Chapter 577 – The third-party benefits from the tussle
After Qiudu Ham was alleged to contain human flesh, the whole nation was in an uproar. The leaders of the company were immediately replaced, and they were to take on the full responsibility for this incident!
If this were Feng Yu’s company, he would have fired all the leaders, especially the “Advisor”! How can a fortune teller be appointed as the company’s advisor? This was ridiculous!
If Feng Yu were the boss of Qiudu, he would immediately introduce a new flavor of ham, Smoked Ham! Although there were people who do not like the smoky flavor, there will still be someone who likes it.
This would contain the damages of Qiudu. At most, it was a failed new product. There will not be any rumors of human ham. But if it was a success, then it will add one more variety of product for the company. However, the chances of success were slim.
But it will lower the damages and will not affect the brand much. This Smoked Ham can still be sold at a higher price. It might even increase the company’s profits.
Another solution was to own up and accept the losses. At the same time, announce to the whole nation that Qiudu will not use inferior pork for their ham. This would be the best solution.
Although the losses would amount up to 40 million, at the same time, it can increase the retail prices of their ham. The consumers will know that Qiudu’s ham was safe to consume and had strict requirements for their products! The brand value will increase.
When the brand value increases, the reputation of the brand will also increase. It will stimulate higher sales. The 40 million RMB losses will be negligible! Qiudu’s annual profits were more than 1 billion RMB, and they could afford losses of 40 million RMB!
That damaged meat could also be distributed to the factory’s employees as a form of welfare. After all, in this era, not every household could afford to eat pork daily. Although the meat was slightly damaged, it was still edible. The employees will still feel grateful to the company.
There were many ways to handle this incident. But the leaders of Qiudu chose the stupidest idea. Selecting the most foolish choice was still fine. They should at least inform the distributors.
The distributors were unaware of this and did not know that this batch of ham had problems. The taste of Qiudu’s ham had changed, and the reputation of the distributors will be affected. They will surely be unhappy. Those consumers that bought this batch of ham will suspect that it was an imitation product and the distributors had to explain to their customers. But they were unaware of what had happened and could not give an explanation.
At this time, Qiudu’s competitor, Danhui made their move. They easily bribed these distributors and some media to spread rumors of Qiudu’s ham contains human remains. This was the critical blow!
Both companies were selling ham, and Danhui’s ham tastes good too. The cost of Qiudu Hams was higher, and the distributors were looking forward to seeing a competitor competing with Qiudu. They wanted to teach that arrogant Qiudu a lesson and let them know that without the distributors, Qiudu Ham will never be famous.
This was the time when Qiudu Company realized that they had made so many mistakes and tried to salvage the situation!
But once the rumors started, it spread very fast. It takes more effect to stop a rumor than to start it. It was several times harder!
This rumor was still started on purpose. It was almost impossible to stop it!
Since Danhui had already backstabbed Qiudu, then they must make sure there was no way for Qiudu to recover. If not, when Qiudu recovered from this crisis, they will go after them. Danhui might even close down from Qiudu’s retaliation.
The rumors were spreading like wildfire. Qiudu ham’s sales plunged. Although Danhui’s sales did not increase too much, when Qiudu was shut down, their sales will surely skyrocket. After all, there was still a demand for ham in China!
This matter was too big for Qiudu Company to handle. They had no choice but to seek help from their higher-ups. They approached the City Government. Qiudu was a state-owned enterprise and seeking help from the higher-ups when they met any trouble was their usual practice.
The Qiudu company knew that it was another company from a neighboring city that had started the rumors, they immediately reported to their higher-ups!
Qiudu City government’s leaders were furious to learn that it was that Danhui who had started this crisis. They immediate raise complains to that city’s leaders.
The city leaders, where Danhui Company was located, were aware of this. They also felt this was not right. After all, Danhui Company had even visited Qiudu Company to learn from them in the past.
But since it had already happened, and the city leaders will still gain from this incident, then it was a different story. If the market leader of the Ham industry was Danhui, then it will be their credit.
Which leader was willing to forgo the credit? Furthermore, Qiudu Company did not have concrete proof that it was Danhui who accused them. Those government officials will also not admit that the rumors were started by Danhui.
So, the city leaders retorted that it was Qiudu who was making baseless allegations again Danhui. Qiudu does not have any proof that points to Danhui. How can they claim that they were the ones who started the rumors? It was Qiudu that had problems with their products in the first place.
The war between two companies escalated to a war of words between two cities. In the end, it escalated to the Provincial Government. The Provincial Government had plans to use the food products industry as their province’s Mainstay industry to push the province’s economy.
Qiudu Ham was in high demand, and the provincial leaders were glad to see another Ham company appearing in their province.
Copy and follow was what the government officials were good at. This was a shortcut to develop their area’s economy. Nationwide, almost all the Ham factories were state-owned and supported by their local governments.
Qiudu and Danhui Companies did not have any bad blood between them in the past. Both were state-owned enterprises under the same province government. They were increasing the provincial government’s revenue. Both companies could even join hands to prevent other ham companies from overtaking them.
Both companies were considered the provincial government’s children. What happens when both of your kids fight? The parents could not take sides and both the kids must be punished equally. This was what the provincial government did.
The mayors of both cities were reprimanded. But they insist they did nothing wrong. It was the other party that was at fault. Danhui saw this as an opportunity to shine, and Qiudu claims that Danhui was out to destroy them.
But when both companies and cities were arguing, they did not notice a new brand of ham, Tai Hua Ham from the Northeast had entered the market and was sold all over China.
Feng Yu had sought the help of Tai Hua Trading’s distributors to market this Tai Hua Ham. Although it was still an unknown brand, Feng Yu promise them that Tai Hua Ham’s commercial will be aired on CCTV soon. It will also be endorsed by a top celebrity.
Now, the top two brands of ham, Qiudu and Danhui were at war and the third party, Tai Hua Ham, will be the one that benefits from their tussles!