Reborn Tycoon Rise

Anyone who has been to Hong Kong in future generations will more or less know about Octopus. This electronic card is almost the same as the two major mobile payment systems in the mainland, monopolizing almost all livelihood payment industries in Hong Kong.

In the original history, Octopus was born in 1997. At this time, the Internet era had begun and electronic card technology was also very mature. This set of electronic currencies supported by the Hong Kong government soon monopolized the entire Hong Kong, from buses, subways to shops. It can also be used in hotels, parking lots, even schools and hospitals.

Although it is still only the 1980s, and electronic technology is naturally not as good as it would be a dozen years later, the current magnetic cards can still record data, and can also replicate some of the conveniences of later generations of "Octopus" in some functions. The extent is still unlikely, but this system can be improved first.

"Octopus." Wang Liming recited it silently twice and said with a smile: "This is a good name, it extends in all directions!"

Xu Zhi nodded and said: "As long as the name is easy to remember, your first task now is to find a professional company to develop a hardware system that can support the use of this kind of card throughout Xiangjiang. Midea will be responsible for this matter."

He Guoyuan nodded in agreement: "This kind of technology should not be available here in Xiangjiang. I will arrange for people to consult some companies in the United States and Japan."

Xu Zhi nodded and said: "Okay, we must hurry up and try to complete this matter before the end of the year."

"No problem." He Guoyuan nodded and agreed. This kind of deduction system is actually not complicated. Some countries in Europe and the United States are already using similar equipment, most of which are also operated in urban buses. He only needs to find a professional company in this field and then ask the other party to make appropriate adjustments according to his own requirements. That’s it.

Xu Zhidao: "Making this kind of equipment is not a problem. What I care more about is that we must popularize this system in the shortest possible time. So in order to popularize Octopus cards more smoothly, I decided to privatize Watsons."

"Privatizing Watsons?" Ma Shimin, who had been silent for a while, said, "Chairman, if you need Watsons to cooperate with this plan, it is not a problem at all. There is no need to privatize Watsons."

Xu Zhi shook his head and smiled: "Although Octopus is important, I have other purposes for privatizing Watsons. You can just do it."

Ma Shimin continued: "Chairman, the current Watson Group is one of the most profitable businesses of Hutchison Whampoa. If it is privatized, I guess some shareholders of Hutchison Whampoa will have objections."

"Don't agree?" Xu Zhi smiled and said: "If you don't agree, they can throw away the shares in Hutchison Whampoa and just stop being a shareholder of Hutchison Whampoa. Besides, I don't want the entire Watsons for nothing. I can pay as much as I want. According to At the current price, I will pay all in cash, and Hutchison Whampoa will not suffer any losses.”

Ma Shimin nodded and said, "Okay, then I will arrange the documents and legal procedures required for privatization when I go back."

"After privatization, Watsons does not belong to Hutchison Whampoa in terms of equity, but you will still be responsible for future management." Xu Zhi said with a smile. Ma Shimin is still very capable in management. In addition to the real estate business, Hutchison Whampoa is also developing in an orderly manner in other aspects. Even if the supermarket segment is spun off, it will still be managed by the original Hutchison Whampoa management for the time being.

"Thank you, Chairman." Ma Shimin nodded and smiled. As Hutchison Whampoa's chief executive, he has become the top working emperor in Hong Kong, and Xu Zhi's management of Hutchison Whampoa is not deep. Apart from strategic layout, he rarely intervenes in operational management. This is also a sign of trust in him.

However, everyone is obsessed with power. As one of the three major businesses of Hutchison Whampoa, Watsons controls more than 30% of the retail market in Hong Kong. If the employment of thousands of people is really gone, it will be a blow to the entire influence of Hutchison Whampoa. Still not small.

Although it will be divested now, it will still be managed by him. In this way, except for the change in equity, his rights as a professional manager will remain the same as before, and he will even have more freedom in the management of Watsons.

Xu Zhi continued: "Watson's does have a certain position in the retail market in Xiangjiang, but it is not enough to rely solely on Watsons to promote Octopus. So after privatization, I will continue to inject funds until Watsons monopolizes the entire retail market in Xiangjiang. Until business.

In the next few years, Watsons will only expand the market and not short-term profits. This may affect the development of Hutchison Whampoa, so I need to privatize the entire Watsons. "

"Monopolizing the retail business?" Wang Liming said: "This is estimated to require a huge investment of capital, but this is fine. If it can really succeed, our group will make more profits."

Xu Zhi shook his head and smiled: "Yes, the promotion of Octopus is just a plan carried out at the same time. The retail business is more important. Although the profit margin is not high, the cash flow is sufficient.

Moreover, the retail business can connect almost all people in Hong Kong, which is very important for us to promote any products in the future.

After monopolizing the retail business in Xiangjiang, with this stable income, I will also let the entire Watsons enter the international market. "

“Watson’s current main businesses are cosmetics, ParknShop supermarkets, airport retail and two shopping malls.

Although the cosmetics business is the most profitable, it is not actually close to the people. The one that really fits the chairman's plan should be ParknShop Supermarket.

PARKnSHOP currently has 142 supermarket chains in Hong Kong, second only to Wellcome in terms of market share. If we want to monopolize the entire retail market in Hong Kong, we must acquire Wellcome. In this way, we can control half of Hong Kong. Supermarket above. "Ma Shimin briefly introduced Watson's business. He was very interested in monopolizing the entire Xiangjiang market.

"The current Wellcome Supermarket belongs to the Jardine Matheson Group. Do you think Wellcome will be sold?" Xu Zhi asked with a smile.

Ma Shimin shook his head and said, "It's probably unlikely."

Wellcome Supermarket was founded in 1945 and is affiliated with Dairy Farm International Group. In 1960, it opened the first supermarket in Central, Hong Kong. It currently has 163 branches in Hong Kong. In terms of sales, Wellcome's scale exceeds that of PARKnSHOP. supermarket.

In 1974, after Land acquired the Milk Company, Wellcome Supermarket was also merged into the Jardine Matheson Group.

Xu Zhi smiled and said: "The people of the Jardine Group are very high-spirited during this period and want to acquire all the companies in Xiangjiang. If you want to acquire his supermarket in turn, it will probably be difficult.

Moreover, as far as supermarkets are concerned, Parknshop and Wellcome jointly control more than half of the market. However, in Hong Kong, a large part of the entire retail industry consists of thousands of ordinary convenience stores spread across Hong Kong. Although these convenience stores It is small, but it is relevant to most of the citizens of Hong Kong. If we want to successfully launch Octopus and monopolize the retail market, we must pay attention to this aspect. "

Ma Shimin frowned and asked: "Chairman, do you want to copy 7-11's business model?"

Xu Zhi nodded and said: "Yes, although the 7-11 model does not work well in the United States, it is very successful in Japan. We can definitely copy this model to Xiangjiang."

"I have also studied the business model of 7-11. Its main feature is unified procurement to reduce procurement costs. If we also build such a chain store, we can merge the procurement department into PARKnSHOP, which will further reduce costs. Ma Shimin suggested.

Xu Zhixiao asked: "Since you have considered this business model before, why didn't you pass it?"

Ma Shimin said: "That's because this model can indeed make money, but in terms of profit margin, it is still not as good as Watsons' other businesses, and the management costs are too high and a lot of money is invested."

"So that's it." Xu Zhi nodded and said: "In the past, what you considered was profit margin, but now I care about scale. You don't have to worry about funds. After Watsons is privatized, I will inject another 100 million Hong Kong dollars for Develop convenience store business.”

"Then shall we conduct direct sales or adopt a franchise model?" Ma Shimin asked.

"Join, we just need to control the procurement." Xu Zhi thought for a while and replied. HK$100 million seems like a lot, but if we conduct direct sales by ourselves, the initial rent and decoration will consume all the funds. , and the management cost of directly operated stores is too high.

Ma Shimin nodded in agreement: "Okay, then I will go back immediately to make preparations in this area."

Xu Zhi added: "That's it for now. Everyone will be responsible for these things according to their own tasks, and strive to make all initial preparations before the end of the year."