Both parties had met in top secret. No one else knew of the content of their discussion.
It was many years later when everyone finally found out that the two behemoths of the global health supplements industry had met so many years ago when faced with a major threat to their local brands. Countless people thumped their chests in regret that they didn’t get to witness such a historical moment.
After the meeting between the director of NBJ, Luo Desen, and the boss behind Lanxin Company, Wen Xinya, NBJ went all out and invested a huge amount of resources to try and cut off T-K Group from the market.
At the same time, Wen Xinya launched her peripheral attack.
The all-out offensive war had begun.
As T-K Group had just entered Country Z’s market, they were thrown into a frenzy by NBJ’s nothing-to-lose manner of attack.
Wen Xinya leaned against Si Yiyan as they watched an old film from Country E during the World War II era. The black-and-white images were poignantly classic as if they had been polished through the sands of time.
Now and then, Si Yiyan would feed Wen Xinya a fresh strawberry.
Wen Xinya looked at the time. It was already 9 PM. She hastily swallowed her bite of strawberry. “Hurry, switch to BJ Education channel.”
Si Yiyan took up the remote to switch channels. “Why do you want to watch an education channel?”
Whenever Xinya watched television. It usually showed related to finance or the legal system. She might also watch the odd movie now and then.
Wen Xinya smiled mysteriously. “You will know in a while.”
Si Yiyan switched over to the BJ Education channel, which was now showing an experts’ panel discussion. The topic was the effect of acquisitions by international corporations on Country Z’s local brands, the overall economy and citizens’ livelihoods.
He suddenly smiled. “Is this the first step of your peripheral attack?”
The BJ Education channel was currently one of the more popular channels.
To defend against overseas takeovers, one must first appeal to the hearts of the people. Wen Xinya performed this step very well.
As long as they could let more people understand the negative impact that overseas takeovers had on local companies and let their citizens realize that domestic brands could be just as good as foreign brands if given the chance to grow, she believed most citizens would end up supporting local products.
Wen Xinya invested a vast amount of money to create this program, so as to ride on the current national sentiments toward hostile takeovers by overseas corporations. This program had the support of the nation, appealed to the masses, and made money for the television broadcaster—what was there not to like?
This was called fully utilizing a country’s resources.
It must be said that this was an extremely intelligent move.
Wen Xinya tugged at Si Yiyan’s arm with sparkling eyes. “Did you notice anything familiar about my move?”
A spark went off in Si Yiyan’s head. He smiled again. “There is indeed something very familiar about it.”
After the proof of virginity incident resulting from Xia Ruya’s steamy photo scandal, Xia Ruya had bribed experts to give a talk on this topic, so as to minimize her fallout from the matter. In the end, she had succeeded in achieving her desired result.
Wen Xinya guffawed. “It must be said that Xia Ruya’s move is pretty useful. The fight for the market between T-K Group and the NBJ-Lanxin Company alliance has officially erupted. Everyone in the business world, the media, and the wider public are closely watching the events unfold. Pushing out such a program at this time will ensure maximum viewership.
“And I didn’t just do this program on BJ channel. I also did similar programs on the seven most highly-rated channels in the country. They will be played from Monday to Sunday, at different time slots across the various channels. In addition, I hired a hacker group to kick-start similar topics online.”
To appeal to the hearts of the people, one must first disseminate information and knowledge on acquisitions.
Si Yiyan stroked her hair gently. “What’s the second step of your plan?”
Wen Xinya answered, “I have already done it!”
Following that, Wen Xinya took over the remote control from Si Yiyan and tuned in to a late-night financial news channel.
It was just reporting that NBJ and Lanxin Company were offering major discounts on their products, as they were unable to withstand against the force of the international corporation invading the local health supplements market.
They were cutting their prices by 30%, drastically narrowing their profit margins. They would be sacrificing profitability to fight T-K Group for market share.
Si Yiyan gave a faint smile. “This is to portray weakness and show that you are the underdog.”
Newspapers and magazines could reach a wider audience and influence them more deeply than television and the internet. Tomorrow, the newspapers would feature a cover story detailing just how forlorn Lanxin Company and NBJ were.
Before T-K Group managed to take control of the market and steal the hearts of the public, they must quickly besmear T-K Group’s name and give them the image of a powerful bully. From there, they could nurture a sense of public distaste for T-K Group’s products.
To normal citizens who didn’t know much about business, discounts were a good thing. At the same time, they would also realize that their local enterprises were being bullied by overseas forces. As a citizen of Country Z, wouldn’t they sympathize with their own local brands? Was there any way they would still support some unfamiliar foreign brands?
Si Yiyan had to admit her moves were very brilliant. “Then, what’s the next step?”
Wen Xinya replied, “Denouncements, incriminations, and defamations. We will use all ways to further blacken T-K Group’s name. Meanwhile, Lanxin Company and NBJ will continue lowering our prices and continue appearing weak. Our prices will drop all the way until 40%, right to the edge of the wall.”
If you wanted to show a weak front, you must do it all the way.
Without any regard for the costs or consequences.
The most important aspects to health supplements were effectiveness and quality. For a health supplement product which no one had ever tried, consumers wouldn’t know how effective or good its quality was. As a result, the brand name and image would become the next most important criteria for a consumer.
Denouncements, incriminations, and defamations. These were not high-level methods and could be easily uncovered. People in the business world were no fools. However, consumers would have no idea what was going on behind the scenes. All they would know was that this brand name was not very good, and so they would not buy it.
Si Yiyan sighed softly. “In battle, a woman can sometimes be even crueler and more unpredictable than a man.”
At least when men met in battle, they preferred to charge head-on and pit brute force against brute force. But people like Wen Xinya, with her “no-holds-barred” and “the-end-justifies-the-means” kind of crafty attack, they were just spine-chillingly scary.
Wen Xinya smiled as she fell back into Si Yiyan’s arm. “So, next time, if Xiasi Group wishes to enter the health supplements market, remember to steer clear of Lanxin Company and not provoke us.”
Of course, this was just the peripheral attack. There was still the flank attack!
