Chapter 778 Raising the Flag

In the office of Millennium Supermarket, Yang Dongxu and Hu Dashan sat on one side, and opposite them sat a gentle man wearing glasses. The man was wearing a slim suit, but he didn't wear a tie, and two buttons of his shirt were undone, which looked strict but casual.

Hu Dashan felt very conflicted when he saw the man sitting opposite him. He realized a long time ago that as the ship of Millennium Supermarket grew bigger, it became more and more difficult for him to control it.

But he still made the greatest effort, and spent more than half of the year on business trips across the country, trying to do his best.

But some things can't be done by hard work. The gap in talent, the accumulation of knowledge, and the narrowness of vision made him barely a half-mental worker, and the rest used physical strength to make up for the lack of talent.

But with the further development of the domestic economic environment, the industry in Yang Dongxu's hands has changed from a person who was steadily executing orders at the beginning to a person who had to stabilize the domestic market and move towards the international market, and the ability requirements for corporate managers are getting higher and higher.

With his ability, it might be no problem to manage the logistics that can be traced. But if he takes charge of the Millennium, which is about to set sail, even if Yang Dongxu guides the general direction, he is no longer capable of dealing with the difficulties and obstacles along the way and even the reefs that he encounters.

"What do you think of the current situation of the Millennium Supermarket?" Yang Dongxu leaned back in his chair and looked at Zhang Tianming opposite him.

This is the talent that Li Ji selected for him after careful selection. He is a graduate of the Department of Economics at Oxford University, the former assistant to the president of Tesco, and later the general manager of the Hong Kong division.

Originally, Tesco was also optimistic about the domestic retail market and was preparing to enter the mainland. He was nominated as the president of the Huaxia division. As a result, Tesco, currently the third largest retailer in the world, has some problems in its operations.

In addition, Carrefour is currently aggressively competing with the local retail industry in China. Now it is a good opportunity to enter the mainland market, but the cost is also rapidly increasing due to the fierce competition.

Therefore, Tesco plans to slow down its plan to attack the mainland on a large scale and let Zhang Tianming come out to try to open a few Tesco supermarkets in major cities in the mainland as a bridgehead.

So Zhang Tianming, the general manager of Tesco Hong Kong, became the president of the Huaxia division with only two or three kittens under him. However, he was very optimistic about the mainland market, so he was full of fighting spirit rather than discouragement.

But just when he was ready to integrate the limited resources in his hands and stabilize it, the senior management of Tesco changed a CEO. The other party was pessimistic about entering the mainland market, so he suggested in the shareholders' meeting to cancel the plan and instead enter the small Southeast Asian countries that giants such as Walmart and Carrefour have not noticed.

This proposal was supported by some shareholders, so Huaxia's mainland investment funds began to decline sharply. Then Zhang Tianming was transferred back to the headquarters to wait for other appointments.

Because the general manager of the Hong Kong division had already been appointed, he had no position for the time being after leaving Huaxia, so he could only be idle for the time being.

After such a tossing back and forth, he lost his position as the general manager of Hong Kong and the president of the Huaxia division. After decades of hard work, he was transferred back to the headquarters and became the president's assistant. How could he bear this?

It just so happened that Li Ji found him when he was helping Yang Dongxu to find a talent who could stand on his own in the retail industry. After a thorough understanding, he decisively offered a chip of an annual salary of one million plus 1% of the Millennium Supermarket option shares.

Zhang Tianming has been in office at Millennium Supermarket for a month now, but he has not officially taken office. Instead, he has been assigned a deputy general manager position to travel around the country to get a deep understanding of all the situations of Millennium Supermarket. Combined with the market research and preparations he had made for Tesco to enter the mainland market, he officially reported to Yang Dongxu today.

"Millennium Supermarket is in a very good situation now, so good that I feel a little wasteful." Zhang Tianming said, adjusting his glasses.

This is not a compliment, nor is it bragging to show his superior ability. It is a statement of facts, because Millennium's business situation is indeed surprisingly good.

He is also an old man in the retail industry, and he is familiar with the methods and means of expanding the retail market. Whether it is looking for local governments, policy makers, spokespersons, or franchisees, he is very familiar with these means.

But how did Millennium Supermarket expand? All supermarkets were bought. If there were no suitable storefronts in the investment area, they would directly cooperate with Hurricane Construction to build them.

They had a lot of supplier procurement contracts, four long-term contracts for vegetable plantations of large farmers, 10 long-term procurement contracts for pig farms across the country, plus some electrical appliances, daily necessities, seafood, etc.

The products that can be put on the shelves of Millennium Supermarket are simply rich and have no shortcomings, and they are all first-hand sources, with absolute advantages in price.

And with such a huge investment and step-by-step foundation, the debt ratio of Millennium Supermarket did not exceed 10%. After seeing this statistic, he almost thought he was dazzled.

With such a foundation and such capital, they were thrown into a mess by a wave of impact from Carrefour. He felt that the boss of this company was a pig-head. If nothing else, he could crush other competitors just by playing a price war.

Even if there is no price war, playing with suppliers, playing with logistics systems, and playing with product cost performance, which one is not advantageous? What's more, Millennium Supermarket still has a stable 3 million loyal members. You are fully armed with machine guns and cannons, but you can't beat someone with a kitchen knife. Isn't that stupid or something?

But when he got to know Millennium Supermarket more deeply, and then accidentally heard Hu Dashan introduce his boss's wealth and business, he instantly changed from looking down on him to looking up to him and even respecting him.

It's not that his boss is too stupid, but that his boss doesn't have much time to care about the retail industry. He has big things to do.

In his opinion, Millennium Supermarket, which is enough to rectify the domestic market and enter the world retail industry, is not even ranked in the top three among the companies owned by the boss. What else can he say except offering his knees?

"What do you think of other international retail giants that are coming in with great momentum?" Yang Dongxu asked.

"Directly cut off the source of the fire." Zhang Tianming said decisively.

"Oh?" Yang Dongxu looked at him with a smile, as if he was willing to hear more details.

"Price war!" Zhang Tianming said.

"This is a bit destructive to the overall environment." Hu Dashan said.

"There are two types of so-called damage to the environment. One is irreversible damage, and the other is tolerable loss that can lead to better development?"

"This." Hu Dashan frowned. This was a bit of a rogue. If it was put in other places, he would feel nothing. But he felt that Zhang Tianming was a fool to be rogue with the official.

Doesn't this foreign monk know that the business rules abroad are different from those in China?

"Continue." Yang Dongxu said without saying anything and his expression changed.

"According to my investigation, the government actually supports local enterprises, and some policies are very supportive. Not only foreign enterprises have preferential policies, but there are also many preferential policies for local enterprises.

The reason why foreign enterprises are developing better and better, while the production conditions of local enterprises are becoming more and more worrying.

The fundamental reason is the problem of local enterprises themselves, whether it is technology, management, or talent reserves. We have gaps with each other in this regard and need to learn humbly.

But this applies to other local enterprises, but not to Millennium Supermarket. Whether it is vertical or horizontal comparison, Millennium Supermarket has no obvious shortcomings compared to foreign retail giants, but has local advantages that foreign companies do not have.

So since we have advantages, we can compete with those foreign giants in the retail market. As long as we can win, I believe everyone can understand some of the short-term justifications."

"Tell me about your specific methods." Yang Dongxu nodded. Although the price war is a move that hurts the enemy a thousand and hurts yourself eight hundred.

But it must be said that this move is very useful now. Millennium Supermarket's foundation is really too good. Losing a wave of blood is at most a little thin, but if the opponent loses a wave of blood, it will collapse if it is not done well. So this move can be said to be a sure-fire move if it is used well.

Of course, if the opponent grits his teeth and uses his strong capital to fight against Millennium, that is another matter. After all, as a giant in the world's retailers, he still has some tricks. If he gets ruthless, Millennium will not be able to withstand it. But if Millennium fails, its boss also has strong capital, so Zhang Tianming is confident that he can win this battle.

And more importantly, as he said, if Millennium Supermarket loses money for one or two years, it will be a bit difficult for Millennium Supermarket at most. But if those retail giants lose money for a quarter, their stock prices will fall after the financial statements are released. If they lose money for six consecutive months, their stocks will not collapse, and the opponent will not be better off. They must adjust their strategic focus to give shareholders hope.

"National brand!" Zhang Tianming said a little excitedly.

"Huh?" Yang Dongxu was stunned for a moment and then figured out something.

"Hold a press conference first, raise the banner of national brand and occupy the righteousness first, so that you can get a lot of convenience and support."

"Your idea is really good." Yang Dongxu looked at the gentle Zhang Tianming, and the more he looked, the more he felt that under the gentle appearance in front of him, there was a gangster soul hidden.

First, there was a rogue price war, and then there was a national brand bundling. Such means are both gangster and rational.