Resource Tycoon Reborn

Chapter 92 Acquisition from carefour

As a company that was established in 1960, it has grown to be the largest retailer in Europe today. After merging with Promodes in the future, it will become the second largest international retail chain group in the world and one of the top five companies in the world.

A member of the top 50 of the Fortune 100. Carefour now has more than 11,000 operating retail units, with business scope covering more than 30 countries and regions around the world. Carefour Group's annual turnover reaches tens of billions of French francs, and the total number of employees

There are hundreds of thousands of people, so it is not an exaggeration to call it a giant.

In the mid-1980s, the board of directors of Carefour Group had actually realized that Carefour Group had reached a bottleneck in Europe. Even if it continued to increase investment in European countries and increase the number of stores, Carefour Group's turnover would no longer be able to increase.

has increased significantly, but the population in Europe is decreasing year by year, which determines that this large market will only gradually shrink if it is not supplemented by fresh foreign blood. Although European countries have not closed their doors to immigrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America, the annual

The number of immigrants is only slightly higher than the number of deaths.

Therefore, the board of directors of Carefour Group has set its sights on development outside Europe. As the largest country in the world economy, the United States has a large population and extremely strong consumption power, which undoubtedly makes Carefour Group salivate. However, the United States has Wal-Mart.

When the world's largest chain retail enterprise enters the United States, it will undoubtedly have to fight hand-to-hand with it to compete for market share. This is also an extremely severe test for Carefour Group.

Although Carefour Group is the pioneer of the hypermarket format, facing this American chain retail giant with an annual turnover of tens of billions of dollars, thousands of shopping malls across the United States, and hundreds of thousands of employees, the Board of Directors of Carefour Group does not have to

The board of directors of Carefour Group is sure of winning. Moreover, the board of directors of Carefour Group knows very well that Wal-Mart Group, as a local leader in the United States, has a complicated network of relationships in the political and economic circles of the United States. If it wants to shake its position in the United States, Carefour Group must

The price paid can be said to be far beyond imagination, and once it fails, it may even affect the vitality of the carefour group and shake the foundation of the carefour group.

When two tigers fight, one will be injured. The directors of Carefour Group are still very clear in their hearts. Just like Wal-Mart Group is not eager to enter the European market in a big way, but is committed to the American market and emerging markets. Although the two behemoths are not

They reached an agreement, but they made a tacit agreement not to make any big moves on the other party's territory.

Without the American market, only Asian and African countries remain. Although Africa is not far from Europe, just across the Mediterranean Sea, the unstable political situation in Africa has deterred the directors of Carefour Group. It is a turbulent place.

How can a country where the government may change at any time ensure the smooth recovery of the group's investment? Moreover, the generally low income of African countries also makes their consumption power very limited. Even if they enter, the benefits they can obtain every year are quite limited.

.

The directors of carefour Group have set their sights on Asia, especially East Asia. East Asia includes Japan, which has long occupied the world's second largest economic power; China, the world's most populous country; and South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

, as well as countries and regions in Southeast Asia. In recent years, the economic development rate in East Asia has been considerable. It is a recognized emerging market in the world. The national consumption power here has shown a blowout momentum of development, making the carefour group coveted.

Three feet.

With a population of more than one billion, several times that of Europe, if such huge consumption power is released, it will be even more powerful for the carefour group! Especially the Chinese market, if it can win, the directors of the carefour group

They were all confident of competing with Wal-Mart Group. So in 1989, Carefour Group landed in Taiwan to test the Chinese market.

Carefour's shopping malls in Taiwan have achieved excellent results in less than half a year after being launched, which made the board members of Carefour Group overjoyed and strengthened their determination to enter the Chinese market.

To this end, Carefour Group also specially convened a board of directors to discuss this issue.

"I believe everyone is aware of last year's performance. Well, what we are going to discuss today is our East Asia expansion plan this year! Nicholas, please talk about it first." Chairman Henry Blanc is a six-year-old

A Frenchman of about ten years old, he is shrewd and powerful and has controlled the Carefour Group for nearly ten years. Under his leadership, the Carefour Group has developed rapidly and become the largest retail chain in Europe.

Nicolas Lacoste, the president of carefour group, has held this position for six years. He is a German, but this does not affect his tenure in carefour group. "Everyone, as the chairman said

Just like that, our group's goal this year is to vigorously develop the East Asian market while ensuring the stable development of the European local market. The Chinese market is the top priority in this plan. I believe that the importance of the Chinese market does not need to be

I repeat here, its huge population and rapidly developing economy can provide our group with a stable and extremely considerable consumer group. Moreover, I believe that China's economic development will continue for a long time.

Over a period of time, they may even become an economic power with a GDP comparable to Japan. Of course, I am not saying that they will become an economic power."

The directors present showed a knowing smile. As the third largest country in the world in terms of land area, largest population, and economic level that has been leading the world for thousands of years, China would be a disgrace if it could not enter the top three economic rankings in the world.

The result is speechless. You know, in the late Qing Dynasty, if calculated according to GDP, China was one of the top countries in the world. Before 1840, the Qing Dynasty was still number one in the world. Big countries are not

Represents a strong country!

"Through our trial operation in Taiwan last year, I believe that the Chinese market is a must for our group to occupy. It will determine the development prospects of our group in the next ten to twenty years. At the same time, it is also likely to be our

The main battlefield is to compete with Wal-Mart Group for the world's number one retail chain!" Nicholas said impassionedly.

"Excuse me for interrupting, President Nicholas." A director sitting third from the left raised his hand.

"Please speak, Director Gabriel." Nicholas said solemnly. Director Gabriel is a Portuguese. The Grosjean family he represents holds about 7% of the shares in the carefour group and has considerable influence.

of influence.

"Based on the current economic situation in East Asia, Japan is still far ahead of other countries, and Japan's population is also quite considerable. I am not opposed to the group's entry into China, but I feel that at present, it seems that President Nicholas should first

Let me explain the situation in Japan to everyone, right?" Director Gabriel looked around the crowd and said. Many of the directors present nodded slightly and agreed with his opinion.

Nicholas smiled slightly and said: "Director Gabriel, this is the second proposal I originally planned to report to the board of directors. Since you have proposed it now, director, I will explain your question first. Japan, this is only thirty

As a small island country with an area of ​​10,000 square kilometers, it ranks second in the world in terms of GDP, which shows that its economy is quite developed. Japan has a population of 100 million. From any perspective, the Japanese market is indeed the East Asian market.

This is the most dazzling pearl in the crown. But based on our survey results these days, I think we can only intervene slightly in the Japanese market and cannot expand significantly in its territory."

"Why is this?" Director Gabriel asked in surprise, "Does it mean that Japan also has a giant commercial retail chain enterprise like Wal-Mart Group?" Nicholas's statement sounded somewhat contradictory to him. On the one hand, he admitted that Japan

Whether in terms of economy or population, it is impossible to ignore, but on the one hand, it has given up expansion in Japan. Isn't this a strange thing?

Nicholas flipped through a few pages of the information at hand, glanced at it, and then said: "Director Gabriel, I can give you an answer to your question. Based on the following reasons, the management of the group and I believe that the Japanese market is not

It’s not worth fighting for. First, although Japan does not have large-scale retail chain companies like our group and Wal-Mart Group, Japan’s domestic commercial retail field has basically been dominated by Japanese local companies after so many years of development.

After the carving up, if we enter the Japanese market, the first thing we will face is the joint resistance of Japanese local companies, which is very unfavorable for us. Moreover, the Japanese retail market also has a special feature, that is, the supply chain is extremely long and stable. Simple

To put it simply, before a product enters a store, it must go through several intermediary links. These suppliers may have been operating this way for decades, and no one is allowed to be skipped. There is no direct supply from the manufacturer at all. Since each supplier

Each middleman requires a profit markup and is irreplaceable, so our group has no price and charging advantages in Japan unless we can break this tradition."

The directors present looked at each other and shook their heads slightly in unison. It is easy to imagine how difficult it would be to break the business tradition of a mature market with the power of a business group. Even if it succeeded, it would take a long time.

The cost, compared with the returns obtained, is likely to be more than worth the loss. For this reason alone, the group must think twice before entering the Japanese market expansion strategy.