Reborn 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 Auto Workers union 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 with the labor union, 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, there was no way he could 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 who were 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, and 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 spread to the U.S. economy so quickly. If it weren't for the poor economic prospects

If so, the workers will definitely be able to 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

United Auto Workers!”

Bill Ford said, as if he suddenly realized something, his face 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 the United Auto Workers experienced this defeat, they must use a bigger victory to boost their morale and reputation. They will attack the 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!"

…

News of the failure of the United Auto Workers quickly spread among major American auto companies. 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, which made 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 labor 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 labor 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 United Auto Workers who lost in the end!

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 United Auto Workers.

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 and instead 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 get any benefits from joining the union. If they do not get the benefits and are harmful to themselves, then they must do it.

The unions stayed away.

Of course, the United Automobile Workers cannot afford to 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. There are many black-hearted capitalists in the United States, and there is no shortage of Li Weidong.

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 followed its original path, and 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&D 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 in history, Jaguar Land Rover was reduced to a second-tier luxury brand under his leadership. Moreover, Jaguar has many minor problems criticized by consumers, which are also caused by Speth.

The era at the helm of Land Rover began.

In the conference room, Ralph Speth introduced the operating conditions of Jaguar Land Rover 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 certain countries. Countries in Southern Europe have always had relatively high government debt ratios, such as Italy, Greece, Spain and other countries.

These countries are all members of the EU, and if 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. When they heard that Li Weidong was pessimistic about the European economy, their expressions were a little unnatural. However, Li Weidong was the boss after all, so even if they were unhappy, they could 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 in the future, especially the Chinese market. The Range Rover model can be our key to 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 the "exclusive car for the nouveau riche." Chinese consumers buy Range Rover just to tell everyone that I am a rich man! And Land Rover also relies on

With sales in the Chinese market, we successfully turned losses into profits.

The boss Li Weidong has already announced that he wants to sell Range Rover in the Chinese market, so 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 step is to increase publicity and instill in Chinese consumers the idea that Jaguar is a first-tier luxury car brand that is even 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 the logo, it may be a luxury car, but if it has the logo, it is definitely a luxury car.

Put another way, if the car is not a luxury brand and has a standing logo on it, the car owner will think that it is like sticking a green onion in a pig's nose and pretending to be an elephant! Not only will it lose face when driving out, but it may also be ridiculed in various ways.

Especially in the Chinese market, consumers are particularly interested in the standard. As a business model, having an additional standard 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 brand-setting model plays a major role.

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 benefits, 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, a relatively grand appearance, luxurious interior, wide body, longer wheelbase, and a vertical 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" looks much better.

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

And this is mainly due to regulatory issues.

The United Kingdom 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 mission immediately.

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