Mediterranean hegemon

Leo couldn't understand Contini's business model and core logic, but there were people in the not-so-distant city of Turin who were very interested in Contini's strategy.

Giovanni Agnelli is the head of the Agnelli family and the current chairman of Fiat. After the breakfast meeting, he put down the newspaper and asked his son Edoardo Agnelli: "I don't know what you think about United Group. With that boy from Ciano’s family?”

"Father is suddenly interested in motorcycles?" Edo Aldo smiled slightly, "But yes, the newspapers are full of these news recently, and it is impossible not to attract attention. I went to find out about that speed and... For the Passion X1 series motorcycles, we have also tried our best to get a commemorative edition, and the engineers have thoroughly reviewed it.”

"What did they conclude?"

"It is a good car, with a bold design and avant-garde styling. However, this is not the first creation of the United Group." Edoardo said, "Our designers and engineers found many traces of German industrial design in it, and customers Maybe you won’t pay attention to this, but an expert can tell it. Then we contacted the German side and confirmed the relevant judgment. This design was leaked from BMW, and they suffered a big loss.”

“Has United Group stolen BMW’s intellectual property?”

"No, they purchased the relevant patent." Edo Aldo had a weird smile on his face, but he still told the story exactly as it was, "This design was originally just completed by BWM Company, and it happened to be just before Christmas last year. I went to Germany for an inspection and purchased the right to use the patent for US$100,000. At the same time, I agreed to pay an additional technical fee of 20,000 marks for each unit produced with this technology in the next 10 years or pay a one-time payment of 1 billion marks within two years to buy it directly. Cut off follow-up technical fees.”

"Hahahaha!" Old Agnelli couldn't help laughing, "This little guy got a big advantage."

Judging from the price in November last year, this contract is very fair and commercial. However, after the Ruhr crisis, the mark exchange rate has fallen into an abyss. At present, it is difficult to exchange 100,000 marks for 1 US dollar. In other words , except for the first one-time payment of US$100,000, BMW basically cannot get any other money from the contract signed by Contini.

The reason why BWM agreed to transfer the patent was, on the one hand, to recover some costs, and on the other hand, it believed that even if the United Group got the design, it would take at least half a year to adapt, produce and launch it again. During this period, It was enough for them to launch it into the market and participate in exhibitions, but they obviously miscalculated. Contini poached people directly from BMW to speed up adaptation. At the same time, the outbreak of the Ruhr crisis forced the release of BMW's own products to be postponed. After a lot of back and forth, although BMW's original R32 design still participated in international exhibitions, BMW It is still in the prototype stage, but the United Group has directly launched the finished product and achieved market sales.

More importantly, the X1 series is upgraded and improved on the basis of the R32. Any unbiased person will admit that this improvement is not significant in terms of technical performance, but in playability, luxury, and sportiness. The field has been comprehensively strengthened, and the black paratroopers falling from the sky have established X1's market position. Now the economic collapse caused by the Ruhr crisis in Germany has made it impossible for BMW to produce and promote the R32. If it wants to export, whether it is the UK or France, the first choice will definitely be the X1 series rather than the R32 - BMW's market space is directly affected. The United Group was stunned.

"I have to admit that the sales volume of this product is good. I heard that there have been nearly 4,000 orders, and another 1,000 government orders have actually been obtained, but the United Group has been suppressing the news and not announcing it." Edo Aldo He asked, "Father intends to expand the motorcycle market share?"

Old Agnelli shook his head slightly. Of course Fiat also produces motorcycles, but compared to the booming cars, Fiat's motorcycles can only be said to be average.

"It is not difficult to expand production. Someone suggested that I copy the technology and then take advantage of the production capacity bottleneck of the United Group - we are expected to only produce 500 vehicles per month at most, and surpass it in one fell swoop."

"This is inappropriate. If the patent is infringed, this kid will definitely rush to file a lawsuit with us." Old Agnelli rejected the idea. "I just heard the news from Rome. This kid will soon file a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court. Sue the Socialist Party for being unconstitutional!”

Edoardo originally wanted to say that Fiat is not afraid of lawsuits, but he was stunned when he heard the news: "Is he crazy? What good will it do to him to fight with the Socialist Party?"

"There is someone in Rome who will benefit him. Doesn't that person always want to take revenge on the Socialist Party? Little Ciano is nothing more than the one who rushes to the front. Otherwise, why would there be so many senior government officials attending the opening and launch ceremony of a mere United Motorcycle? Are there so many people coming to Fiat’s new company when it opens?”

Little Agnelli had no choice but to give up the idea of ​​copycat. Indeed, as his father said, this is a dangerous person, and it is best not to be caught by him, otherwise Contini will go crazy and even Fiat will dare to pounce on him and bite him.

"However, I am not only interested in United Motorcycles, I am more interested in United Group. What do you think of this?"

Hearing his father talk about United Group, little Agnelli smiled: "I admit that United Motorcycle is good, but it is only limited to products. I think his operation is a mess, and United Group's business logic is even more confusing. I am not slandering him, you Every time he enters an industry, he rushes to open up a new battlefield before he reaches the extreme and takes the lead. From newspapers to radio stations, from motorcycles to aviation, from radio to express delivery, he creates a lot of things in a mess, which is completely What kind of coordination can be achieved by acting haphazardly without much organic connection? More importantly, every industry is losing money, especially United Airlines, which uses a lot of planes to deliver newspapers and mails. I don’t know. How much to lose!”

"United Group has quite a bit of visibility now."

"I admit that if I was willing to lose 100 million lira first, I could build the same reputation."

Looking at his young and energetic son (now 31 years old), the old Agnelli shook his head noncommittally, and did not directly acknowledge this sentence, but asked: "If you are responsible for it, how should you proceed?"

"We should slow down and diversify the industry carefully. For example, if he was the first to get involved in newspapers, he would first make the newspaper one of the top ten or five in the country and make a profit, and then simultaneously open up the magazine market, and he could also develop a radio station by the way - but not You should produce radios, and then branch out into the media industry, such as the advertising industry, film industry, and performing arts industry, so as to create a core multi-industry; if you want to enter the manufacturing industry, you should first produce motorcycles, and then After more than ten years of tinkering with engines, he can consider trying to enter the automobile industry or other fields after gaining experience and market reputation, instead of rushing into it like he did. How much money can he have to squander like this? Even if United Motorcycles can make a profit, what else can he do? The loss-making industry will drag him to death, and eventually the entire group will collapse," said Agnelli, "It's like he is building a high-rise building on the beach. He doesn't lay a solid foundation first and only wants to build it quickly, but he doesn't realize that if the foundation is not solid, he will build a high-rise building. The faster you go, the faster you fall."

"You think his industry lacks coherence and unity?"

"I can do whatever I think of here and there, and I am so impatient that I want to build a big consortium all at once. It took Fiat more than 30 years to achieve what it has today. It is basically impossible for him to replicate it in 5 or 10 years." It's possible." Little Agnelli smiled, "I don't know what he is worried about. He is only 20 years old and has not even graduated from college. He still has at least 50 years in his life to build a national consortium and establish an advantageous position. , It is basically unrealistic without the efforts of three generations.”

The elder Agnelli did not comment on this sentence, only said: "Then why are we trying to control the Juventus club and make you the club president? Are football and cars complementary?"

Little Agnelli's face froze, feeling that there was a lot of meaning behind his father's question.