Reborn since 1993

Chapter 620 Butterfly flaps its wings
As the second generation to inherit his father's business, Bruno Bick, also known as Little Bick, inherited the Bick Group left by his father four years ago.

PICK is one of the most famous brands in France today. Both men and women in Les Roaches have used PICK Group products.

After World War II, old Bic started with 1600 francs and established the Bic ballpoint pen factory. It now produces million pens a day and sells them in more than regions.

After making its fortune with ballpoint pens, BIC entered into the stationery, lighter, razor and other industries, and lived a very good life. BIC's products were on the list of several major industries in old Europe.

As a second generation, Bruno Bick also wanted to make a career, but since he took over Bick a few years ago, Bick's lighter business has been in a slump.

First, it was impacted by Japanese benzene lighters, then Korean lighters, and in recent years, it has been impacted by mainland lighters. Bic lighters were originally for the masses, unlike Dupont, Zippo and other metal lighters that took the high-end route, so the impact it received was particularly great.

During this period, BIC also developed a patented lighter with a child lock. This patent caused trouble for many lighter manufacturers, but it still could not stop lighters produced in the mainland from flooding into old Europe.

Seeing that it could not win the head-on competition, Bic started to play some tricks. It joined forces with several major lighter manufacturers in old Europe and, in the name of the old European Lighter Association, launched an anti-dumping investigation on the mainland lighter industry in the old European Union Court, hoping to solve the problem once and for all.

Hearing Bruno Bick's words, Antoine, who was standing nearby and also holding a golf club and was in charge of Bick's lighter business, raised the club high and swung it down with force.

Seeing the golf ball flying, Antoine smiled triumphantly, "My people saw those Asian monkeys fly back with their own eyes!"

"So, those lighters from the mainland will never cause trouble to Bick lighters again, right?" asked Bruno Bick.

Antoine was at a loss for words, "Mr. Piccolo, in fact, this matter is very complicated!"

"Anti-dumping investigations can impose tariffs on lighters from the mainland, but it is probably difficult to completely block them!"

Seeing the unhappy look on Bruno Bick's face, Antoine quickly said, "The cost of lighters from the mainland is much lower than those we produce ourselves.

There will definitely be dealers who choose to import from the mainland, and no one can completely stop them!"

"But," Antoine said, with a look of control over everything on his face, "as long as we can keep those famous lighter brands on the mainland, especially the Torch Group, out of Europe, we can ensure Bic's advantage!"

“If we cannot enter the old European and American markets, then the lighter manufacturers in mainland China will have no choice but to manufacture for BAK!

Bic can use the low manufacturing cost of Continental lighters to expand Bic lighters' global market share!"

In fact, a large part of Bic lighters' production capacity is now handed over to the OEM factory in Tongzhou, China. Antoine is naturally quite familiar with the domestic lighter market.

He also knew how fierce the competition was among domestic lighter manufacturers in order to win OEM orders. The more intense the competition among domestic lighter OEM factories, the more advantages it would certainly be for BAK!
Hearing Antoine's plan, Bruno Bick nodded and said, "Antoine, I know I was right. You will have a place on the Bick board of directors in the future!"

Hearing this, even though he knew it was a big deal, Antoine's body still felt half soft.

Having solved his biggest worry, Bruno Bick was in a good mood thinking that Bick lighters would be sold well in old European countries in the future, and that the mainland would continue to produce lighters for Bick and add bricks and tiles to the Bick lighter empire.

But before Bruno Bick could swing a few times, Antoine's phone beside him suddenly rang, and little Bick's attention was also drawn to it.

"What did you say?"

This phone call obviously surprised Antoine, "Stop accepting our OEM orders?"

"What about other lighter manufacturers, Dupont, Clipper, Dunhill, Grasshopper and other brand lighters?"

"Manager Antoine, not only our European brands, but also Japanese and Korean lighter brands' OEM orders, the mainland is also reducing or even suspending orders!

This was requested by the Mainland Lighter Import and Export Association, which was proposed and founded by Torch Group!"

The voice coming from the other end of the phone made Antoine's face turn murky. He understood that something big was going to happen in the lighter industry.

Seeing Bruno Bick's look, Antoine hesitated for a moment, then said, "It was done by Torch Group. The Mainland Lighter Import and Export Association has asked the Mainland lighter OEM factories to reduce or suspend accepting our orders!"

The good mood just now was swept away in an instant. Bruno Bick asked in a muffled voice, "How much impact will it have on Bick's lighter?"

"Not sure yet!"

"But the production cost of our lighters in old Europe and other places is definitely higher than that in the mainland!" "Then let's find a new OEM factory!" Bruno Bick said.

Antoine was silent for a while, "I'm afraid it's difficult. The labor cost in the mainland is currently the lowest we can find!

In addition, in terms of materials and equipment, the mainland can produce all the parts of lighters, while other places even have difficulty producing high-temperature resistant shells for lighters.

Even in France, some lighter parts need to be imported from other regions!"

When Bruno Piccolo heard this, his face was full of surprise, and he laughed angrily, "So Piccolo can't leave the mainland, right?"

"The lighter industry in mainland China is not irreplaceable, but if we leave the mainland and rebuild the lighter industry chain, the cost will be very high!"

Antoine's scalp tingled when he thought about how high the cost would be. He felt that producing a lighter outside the mainland would be more expensive than in France.

"Mr. Bick, Torch Group is only doing this out of desperation. It is a mutually harmful move. Without our orders, how long can the mainland lighter industry last?

I will resolve this matter. By then, those mainland manufacturers will beg us for orders as before. They will have to pay a heavy price for their recklessness this time!"

Antoine swore to Bruno Bick that he would teach Torch Group a lesson and let Torch Group know that some jokes cannot be made and there will be a price to pay for them!

When a butterfly flaps its wings, it may not attract any attention, but when this wind crosses time, space, and distance, it may cause a hurricane thousands of miles away.

A lighter may be just an inconspicuous little object in the world. Except for practitioners in the industry, no one will pay too much attention to it. Only those who come into contact with it will suddenly discover the huge changes in it.

When changes occur in the inland lighter industry that supplies lighters to the world, the outside world will see the influence of the domestic lighter industry in the global lighter market!
A new rumor that old European lighters were going to be out of stock came from nowhere, but upon hearing the news, old European lighter dealers, as well as tobacco shops, convenience stores, shopping malls, bars and other places that sell lighters, all began to stockpile lighters.

This made the lighters circulating in the old European market suddenly become in short supply. When the inventory of lighters was tight, the most direct reaction of large shopping malls such as Carrefour was to start raising the selling prices. The price of lighters that originally sold for four dollars a piece was directly increased to five dollars. In these large shopping malls, lighters were basically sold in batches of five!
……

"How do I look like?"

Behind the Dongling Hi-Tech headquarters, in the courtyard bedroom where Li Dongling lived, Yao Luoying, who was wearing a women's suit and had a more heroic demeanor of an urban beauty, stood in front of the mirror and asked Li Dongling.

As Feiyan Technology's IPO approached, Yao Luoying inevitably became a little nervous. The day of IPO was the highlight of her career.

"On the day Feiyan Technology goes public, you will be the focus of the entire Nasdaq hall!"

Li Dongling put his arms around Yao Luoying's slender waist from behind and spoke to her.

Yao Luoying looked at the two people in the mirror and leaned on Li Dongling. "I still hope that the focus will be on Feiyan Technology. I don't know what the share price of Feiyan Technology will be on the day of listing..."

"Feiyan Technology's stock price will definitely soar on that day, believe me!"

Li Dongling said that he was not worried about the stock price of Feiyan Technology on the day of its listing.

Although the Internet has not yet reached its frenzy stage, it has already reached a certain level. Not to mention Internet companies like Feiyan Technology, which are very popular in Silicon Valley and have outstanding "performance", their stock prices generally soar.

As the saying goes, the emperor is not in a hurry, but the eunuchs are. Feiyan Technology also has several major shareholders in the Americas. Companies such as Sequoia Capital, Citigroup, Netscape, etc. that have held Feiyan Technology stocks, if they want to recover their capital, they have to protect the stock price of Feiyan Technology!

Yao Luoying looked at Li Dongling in the mirror, raised her head, and kissed Li Dongling's face. Just when the dry wood was about to meet the raging fire, the phone in the room suddenly rang.

Yao Luoying saw the scene in the mirror, her face flushed as she picked up the phone, picked up her clothes, and pushed Li Dongling to the phone, "I'm going to change my clothes, you answer the phone first!"

Watching Yao Luoying running away, Li Dongling wiped his lips, thinking of the softness at the corners of his mouth just now. Li Dongling, who was disturbed by his leisure time, picked up the phone in a bad mood.

"Mr. Li, I hope I didn't disturb your fun?"

Listening to the voice coming from the other side, a figure appeared in Li Dongling's mind, "Director Wang?"

Li Dongling didn't expect that Wang Yongyu, director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, would call him personally.

(End of this chapter)