DG Group's crushing strategy was divided into two steps.
The first step was to promote the ZAMON brand, making it the most influential luxury brand in China.
Of course, this step was actually a loss. The luxury consumer market was limited, but foreigners also understood the principle of "losing money to gain popularity". This ensured that almost everyone in China knew about ZAMON and DG Group.
The second step was to make a concise corporate image advertisement. Put ZAMON together with other second and third-tier brands, and let everyone know that they were all famous brands.
It was like we all knew that Porsche was a sports car manufacturer, and one day it made a bicycle, we would also think, "Oh, that's a Porsche bicycle, the craftsmanship can't be bad."
DG Group took advantage of people's psychology.
As for why they had to do it in two steps? This followed the simplest principle of advertising and communication: the less you spread, the more people would accept it. Each time, only one concept could be instilled in the consumers to leave the deepest impression.
A few weeks ago, Charles had just finished the first step, and was about to move on to the second step.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly. ZAMON was progressing steadily as planned, the sales of each store and brand also increased, and the investment company also sent good news that they had taken control of a part of Aida's shares. This would also be very helpful for him to compete in the market. Even in the US, which was across the ocean, the sales of ZAMON, which had always been stable, had increased significantly recently, almost like a sign of some kind of great victory.
But at this critical juncture, something very important happened.
In the eyes of China's luggage and bag companies, Charles was a giant who came to steal the market.
But in the eyes of DG China's employees, this middle-aged Australian was actually a very kind, diligent, and even a little cute man.
Whenever he had time, he would go to each department and talk to every employee; he would also invite partners to his office, and give them Australian kangaroo toys. So in the six months since he came to China, as long as he was in contact with people, they all had good comments about him.
However, because of his meticulous way of dealing with people, he was able to grasp more key information, which was of great help to him in making decisions.
Therefore, those who were familiar with him knew that he was not only an easygoing and cute man, but also a decisive and wise man.
That afternoon, he sat in the marketing office and chatted with a few young China employees. Among them were fresh graduates recruited by DG, as well as talents poached from other companies, including New Bori and Aida.
Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. Charles felt that this sentence was well said, so when he first took over DG China, he asked the HR department to look for talents from within the industry. Sure enough, it came in handy now.
At this moment, a girl from New Bori was teasing a guy from Aida.
"That move of yours from Aida was pretty mean." She said, "You controlled Mind. In the end, our New Bori managed Sha Ying so well, but in the end, it was all for you."
The young boy just smiled.
Others might not know the whole story of the bloody war in the last trade war, but he was not. However, these employees were all in the market, so they naturally had a clearer view than others.
Charles had also seen the previous news report, but he only had a general idea. So he looked at the boy with interest, "What exactly was the process?"
Charles returned to his office with a very complicated feeling.
Because he realized that he had completely underestimated Li Zhicheng.
Just now, the descriptions of the Chinese employees had given him a very clear understanding of the process of the last round of the business war and how it had ended. And under his questioning, the China employees told him about the previous battle between Aida and SMQ.
Charles was a person who was very good at grasping details. He quickly discovered a fact: Every time, Li Zhicheng would throw out the bait and provoke his opponent. Then his opponent would naturally follow the rules and attack him back.
As a result, he fell into Li Zhicheng's trap. His Aida looked as if it had been temporarily suppressed after the setback. But in fact, he deliberately led his opponent to do so.
And then after a period of time, Li Zhicheng used his trump card and completely defeated his opponent. And it was the kind of defeat that uprooted his opponent. His opponent could no longer fight against him.
How familiar was the first half of the process?
Wasn't it the current situation of him and DG China!?
Although these were all groundless speculations, Charles was still shocked and broke out in a cold sweat. As we have said before, all talented leaders have very keen intuition when making decisions, and not only rely on data analysis. Ning Weikai was like this, Li Zhicheng was like this, and Charles could sit in his current position because of this.
This afternoon, Charles locked himself in his office and refused to see anyone. But he thought hard and thought hard, but still couldn't figure out what Li Zhicheng would do.
But he still found a pattern, which was that every time Li Zhicheng counterattacked, he almost always seized the opponent's fatal weakness, so his opponent couldn't fight back.
For example, in the first battle, SMQ was trapped in the terms of the Ming Sheng project and couldn't compete with it in time, so a large portion of the mid-range leather bag market was taken by Li Zhicheng.
For example, in the second battle, Sha Ying brand and Mind fabric were firmly tied together. At the same time, New Bori contradicted itself, its new brand destroyed the casual bag and outdoor bag market.
What was DG China's weakness now?
Charles thought about it again and again, for a global leading enterprise like DG, if he really wanted to find a weakness, there was only one.
Chen Zheng.
Having made up his mind, Charles called in a few of his old subordinates from Australia.
"You guys keep an eye on Ben, see what he is busy with. The headquarters also wants to see if he is suitable to stay on as the general manager. But this has to be done in secret, and it's best to find a few Chinese employees to cooperate. After all, you guys are not local, like me, and will be too conspicuous wherever you go. "
The old subordinates all agreed.
A few days later, they brought Charles a shocking piece of news. After hearing it, Charles almost flew into a rage, and immediately roared, "Call Ben to my office! Immediately! "
Although Chen Zheng's brain wasn't the brightest in a high-level business war, he was still a smart person. However, he did have his own way of currying favor with others. Back then, he had planted spies in both New Bori and Aida. Now that DG China was his parent company, it was both a help and a hindrance, so of course, he had planted spies.
Therefore, on this day, before stepping into Charles's office, he received news that Charles was furious, and it was very likely related to the batch of casual bags with quality problems.
Chen Zheng's heart skipped a beat.
But it was only for a moment, and he stepped into Charles's territory as if nothing had happened.
"Hi, boss," he greeted Charles with a smile, who was sitting on the boss's chair, with a gloomy face.
Charles's lungs were about to explode from anger. He was actually a person who was good at interpersonal relationships, but it didn't mean that he had to control his temper in front of his subordinates.
Especially a subordinate that he didn't really like, but couldn't get rid of for the time being.
"Are you still selling those casual bags that didn't meet the quality standards?" he asked almost word by word.
Chen Zheng, "What? Of course not, I don't understand what you are talking about. "
Charles never thought that he would deny it, so shameless!
“Ben！ I told you clearly, that batch of products can't be sold again! But my employees, in many remote stores, saw that they were still on the shelves! Is this how you China people carry out the orders of your superiors?! I really can't understand! I want to complain to the American headquarters! This is a serious dereliction of duty! "
Chen Zheng was stunned, and showed a confused expression, "Charles, there must be some misunderstanding. Is it … someone in the stores didn't follow my orders, and secretly took them out to sell? Don't worry, I will investigate this matter to the end, and give you a satisfactory answer. "
Charles was speechless.
After a while, he calmed down.
He thought that the current development of DG in China couldn't be separated from Chen Zheng and New Bori. Since this matter was discovered, it could be mended after the sheep were lost. As for the complaint, he could wait until next year, when the business was stable, and then replace Chen Zheng.
So he changed to a more serious tone, "Ben, I think you have no idea how big of a crisis this matter is for us." He told Chen Zheng about his analysis of Li Zhicheng in the afternoon (of course, he didn't mention the conclusion that Chen Zheng was the only weakness). Then he said, "If this matter is discovered by Li Zhicheng, he can use this to attack us, and then the image of our company that the Chinese consumers have just accepted will be greatly discounted. At that time, not only DG's second and third-tier brands, but also SMQ's brand, will not be able to make a comeback, and even ZAMON's image will be affected. Then we will be completely defeated! "
Chen Zheng's heart suddenly trembled.
The terror he felt now was far greater than what Charles felt in the afternoon.
Because he had always had a decoy in his heart, a vague thought. Why did Li Zhicheng take the time to launch a new brand when he had finished the production of a large number of casual bags? That caused a large number of his inventory to die in the warehouse, and his cash flow was completely cut off. If it wasn't for the opportunity of DG acquisition, Chen Zheng would have been bankrupt, or even in jail because he couldn't pay his debts.
Now that Charles pointed it out, he suddenly figured out that Li Zhicheng must have secretly controlled all of SMQ's movements, or through informants, or other means, to be able to pick such an accurate time to attack.
This man, was really too ruthless. He was determined to ruin Chen Zheng's reputation, and make him unable to make a comeback!
And what Charles said just now was not without reason. Since Li Zhicheng could accurately control his production progress, it was very likely that he also knew about the quality problems of this batch of products. This would really be like what Charles said, and give them a fatal blow in the near future.
Chen Zheng was also shocked and broke out in a cold sweat.
Charles saw his expression and knew that his words had worked, so he didn't hold him accountable for the time being, but said seriously, "Ben, please deal with this matter immediately."
Chen Zheng nodded, "I will deal with it immediately."
Charles was satisfied.
The two discussed for a while in the office. At first, Charles thought that they should recall all the products sold, and compensate the consumers for their losses, but Chen Zheng strongly disagreed. He thought that there were not many problems with the bags from the outside, and the consumers might not be able to find out. Moreover, DG had just entered China, and this would seriously damage the company's image.
Charles was shocked, because he thought that if there were problems, they should be recalled, which completely went against his principle of integrity. But he really couldn't risk the company's image.
At this time, Chen Zheng advised him, "Charles, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. You have to adapt to the China people's competitive style. You are a noble person, and if others use tricks, you will be at a great disadvantage. "
In the end, it was Chen Zheng who thought of a way to solve the problem once and for all: secretly sell the leisure bun brand to other small enterprises at a low price. It would be best if it was a township enterprise.
Because the quality of their products had always been better than that of giants like Meiqi, Aida, and they wouldn't be picky about this batch of products. Moreover, their corporate image had always been poor, and they were weak. Even if there were problems in the future, they could naturally push the blame to them. Black could also be turned into white, and they had no way to fight back.
Charles slapped the table and applauded, and the matter was settled. But in the next few days, every time Charles thought of this "very despicable" method, he would still feel a little ashamed.
But as time went by, he slowly forgot about it. Later on, when he thought about it again, he felt that it was nothing. In China, one had to be flexible in order to adapt to this immature, but extremely fierce and cruel market.
Ten days later, the leisure bun brand was successfully sold.
Chen Zheng didn't show up in person. According to the subordinate in charge of this matter, the person who bought the brand was a rustic small farmer entrepreneur, and he was even "quite satisfied" with the quality. The subordinate visited his factory and enterprise, and the products were basically sold to third-tier cities and towns in the country. It was very safe, and it wouldn't affect SMQ's main market.
This matter was considered resolved for the time being. But now, Chen Zheng was faced with a new problem.
Because according to the careful calculations of his trusted subordinate, after selling the leisure brand at a low price, SMQ wouldn't be able to reach its established sales target by the end of the year. Even if the ZAMON brand brought SMQ back to life in the next few months, the initial losses would be too large, and it would be difficult to turn the tide.
And according to the management agreement signed by the Chinese and foreign parties, if SMQ couldn't reach its target for two consecutive years, Chen Zheng would be fired.
This situation made Chen Zheng very vexed. Because who knew if Charles would cause trouble for him again next year? This foreign devil was very shrewd, and now he had learned bad things, and had begun to secretly send people to spy on him.
After a painful lesson, Chen Zheng had a bold idea.
To him, protecting SMQ and his own position was more important than the overall sales of DG China.
He decided to kill two birds with one stone.
A few days later, Chen Zheng went to Charles' office again. But this time, he went on his own initiative. He was in a hurry, and his expression was solemn.
He didn't even knock on the door, and ignored the secretary's obstruction. He rushed in, slammed the table, and shouted angrily, "Charles, we've been plotted against by Aida!"
Charles was extremely shocked.
Chen Zheng immediately told him the "whole story."
According to him, this morning, he received an urgent report from the Production Management Department, claiming that the production line had been tampered with, and the latest batch of DG brand leather bags all had quality problems.
Charles was so shocked that he couldn't speak.
The two quickly rushed to the workshop, and looking at the mountain of unqualified products, Charles was so heartbroken and angry that he couldn't speak. The two checked the surveillance video, but found that it had already been tampered with, and there was no footage of any illegal operation or suspicious people.
Charles was very, very angry. He had never met such a shameless competitor before. But deep in his heart, he still felt something was wrong, so he asked Chen Zheng, "Are you sure it was Aida?"
Chen Zheng nodded, "Of course. They used to do this when we were competing. And Li Zhicheng, what can't he do? That Lin Qian isn't a good person either. Look at the advertisements she planned, how shameless! This thing happened just at the beginning of our business, and it happened immediately. Their intention was very obvious. If I hadn't found out early, I'm afraid all the products would have been ruined by them! "
Charles finally believed him and nodded his head bitterly.
Chen Zheng asked again, "Should we report this to the headquarters immediately?"
"No!" Charles blurted out almost immediately.
Recently, the market momentum was very good, and DG had the tendency to be on par with China's enterprises. He had also just received a commendation from the headquarters, and was about to take the crucial second step. If this matter were to be exposed at this critical moment, the headquarters would definitely blame him for poor management, and all kinds of support policies would probably be discounted.
Chen Zheng laughed in his heart. What he wanted was for Charles to hide the truth, so that he would have something to use against him. In the future, they would be in the same boat. As long as Charles was safe, his position would definitely be stable.
He anxiously asked again, "Then what should we do?"
Charles interrupted him, "I'll handle it! Although there is a problem with this batch of goods, it's only a problem with one sub-brand. We can postpone its launch, and it won't affect the overall strategic layout. That's it. "
"Okay, you're still far-sighted." Chen Zheng showed a helpless expression.
After a while, Charles suddenly raised his head and asked him, "Last time, you said that if the relationship between Lin Qian and Lin Mochen was made public, it would be an effective blow to Aida and Li Zhicheng … What's your plan?"
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