Rebirth of the Industrial Tycoon

Bill Ford learned of the union's failure immediately.

"What did you say? The union called off the strike without asking for any benefits?" Bill Ford showed an incredulous expression.

The assistant nodded: "Not only that, the management also refused to recall those workers who had been laid off!"

"That means the United Auto Workers has failed!" Bill Ford was stunned for more than half a minute before he recovered.

Bill Ford has been dealing with labor unions since the 1980s. It has been more than 20 years now. Bill Ford knows better than anyone how greedy those in the labor unions are.

Ford Group, a century-old car company, has never gotten any advantage during the confrontation between labor unions, so when he learned that Li Weidong was going to confront the labor union, Bill Ford was still going to laugh.

The result surprised Bill Ford. In his mind, he could not defeat the Auto Workers Union, and it actually lost!

"I remember that the Chinese method of dealing with labor unions is constant layoffs, right? But this method is of no use to labor unions. He must have other methods!" Bill Ford said.

The assistant replied: "Mr. President, I sent someone to inquire in detail. Apart from layoffs, the Chinese have not used any other means."

"That's impossible! If layoffs could solve the strike, we would have done it decades ago." Bill Ford said, shaking his head.

"The Chinese showed an uncompromising attitude from the beginning. Not only did they announce layoffs, but they also continued to increase the intensity of layoffs and put pressure on workers."

The assistant went on to explain: "But the most critical thing is the current economic environment. After the subprime mortgage crisis broke out, many companies were laying off employees and it became difficult to find jobs. This gave some workers on strike a sense of crisis.

Some people are worried that they will not be able to find a job after being laid off, so they start to return to the workshop and clock in and out as normal. Even if the production line is not running, just staying in the workshop and reading magazines can prove that they are working normally.

As more and more people return to the workshop, the production line can be opened. In addition, the union members have been laid off and cannot enter the factory to continue organizing workers, so the momentum of the strike has weakened a lot. "

"I understand." Bill Ford interrupted the assistant: "For things like strikes, it is best to do it all at once. Once the momentum is weakened, failure is not far away."

The assistant continued: "Mr. President, I think the reason why the Chinese were able to win this time was entirely due to their good luck! Who would have thought that the subprime mortgage crisis would affect the U.S. economy so quickly. If it weren't for the poor economic prospects If so, the workers will surely persevere!”

"It's not as simple as you think! How can a person who can spend 1.5 billion US dollars to acquire Jaguar Land Rover just rely on luck?" Bill Ford sighed lightly and continued:

"Knowing how to use changes in the external situation to achieve one's own goals is an ability! I had already noticed this when Mr. Li came to negotiate with me before. What I didn't expect was that he could really defeat Auto Workers United!"

Bill Ford said, as if he suddenly realized something, his expression suddenly changed!

"No! We might be in trouble!" Bill Ford exclaimed.

"Mr. President, what trouble do we have?" the assistant asked immediately.

"The Auto Workers union has suffered a setback from the Chinese, and its reputation will definitely take a hit, and workers will also lose trust in the union. In order to rebuild its image, the union will definitely take action!" Bill Ford said.

"Mr. President, do you mean that the Auto Workers Union will continue to organize workers' activities?" The assistant nodded as if in awe.

"Yes, after this defeat, the Auto Workers Union must use a bigger victory to boost morale and reputation. They will attack big car companies."

Bill Ford sighed, and then said: "I estimate that the target of the Auto Workers Union is either General Motors or us!"

…

The news of the failure of the Auto Workers Union quickly spread among the major automobile companies in the United States. For many companies, this was undoubtedly a shock bomb.

The three major auto companies in the United States have been fighting with labor unions for nearly a hundred years. However, even in their most powerful years, the three major auto companies did not take advantage of the unions. Instead, they were constantly forced by the unions to raise wages. The U.S. auto manufacturing industry The salary is much higher than other manufacturing industries.

Later, foreign-funded companies that entered the United States also followed the local customs, imitating American car companies, and acted according to the so-called "American rules." When encountering union strikes, they chose to compromise and give some benefits to calm the incident.

The first foreign-funded car companies to enter the United States and set up factories were mainly Japanese companies. In the territory of American fathers, how dare Japanese good sons beep too much!

So when Li Weidong decided to compete with the union to see who was stronger, many car companies were waiting to see the joke. Everyone was waiting to see this Chinese who didn't know the heights of the world get severely punished by the union.

The result was beyond everyone’s expectation. It was the Auto Workers Union that finally lost!

In the past few decades, the United Auto Workers has never had a defeat, and in the worst case scenario, it can even compete with the employer.

However, this time, when the Auto Workers Union faced Li Weidong, not only did it not get any benefits, but it caused more than a thousand auto workers to lose their jobs. All union members were kicked out of the Bemher factory. This was obviously a complete failure. .

Moreover, this failure also dealt a huge blow to the reputation of the Auto Workers Union.

Auto workers join the union in the hope that the union can help them obtain more benefits. Now that they have not reaped the benefits but have lost their jobs, these workers will naturally go to the union to settle accounts.

Other auto workers who have joined the union, or those who intend to join the union, will also wonder whether the union is reliable and whether workers can benefit from joining the union. If you don't get the benefits but do harm to yourself, then you must stay away from the trade union.

Of course, the United Automobile Workers could not suffer this dumb loss. They began to mobilize public opinion to smear Li Weidong, describing him as a black-hearted capitalist who did not care about the life and death of workers.

However, this did not do much harm to Li Weidong. In the United States, there are many black-hearted capitalists, and Li Weidong is not missing.

At the same time, in order to restore its reputation, the Auto Workers Union also began to prepare for a larger strike.

As long as it can be proven that the Auto Workers Union is still capable of fighting for benefits for workers, it can continue to gain support from workers.

The United Auto Workers union has already spent $11 billion on Chrysler, and there are many car companies that can continue to steal money, especially General Motors and Ford, which are much larger than Chrysler. You can definitely get more benefits.

In the end, history still took the same path. The Auto Workers Union was preparing to launch a general strike against General Motors!

…

After settling the matter of the American union, Li Weidong went to the UK again and inspected the Jaguar Land Rover factory in Liverpool.

Compared with the Bemher factory in the United States, the Liverpool factory is Jaguar Land Rover's main production base, and Jaguar Land Rover's R\u0026D team and design team are also here.

Jaguar Land Rover CEO Ralph Speth brought a group of senior officials to welcome Li Weidong.

Ralph Speth is not a successful CEO, because historically Jaguar Land Rover was reduced to a second-tier luxury brand under his leadership. Moreover, there are many minor problems with Jaguar that consumers have criticized, which also started during the era when Speth was in charge of Land Rover.

In the conference room, Ralph Speth introduced Jaguar Land Rover's operations to Li Weidong.

"Mr. Li, our sales declined to a certain extent last quarter, which was mainly affected by the economic environment. I believe that after a quarter or two, when the economy stabilizes, our sales will pick up." Pace spoke.

"Mr. Speth, I think your judgment is too optimistic. The economy may not be able to recover in one or two years, let alone one or two quarters."

Li Weidong cleared his throat and continued: "I just came back from the United States. According to my observation, the financial crisis caused by the subprime mortgage crisis and the subsequent economic recession will not be solved in a short time.

Moreover, the financial crisis will also trigger a series of problems, such as the sovereign debt problems of some countries. Countries in Southern Europe, such as Italy, Greece, Spain and other countries, have always had relatively high government debt ratios.

These countries are all members of the EU. Once a debt crisis occurs, it will inevitably drag down the entire EU economy, so I am not optimistic about the European economy in the next two years. "

The people in the conference room were all Europeans, and when they heard that Li Weidong was pessimistic about the European economy, their expressions were a little unnatural. But Li Weidong is the boss after all, so even if they are unhappy, they can only hold it in.

Li Weidong went on to say: "Compared with Europe and the United States, I am more optimistic about the economic growth of Asia, so I think we can increase our efforts to develop the Asian market, especially the Chinese market. The Range Rover model can be our model in the Chinese market. The main car model.”

In the next few years, the Range Rover will indeed take off in the Chinese market, and it is even called an "exclusive car for the nouveau riche." Chinese consumers buy Range Rover just to tell everyone that I am a rich man! Land Rover also relied on sales in the Chinese market to successfully turn a profit.

The boss, Li Weidong, has already announced that he wants to sell Range Rover in the Chinese market, and naturally everyone has no objections.

Li Weidong continued: "As for the Jaguar brand, its market recognition in China is not high, so in the next period of time, we will mainly build Jaguar's recognition in the Chinese market so that Chinese consumers will appreciate the Jaguar brand. Have stronger awareness.

The first is to increase publicity efforts and instill in Chinese consumers the concept that Jaguar is a first-tier luxury car brand that is more luxurious than BMW and Mercedes-Benz, and driving a Jaguar is a status symbol.

We can achieve this subtly through the placement of advertisements in some film and television works or variety shows. In addition, China will host the Olympic Games this year, and we can also increase our visibility through sponsorship.

In addition, the design also needs to be improved. If you want to sell well in the Chinese market, first of all, the wheelbase must be increased, secondly, the interior must appear luxurious, and thirdly and most importantly, the iconic design must be restored! "

"Mr. Li, if this happens, our costs will also increase." Ralph Speth said immediately.

Li Weidong replied: "The wool comes from the sheep, and the cost has increased. We can raise the price. We are a luxury brand, and it is normal to sell it more expensive. For cars of the same level, as long as our pricing is in line with BMW and Honda Just be in the same price range.”

The logo is obviously one of the symbols of luxury cars. If a car does not have a mark, it may be a luxury car, but if it has a mark, it must be a luxury car.

To put it another way, if the car is not a luxury brand and a standing logo is put on it, the car owner will think that it is like putting a green onion in the nose of a pig and pretending to be an elephant! Not only would it be a loss of face to drive out, but you might also be ridiculed in various ways.

Especially in the Chinese market, consumers are particularly fond of Libiao. As a business model, having more Libiao will make it more favored by buyers.

In terms of setting standards, the most successful marketing strategy is undoubtedly Mercedes-Benz.

The Mercedes-Benz S-Class is an example of setting a benchmark. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class can sell twice as much as the BMW 7 Series in the Chinese market, and the design of the benchmark takes the greatest credit.

Later, Mercedes-Benz simply launched the iconic E-Class, which was also a very successful model.

Before the launch of the Libiao, the sales of the big-brand Mercedes-Benz E-Class were beaten by the BMW 5 Series. After the launch of the Libiao E-Class, even though Mercedes-Benz reduced configurations, sales still surged. Can it surpass the BMW 5 Series? It’s hard to say, but at least it sells better than the Audi A6L.

This is mainly due to the establishment of the standard. If you spend more than 400,000 yuan to buy an E-class, you can enjoy the appearance of an S-class, which costs more than 1 million, and the quality will immediately improve.

After tasting the sweetness, Mercedes-Benz decided to continue its efforts and even planned to launch the benchmark Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

Most Chinese consumers don’t know much about cars. Many people buy luxury brands for the sake of face and style.

Therefore, the relatively grand appearance, luxurious interior, wide body, longer wheelbase, and a standing logo basically meet the needs of Chinese bosses for brand names.

Among the logos of many brands, the beauty of Jaguar's logo should be second only to Rolls-Royce's flying goddess. The Jaguar that pounces forward is definitely better than the winged "B-belt" of Bentley. "You fly" is much prettier.

But it is a pity that Jaguar canceled the iconic design.

And this is mainly because of regulations.

The UK has long stipulated that the use of vertical signs on the front of cars is prohibited because the British believe that if a car hits a person, the vertical signs are likely to cause greater harm to the human body.

In 2005, the European Union also followed up on this regulation and banned the marking of vehicles.

Europe is Jaguar's main market, so Jaguar simply canceled the iconic design. This also reflects the rigidity of Jaguar's management.

Now that Li Weidong has won Jaguar, he will naturally resurrect Jaguar's goal immediately.

With that little leopard leaping forward, Jaguar deserves to be called this name!