After rebirth, I became a great master

Chapter 642 The Master's Reputation is Well-Deserved

Zhou Haoran and Yu Zhaolin talked for half an hour.

I learned a little about the current development of his company.

It's really sad.

Three years ago, the market for thermal underwear hadn't taken off in China yet. Yu Zhaolin was the first to enter this market and achieved great success, becoming the industry leader.

After the market was hyped up, followers began to appear one after another.

Including Antarctic people.

In just two or three years, the situation changed.

Yu Zhaolin went from being the industry leader to being on the fringes, and even fell into crisis. If the crisis is allowed to spread and is dealt with using past methods, Yu Zhaolin's decline is likely to worsen, ultimately leading to bankruptcy.

This is the opposite of a market economy.

The competition is too fierce.

Seeing him rising from a tall building, seeing his building collapsed.

That's why many people oppose the market-based approach.

In the past, there was no such worry in the planned economy model. Once a business was established, it was equivalent to obtaining the industry "targets." You could just focus on doing it, or even just muddle through and wait to die.

There is absolutely no need to worry about survival.

After Zhou Haoran learned more about Yu Zhaolin, he discovered that Yu Zhaolin was still quite capable; even a fallen camel is bigger than a horse. However, his business model was seriously flawed; he had misjudged the importance of self-production and self-sales.

Zhou Haoran's plan for Nanji Ren involved investing heavily in the "sales" sector.

To put it bluntly, it means spending a lot of money on advertising.

Yu Zhaolin was different; they invested a large amount of capital in the "production" sector, just like the old state-owned enterprises did. After making money, they introduced a lot of advanced equipment to build factories.

Only with advanced equipment can thermal underwear be produced more efficiently and of better quality.

Yu Zhaolin was unaware of his problem; instead, he thought it was his masterpiece. "Sir, Yu Zhaolin has the best thermal underwear production line in the country. Currently, many thermal underwear products in China are still produced in workshops, including Nanji Ren. They place orders with many small workshops, producing only a few thousand or tens of thousands of pieces each, which is very scattered and fragmented."

Zhou Haoran said "hmm".

Of course he knows.

"Breaking down the whole into smaller parts" was originally his idea.

Yu Zhaolin continued, "Even the better manufacturers can only achieve semi-automation at most. They still need a lot of manpower and rely on the combination of manual labor and sewing machines."

Zhou Haoran asked, "Aren't you?"

Yu Zhaolin said, "That's how it was at the beginning, but we changed it after it developed. Over the past three years, we have invested 2.7 million yuan to import production lines from Germany. You could say that Yu Zhaolin has the best thermal underwear production line in China!"

Zhou Haoran asked in surprise, "You invested 2.7 million yuan in the production line over three years, how much did you make?"

"There's hardly any cash flow left in the account."

Yu Zhaolin couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Zhou Haoran shook his head secretly.

Yu Zhaolin's fatal weakness was discovered.

The introduction of the production line cost 2.7 million yuan. After that, we still need to build a factory, train workers, and use raw materials that are compatible with the production line... How much will that cost?

This top-of-the-line production line actually has a fatal flaw.

That's why it's difficult to forge!

It's handmade, and the label says it's pure cotton, but cheaper polyester can be used in the production process.

Highly flexible.

It can be adjusted at any time.

The top-tier production lines are no good.

Incompatibility can lead to machine malfunction.

That makes it impossible to fake.

If you can't fake it, the cost increases significantly.

Let alone in the 1990s, even 20 or 30 years later, the domestic garment manufacturing industry rarely uses such fully automated top-of-the-line production lines; instead, it mainly relies on small workshop orders.

Because of low cost, because it's cheap.

Because the quantity is small and the pace is fast.

This advantage has propelled many apparel e-commerce companies to the world stage.

The downside is that there are too many counterfeit and substandard products.

It's not a fake.

It's not that the real thing is fake.

Yu Zhaolin could see that the master didn't take it seriously. "Master, am I wrong to do this?"

Zhou Haoran nodded. "Mr. Yu, doing business is just like fighting a war. It may seem like you're dealing with strategic planning and ingenious ideas, but the core essence is mathematics. To become a great entrepreneur, just like becoming a military strategist, you first need mathematical thinking."

"math……"

Yu Zhaolin fell silent.

Zhou Haoran said, "Spending 2.7 million to introduce the production line is a huge waste of resources."

Yu Zhaolin was somewhat unconvinced. "Sir, this is a fully automated production line, not a small workshop. My factory only has 300 workers, but its production capacity is equivalent to that of 2000 tailors from other manufacturers."

"What about the cost?" Zhou Haoran shook his head. "2000 workers would only cost 2000 million a year. You spent 2.7 million to import equipment all at once. How many production line workers can that support? Isn't your appetite too big?"

"But……"

Yu Zhaolin didn't quite agree.

Zhou Haoran waved his hand, interrupting him, "In the domestic market, the most important advantage is the low cost of labor. Leveraging strengths and compensating for weaknesses is the core element of competition. The domestic advantage is labor, while the European and American advantage is machinery. Mr. Yu, you've got it backwards. Do you have some foreign consultants around you who have misled you?"

"what?"

Yu Zhaolin's expression suddenly changed. The old master was right after all!

That's really true!

He paid a high price to hire a foreigner with a big nose as a consultant... This is a harbor, and there are many foreigners here. It's a common consensus in society that foreigners understand market economics better than people in China.

Zhou Haoran, a respected teacher, offered insightful guidance without reservation: "There's a wave of people going into business in China right now. But if you look back in ten or twenty years, you'll find that those social elites with prestigious university degrees often fail. On the contrary, those uneducated bumpkins are more likely to succeed."

Yu Zhaolin was stunned.

Because he is a social elite, one of the earliest college students in the country... This is also what he is most proud of. Mr. Zhang from Antarctic... Haha, does someone who only graduated from junior high school deserve to be compared?

Unexpectedly, in Mr. Da's eyes, being an elite became a disadvantage.

Too much knowledge can become a burden.

Zhou Haoran said, "Social elites know more, understand more, and are more familiar with the situation abroad. They know that the market economy should learn from foreign countries. But as they learn, they learn the wrong things. Those who don't know anything and don't understand how things work abroad are actually better able to adapt to the local environment, feel their way across the river, and better establish themselves and survive."

Yu Zhaolin, who considers himself a social elite, is somewhat arrogant. "Sir, many world-class clothing giants abroad do this, so is it really wrong?"

Zhou Haoran asked, "The foreign clothing giants are all very powerful, many of them are Fortune 500 companies. If you follow their path, aren't you just following behind? When will you be able to surpass them?"

"what?"

Yu Zhaolin never thought about surpassing it.

Zhou Haoran said something that will be cutting-edge even twenty years from now: "Overtaking is risky, and overtaking on a curve is even riskier. To overtake, you have to change lanes. Utilizing advantages that they don't have but China has is the key to competing in the market in this era!"

Yu Zhaolin silently pondered those words.

My heart was shaken.

This was his first time having close contact with the Master.

I used to think it was quite insignificant.

He thought this was just a greenhorn, what could he possibly know? It wasn't until recently, when he successfully went south to rescue the market and even brought back dividends to distribute to his colleagues in the industry, that the news suddenly exploded... That's when he started to take it seriously and came here specifically to seek advice.

I was right, it really lives up to its reputation!
Amazing!
Zhou Haoran continued, "Furthermore, you must have a broad vision to do business. The view of the market is naturally different when you stand at the foot of the mountain versus when you stand at the top."

"Please enlighten me, sir."

Yu Zhaolin was completely convinced.

Zhou Haoran glanced at him and said calmly, "There are so many laid-off workers in the country right now. It's a company's mission to alleviate employment pressure and provide more job opportunities for ordinary people. You've spent a lot of money to introduce expensive production lines, which has increased efficiency and reduced the need for so many production line workers. This may not necessarily be a good thing!"

Efficiency has improved.

This results in fewer job opportunities being created.

It is said that the government should treat every company fairly, but in practice, there will always be favoritism.

Whom do you favor?
Of course, it's the excellent companies that can pay more taxes and provide more job opportunities.

After a brief chat, I saw the guests off.

Zhou Haoran simply analyzed the problem.

No solution was proposed.

When Qiao Nuo returned, she asked curiously, "Master, are you really going to help Yu Zhaolin?"

Zhou Haoran said, "It's not easy for businesses to survive, so we should lend a hand if we can."

"Do not believe!"

Jono pouted.

"Why don't you believe me?" Zhou Haoran snorted. "I am a great master, known as the Timely Rain of the Jianghu. If someone comes to me for help and I don't lend a hand, wouldn't that ruin my reputation?"

Qiao Nuo said, "There was a shoemaker who asked you for help before, why didn't you see him?"

"is it?"

Zhou Haoran laughed.

Qiao Nuo raised her chin slightly, looking like she saw right through her, and said smugly, "You're definitely trying to get something out of Yu Zhaolin, aren't you?"

Zhou Haoran laughed and said, "You're so clever!"

"Let me guess..." Qiao Nuo's eyes darted around, "Yu Zhaolin makes thermal underwear, but there's already Nanji Ren in that industry. Are you trying to use Yu Zhaolin to keep Nanji Ren in check? Imperial tactics?"

"Alright, stop guessing." Zhou Haoran said, both amused and exasperated. "Where's Lu Chuyao? Call her over here."

A short while later, Lu Chuyao and Pei Hui arrived together.

They were both members of Hu Xiaochen's group of best friends.

After knowing each other for a long time, we naturally become friends.

And it's limited to friends only.

Further development is impossible. These are all art students, and with very few exceptions, they are all quite open-minded and have had countless boyfriends.

They came here to find Zhou Haoran.

For the Spring Festival Gala.

"Brother Haoran, please help me out! Xiao Chen said that it can only be done if you ask!"

Lu Chuyao gave him a flirtatious look.

Pei Hui, who was working at the Red Mansion Teahouse, felt quite uneasy and said with great anticipation, "Brother Haoran, I also want to go to the Spring Festival Gala. I can sing and dance. Can you arrange it?"

"arrange!"

Zhou Haoran did not hesitate.

"Really?"

Lu Chuyao jumped up excitedly.

"What about the other friends? Contact Wu Yue, Wang Qingqiu, and Li Shen, and ask them what they think. If they want to be on, they can be!" Zhou Haoran said generously, "This is our own Spring Festival Gala, of course we have to arrange for our own people!"

(End of this chapter)