Mediterranean hegemon

In Agnelli's opinion, it is nonsense to insist that football and automobiles have any complementary industrial relationship. The ultimate purpose of controlling Juventus is to shape the corporate image and promote the Fiat brand. As for letting himself instead of Agnelli the old man serve as the chairman of the club, it is to hope that there will be a new and young representative figure to the outside world, implying that the second generation of the Agnelli family has grown up and create conditions for future succession.

After controlling Juventus, he may not expect the club to make money, but he cannot lose too much, and he also has high requirements for performance. Everyone knows that Juventus is now backed by Fiat, and the club's performance and the company's brand value are mutually integrated - a club with poor performance and repeated defeats still wants people to think that its products are excellent?

However, Agnelli will not say this now, because it is all very correct nonsense, and he does not believe that his father does not understand.

Old Agnelli spoke up: "I haven't been to business school, so I can't judge whether the industrial diversification theory those professors said is correct, but in my opinion, at least what you learned is flawed."

"Flaws?" Young Agnelli was stunned for a moment, "I don't know what you mean?"

"What you call industrial diversification means expanding to surrounding areas and forming intensive advantages under the existing technical level. For example, Fiat is good at making cars, so motorcycles can be made. Although they are different from cars, armored vehicles, tanks, airplanes, and engines with similar technical conditions can all be made. Is this the theory?"

Young Agnelli nodded and said yes: "Indeed, there is also a saying that the upstream and downstream are connected to form a complete industrial chain-for example, making cars requires steel and aluminum, so there must be a steel and aluminum alloy joint venture , bearings, motors and other supporting parts are needed, so a machinery and motor company should be established... Of course, only the main parts can be provided. It is impossible to build a factory for each part. This is not economical and unnecessary. "

Regarding the theory of industrial diversification, Europe and the United States did not form a systematic and complete theoretical discussion until the 1970s. However, when management science first emerged in the 1920s, some people had already examined this industrial feature. Before the theoretical research, many large companies had already begun to do so: for example, Krupp is a typical upstream and downstream integrated diversification. Krupp is famous for manufacturing arms. In order to ensure the quality of arms, it specially built high-quality steel plants; BMW is a representative of horizontal integrated diversification. It is involved in the manufacturing of equipment using internal combustion power such as motorcycles, automobiles, and airplanes, and its product performance is good. Judging from the situation in Italy, Fiat is closer to BMW than Krupp.

Old Agnelli shook his head slightly: "So the action of young Ziano gave me a lot of inspiration, and made me realize that the theory of the business school was incomplete and incomplete. Everything you are analyzing now is based on your own ability, that is, what I can do to start industrial expansion."

This remark made young Agnelli dumbfounded: Isn't it a hooligan to brag about industrial expansion without basing it on your own ability?

"Your thinking is still limited. You think about the problem from the perspective of supply, emphasizing what I can do and what I can give. Have you ever thought about the problem from the perspective of demand? Have you ever thought about the problem from the perspective of customers? What do customers need? What do they desire? Isn't demand more valuable than supply? More important?"

"I..." Young Agnelli was speechless. What do customers need? Isn't it better performance, more beautiful appearance, and lower price? Is there any need to ask this?

"So you made the same mistake as I did before, always thinking that you understand your customers, but in fact you don't really understand them, or in other words, sometimes even your customers don't really understand what they need." Old Agnelli smiled, "Let me give you an example. If you are purely in love, without any utilitarian color, what kind of woman do you want as a wife? Do you want her to be gentle and considerate, and be able to manage the family perfectly so that you can devote yourself to work without distraction, and it would be best if she is beautiful, generous, decent, and well-educated... If your salary is completely sufficient, you probably won't care about what your wife did in the past, and you may even think that managing the family after marriage is her career. Am I right? ?”

“Yes, this is probably the basic standard.”

“But this standard is abstract. Who knows there is such a term as gentleness and consideration? But what is gentleness and consideration for a specific person is very different. As for beauty, perhaps the most beautiful person is recognized by everyone, but for other people, who is beautiful and who is not beautiful is not a subjective factor, right?” Old Agnelli smiled, “Do you want to find a wife by drawing a picture in advance, making a table, and then following the chart and comparing one by one? In your words, the requirements are clearly written on it.”

Young Agnelli was speechless. Fiat might be able to use this trick to find a professional manager, but it is also used to find a wife? That would probably be crazy.

"Now a new question comes. If a female radio announcer or hostess has these qualities, would you marry her?"

Little Agnelli smiled bitterly. He knew that his father had recently become addicted to listening to the radio and had a good impression of the female host named Adriana. He thought that her program style was sharp, her views were comprehensive, and her logic was rigorous, but not as aggressive as that of ordinary media reporters. He would listen to her whenever he had time, so he naturally used her as an example. However, he was not sure about the answer to this question. After thinking carefully, he said, "I probably wouldn't. I don't like women to be in the spotlight."

"Look, you actually have another hidden demand - your wife cannot go out to work. This demand even overwhelms the previous conditions. Then I ask you again, the same two people, a considerate woman looks ugly, behaves She is not elegant either, her education is only at the level of a junior high school, but she can stay at home wholeheartedly for you; another woman who cares about you is beautiful, has an elegant and calm manner, and is highly educated, but she wants to continue her career outside. How can you select?"

Agnelli gritted his teeth: "I will probably choose the latter, but I will try my best to persuade her to end her career as soon as possible."

"So demand is variable. There is no immutable demand. In addition to many demands that customers want to have from the beginning, there will be new demands that you have not imagined waiting for you."

Old Agnelli took a copy of Youth Daily and flicked it: "As a newspaper that was founded less than half a year ago, Youth Daily has become one of the top ten newspapers in the country. What is it based on? It is a keen market analysis. And differentiated positioning! Little Ciano's promotion slogan is very clear - this is the second newspaper that the middle class and intellectuals need! He completely avoids competing with other daily newspapers and ordinary newspapers for the first newspaper in the family. It would be impossible for him to have such an advantage if he were to face the competition head-on in this way. The style of running the newspaper, the content of the articles, and the overall style of "Youth Daily" are refreshing, making the middle class and intellectuals with the ability to pay suddenly realize that in addition to their needs, In addition to a regular newspaper that provides daily general news, there is also a need for a newspaper with observation, analysis, evaluation and scientific popularization. Little Ciano suddenly created the need for a second newspaper to be launched in "Youth Daily"! Has anyone thought about this before? Has anyone ever suggested it?”

"No!"

"Let's talk about United Motorcycles. Before this, there were no motorcycle products in Italy? Obviously not. There are many motorcycle brands and products in Italy, but no one brand had a significant advantage until United Motorcycles came out." Lao Agne Li Xiaoxiao, "You also said that they have nearly 5,000 orders. Judging from the current production capacity of the United Company, it will take at least 10 months to deliver. So, are the people at the back of the queue willing to wait hard or switch to other brands? product?"

Little Agnelli was sweating slightly on his forehead: "I think, maybe, maybe I will choose to wait, right?"

"I think so too. The boasts and advertisements in newspapers are not much exaggeration - this is the first motorcycle that perfectly meets the ideal needs of Italian youth. It is worth owning and worth waiting for..." Old Agnelli smiled, "Although It’s more expensive than other motorcycles, but everyone thinks it’s worth the money. Do you think this demand is endogenous or induced?”