Rise of the Argentine Empire

The New Year passed, and the summer of '54 was approaching. Saint Hesser judged the situation, believing that Argentina had the potential to escalate from a low-intensity conflict to a full-blown national civil war. The air throughout society was thick with a sense of crisis.

Before this, Saint Hesser needed to finalize the reorganization of the three major light industrial companies to flexibly respond to the challenges of full market liberalization. This was a significant issue weighing on his mind, but also a crucial opportunity for growth and expansion.

Blue Cloud Textile and Prarley Foods were subsidiaries that could contribute profits and were well-managed. However, if left to develop unchecked, they could easily be overwhelmed by powerful foreign capital, which was entirely possible.

Before '54, Argentina's national market was in a state of anarchy, with fragmented markets. The National Treasury, the Central Bank of Argentina, and the Ministry of Trade utterly failed in their macro and micro-economic control of the national economy, achieving almost nothing except inflation.

"Hello everyone, I am Saint Hesser Cohen. Welcome to this annual meeting. 1953 was a challenging year for us, and 1954 will be unprecedented. Last year, our textile company achieved a total sales volume of 34.4 million US dollars, ranking first in the country in exports. We have achieved many accomplishments, growing from a small clothing factory in Cloth City to now having 8 factories and over 10,000 employees, which is not easy."

Saint Hesser gave a brief summary: sales increased from 8 million US dollars in '51 to 17 million US dollars in '52, and then to 31.4 million US dollars this year, a step up each year. The number of factory employees increased from just over 10 to nearly 11,433. Blue Cloud Textile's several factories have more than 1,200 textile machines, making it the largest textile factory in the country.

Especially in the first half of '53, Blue Cloud Textile almost went bankrupt due to various reasons related to raw materials. It only gradually improved in the second half of the year by building new factories and expanding exports.

"The purpose of this meeting is to address the impending crisis of market liberalization, make adjustments to the company's structure, discuss the next development plan and this year's work goals, address some of the company's existing problems, and provide various rewards. We will also establish a new performance evaluation plan and supervise its implementation."

Those present were already mentally prepared and not too surprised, which Saint Hesser was very pleased with.

After Argentina began trade negotiations with the United States and the United Kingdom last year, the Argentine market would begin to fully open up by the end of '54 at the latest. Saint Hesser could not influence these policies and had to seek change.

Such a sudden and sweeping market opening, a radical opening of the market, was definitely problematic. Saint Hesser would have preferred a gradual, point-to-surface opening, which would have allowed Argentine domestic enterprises to adapt. Unfortunately, circumstances were beyond his control.

"Everyone may be curious as to why we need to make adjustments, and some may even feel that we are developing well enough as it is, so why make changes? Can we maintain the status quo? My answer is no. What I want to say is that this full opening of our country is a challenge of life and death for us."

Saint Hesser emphasized his words seriously, indeed, it was a challenge of life and death.

With depleted finances, an empty national treasury, and a sharp decline in tax revenue, the helpless Peron government opened the market in a desperate attempt to obtain loans from British and American capital, which was a shortsighted approach for the entire country. This could very well turn Argentina back into an economic colony of American and British capital.

"Our opponents are not the textile companies, clothing companies, and shoe factories in Argentina, but the most advanced British textile companies, American companies, and French companies in the world!"

Saint Hesser knocked on the table and shook his head with some helplessness. Although he had acquired a large number of textile machines through the British textile industry crisis last year, established the Cloth City Textile Factory and the Rosario Textile Factory, solved the raw material problem, and distributed them to the Rennes Machinery Factory for imitation, there was still a long way to go to face the powerful old companies.

"Perhaps everyone is proud of last year's achievements, but the acquisition of these second-hand machines cost a lot of money. While we have no problem dealing with domestic opponents because of trade protection policies, we will lose many advantages after the market opens, as they couldn't enter before."

Saint Hesser had to knock on these people, preparing them fully to face the aggressive foreign capital. The factory directors and managers fell into deep thought. They had reached the top in Argentina, but they were still unknown figures in the world. The quality of their products was also relatively average, and the only advantage was that they were cheaper. Argentine-produced clothing fabrics were synonymous with "inferior goods."

"They have advanced management experience, excellent development and design teams, good product quality, perfect sales channels, and strong brands, while we have nothing but 8 factories. Now, our exports are still supported by Prarley International."

He showed no mercy, making the factory directors somewhat ashamed, and they lowered their heads one after another. Saint Hesser continued to talk about the problems of Blue Cloud Textile, although a large part was intentionally designed shackles to control the factory, now he was going to open them up.

"Everyone knows that we currently have two major textile centers in our country, one is Buenos Aires and the other is La Plata. My goal is to establish the Corrientes Cotton Textile Factory this year, and expand cooperation with Future Agriculture and farms in the Chaco Plain. The number of cooperative cotton fields must reach more than 200,000 acres next year to fully meet development needs, and the raw materials such as wool and hemp must be completely resolved."

Saint Hesser stood up and announced on the stage, loosened his tie, and announced a large-scale factory construction plan and raw material plan.

"Now, I announce that Blue Cloud Textile Shoes and Apparel will be formally reorganized into Blue Cloud Textile Corporation, led by Keynes, Lucien, and Charles, leading the entire group. A new Marketing Department, Office Department, Personnel Department, Finance Department, and Brand Department will be established, setting up professional offices to strengthen international export competition and establish our own sales channels, responsible for the personnel and financial management of the entire company. Balun Bank will still be responsible for supervision."

Saint Hesser had the power of veto over all important decisions of Blue Cloud Textile. No matter how others changed, he was always the boss.

The Cohen Brothers Company in Rosario no longer needed to continue to exist, especially with the development and growth of various companies, it was completely feasible to establish their own personnel departments and recruit on their own. The personnel of the Cohen Brothers Company will also be distributed to several companies to establish personnel departments.

"The corporation will set up five major subsidiaries: Blue Cloud Apparel, Blue Cloud Textile, Blue Cloud Shoes, Blue Cloud Home Textiles, and Blue Cloud Chemical Fiber, for spin-off restructuring and specialized management of factories."

As the number of new factories established by Blue Cloud increased, professional classification became important, and independent brands needed to be established. Factories operating independently would lead to self-competition, and establishing subsidiaries could solve this problem better.

"Blue Cloud Textile will specialize in developing various fabrics and cloths, be responsible for cotton in the Corrientes region, establish new textile factories, strengthen cooperation with Future Agriculture, and build its own cotton production base."

"Blue Cloud Apparel will be involved in men's wear, women's wear, children's wear, and professional clothing such as military uniforms, and will specifically establish departments such as research and development design, processing and production, brand operation, and sales."

Blue Cloud Apparel, as a company planned by Saint Hesser, was very complete in design and production, but also very chaotic.

"Lan Yun Shoes will establish a professional industrial zone in the future, move out of the main urban area of ​​Bu City, and also establish various design teams and marketing teams to build a shoe industry park, arranging various suppliers here. We will build our own rubber factory and establish a synthetic rubber laboratory."

Most of the rubber in the world today is natural rubber. Argentina does not have many rubber trees and mainly imports raw materials from Brazil and Indonesia. The future is the era of the fastest development of synthetic rubber, and Lan Yun Shoes cannot miss this opportunity for development.

"Lan Yun Chemical Fiber is a newly established factory headquartered in Blanca City. Currently, various chemical fiber technologies have emerged in the world, and development is still in its primary stage. The main raw material is petroleum. Our country has abundant petroleum resources, and we must also start research, paying attention to cooperation with Maya Chemical."

Maya Chemical is currently one of the companies with the strongest R\u0026D strength under the Saint Hesser Group. It already has several chemical laboratories and cooperates with the University of Cordoba, the University of Rosario, and the University of Buenos Aires, constantly experimenting with various chemical materials, plastics, catalysts, glass, fertilizers, and other products. It is also an important supplier to many companies. The chemical industry is also the foundation of the nation.

Saint Hesser arranged various deployments, dividing them one by one, working at the meeting site, directly assessing and interviewing, and directly promoting suitable factory directors to company managers. Those who were not suitable were transferred from other places. In the end, this group of people at the meeting formed seven groups and directly began to report on their duties.

The main management personnel of Lan Yun Textile completed all arrangements within a day, and formal appointment documents were also issued. At the same time, Saint Hesser also awarded prizes to employees who made outstanding contributions.

It is not only necessary to draw a pie, but also to give them real benefits, organize corporate culture, and form competitiveness.

The meeting lasted for a whole day. Saint Hesser also had one-on-one exchanges with the heads of various factories to solve problems and provide good logistical support.

Lan Yun Textile Factory has the most factories, the most personnel, and the most complex situation. Saint Hesser sorted it out and built a framework.

……

After settling Lan Yun Textile, the next step was Pulari Foods and Future Agriculture, two companies that are actually upstream and downstream of the industry and have a close relationship, so he held a meeting with them together.

For Pulari, the problems in agriculture and the food industry are actually more serious, because unlike the completely competitive industry of textiles, it directly faces competition from these foreign trust monopoly companies.

Moreover, it is all-round competition, including fertilizers, seeds, agricultural machinery, agricultural and animal husbandry production, processing, and other series of industries. They are doing a package plan, while Pulari Foods is doing it with a limp.

Argentina, as a major agricultural and animal husbandry country in the world, is not strong in food processing. Exports are mainly raw materials, such as meat and grain, which are directly exported at low prices and are often suppressed. It can be said that there is a buyer's market, and the profit is very low.

Saint Hesser's appearance stirred the waters and, to a large extent, innovated Argentina's food industry.

Originally, Argentina did not have so many food processing categories. With the expansion of Pulari Foods, more and more opponents began to get involved in deep food processing.

It should be known that 90% of the farms in the Pampas once belonged to the British, but this time Pulari's opponents are the French and Americans. Here are the world's four largest grain merchants and a bunch of world-class food processing companies, beverage companies, and beer companies.

In fact, local Argentine companies also have very strong strength, and the forces behind them are also very large.

Pulari Foods currently ranks only fifth in Argentina. In addition to the top-ranked companies, there are also Molinos River Foods, Milka Nuelas Foods, Marolio Foods, and Nidera Foods, which are local Argentine competitors. They are involved in a very wide range of industries and are eroding the market opened up by Saint Hesser.

Currently, Argentina's largest food processing enterprise, Hezad Company, was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Rosario. It has factories in Cordoba, Santa Fe, and San Luis. It is supported by Americans and has huge financial strength.

Like Pulari Foods, it entered the production of beer, canned food, and soda last year. They also have powerful meat processing plants, slaughterhouses, and flour mills, and are currently engaged in close combat with Pulari Foods.

In August last year, the Argentine Congress passed a law on foreign investment.

The law guarantees the protection of the property of monopoly organizations and allows them to export eight percent of their profits from Argentina, but American monopoly organizations demanded to export all profits without restriction and strengthened pressure on Argentina, which eventually evolved into full opening up.

Saint Hesser saw from the companies applying to enter the Argentine market at the Ministry of Commerce that all of them were troublesome opponents.

The first round of applications included Cargill, Coca-Cola, Bunge, and Louis Dreyfus Group, all world-class companies, dozens of times larger than Pulari in scale, and unmatched in professionalism and monopoly.

Pulari Foods faces tremendous competitive pressure, and Saint Hesser has also carried out integration work to release Pulari into a complete entity, allowing it to have enough energy to face various difficulties.

Saint Hesser reorganized the various factories and established a head office in Bu City, establishing Pulari Noodle Company, Minian Soda Company, Lidma Beer, Pulari Grain and Oil, Pulari Winery, Pulari Canned Food and other professional companies.

Future Agriculture is better, the situation is not so complicated and the reorganization was completed quickly.

When the reorganization of the three major companies was completed, Saint Hesser breathed a sigh of relief. This incident made his head explode. Reforming a company is not easy, and this is based on his strong control, and various accidents still occurred.

First, the Falcon Bureau was reorganized again to focus on domestic affairs, and Professor Pukins and General Thompson were visited again, and support was obtained again. Some heads of the Navy Department were also consulted.

He also visited several bigwigs of the Radical Party, and his achievements were affirmed by them. The scale of the Radical Party in Blanca City has expanded a lot and has sufficient personnel.

He was allowed to establish some organizations in the cities around Blanca City, and branches could be established if the conditions were suitable. The Radical Party would also support him.

The Radical Party has branches only in a few larger cities south of Blanca City, and most areas are still blank. Since Saint Hesser is willing to do these tiring tasks, that would be great.

After arranging most of the things in Bu City, Saint Hesser set off again, carrying a mission to the south.

……

Currently, among the industrial countries that Argentina mainly trades with, the United States, Britain, and West Germany are the most important.

British capital is the strongest foreign capital in Argentina and once dominated the entire Argentine economy. After Peron implemented nationalization, the British tricked Argentina a few years ago, and relations cooled down again.

Saint Hesser acquired a large number of bankrupt British factories and machines through American Sequoia Investment Bank and Blackstone Capital, and they have now begun to be dismantled and shipped back home. This is also his confidence in establishing the Blanca City Lingang Industrial Zone and Free Port. Otherwise, he would not be able to conjure up so many factories, and the price of buying first-hand equipment is too expensive, and that little money is not enough.

The Americans have also reopened to Argentina, mainly the negotiations on Argentina's monopoly industries, in the petroleum, tractor and other industries, which are also Saint Hesser's competitors.

Germany is a new trading partner and will cooperate in chemicals and automobiles.

Japan is now Saint Hesser's key investment target. Through American companies, he shares the development dividends. According to Saint Hesser's instructions, he has successively bought shares in more than a dozen small and medium-sized companies, generally not exceeding 20%, and does not get involved in management. Most of them are famous in later generations and are now in the initial stage of development.

Kubota Agricultural Machinery and Honda Motorcycle are the only two companies that cooperate with Argentina domestically, helping Layton Tractor Factory and Layton Motorcycle Factory to build production lines.

Other countries that have trade relations include the Soviet Union, France, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Canada, Brazil, Australia, South Africa, etc., but the scale of cooperation is relatively small.

Since Argentina implemented the nationalization of foreign-funded enterprises, except for some companies and supplies retained by the United Kingdom and the United States, such as agriculture and animal husbandry, there are basically no traces of foreign-funded enterprises in Argentina.