Chapter 641: Spring and Autumn Writing Style
It wasn't just Lu Hongwei who thought so, in fact many people present thought so.
How could Lu Yiming not see this?
Lu Yiming insisted on allocating export quotas based on technology, which meant that manufacturers without sufficient technical reserves would inevitably be at a disadvantage.
In comparison, they are more eager to change this situation - let the association modify the rules. After all, it would be easier for them to invest real money in technology, right?
However, Lu Yiming understood even more clearly that there must be no compromise or concession on this issue, otherwise the development of the color TV industry would probably return to its previous state.
Price wars can certainly drive away foreign investment, but history has long proven that price wars are hopeless. The development of the manufacturing industry ultimately depends on technology.
Lu Yiming doesn't care what these people think. Capital is always short-sighted. It will never give up the sesame seeds in front of it for the watermelon profits in the future. It will even give up the watermelon in the future for the sesame seeds in front of it. Lu Yiming can't change this situation because it is determined by human nature.
But he can stick to his original intention.
"We've only had a few days of comfortable life, and you're already thinking of taking shortcuts? Are you jealous of Caihong for making a fortune?"
Lu Yiming spoke in a very soft voice, even with a hint of teasing and mockery.
His eyes swept over everyone in front of him.
Some people quickly averted their gazes when he looked at them, turning their heads or lowering their heads, while others were not afraid at all and stared at Lu Yiming.
Lu Yiming continued, "You guys were fighting a price war in China before, and it was a life-and-death struggle. I helped you find export channels, and now you're all making money - of course, I'm not taking credit for it. During the whole process, I didn't take a penny from any of you."
"You are all CEOs, and you are the ones who have the final say in your respective companies. Now that you see that Rainbow Group has found other channels, you feel that you don't need to be controlled by me anymore, and you feel that you have the confidence and capital to challenge me, and you feel that you have a way out... There is actually nothing wrong with all of this. However, it is impossible for me to lower my standards. I have a stubborn temper, and rules are rules. I will not change them."
A representative of a small manufacturer protested, "Mr. Lu, we are not arguing. We will suffer huge losses if we do this. After all, our company is not as large as TCL, Skyworth, Konka and other leading companies. Now they have more market share and more funds due to their advanced technology, so they have more money to invest in research and development to maintain their advantages. This rule of the strong getting stronger is too unfair to small and medium-sized manufacturers like us."
Lu Yiming knocked on the table and said in a cold voice: "If you think that business is difficult, you don't have to do it. The door of the association is open. I won't stop anyone from withdrawing. I have no objection to you cooperating with APEX. Anyway, there is no direct conflict of interest between you and me. But out of kindness, I want to advise you that cooperating with APEX is very risky. If anything goes wrong, I hope you can bear it yourself."
Li Dongsheng said: "Mr. Lu also has a strong network of contacts in the United States, and he must know much more about APEX than we do. Since Mr. Lu has said so, I hope everyone will think twice before acting. Anyway, I am following Mr. Lu's steps closely and have no interest in APEX at all."
Dong Yahua sneered, "Your company has the largest export quota, so of course you stand on his side. Why don't you think about the life and death of us small factories?"
Li Dongsheng was too lazy to argue with Dong Yahua, and just said sarcastically: "I only know that if it weren't for President Lu, you wouldn't even get this quota. That's all I have to say, you guys should take care of yourself."
After these words came out, many representatives of small factories fell silent. After all, just as Li Dongsheng said, whether it was the price war before or the current import and export trade, they all depended on others. Lu Yiming was willing to give them some export quotas and let them survive, otherwise they would have been killed by now.
You can't be such a shameless person. Making money is one thing, but you have to have a bottom line, right?
After the meeting, Lu Yiming stood up and left. Many participants also left.
The CEOs just now gathered together privately again. After Lu Yiming left, their discussion became even more unbridled.
Lu Hongwei was very unhappy about being beaten up by Lu Yiming, and said indignantly: "Mr. Lu is obviously favoring the three musketeers of South China University of Technology. Why don't we just quit the association? If I can't stay here, I'll find another place to stay!"
Dong Yahua was older than Lu Hongwei and was more cunning in his dealings with others. He smiled and said, "I don't think it's necessary to quit the association, but we can talk to Ji Long fans about cooperation together. This way, we won't offend anyone on both sides. Isn't that great?"
Others also thought it made sense and raised their hands in agreement.
Li Dongsheng and the others left with Lu Yiming.
After leaving the conference room, Li Dongsheng said a little aggrievedly: "Those companies will definitely contact APEX and try to get the best of both worlds. These ungrateful people. Mr. Lu, are we really not going to show our appreciation?"
The establishment of the association has regulated domestic market competition to a considerable extent. At least it is not as chaotic as before. If there is any problem, everyone can sit down and talk it out instead of fighting to the death over a disagreement.
Therefore, Li Dongsheng still attaches great importance to the association's right to speak.
After all, although Lu Yiming is the nominal president, as the leader, he basically doesn't care about the affairs of the association unless there is a big event. All the affairs are handled by Li Dongsheng, Chen Weirong and Huang Hongsheng, who hold a lot of power.
However, what surprised Li Dongsheng was that Lu Yiming actually had no intention of dealing with the matter: "Didn't I say before that APEX is an unreliable company? Whoever wants to go can go. Anyway, if something goes wrong, just don't come to the association for help."
As for the problem of power falling into the wrong hands, Lu Yiming would not worry about it. He had no vested interest in the Color TV Export Association, and he did not have the time to participate in its management, so it did not matter even if he lost it.
However, although Lu Yiming felt indifferent, the incident itself caused a big stir. After all, Lu Yiming was the richest man. The association he founded was facing the risk of falling apart after only a few months. This was going to be laughed at by others. Especially those who usually disliked him, they seized this opportunity to smear Lu Yiming crazily, and even mobilized the media to chase and intercept Lu Yiming, intending to laugh at him.
A group of reporters who came under instructions spent a whole day and finally waited at the gate of the villa area to see Lu Yiming returning home. They rushed over with their equipment.
A reporter put the microphone directly into Lu Yiming's face: "Mr. Lu, there are already many color TV brands in China cooperating with APEX. What do you think about this?"
Lu Yiming said expressionlessly: "It's just some normal business dealings. What can I do? I don't own these companies. I can't control who they cooperate with."
But obviously, this answer was not what the reporter wanted. He asked unwillingly, "Mr. Lu, aren't you worried that the existence of APEX will threaten the Color TV Export Association? Rainbow Group has sold its products to the United States through APEX's channels, and has made a profit of more than $750 million."
Lu Yiming smiled calmly and said, "Money is money only when it is in your hands. It is just a number in the account book. Don't take it too seriously."
Upon hearing this, the reporters who had gathered around were suddenly in an uproar.
A reporter asked: "Mr. Lu, you mean that Rainbow Group cannot collect this debt, right?"
Lu Yiming quickly clarified, "I didn't say that. Don't presume anything, or I'll sue you for defamation."
Everyone had heard about Lu Yiming's ability to fight lawsuits. When they heard Lu Yiming say this, they couldn't help but shrink their necks.
Although they wanted hot topics and crazy traffic, they didn't want to be sued by Lu Yiming.
After all, being involved in a lawsuit is a stain on one's life no matter what, especially when it comes to the huge impact on one's career.
However, they just didn't dare to argue with Lu Yiming on the spot. After the interview, they still had the power to write the news report. Moreover, the Spring and Autumn style of writing, a precious legacy passed down by Confucius, was also played to perfection by them, with various explicit and implicit guidance. The overall effect of the report was simply amazing.
For example, someone wrote: Mr. Lu, the richest man, strongly denied that Rainbow Group was unable to recover its debts.
Someone else wrote: Can Rainbow Group recover the payment in time? Lu, the richest man, said don't take it too seriously.
Although it seems to be incoherent, it would be hard not to go astray if you interpret it in this way within the main text.
The key is that Lu Yiming has no idea what to do. After all, there are a thousand Lin Daiyu in the eyes of a thousand people. I didn’t write it in black and white. If readers think so, what can I do?
Of course, in addition to those who deliberately led Lu Yiming's topic, there were also those who criticized Rainbow Group from Lu Yiming's perspective. Anyway, commercial media is essentially a commercial behavior, and the purpose of publishing all news is to increase newspaper sales, so of course it will explode as it pleases.
On the other hand, Ni Runfeng, who was far away in Shu and was happily planning how to expand sales, was in a very good mood at this time.
Standing in front of him, Xing Jinlong, the sales director of Rainbow Group, said, "Mr. Ni, with its refreshingly low price, our Rainbow TV has a magical appeal to countless American families. In addition, it has a full range of functions and is of superior quality. Once it is put on the shelves, it is often sold out in a short time."
Then he took out a report and handed it to Ni Runfeng, saying in a relaxed tone: "This is the sales data sent last month. I think we can still work harder and strive to boost sales this month."
After seeing it, Ni Runfeng was even more delighted and praised: "Very good, continue to ship this month, double the quantity, and clear out our previous backlog of inventory as soon as possible."
Since the country banned state-owned enterprises from going public in the summer of 1998, Ni Runfeng has never been as happy as he is today.
As the helmsman of the Rainbow Group, he naturally understands that blindly engaging in price wars has never been the right way to develop business. It may be acceptable once or twice, but in the long run, it is undoubtedly a mindless operation that will backfire.
However, the Rainbow Group had a serious inventory backlog, and the domestic color TV industry was saturated, so he had to resort to this last resort.
Now that it has opened up sales channels to America, it has instantly jumped out of the domestic quagmire and is poised to soar into the sky.
Just at this moment, someone knocked on the office door. It was the front desk clerk delivering newspapers.
"Mr. Ni, this is today's newspaper."
After all, he is the boss. To sum up his life simply, it can be summarized as: a cup of tea, a pack of cigarettes, and a stack of newspapers to read all day.
Ni Runfeng nodded slightly and said, "Put it there first."
After a while, after finishing business matters, Ni Runfeng took a sip of hot tea and picked up a newspaper.
As soon as he saw it, his eyes widened and his expression became very ugly.
Because the front-page headline of the newspaper read: "Rainbow Group's expedition to North America, is it a sales miracle or a shocking scam?"
The following is the interview content with Lu Yiming.
Although the content of the interview and the title seem to be completely unrelated at first glance, who is Ni Runfeng? He can be said to be Lu Yiming's mortal enemy. The report kept saying "Lu Yiming said" and "Lu Yiming said". Ni Runfeng immediately thought that Lu Yiming was mocking him in public.
The more Ni Runfeng read, the angrier he became. He felt that the news seemed to show Lu Yiming questioning the credibility of APEX, but in fact he was questioning his ability and vision.
After all, if Ji Longfen was really a liar, wouldn’t Ni Runfeng be a fool?
"Lu Yiming, you are going too far!"
Ni Runfeng slammed the table, startling Xing Jinlong who was standing next to him.
"Boss Ni, what's going on?"
Ni Runfeng's face was terribly gloomy. He threw the newspaper directly at Xing Jinlong's face and said, "Look for yourself!"
Then he called his secretary.
"Contact the media for me. I want to hold a press conference."
Although she was a little confused, Ni Runfeng's behavior was known to everyone in the company. She did not dare to make any comments and quickly ran to contact the media.
At three o'clock in the afternoon of that day, Rainbow Group's press conference was held in the multimedia auditorium in the Rainbow Group's office building.
A group of reporters who were hastily gathered seemed a little overwhelmed when they saw the multimedia auditorium without any decoration.
"Why is President Ni suddenly holding a press conference?"
"How should I know? It's news anyway, so just come when you're called. Writing an article will count as completing your KPI."
"It seems that this press conference was prepared in a hurry. There is not even a title. At least I am sure it is not a new product launch of Rainbow."
A reporter who thought he knew some inside information said proudly, "Hey, you don't know this, right? As journalists, don't you read newspapers? This morning's newspapers have a lot of news about Mr. Lu and the Rainbow Group. Now that Mr. Ni is in a hurry to hold a press conference like this, it must be related to this matter."
After hearing what he said, many people felt as if they had suddenly been enlightened.
"So that's how it is. I saw some reports and your guess should be correct."
"It seems that Mr. Ni is planning to respond in a domineering way, right?"
An intern reporter who didn't know the truth was confused and asked, "What are you talking about? Mr. Lu is producing televisions?"
An old bird smiled and said, "Brother, you haven't heard much about the foreign trade in Xia before, right?"
The newcomer smiled and handed a cigarette to the old man. He asked with a curious look on his face, "I have only reported some local news before, and I don't know much about foreign trade. Can you tell me about it?"
The old man took the cigarette, lit it, took a puff, and then exhaled and said, "Although Mr. Lu doesn't sell color TVs, he has set up a color TV export association. If we want to sell our domestic color TV products to North America, we have to get his approval. But now APEX has come and cooperated with Rainbow Group in a very high-profile manner, which obviously broke this situation."
The new guy was not stupid, and he understood immediately: "So that's how they started fighting?"
The Color TV Export Association has formed an industry monopoly in a certain sense, at least there is such a trend, and the emergence of APEX naturally breaks the original pattern.
In the eyes of ordinary people, this is definitely a dispute over interests.
The old man said mysteriously, "Yes and no. You will know when Mr. Ni makes his move."
Obviously, through what happened during this period, many senior reporters have already pieced together the ins and outs of the matter and are just waiting for Ni Runfeng to come up with some explosive news.
At this moment, Ni Runfeng appeared.
Just by looking at his ugly expression as if his parents had died, the reporters present knew that this incident was going to be big.
The more this happened, the more excited they became, and they all started thinking about how to spend their bonuses this month.
Facing a crowd of journalists and media, Ni Runfeng suppressed his anger and said something politely: "Thank you all for taking the time out of your busy schedule to come here. The main reason I invited you all here today is because something happened that made our Rainbow Group extremely angry."
"Nowadays, some domestic entrepreneurs don't think about how to make good products, but only think about dragging down their peers and spreading rumors and slander. I think this phenomenon must be curbed!"
A reporter couldn't wait to ask: "Mr. Ni, are you talking about Mr. Lu, the richest man?"
Ni Runfeng neither admitted nor denied it, but continued, "Some people just can't stand the hot sales of our Rainbow Group's TVs in the American market. As for who this person is, I won't name him. I believe everyone has their own judgment."
Now, all the reporters knew that Ni Runfeng was talking about Lu Yiming.
A reporter who had interacted with Lu Yiming before asked, "Boss Ni, I heard that you signed an extremely strict cooperation agreement with APEX, and Rainbow Group has not received all the remaining payments yet. Are you really not worried at all?"
