Reborn 92's Business Tycoon

Chapter 421: An opponent with no limits

Jin Ling said that she had encountered trouble again, but in fact, she had never told Feng Yiping about any trouble before. So when he heard this, he became a little anxious and hurried to the company without thinking about how to fix Gao Heng.

There was a meeting in full swing in the office, and it sounded as if Zhou Xinyu and Gao Zhiyi were also on the other end of the phone. Strangely, everyone sounded as if they were filled with righteous indignation.

'What's going on?' Feng Yiping asked Jin Ling, who was sitting at the head of the table.

There was a moment of silence on both sides, and Fang Yingzhi came over and took Feng Yiping's jacket, which he had just taken off before entering the meeting room.

Jin Ling looked a little embarrassed. 'I just found out that there's been another change of general manager at Jiamei. Since the beginning of the year, they've poached six store managers from our company, as well as a regional manager. These people are training Jiamei's staff. Jiamei has been very active these days, and they're looking to us in many ways. The most unacceptable thing is that the image of several of their stores is also moving towards ours. From the main colours to the logos, almost everything is the same as ours. If you don't look carefully, you can't really tell the difference.'

'Is that all?' Feng Yiping listened, leaning against the back of the chair, not wanting to sit down.

It sounded so serious on the phone, but this is really no big deal! Which company at the forefront of the industry has not had its talent poached or been imitated? Although this situation cannot be said to be commonplace, it is commonplace, right? According to reason, Jinling shouldn't have made such a big deal of it.

He thought about it for a moment and understood.

No wonder Jin Ling looked a little embarrassed just now. Although she had backed out halfway, she had created Jiamei, and now she was unexpectedly causing trouble for her. In a sense, she was making things difficult for herself.

It was precisely because of this experience, and because it involved Youjia and Jiamei, that she had to adopt such a high profile.

'Look,' Jin Ling pushed the computer in front of him.

Gao Zhiyi and the others had done a very thorough job of researching the relevant information. Jiamei had already replaced the original red colour scheme of several stores with a blue that was similar to the sky blue of Youjia, although it had a slight green tinge. The red vests of the staff had been changed accordingly, and even the name badges they wore were the same as those of Youjia. The layout of the stores was even more like a carbon copy of Youjia's. Gao Zhiyi said that even the merchandise was highly similar.

Well, if Feng Yiping went shopping and two such stores opened near his neighbourhood, he would probably not be able to tell the difference between the two companies.

No wonder everyone is so angry. It's one thing to poach people, but Jiamei's all-round imitation really has no limits.

'Just now, Hong told me that Jiamei has asked Zhitong to customise a system for them, and they asked if it would be okay with me,' Zhou Xinyu said over the phone, with the conference call still open.

After hearing his words, the managers gathered around the conference table immediately became lively again, all saying things like 'that's too much'.

'Tell Lao Hong that of course we have to take this kind of business, and we have to do a good job,'

'Okay, I'll let him know right away,' Zhou Xinyu over there agreed very firmly.

'Huh?' Everyone here was very surprised. Jin Ling didn't say anything, and the middle managers didn't understand the meaning of Feng Yiping's actions. Isn't this helping the competitor against yourself?

'Look, this is the advantage of competition. It brings us business, doesn't it?'

But no one laughed. I guess if it weren't for Feng Yiping's status, he would probably be called a traitor at this moment. But this also shows that the sense of collective honour and cohesion among those present is quite good.

'You have to think about it from a different perspective. Imitation and poaching from competitors is actually a recognition of everyone's work. We should feel proud. If you weren't sure about the achievements of your hard work before, you should understand now!

Think about it, which outstanding company in the world has never been imitated? This can actually be considered a measure of a company's excellence.

Of course, what we should pursue is to be imitated all the time, but never surpassed.

Besides, with you all as the backbone, what can Galmei change even if they poach a few more people? From the beginning to the present, Galmei has never been qualified to be our opponent, so there is no need to make such a fuss.' When he said this, he glanced at Jin Ling, indicating that he wasn't directing it at you. Jin Ling nodded to show that he understood.

'Alright, you can all go now, get on with what you were doing, and turn this anger into motivation to work even better.'

Something like this is like a hawker with just a thatched hut, who digs a few bricks from the wall of a tycoon with millions of rooms, and it won't change anything.

Feng Yiping's words still had an effect. Everyone at the meeting walked out with their heads held high and full of energy.

'Zhou, what measures are you taking?' Feng Yiping asked Zhou Xinyu once everyone had left.

It was not easy to train up such cadres as these, and such a staff turnover rate was definitely abnormal. Of course, the deficiencies in the work must now be reviewed and improvements made.

Moreover, Jiamei is definitely still poaching people. It's fine for the hawker to take a few bricks from the wall of one of the tycoon's ten million buildings, but if you let him keep doing it, it could turn from a minor problem into an incurable disease. A thousand-mile levee can still collapse due to an ant hole.

'We have already arranged for the human resources department to conduct a survey to find out which supervisors are not very stable. In addition, I have already called each of the regional supervisors to ask them to go to the stores more often in the near future,' said Zhou Xingyu.

Although these measures are appropriate, they are only treating the symptoms and not the root cause.

'Do you know why these employees who have left us to work for Jiamei did so? Was it because of the high salary, or were there other reasons?' You don't even need to ask to know that if Jiamei wants to poach people from Jiayi, it will have to offer high salaries.

'The main thing is the high salaries,' says Gao Zhiyi. 'I've asked some of the employees who were approached by Jiamei but didn't agree to switch jobs. Although Jiamei promised to arrange positions for them at the headquarters, the main tool was high salaries, generally two to two-and-a-half times their current salaries.'

That's nothing. Feng Yiping can even imagine the end of the few people who have been poached. Apart from a very small number of people who may quickly adapt to the style of Jiamei and be able to get a good position there, most people, after being poached, will definitely be treated coldly after their value is exhausted, and afterwards there are means to force you to resign.

'Tell the HR department to prepare a selection of courses and continue training middle managers. Apart from business training, there should also be courses to improve their overall quality,' Feng Yiping made an arrangement and asked Jin Ling for her opinion, "What do you think, Mr Jin?'

'This is necessary. At the same time, we need to continue to reinforce our goals and the achievements we have made," Jin Ling added.

Yes, in this way, everyone should be able to see which company has a better future.

'But aren't you going to do anything about Jiamei?' This is CFO Li Lin, and she definitely can't calm down about such things.

'There's nothing I can do. It's just a matter of business ethics, not the law.' Feng Yiping understands very well that this is actually a normal competitive tactic, and the only way to fight back is with business tactics.

Moreover, Yajia is a private enterprise with a joint venture label, while Jiamei is a state-owned enterprise, the firstborn of the republic. Within the enterprise, it is treated even better than foreign-funded enterprises, truly enjoying supernational treatment. If Yajia does this, there is nothing it can do about it, and if Yajia poaches people from it, it will have many means to exert.

'I have read the files, and among those who have been poached, several are from our county. Should I do something about it back home?' This is Feng's brother-in-law. Having experienced something like this, especially when several of those who have been poached are from his county, he feels betrayed.

'No, a company and a brand need to have their own personality and attitude. Ordinary consumers definitely want to see in a company the same kind of "forgiving" and "friendly" qualities as in ordinary people. It's not good to be aggressive.' Feng Yiping understood his brother-in-law's feelings, but did not agree with his approach.

He actually had personal experience of this, and later a famous herbal tea brand, because of various disputes, made Feng Yiping, who was also a fan of this herbal tea, stop buying both brands.

'So we just do nothing?' Group Sales General Manager Wang Zhiqiang had originally joined the meeting.

Feng Yiping also understood his feelings. The sales department is not like a convenience store. When the manager of a convenience store leaves, he can't actually take the business with him. But in the sales department, not to mention a sales manager in charge of a region, even an ordinary salesperson can take a lot of business with him when he leaves.

'The sales department's employment contract is different from the general employment contract. It already has some exclusive clauses. However, Mr. Wang, you should pay more attention to the ideological trends of the salespeople. Relying on the contract alone is useless.'

'In short, let me emphasise one more point. When something happens, first examine ourselves to see if there is anything that can be improved or strengthened. Only in this way is every setback worthwhile.

In addition, I have one requirement for the convenience store: in the provincial capital, where there is the only relatively large-scale branch of Jiamei, we must always maintain a comprehensive advantage over Jiamei.

As for this incident, of course we cannot just do nothing, but I also have one more requirement: Jiamei can be shameless. From the perspective of corporate and brand image, we must have grace in addition to Jiamei. So I hope that everyone will work together to come up with the best solution as soon as possible. I will also consider this issue. Okay, the meeting is adjourned.'

Although he rarely posted updates on social media afterwards, Feng Yiping now particularly misses the many social media platforms that were available at the time. If the conditions were right now, it would have been easy and elegant to resolve this matter, and it would have also improved consumer perception of Jiamei.