National Tide 1980

Huge wealth is not only the most effective weapon to resolve disputes, but sometimes it is also a magic weapon to rebuild confidence.

Pierre Cardon was now conquered by Ning Weimin, and his confidence in Ning Weimin was restored.

Of course, it cannot be said that this old French man was blinded by money. The key is that this is not a problem, it is human nature.

Ning Weimin's method is very simple. He was afraid that the old French man would not believe it, so he took the initiative to call the head office of Suez Credit Agricole on the spot.

Then he reported the account number of his own account, and let the bank's people use the numbers on the account to personally prove to the master that he was not talking nonsense, and the master was not daydreaming.

"Hey, I really didn't expect that in my own company, my subordinates who work for me would actually have a billionaire like me. Young man, your life is destined to be more exciting than mine."

When hanging up the phone at the bank, Pierre Cardon said in a trembling tone, but then he felt a sense of satisfaction like a life achievement.

Then he looked at Ning Weimin and said with relief, "But I think despite this, this should be the most self-satisfying achievement for any business owner. This is enough to prove that I have indeed discovered a business genius, and I have not delayed his future by keeping him in my company. Young man, I am very glad that I met you in the Republic. Now, I can finally be worthy of my employees just like Mr. Dior who cultivated me..."

"Oh, people like you should not doubt yourself so much. You have done so much for me, and I can benefit a lot from working for you."

The master's words touched Ning Weimin very much. He said with great respect and politeness, "So, now you should also Let me help you. Go ahead, please go ahead, I will follow your instructions. "

"Oh", Pierre Cardon smiled and replied, "My friend, I am very happy to hear you say that. Since it seems that you have sufficient ability and are willing to lend me money, then I will tell you about this matter. However, I still have to declare in advance that I just want to help others in this matter. It does not mean that you must do it. You should listen to the specific situation first, and then seriously think about the business risks hidden in this matter. I am very touched by your friendship, but everyone is responsible for their own wealth, and you have the right to refuse me. "

Then, the master finally brought out the things hidden in his heart.

As a result, this matter was also a king bomb for Ning Weimin.

Because he found that this matter not only involved him in the most intense business war in Europe at present, but also the core of this business war was far beyond his expectations.

It turned out to be a luxury brand that will be the world's first and most commercially valuable in the future-Louis Vuitton.

To fully understand this first business war in Europe, we must first briefly introduce the development history and current business status of Louis Vuitton, a world-renowned brand.

The brand of Louis Vuitton was founded in 1854.

The founder, Louis Vuitton, was a leather goods maker born in 1821.

In 1837, Louis Vuitton, an uneducated poor boy, went to Paris to pack for the nobles.

In 1852, he created a flat-top square leather trunk, and was later selected as the queen's royal bundler, and since then he has been involved in the upper class.

In 1854, he opened the first trunk shop named after himself in Paris. It can be said that he started his business with trunks, so at this time, Louis Vuitton's business was quite simple and completely specialized.

Louis Vuitton's trunks were first inlaid with gray canvas.

As more and more poor imitators and fakes were rampant, in 18 Vuitton's son George began to use the initials of his father's name, L and V, with floral patterns to design the monogram canvas style that is still internationally famous today.

By 1818, Vuitton's company had a hundred employees and continued to grow year after year.

All employees undergo a long period of training to become box-making experts.

To this day, Louis Vuitton employees undergo eighteen months to two years of training before they are qualified to make products on their own.

In 1818, Vuitton also opened up a new production line and found a new direction for the company's business because of its cooperation with another fashion icon, Coco Chanel.

At first, Coco Chanel ordered a small dome-shaped handbag from Louis Vuitton.

This was originally her personal design for her own use, but later, this design became widely sought after.

Louis Vuitton began mass production and named this handbag Alma.

The huge success of this design prompted Louis Vuitton to decide to make more small handbags.

Before this, handbags were often seen as not elegant enough and too bulky.

But Louis Vuitton gradually changed all this after he got involved in this field.

From then on, Louis Vuitton's business gradually became richer, from a pure box-making company to a leather goods brand that made both large and small bags.

1 Georges Vuitton, the second-generation heir of Vuitton, died, and the company was subsequently taken over by his son Gaston Vuitton.

But Gaston took over the company at a very difficult time. Due to frequent wars, Louis Vuitton's business development was almost stagnant before the end of World War II.

Even in order to survive, Gaston, like Coco Chanel, chose to cooperate with the German Nazis to ensure that his business in Paris would not be destroyed.

And when Gaston Vuitton died in 1970, Louis Vuitton finally ushered in the fourth generation of managers who made Louis Vuitton shine again.

Gaston Vuitton's son-in-law Henri Lacamier became the head of Louis Vuitton and took over the management of the company and the Louis Vuitton brand.

The biggest difference from previous managers is that Henry had accumulated a lot of business experience in the companies he had previously run.

So when he took over the company, he took the Louis Vuitton brand to a whole new level.

After taking over the power, Henry made drastic and major changes to the Louis Vuitton brand in order to develop it from a family business into a modern large company.

Henry changed the business model of Louis Vuitton from wholesale to retail, and by 1978, he had expanded Louis Vuitton to many countries including Japan.

In six years, he successfully increased Louis Vuitton's sales from 20 million US dollars per year to 260 million US dollars per year.

So in 1984, Henry successfully listed Louis Vuitton, making Louis Vuitton the first listed company in the fashion industry.

On the day of listing, Louis Vuitton's stock sold one million shares at a price of US$63.63 per share.

And then, Henry used the stock market financing method to continue to add stores to different countries and expand the company's business territory.

So far, Louis Vuitton's sales have reached 1 billion US dollars per year.

1 Vuitton has ushered in another important opportunity for career development.

Henri Lacamier, then general manager of Louis Vuitton, made a bold business strategy decision.

Louis Vuitton Group merged with Moët \u0026 Chandon, Dom Perignon and Hennessy Cognac, a high-end wine company, to form LVMH Moet Hennessy·Louis Vuitton, or LVMH for short.

The newly merged group is headed by Henri Lacamier, the general manager of Louis Vuitton.

Alain Chevalier, the former general manager of Moët Hennessy, serves as the chairman of the management meeting of the new company.

Perhaps in the eyes of many people, there is no connection between luggage and high-end wine, and this merger is completely illogical and incomprehensible.

However, the commonality of the two in "luxury goods" and the complementarity of product composition and financial system make the merger a perfect combination of the two.

The clothing-related industry is easily affected by sudden events such as global economic crises and wars.

However, the wine business is very stable.

It is precisely based on the consensus of both parties on establishing a complementary and mutually beneficial relationship that Louis Vuitton Group and Moët Hennessy Group are willing to choose to merge.

In theory, the merger of the two companies can not only take advantage of scale advantages to effectively prevent malicious acquisitions by others, but also allow the two companies, which were originally doing well, to concentrate resources and achieve faster expansion.

But it is very regrettable that after the merger, the fourth generation of Louis Vuitton and the former president of Moët Hennessy did not get along well.

It has to be admitted that although the merger of the two companies has many benefits, from the perspective of "corporate culture", the attributes of the two companies actually have too many differences and differences.

LV is an old family business, habitually carrying the pride of the old French brand and the contempt chain of superiority.

And MH is a corporate brand managed by professional managers.

So no matter what the value concept is, the company's business model, the two companies can't agree on anything.

As a result, the running-in period after the merger is completely difficult to get through. A group is divided into two distinct camps, and they quarrel with each other all day long for big and small things.

Once, just because of printing souvenirs, LV put Henri Lacamier's name before MH's Alain Chevalier's name, which greatly angered the other party.

So soon, MH's Alain Chevalier vetoed LV's request to hire Chanel's designer to design for LV as a counterattack.

Then there is no doubt that the conflict between the two sides became more and more serious under this situation, and soon broke out completely, even without concealing it in the public industry.

At a public press conference, LV's Henri Lacamier told reporters that "the merger of LVMH is obviously a merger and absorption for MH, not an equal brand marriage, and for us LV, it is very important to maintain the autonomy of the brand."

Such remarks were reported by the media, of course, which made MH's Alain Chevalier extremely unhappy. Not only did he feel embarrassed, but he also began to worry that the two companies might eventually go their separate ways.

So in order to prevent this from happening, MH's Alain Chevalier decided to introduce allies into the market.

He went to another big brewery, Guinness.

He conspired with them, hoping that Guinness could buy up to 20% of LVMH shares, and then send Guinness people to the board of directors to help MH firmly grasp the control of LVMH.

You know, LV originally had 30% of the shares.

MH had 24% of the shares.

But if this plan comes true, the situation will be completely reversed, and LV's advantage in the right to speak within the company will completely disappear.

Fortunately, the news was leaked in advance and Henry Lacamier knew it before the other party took action.

However, this move was tantamount to a backstab and sneak attack, and of course it further stimulated Henry Lacamier.

As a result, LVMH has become a big battlefield. The contradictions between the two companies can no longer be covered up. The possibility of "talking things out" has disappeared. The original small friction has officially escalated into an internal equity battle over who has more money.

What should LV do next?

The simplest way is of course to fight tooth for tooth and blood for blood.

Henry Lacamier will easily have such an idea-grandson! You are not trying to make an alliance, so I will also make an alliance!

You are trying to make a small circle of your wine alliance by pulling a winery?

Okay! Then as a pearl in the fashion industry, I also want to find some fashion brands to form an alliance with me.

So, Dior, another pearl in the French fashion industry, successfully attracted the attention of Henry Lacamier.

Soon, he took the initiative to make tentative contact with Bernard Arnault, the current owner of Dior Clothing, through the introduction of others.

Unexpectedly, the meeting went very smoothly and they had a good chat.

Bernard Arnault was nearly 40 years old, at the age when a businessman was the most energetic and charming, and he had just brought Dior, which was in debt, out of bankruptcy.

The business difficulties made this brand, which had been somewhat declining in recent years, shine again.

So whether it was his appearance or his conversation, Bernard Arnault was a handsome man, and he had a particularly good chat with Henri Lacamier.

Henri Lacamier even felt that this Bernard Arnault, whom he met for the first time, was simply his younger self.

So soon, Henri Lacamier decided to cooperate with Bernard Arnault and made a request, hoping that he could find a way to raise funds and secretly acquire 21% of the shares through the open market.

Then he joined LVMH, became a member of the board of directors and formed an alliance with himself, so as to compete with MH and Guinness, and use his absolute advantage to completely stabilize the control of LVMH.

But to be honest, although Henri Lacamier was happy about this matter, he definitely made an irreparable mistake, so that the situation was finally out of his control.

You know, it involves this kind of internal struggle within the company and cooperation for power.

If you are not careful, you will lose everything if you meet a pig teammate or a traitor.

Henri Lacamier was too careless in choosing his allies.

As the saying goes, you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry. He should have been more cautious and carefully selected.

He really shouldn't have been blinded by anger and rushed to throw a counterattack.