Chapter 916 Market Competition
This year, Sit's development is still good, especially after solving the Nandu problem. The crisis hanging over Sit has been temporarily alleviated, which is a good thing for Sit.
At present, Sit is not only the largest instant noodles and drinking water producer and seller in China, but also its Very Cola and other soda products occupy a considerable market share in the carbonated beverage industry.
However, the latter market is currently very competitive, especially after the two major cola companies entered the domestic market one after another, using their strong capital and advantages of state-owned capital cooperation to conquer the carbonated beverage market, and their development momentum is very rapid.
In the previous restructuring of Nandu, Coca-Cola intended to take control of Sit after taking over Nandu, thus completely eliminating this powerful rival. If Song Yuanchao had not been vigilant and made arrangements in advance, coupled with a series of subsequent operations, Coca-Cola might have succeeded.
After the failure of the Nandu project, Coca-Cola was extremely unwilling to give up, and turned around and acquired several small and medium-sized soda manufacturers in Jiangsu Province and Huizhou, and then integrated them into new bottling plants. Pepsi-Cola was not willing to lag behind, and used the same method to carry out mergers and acquisitions across the country. For a time, the two major cola companies chased each other and refused to give in. The competition for the domestic carbonated beverage market was extremely fierce. Although the market share of the two major cola companies in the domestic carbonated beverage market is not high at present, and the dominant position is still the domestic own-brand products, if this trend continues, the future competition pressure will become greater and greater.
In Sit's conference room, the main participants in the meeting today were Sit's senior management and executives from the beverage products division, and the issues discussed were mainly about carbonated beverages.
After listening to everyone's reports, Song Chaoyuan looked through the carbonated beverage market analysis data provided by the sales company and the group's marketing department, and his brows slightly frowned.
"It seems that the two major colas are very strong now!" Song Chaoyuan lit a cigarette and said.
"It's really powerful, and their capital is very strong. In addition, some regions are eager to attract investment, and have policy preferences in many aspects. We can't compare with this." General Manager Ruth said in fluent Chinese.
Ruth has been in St. Petersburg for many years. She speaks Chinese very well now, to the point where you can't tell she's a foreigner if you close your eyes.
Moreover, Ruth had already started a family in Jinling last year. Her husband is a teacher at Jinling University. It was a coincidence that they met. Once, Ruth attended a symposium as a representative of Jinling Enterprise. The symposium invited an associate professor from Jinling University to explain some economic issues to everyone. The associate professor was not very old, only about 43 years old. He studied in the United States in the late 1970s and later returned to China to become a teacher at Jinling University.
This associate professor has a refined and elegant appearance and is well-mannered. He has been married before and has a daughter with his ex-wife who is almost going to college. After his divorce, he has lived alone for many years and has never remarried.
Perhaps they were attracted to each other. During the break of the symposium, Ruth took the initiative to chat with the associate professor about professional issues. Because the associate professor had studied in the United States, and the two parties shared similar views on many economic aspects, they felt they had a lot in common and had a very good chat.
It was because of this contact that the two sides exchanged contact information at the end of the symposium. Later, Ruth took the initiative and launched a fierce offensive against the associate professor. As the saying goes, a good man chasing a woman is easy to get, and a good woman chasing a man is easy to get. Faced with Ruth's pursuit of love, the associate professor quickly surrendered. After only less than half a month of dating, they lived together, and then naturally, the two formed a new family.
"From the beginning of this year to now, Coca-Cola alone has acquired 16 small and medium-sized manufacturers in the mainland, and Pepsi has acquired fewer, but still 14. This speed is very amazing. According to calculations, it won't take long for their bottling plants in various provinces in China to be initially deployed. And according to the latest intelligence, the two companies are also preparing to acquire several large-scale beverage manufacturers, including Tianfu Cola Company, which currently occupies the largest market share."
"Is this news true?" Song Yuanchao asked sternly.
Ruth did not answer directly, but turned her gaze to Sun Yaoliang who was sitting diagonally opposite.
Sun Yaoliang took over Ruth's words and reported to Song Yuanchao: "In the past, there were eight kings in domestic soda factories. They were Shanhaiguan Soda Factory in Tianjin, Bawangsi Soda Factory in Fengtian, Sanzhen Beverage Factory No. 2, Beibingyang Food Factory in Yanjing, Asia Soda Factory in Yangcheng, Laoshan Soda Company, Tianfu Cola and Zhengguanghe Soda Factory in Shanghai."
"In fact, General Manager Ruth just mentioned Tianfu Cola. According to the information the sales company has received from the market, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are not only interested in acquiring Tianfu Cola, but also the other seven soda manufacturers."
"What about the marketing department? What's the information situation of the marketing department?" Song Chaoyuan turned his gaze to the marketing department. The marketing director stood up and reported to Song Yuanchao. The content of the report was similar to what Sun Yaoliang said, but it was more comprehensive in some details.
Song Chaoyuan narrowed his eyes slightly. He knew that Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola attached great importance to the Chinese beverage market, but he did not expect them to make such a big move. You should know that Song Yuanchao was not in this industry in his previous life. He just had a little understanding of some situations, but he did not know the details of how the two major cola companies developed rapidly in the domestic market at that time.
At the beginning, as an outsider, Song Chaoyuan could not feel these things. At most, some familiar beverage products suddenly disappeared from the market one day, but for many ordinary people, it was nothing. Because at that time, the domestic market had been opened, and there were many kinds of products. Moreover, for Song Yuanchao himself, he still preferred to drink Coca-Cola, so he did not have any feelings about the disappearance of those brands.
But now it's different. As the helmsman of Shenghua and the boss of Sterzhen, Song Yuanchao has long since transformed from an ordinary consumer to a competitor of the two major cola companies in the market. When you are in the game, your feelings are completely different. The huge pressure and aggressive attitude brought by the other party made Song Chaoyuan pay special attention.
"Why weren't these things reported in time before?" Song Chaoyuan asked back with some displeasure.
"I am to blame for this problem." Zheng Guoyuan, who had been silent, said, "The feedback from the sales company and the marketing department was submitted to the president's office last week. I temporarily put it aside because it was the end of the year. I am responsible for this issue and I am willing to accept the company's punishment."
Song Yuanchao was slightly stunned, and suddenly remembered that Zheng Guoyuan called him last week and said that he had some work matters to report to him. However, Song Yuanchao was busy with other things at that time, waiting for an international call, and he had originally arranged to come to Nanjing, so he told Zheng Guoyuan directly on the phone that if this matter was not urgent, it would not be too late to report after he arrived in Nanjing.
Now, Zheng Guoyuan took the initiative to admit his mistake in front of everyone, and was actually helping Song Yuanchao to take the blame. Song Yuanchao instantly understood what was going on, and his face couldn't help but feel slightly hot.
Waving his hand, Song Chaoyuan signaled Zheng Guoyuan to put this aside for the time being, coughed and said seriously: "Does the company have any suggestions for this situation?"
Zheng Guoyuan said: "After a preliminary discussion within the company, we all agreed that we cannot sit back and wait for death. Although our capital is not as strong as the other party, our products still have certain advantages in the market. If we let it develop, then in the future when the other party fully acquires other brands, then the two major cola companies will completely form a situation of encirclement and suppression of our Sit. We must not let the other party succeed in this regard."
Song Chaoyuan nodded. Zheng Guoyuan was right. In fact, the encirclement and suppression had already begun. Since the two major colas officially entered the domestic market, the other party had already started to make its plans.
At the beginning of this year, when Nandu was restructured, Sit felt the pressure from Coca-Cola. If it weren't for Song Yuanchao, Coca-Cola might be the largest shareholder of Nandu. If this was the case, Coca-Cola could use capital operations to defeat and acquire Sit without competing in the market, thus taking over Sit's products and the entire market.
Apart from Coca-Cola, Pepsi is also doing the same thing. Their series of actions this year show their purpose. Don’t think that the two major cola companies are competitors. They have been fighting each other in the global market for many years. But in reality, the two major cola companies can’t do anything to each other. The competition between them is very fierce, but at the same time, they continue to eliminate potential opponents in this competition, so as to jointly dominate the market.
To put it in one sentence, it is like a fight between the boss and the second in command, and in the end, the one who died was not the boss or the second in command, but the other people who were watching. The two major cola companies have long been familiar with this routine, and the facts have proved that this is the final result.
Sitting back and doing nothing is the worst option. Because this is not sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight, nor is it a case of the fisherman profiting from the snipe and the clam fighting. Once this is done, the future of Sit can be imagined. When their layout is successful and the eight major soda factories fall into their pockets one by one, then the end of Sit is doomed.
Zheng Guoyuan proposed to take the initiative, and this suggestion hit the mark of Song Yuanchao. Song Yuanchao immediately asked if there were any targets or objects to take the initiative to attack. Zheng Guoyuan directly told Song Yuanchao that according to his idea, among the eight large soda factories, the Tianjin Shanhaiguan Soda Factory, the Yanjing Beibingyang Food Factory, the Yangcheng Asia Soda Factory, the Laoshan Soda Company, and the Tianfu Cola in Shancheng were the most suitable targets.
