《1855 American Tycoon》Chapter 21: Direction in Crisis (Part 2)
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The company's main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public. The president, of course, looks great to many people, but Scrooge knows that the president is only the ruler on the table, since the industrial age, the real ruler of the world is always the consortium. In addition, the president has a term of office, while the big consortium at the helm is not term-limited.
"My interest in politics is limited to how to use it to make a fortune, and the American people will regret it if they elect me." Scrooge laughed, "Besides, it will be years before I'm old enough to be president, and I can't wait."
Clark and Rockefeller laughed along with him.
"Well, now that we have the whole situation figured out, we can think about how to get through the crisis and even make a fortune with it." Scrooge said, "There is a great man who said, 'The most important question in doing business with ...... is: who are our friends and who are our enemies.' So we must first understand what path we can take and who will be our friends and enemies after we have made that choice."
"There are a lot of confusing forces in the country right now, but I think in the end there are only two big systems." Rockefeller said, "According to Scrooge's earlier analysis, there are two possible directions for the future of the United States. In this way, our industry will be finished sooner or later, and the United States will follow the path of South America. There is another one, which is to defeat the South so that the South will become our raw material production and sales market. For the sake of justice and our country, we should prepare for the defeat of the South."
Scrooge glanced at Rockefeller, looking at his righteous words "justice and fatherland", and could not help but want to laugh a little, but he still immediately pick up Rockefeller's "justice and fatherland" and said: "Yes, the direction of the South is the direction of the South.
"Yes, the direction of the south is the direction of the betrayal of the country, is not righteous, no doubt, with the blessing of God, justice will prevail! Moreover, the ratio of power is now clear. It is different from the time of independence when the southern states were more populous and richer. But now, the situation is completely different. The industry could provide many more jobs than farming, so the North could accept many more immigrants than the South. What's more, the South didn't need white immigrants; all they needed were Negroes. Thus, in terms of population, the North now had a clear advantage. And in modern warfare, the amount of material power would play an increasingly important role. Although the manufacturing industry in the North was suppressed by Europe, it was still much stronger than in the South. Now, with God's blessing, the North has an overwhelming advantage in both human and material resources, and I believe that the forces of righteousness will surely prevail. And we will certainly be on the side of the victor."
"The British are now using troops in India and China, which must make the forces they can use to support the South smaller. So the South was without even foreign aid. And the South's economy is so dependent on Europe that as long as the coast is blocked, the South is dead." Rockefeller interjected.
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"Do you think that war is imminent?" Clark furrowed his brow and looked very hesitant, "If, I mean if things do not come to this point, we are not ...... I think our measures can not be too radical, we should take some steady action. On the one hand, we have to have a psychological preparation for the war, but on the other hand, I think we can't put all our treasure into the war."
"Then it would be a good idea to direct our investments in the direction of dual-use projects." Rockefeller said, "The company's current direction of operation - food is good, if there is a war, food is an important strategic supply."
"In addition, even if there is no war, the further development of the West is an irresistible necessity. It's not a bad deal for the westward movement." We need to care about this kind of enterprise, and when their market value drops to the lowest, we can make a move to take these enterprises," added Scrooge. I've developed a list of companies to look at." Scrooge said, while fingering a memorandum, "Here are the companies that are in line with our goals and are not in too good a shape. I propose that we counter-compensate for the following targets and go after them separately, and every once in a while, we will study them together to see if there are any worthwhile targets."
"Okay, but Scrooge, I've invested more time in the company's operations, so I don't have as much energy to devote to this, and I can't be assigned too many tasks," Clark said with a frown.
"All right, I agree," Scrooge said.
"I also agree," Rockefeller said.
After making a large amount of money, Rockefeller and Clark both added to their investment in the company, and now they are the largest shareholders in the company, with more shares than Scrooge.
After the meeting ended, Scrooge left the meeting first, while Rockefeller and Clark stayed behind.
"John, I want to talk to you." Seeing that Scrooge had left, Clark called out to Rockefeller.
"What can I do for you?" Rockefeller asked.
"Ah, it's about Scrooge." Clark lowered his voice, "Don't you think he's a little overwhelmed by his recent victories? I suspect he's now thinking about doing a job like the last one. You see, he made a lot of money last time but didn't invest even one cent more in the company, he must want to keep that money and play again. I've never seen a kid his age think this far ahead, but there are still so many surprises in business that even if he's smart, he can't anticipate them everywhere. I think he is too adventurous. He may be able to make a lot of money at once, as he did last time, but he may also lose everything at once. I don't think that's a good way to do business. At least, my heart can't take the shock. If he likes to take risks like this, then it's best not to involve the company in it. Maybe you should go to persuade him, you and he is a good friends, you speak stronger than I speak."
Rockefeller did not answer immediately after listening, he thought for a moment and replied: "I will convey your views to him, but I am not sure how the effect. Although Scrooge is young, he is a very opinionated person, well, sometimes even a little stubborn."
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......
As Clark says, Scrooge is not always right about everything. Although he can take advantage of the foresight factor, not everything is in the history books. Therefore, there are still some things that are beyond Scrooge's prediction. For example, the "Stru" shotgun factory that Scrooge saw.
The company's sales volume will drop and it will be in a difficult situation when the crisis comes. I did not expect that, at least for the time being, the business is still running quite well. Thanks to the recent economic downturn and the chaotic security situation, more people are buying firearms for self-defense.
The double-barrel shotgun produced by this factory now seems to be particularly suitable for today's needs. Although compared to the rifle with rifling, using the Minneapolis bullet, a little further away, its hitting accuracy is so low that it is almost impossible to hit anything, but in the city, you simply do not have the opportunity to shoot so far away from the target, and even the long range is not only an advantage but a drawback because it means that once fired, it is easy to accidentally wound innocent. The latter country, once in the police department equipped with a large number of powerful military-type pistols then found that the effective range of this gun is too far, penetration is too strong and very easy to accidentally injure innocent, the result of the case, the use of this thing Lai always feel tied up. In the end, a much less powerful "small smash gun", which claimed to shoot a clip of ammunition may not be able to kill a big yellow, was used to replace this high-powered pistol.
In addition to the general loading of the firearms at that time slow, and the use of deer ammunition double barrel shotgun at close range not only power is guaranteed, the hit rate is much higher than any other firearms. So, this kind of gun became one of the best choices for self-defense in the city. As a result, the situation of the business was even slightly better than before the crisis started.
This situation was completely unexpected by Scrooge. Obviously, in this case, the original plan to buy the factory at the bottom price would not have been possible under normal circumstances. And to buy the business at the normal price, although it was not impossible for Scrooge, was too painful for him.
"What to do?" Scrooge thought, "How can I make the market value of this business plummet?"
Generally speaking, like this business is still in good shape, to make its plummeting market value is not easy, to do this, usually, the first thing to do is to find ways to make its business conditions worse. That is to say, to make it sell things or sold out also can not make money.
"Quality incidents are perhaps the most effective way to combat such companies. It would be nice if we could create some quality incidents related to this company. Just a few of them would have a deadly effect, like blowing up. Well, if they put money into expanding production first, and then make some quality incidents, by that time, the inch can not open, and they will have to go out of business. The question is how to create a quality accident."
Scrooge could not help but think of one of the most classic incidents of quality accidents in the future - Toyota's brake door.
In 2009, the financial crisis was still weighing on the U.S. economy, and the international crude oil price was moving toward the $150 target. In response to high gas prices, to stimulate the development of the auto market, and to reduce air pollution, Obama passed a discounted trade-in program for old cars that were older than their age or had less than 18 miles per gallon (about 3.8 liters) of gasoline (about 1.6 kilometers per mile) to be traded in for a new car at a discount of up to $4,500.
Car dealers are allocated old car trade-in quotas (funds) by the government, and people who trade in their old cars to the dealer can buy new cars at a discount of $4,500. The U.S. car is not expensive, plus the economic crisis at the time, the price of cars is not high, and the discount of 4500, is already considered the price of cabbage.
The U.S. government hoped that through this means, U.S. car sales rise, but things have gone beyond their expectations. After the implementation of the plan, the sales of American cars did not rise, but the sales of Japanese cars climbed significantly - the American people are taking the money subsidized by the government to buy cheap and fuel-efficient Japanese cars. As a result, Obama's plan became the U.S. government subsidize Japanese car companies.
However, soon after, Toyota's brakes failed and auto-acceleration was suddenly reported in the American news media, starting with the Camry, and then almost all the cars on sale were involved. Various incidents of brake failure and automatic acceleration were reported continuously. The guys at Toyota were dumbfounded and desperately tried to identify the problem but could not. As a result, of compensation, fines, apologies, and the closure of North American factories, Toyota was left in the dust, its image was greatly reduced, and sales were greatly reduced, while American Ford and GM sales were greatly increased. The U.S. auto manufacturing industry successfully recovered at the most dangerous time.
Two years later, the U.S. Department of Transportation finally completed its final investigation and came to the conclusion that there was nothing wrong with Toyota, and that the accidents were either operator errors or simply thought to be manufactured accidents to defraud insurance. And all the newspapers reported it in a very inconspicuous position. But the key time has passed, and Toyota has been pitted.
"Man-made accidents, and the use of the media to fuel the fire, this is a good way!" That's what Scrooge thought.
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