The Industrial Giant Reborn

This is true in any industry. When others are strong, unless you have some revolutionary ideas that completely overturn the table, it is unlikely that you will be able to turn around. Even if you can gain a certain market in someone else's territory, the cost of investment must be very high. In terms of investment return and cost-effectiveness, it is far inferior to those in emerging markets.

Of course, the U.S. market is so big that it is impossible to give up. All we can say is to maintain normal investment while developing other markets first, and then look back at it later when the funding problem is gone.

Although McDonald's and KFC have similar user groups, their main products are different. Coexistence is not a problem, and they can even be opened together. However, no matter what, they will definitely not be able to compete with Asia, an emerging market that accounts for more than half of the world's population. Here, even McDonald's only has branches in some big cities, and its penetration rate is far inferior to that in Europe and the United States. Expanding KFC here will definitely get twice the result with half the effort.

KFC will definitely not be short of money after being acquired by him, but Chen Zhiwen's support will not be unlimited, and even if the funds are sufficient, there will be problems in management. Expansion requires a process of learning and familiarity, even if it is a franchise , also requires high management costs.

"Is Mr. Chen talking about the mainland?" Sean asked. He had done his homework before and knew that his future boss valued the future mainland market very much.

"Yes, not entirely." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said: "The mainland market is a market that KFC will attach great importance to next. However, you may not know much about the situation in the mainland. The current investment policy there is not enough for us to invest a lot. Funds are coming in, so we should give priority to the Southeast Asian market first.”

Although the mainland will soon relax restrictions on foreign companies, the problem of tight foreign exchange will continue to exist in the 1980s. At least the factory has the technology, can drive the industrial chain on a large scale, and has exports. Then, with appropriate consultation, let There is no big problem when factory products are sold domestically. However, KFC is a pure service industry and does not generate much direct value. If it only builds a few in some open cities, there will be no big problem. But if it enters the market in an all-round way, In many cities in China, that is probably not feasible.

And even if the country agrees, development still needs to be done step by step. Food sources alone are very laborious. Coastal cities can also be reached quickly through water transportation, but inland ones are too troublesome. When transportation is not good, many industries There is simply no way to develop. Build roads first before enforcing the law. This sentence is an eternal truth. This is the reason why the mainland began to build large-scale highways in the 1990s.

"Southeast Asian market? Currently, KFC still has some branches in some countries, but they are all franchised. The headquarters has very weak control over them." Sean said.

"Don't worry about the past." Chen Zhiwen said: "It is indeed difficult for multinational companies to develop in so many different countries, but Asia is my territory. In some Southeast Asian countries, I have also cooperated with many large local companies. We have a cooperative relationship, and we also have supermarket chains covering more than 20 Southeast Asian countries. They have been operating locally for some time. KFC can cooperate with these supermarkets first. For example, it can be opened directly next to the supermarket. It will also be convenient in terms of supplies. a lot of."

Since the late 1970s, Watsons has begun to enter Southeast Asia. Relying on the strong procurement capabilities of Galaxy Trading and its cooperative relationships with local wealthy merchants, RT-Mart and PARKnSHOP have expanded rapidly in Southeast Asia, especially those countries and cities with relatively better economies. , RT-Mart and KFC have basically invested in building stores. With high quality and low price, they have established a firm foothold and have a certain amount of traffic.

In later generations of mainland supermarkets, KFC often appears inside large supermarkets. In fact, it is also a traffic interoperability relationship. When two non-competitive service providers are in the same place, it will only benefit both parties.

"Okay, later on, I will go to some cities in Southeast Asia to take a look. I also want KFC to gain a foothold in these places, but I have been troubled by funding and management capabilities before." Sean nodded.

"Funding is not a problem. I can finance your investment in Asia alone. Even in terms of advertising, I will have my own resources to help you. However, you can only rely on yourself to manage this area." Chen Zhiwen said.

KFC still needs to operate normally in the United States. Allocating too much money will only harm the interests there. This is also the reason why many companies develop slowly. However, Chen Zhiwen doesn't care how much money he spends. What he wants is a chain that spans five continents around the world. Catering groups, among which Asia's sheer population size, are the top priority of this plan.

At the beginning of this year, TVB's satellite channels have begun to transmit signals in Southeast Asia. There are two channels. One channel can be converted into Cantonese and Mandarin. It mainly imitates TVB's style and aims to conquer the local Chinese market. The other is an English channel, but it is not its own. To make news, we use Hong Kong, a relatively faster information platform, to rebroadcast European and American news, or spend money to purchase the rights to TV series and movies from Europe and the United States to broadcast. The main customers of this channel are Western foreigners in Southeast Asia, or those who understand English. of high-end talents.

In Southeast Asia, those who can speak Chinese or English generally have at least above average financial capabilities. Therefore, these customers are the customer groups for many of Chen Zhiwen's products. TVB, a satellite channel, is of great significance in publicity.

Of course, satellite TV channels are only the basis. Anyone with money can make this thing. The key is to make it big and gain millions or even tens of millions of users. That is the most difficult thing. It’s just the beginning now, and it’s still early to make it bigger. This is a challenge for TVB general manager Liang Shuyi, but she is a super strong woman and likes to challenge her own limits. It is best for her to exert her best. Regarding such matters, Chen Zhiwen will not interfere. At most, TVB will have more cooperation with The mainland can cooperate more and produce more high-quality TV series, or invest directly like "Journey to the West".

If this channel is really launched one day, it will be of great significance to several companies owned by Chen Zhiwen to compete for the Asian market, at least before the 21st century. Even after the 21st century, Southeast Asian countries begin to regulate satellite channels. At that time, I can also switch to Internet advertising. Although I can't directly operate many software, early investment is still no problem.

"Okay, let me do the market research here, and we will discuss the needs for funds or other resources." Sean said happily. The future boss supports KFC's expansion. This is already good news. You know, before Huberline has diverted KFC's profits many times. Although he is very unhappy, there is nothing he can do about it. They are the parent company, and now the new boss is still prepared to inject capital separately. One plus and one minus, the gap is too big. Big.

Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and then said: "One more little thing. You can also open a branch in Costco in the United States, but there are not many Costcos. You'd better choose Wal-Mart."

Although Costco currently does not lose to Wal-Mart in terms of turnover, the difference in the number of stores is too big, and the former is a membership supermarket. Although the user loyalty is high, the difference in the number of customers is even greater.

"Wal-Mart? I heard that Mr. Chen is also their shareholder?" Sean asked again.

"It's true that I'm a shareholder, but it's not a very big one. I don't have any substantive voting rights. If you want to cooperate with them, you still have to negotiate on your own. I can at most say hello to you." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. .

Wal-Mart is more than half owned by the Walton family, so when he initially invested, he did not ask for the so-called voting rights or directorships, and it would be useless if he asked for them. This also prevented Walton from deliberately embarrassing himself, and he did not ask for the so-called voting rights or directorships later. This has always been the case, unless the Walton family really caused public outrage and many small shareholders jointly convened a shareholders' meeting. In this case, the stocks in Chen Zhiwen's hands would have some meaning, but no matter how hard it is, at most one vote will veto it. To veto some of the Walton family's proposals, it is impossible to overthrow the Walton family, so it is meaningless. And Chen Zhiwen naturally knows how successful Wal-Mart will be in the future.

In fact, it is not because of Chen Zhiwen's relationship that Galaxy Trading can cooperate with Wal-Mart for a long time. At most, it has some effect in the early stage, but it can continue to cooperate later because Galaxy Trading relies on large orders and the advantage of purchasing in Asia.

"Okay, I understand, and I will follow up on this matter." Sean agreed.

The cooperation between fast food chain companies and large supermarket chains is not a high-end idea. It has been around for a long time. However, there are so many supermarkets in the United States. How to cooperate and with whom to cooperate need to be discussed. Others may not choose You, the two-way choice is not something you want to achieve. As far as he knows, some Wal-Mart supermarkets have already cooperated with other fast food restaurants. If you want to participate, it may not be that easy. It depends on whether the other party has signed an exclusive agreement. , or focus on the future, cooperate with other people's new stores in the future, etc.

"Okay, after the acquisition is completed, in addition to expansion in emerging Asia and the United States, I can also provide you with a certain amount of funds." Chen Zhiwen added: "However, I have some requirements in this regard."

"Mr. Chen, please speak." Sean asked. Although Chen Zhiwen, the big boss, is relatively decentralized to his subordinates, he will definitely have his own ideas, and his own company may even have to cooperate with other people's development plans, etc. Even if it is Wall Street funds that specialize in acquisitions but not management also have their own requirements. There is almost no such thing as a real boss who allows the management to perform their own functions after the acquisition.

"First of all, when investing in Europe and the United States, I suggest you try to adopt the franchise model. Otherwise, the management cost will be too high. If you adopt franchise, you only need to manage the franchise requirements well." Chen Zhiwen said.

Although joining also requires management costs, not every franchisee will be at ease and obedient, but no matter what, it is much better than direct operation, and the capital requirements are much lower, but the premise is that the franchisee can make money. Otherwise, there would be no need to manage it.

"In fact, KFC has tried its best to adopt the franchise model before, but many franchisees only care about immediate interests and do not consider the long-term development of the company. They often cut corners on ingredients, or extend the cycle, etc. There is nothing we can do in the future. We can only change some stores in prosperous areas of the city to direct sales, which can at least guarantee the interests of many old customers to the greatest extent." Sean said helplessly: "Although I also know that this is not right, the management resources are also limited. , and Huberline gave us great expansion speed requirements.”

"Heublein and the others only care about their core alcohol business and don't care about KFC, so they drank poison to quench their thirst." Chen Zhiwen said: "So, what you need to do is to reorganize all the suppliers and keep them obedient. Kick off those who are disobedient and be tougher. We are not short of funds now and do not need to make concessions to these people. Even if the scale is reduced a little now, we must ensure that the brand reputation can return to normal. Take back your fist and expand after management can control it. OK."

As long as Huberlain wants money, it is estimated that everyone will come to join, and then the management behind it will be a mess. To return to normal, it will require vigorous rectification and sufficient funds.

"Understood, Mr. Chen." Sean nodded and said. As long as he has the support of his boss, he does not even need additional funds, and as long as there is no continuous profit pressure, he can handle this matter by himself. Of course, this will waste a long time. Time will also affect the development of KFC.

"How to operate, you also need to formulate a plan rule later, and I also need to take a look." Chen Zhiwen continued: "The second requirement is that in Asia, try to adopt a direct sales model, especially in the mainland. , and the real estate also needs to be owned by oneself. Unless it is a cooperation project with some shopping malls, other stores can be bought first if they can."

Not to mention the future of the mainland, many countries in Southeast Asia will see real estate taking off in the next decade or so. The fundamental reason is globalization. A large number of industrial production capacity in developed countries such as Europe, the United States, and Japan began to shift to Asia, which subsequently drove the service industry and Development of the real estate industry.

The Asian financial crisis in 1998 was essentially a process of de-bubbing the economies of Asian countries. Soros was nothing more than a needle. The essence of the damage caused by the crisis was to get rid of it on his own.

He can't control such a thing, but he must take advantage of it no matter what. Not to mention taking the initiative to invest in real estate in Southeast Asia on a large scale, but if his normal business is expanding there, he will naturally buy properties. (End of chapter)