African Entrepreneurship Record

"It seems that we still need to recruit more workers! We obviously have insufficient sales staff. I didn't expect that we would encounter this kind of situation again after the outbreak of the economic crisis." said the personnel manager of the Austrian Hechingen Tobacco Company.

As a tobacco giant that has just emerged in recent years, Heichingen Tobacco Company has encountered an economic crisis for the first time, so it has some insufficient experience.

"Yes, market research results show that after the outbreak of the economic crisis, workers' unemployment pressure and cost of living pressure have greatly increased, the social environment has become increasingly depressed, and the uncertainty about future expectations has greatly increased people's demand for tobacco and alcohol. , especially the sales of cheap tobacco and alcohol products have increased significantly. Now as long as we have enough cheap raw materials to produce enough low-price products, we can make more money."

"However, we should set up more sales outlets, especially mobile street stalls, rather than professional salesmen. Smokers don't want someone to scream like flies in their ears at this time."

"It's like this. The current social atmosphere is not very good. If we hire professional salesmen, I'm afraid it will have the opposite result."

Being a salesman is definitely a job that can easily arouse disgust. When the economic situation is good in normal times, people are more tolerant. But now the mood of the entire society is not stable, and those salesmen with average eloquence will only cause conflicts.

After the economic crisis, the Austrian Hechingen Tobacco Company has been living a very comfortable life. The empty-spirited Austrian unemployed have significantly increased their demand for cigarettes. This situation is the same as that of the distillery in Hechingen, especially the cheapest vodka, which has seen a huge increase in sales. .

Before the economic crisis broke out, the employees of Hechingen Tobacco Company were quite panicked, because all walks of life were laying off employees and cutting wages, and they were crying out loud, fearing that their own company would follow in the same footsteps.

The impact is still there. The emergence of a large number of unemployed people has indeed lowered wages, especially for unskilled positions. Competition is very fierce, which forces company employees to spend more energy than usual and work hard for fear of losing their jobs. Having been robbed, having a stable job now is better than anything else.

Of course, the company will not lay off workers at will. After all, older employees have more work experience, but the company is also happy to see competition. Some veterans who were good at fishing in the past have begun to actively engage in work, which has greatly improved the efficiency of Hechingen Tobacco Company.

"Ever since we had our own tobacco production areas, we discovered how profitable tobacco really is. The prices of raw materials sold to us by foreigners were too low."

"It cannot be said that tobacco growing areas are concentrated in the tropics and subtropics and require a lot of investment. However, many tobacco producing areas are colonies, and the labor costs in the colonies can be almost negligible. If these colonies did not exist, then what would have happened before The price of tobacco leaves in the market is also reasonable.”

"We don't care whether it is a colony or not. We will buy from whose raw materials are cheaper and of better quality."

"You can't say that. Now our raw materials are actually delivered free of charge from East Africa. We no longer need to shop around and worry about everything as before."

"Hahaha, this happens to be our advantage. The company is also expanding production in Africa. In a few years, we will really be far ahead of our peers. But it is a pity that our tobacco farmers in East Africa have little experience in tobacco cultivation. Compared with other traditional tobacco-producing areas, it obviously has many shortcomings, so the taste of tobacco is also worse than other tobacco-producing areas."

"There is no need to worry about this at all. The area of ​​East Africa is large enough, and the tobacco fields are large enough. Moreover, tobacco has been cultivated for some time now. The taste and yield have been greatly improved. And ordinary people generally don't know much about the taste. They only know the taste." I feel that the taste of Hechingen’s cigarette brands is getting better and better, which is a great thing for us.”

“With the start of tobacco production in East Africa in the past few years, we have been completely relieved of the constraints on raw materials from tobacco giants such as the United Kingdom and the United States. When Matabele Plateau tobacco officially enters the market next year, I believe our business will reach a higher level.”

"Well, this is a sample of gold leaves from the Matabele Plateau, for you to take a look at." He said and distributed a pack of gold leaves in his hand.

The packaging of the sample is enchanting yellow, which looks very conspicuous, and the golden gold leaf trademark is added, which leaves a deep impression on people.

As the manager dispersed the cigarettes from the cigarette box, everyone looked carefully at the so-called "high-end goods."

"Manager, can I take it apart and take a look?"

"Of course, it's okay to try smoking it directly. You can describe the taste in detail."

The old smokers in the company were not polite. They took out lighters and lit cigarettes. The entire conference room became filled with smoke.

Generally speaking, for safety reasons, smoking is prohibited in companies, mainly because they are afraid of causing fires. As for the issue of smoking being harmful to health, I am sorry that people nowadays do not have this concept.

"The taste is very soft, the stamina is great, and the aroma seems to be too strong. I think this kind of tobacco should be mixed with other tobaccos for a better effect."

"With this taste, I feel like we can use it alone to produce cigars! In fact, the taste of cigars is nothing more than this. This can greatly enhance the competitiveness of our high-end products."

"Cigar is an area that we have no experience with at all, and I heard that the manufacturing process of cigars is very complicated and cannot be produced mechanically on a large scale like cigarettes, so the cost is much higher than that of cigarettes."

"Actually, we don't do this at all. People on the market only recognize Cuban cigars, and although the tobacco leaves from the Matabele Plateau are also very high-quality, they really don't have much reputation. The most important thing for our company is to package the brand. , just like Golden Leaf, just make it a perfect high-end product and make ordinary people familiar with the Golden Leaf brand."

"Essentially, we still need to use high-end products to drive sales of low-end products. If ordinary people don't have access to high-end products, they will have the illusion that this thing must be good. Then we use the brand effect brought by high-end products. It can boost sales of low-end products.”

For products of the same quality and price, ordinary people will naturally trust big manufacturers and famous brands more.

"Then increase investment in advertising?"

"Of course we have to do this, but not now, at least until after the economic crisis is over. Now consumers have no time to pay attention to advertising. At present, we still need to increase marketing efforts, especially at lower prices."

Although the tobacco industry has been affected by the economic crisis and has shown unprecedented sales, except for Heichingen Tobacco Company, other tobacco companies are not very happy.

The main reason is that the Heixingen Tobacco Company, the sixth largest, has absorbed a large amount of the market with its independent supply and low-priced raw materials. At first, everyone did not need to roll, but now they have to roll it inward.