do, but they've innovated a lot in terms of convenience and the user experience has been very good."

A nearby executive in charge of the sales of facial cleanser products said, "It can be said that it has broken the disadvantages of conventional personal care products, although it is only a little bit of progress in technology, but it is enough to make users feel new and favored." ”

Several other executives nodded in agreement, acknowledging the statement.

When they saw the Phantom's products for the first time, they were also taken aback, curious whether this was a chemical product or a magic appliance, the soap was no longer slippery and could be thrown out at any time, and the shampoo did not have to worry about pouring out too much at a time, just like the hairspray, a little bit is enough to remove dandruff and oil, and the facial cleanser and the like are integrated with mask technology, and the effect is outstanding, and there is no need to worry about fading the eyes...

Even if this kind of technology is handed over to Baojie to do it himself, it may be difficult to research it in five or ten years.

"And they've done a great job of supporting marketing."

One of the marketing executives chose, "Not only did they create the product, they hired professional production staff, choreographed unique dances and soundtracks for the ads to reach consumers, and even set up a separate comic book company for it..."

"Can anyone tell me which planet this company flew from?"

Hearing this, even this foreigner president, who has worked in several countries and has great experience, was a little stunned.

"According to our investigation, this company belongs to the AACC Group, and another stationery brand under this group has just beaten several other competitors, and has become a first-line giant in the industry, controlling more than 70% of China's stationery market."

It also cooperates with Aida Group, one of the top 10 companies in China with a strong political background, including a senior management who is a national manager. The son-in-law of a certain leader of the Ministry of Affairs, therefore, we have reason to believe that the development of this company has also been supported by the political axe, of course, it is not excluded that it has been supervised. ”

"That's for sure."

Shi Shengwen nodded, if such an excellent enterprise born in the local area shows a certain market potential and value, it will be valued and concerned by the political axe in any country.

"It's unlikely to be acquired, but we need to do something about it, and if it continues, our earnings for the quarter could be ugly."

Seeing the president's pensive look, one of the executives continued, "As long as we compete fairly in the market, it is not easy for the political axe to interfere in anything. ”

At this time, everyone present still had an idea, although the other party was slightly ahead of the other party in terms of technology, but Baojie's resource advantage was still very strong, how to say that it was also a global chemical products giant, how could it be so easily defeated by a local Chinese brand.

"Mobilize the marketing department, increase print media publicity, increase the amount of TV media advertising, and use the combination of price reduction strategies to attract and retain existing customer resources..."

After some thought, the blonde Shi Shengwen issued his own order.

Compared with Phantom, which spends almost all of its budget on advertising, Baojie has more than enough money in this regard.

"We just spent $10 billion last year on restructuring and laying off thousands of employees in exchange for a return on revenue, and now we have to be cautious." Shi Shengwen looked up at several executives in front of him, with a serious look on his face, "No matter what, we must keep our market share from major fluctuations." ”

"We know that we will do our best to maintain market share!"

Since joining Baojie as an executive, it is the first time they have seen the president look so serious, and they immediately expressed their attitude.

With the same confusion as Baojie, there is no other foreign giant, Unilever.

The world's second largest consumer goods manufacturer, composed of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, has been investing in production in China as early as the thirties of the twentieth century, and when it returned to the Chinese market in the eighties, it can be said to be like a fish in water, and Baojie, Oriental Flower, etc., occupy half of the Chinese personal care products market.

The company's best strategy is brand acquisition, and the most famous case is the merger and acquisition of the former well-known domestic toothpaste brand "China Toothpaste".

Originally, at the beginning, after learning that a new local company called Phantom was booming, the company headquartered in the magic capital tried to reach out to Phantom executives to negotiate mergers and acquisitions.

However, they couldn't find where the company was.

Later, I found out that this company, which combines strong productivity, innovation and brand research and development capabilities, is actually nested in an inconspicuous corner of the AACC building!

After learning that the company was owned by AACC, Unilever took the initiative to send someone to contact Li Mo to try to negotiate the terms of the merger.

In their view, most local enterprises in China are still very eager for foreign capital injection, in addition to the technical and financial support, most of the region's preferential tax policies for foreign-funded enterprises also make many CEOs salivate.

Unfortunately, the representatives of the opposing side were rejected before they even entered the AACC building.

The reason given by Li Mo is simple, we have no interest in mergers and acquisitions.

As a result, the veteran company is naturally suspicious of the Phantom's strong development, and the trick they can think of to deal with this potential rival is also the same as Baojie's, that is, the price reduction strategy.

Low-price preferential marketing is a very popular thing in any country.

But apparently the two giants did a little reluctant this time, because they didn't think about playing low-price sales at this time in their original plan, they came to beware of the Phantom, and at the same time they were competitors to each other, and if the other one lowered the price, then they had to follow.

And there are many restrictions on small profits and quick turnover, and blindly reducing prices beyond a certain limit will not only have a certain impact on the company's finances, but also affect the brand value.

But in order to maintain their shrinking market share, they had to roll up their sleeves and compete with the phantom that was now rising.

…

"Boss, the two giants have finally acted."

On the third day of the audition, Lu Siming brought the latest news to Li Mo.

"Well, I see."

At this moment, Li Mo himself is also browsing the web, and he has already seen the relevant news in the financial news column - Baojie Unilever and other companies have seen a decline in growth in China and have been forced to implement a low-price strategy

What's more funny is that the news source is the media where Baojie's headquarters is located, Guangzhou.

Yesterday, the reporter visited Carrefour, China Resources Vanguard and other supermarkets in Guangzhou, and found that although there was no official notice of price reduction for Huahua products, there were many promotions on the shelves. For example, many of Baojie's toiletries 'add 1 yuan more than 1 piece', and Unilever's Lux shower gel is over 28 yuan, and 180ml of Lux shower gel is given..."

Although one of the last professionals attributed the reason to "an increase in domestic and foreign competitors", only the two companies knew internally that the Phantom of the strong rise was the biggest disaster for them.

"Are we going to follow the price reduction promotion as well?"

Lu Siming asked Li Mo's opinion.

"Price reductions? Why Promotion? We can't sell it, so why should we reduce the price? Li Mo shook his head, "What's more, do you think we can afford this kind of price war?" ”

If it was almost used to smash the opponent who bound him to death with money, then this time it is not so simple.

Playing with the world's top 100 giants to burn money, you will do it only after your brain is pumped.

"Fortunately, they are different from Hengjiu Huabai, they have not formed a business alliance, and they are competitors to each other, so we still don't want to mix in this price war."

While closing the webpage, Li Mo said, "What do you think of our current productivity situation?" ”

Then Li Mo suddenly asked a question that seemed unrelated.

"Well, the number of factories is satisfied, but there is a shortage of human resources..."

Lu Siming was stunned for a moment, and then quickly replied.

"So, this time, not only do I not plan to reduce the price, but I also want to improve the benefits of the next line workers." Staring at the monthly profit data report on the table, Li Mo continued, "You will change our recruitment benefits later, make a corresponding increase according to the profit level, and add an article, and relevant practitioners will be hired first." ”

The reason why foreign-funded enterprises value the Chinese market is that there is a huge consumer demand here, and the second important reason is the cheap labor here.

Abuse of employees, depressing salaries, and indirectly increasing the amount of labor... It can be said that the Chinese workers are paid the lowest salary after the people of Asia, Africa and Latin America, and do the most and hardest work.

This time, since the other party replayed the price card, and in order to avoid its edge, Li Mosuo's surname played the favor card - according to his own profit level, the corresponding increase in workers' salaries.

The amount does not need to be too high, as long as it is better than the benefits of factories working for foreigners.

I can't beat you head-on, but I must make your soldiers feel thirsty and disgruntled, and then reduce their enthusiasm for work and lose their combat effectiveness.

And if Baojie and other companies not only reduce prices at this time, but also improve employee benefits, it is almost impossible.

The significance of Li Mo's move is not only to tell consumers that we have confidence in our own brand, but also to tell our own owners that it is absolutely worth working hard for AACC, and the company will not disappoint every employee who throws sweat.

At the same time, such a time to increase the salary of employees, whether from the people's hearts to the back, productivity and combat effectiveness, or from the social public opinion, can achieve extremely positive effects.

After all, for the name of the world's cheap labor factory, at best, it is linked to national honor and disgrace.

If there are really any enterprises that can take the lead in breaking the cage, playing the sign of national self-improvement, and boldly raising the salary level of front-line workers in China and maintaining it, then in China, it will undoubtedly be an excellent propaganda strategy, just like getting rid of the signboard of "the sick man of East Asia", which is much stronger than any one-yuan discount.

Are Chinese people really so short of money that they only care about the money for this one or two yuan to buy soap and shampoo?

In Li Mo's view, it is absolutely not, they just lack an outlet to vent, just like Sony, which is proud of itself, and Koreans are proud of their Hyundai cars, it is not that the Chinese people do not want to support domestic production, but lack of an opportunity.

And what he has to do is to seize the opportunity to create such an opportunity. (To be continued.) )