Chapter 102 SynTao 101 Put your eggs in different baskets

Essence of business: A Wenzhou man once said that, just as Japanese businessmen feel that their country is too small and need to find a way out for their funds, Wenzhou businessmen also feel the same way.To say a truth that everyone understands, according to investment rules, don't put all your eggs in one basket.In investment, you can't bet all your hopes together, as the saying goes, divide your eggs into baskets and disperse risks.If you invest in multiple places, you will gain more. In Wenzhou business circles, there is such a story: There is such a story about a very smart farmer who wanted to go to the city to sell eggs, but the road to the city was very bumpy and difficult. In order to prevent the eggs from breaking on the road, he divided a basket of eggs into many basket.As a result, after arriving in the city, I opened the basket and found that only one egg in the basket was broken, and the rest were intact.

This little story tells us a truth, which is to divide our wealth into different baskets and invest in different fields in order to seek the greatest return. Unilever is an old company with a history of more than 100 years. It has endured for a long time and has become the "king of the world's food industry". The reason why it can achieve such a huge success is inseparable from its business policy and management system. Commodity diversification and trademark diversification are notable features of Unilever's management, and it is also the most ingenious way of doing business.Many of Unilever's brand-name products are popular all over the world, but there is no unified Unilever trademark, and they all appear in front of consumers with an independent image.In this way, the diversification of commodities and trademarks avoids a single and rigid consumption image, gives consumers a rich and colorful feeling, and satisfies people's curiosity.At the same time, it also avoids the risk of one product brand implicating other products of the company. Each of its products has several to dozens of different brands.So that the company is always in the favorable position of "the east is not bright and the west is bright".

Reasonable profit sharing and retreating to advance are business strategies that Unilever has used many times in its development history to obtain greater benefits.After the Second World War, the national liberation and independence movements in African countries were surging, and many small companies of Unilever in Africa were facing a huge crisis.At that time, Unilever adopted a retreat-for-advance business strategy after weighing the pros and cons, taking better care of the interests of African countries.Although it seems that the company has made a lot of profits for this, in fact, it has gained more operating space and government support. Unilever has obtained more long-term interests in these African countries, which has also played a huge role in the development of the company. impetus.

Unilever has a business principle, that is, "conduct business activities with honesty, integrity and respect for the interests of all parties involved".This may be the secret of Unilever's success. A highly centralized management system is another magic weapon for Unilever to win.The company system is huge, but the management mechanism is very centralized and the organization is very strict.Unilever's management mechanism can be described as streamlined and efficient. There is only one chairman, one vice chairman and one secretary in the company headquarters in London and Rotterdam, and the system of its subsidiaries around the world is the same.Such a management system can unify and coordinate market operation and management, improve and ensure work efficiency.

Unilever attaches great importance to the selection and training of talents.Only by constantly improving the cooperation between employees and management personnel can the whole company be united and make the best use of human resources. Unilever also decided to focus on the core business and reduce unnecessary peripheral enterprises. At the same time, it stipulated that the standard for starting a new business must be based on the premise of 7% of the net profit of the capital.In order to actively develop growing emerging markets and meet the exact needs of the target market, the reform of the research and development department is also considerable.Now Unilever has added 50 research and development centers around the world to research and develop new products in a targeted manner according to the needs of the markets where the centers are located.

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket unless you have money to lose." Contrary to most people's expectations, the rich mostly lead a very boring life. They don't like to change jobs, few people remarry, have fewer children in their families, and they don't even like to move.There are not many surprises or novelties in the lives of the rich, and stability is their common feature. In terms of investment, the rich also mainly adopt a steady and steady approach.This concept effectively reduces the financial risks of the rich and paves the way for surviving the future economic crisis.In short, it is to use the means of combination to diversify the risk of investment.

Bill Gates is the world's leading millionaire, and his wealth is incomparable.Rich is rich, but Gates does not "put all his eggs in one basket", and this is where he invests wisely. Gates is optimistic about the new economy, but at the same time believes that the old economy has its bright spots, and also invests in some sectors of the old economy.The American "Asia Wall Street Journal" commented that what is interesting about Gates' investment strategy is: "Gates saw the need to diversify investment and extend it to the old economy, but his friend Buffett did not see the need to diversify investment." The necessity of the new economy.” Buffett is known as the “stock king” of Wall Street, and his investment objects are all companies in the old economy sector.

Gates' philosophy and practice of diversifying investments has a long history.According to the "Asian Wall Street Journal" report, Gates established an investment company called "Little Waterfall" in 1995.The Kirkland, Washington-based company only serves Gates' investment and financial management, mainly to diversify and manage Gates' investments in the old economy.The company operates in such secrecy that few details of its activities are disclosed to the public, except for projects that are required to be disclosed by law.However, according to known information, the company's investment portfolio is worth 10 billion US dollars.A large part of this money is invested in the bond market, especially the purchase of treasury bills.When the stock price falls, the price of government bonds tends to stabilize or even rise due to the inflow of funds from the stock market, which can partially offset the losses suffered by the stock price fall.Likewise, Cascades invested heavily in some businesses in the old economy and was known for its "diversity" and "conservatism" in its investments.

Among Gates' investments in old-economy sectors, investments in more solid heavy-industrial companies have achieved fairly good results.According to reports, Gates acquired 7.8% of Newport News Shipbuilding's stock through Cascade, and the price of these shares has almost doubled from the previous year.The company's shares rose another roughly 24% as the famed General Dynamics announced it was buying the shipbuilding company.Gates' investment in Canadian National Railway has also paid off handsomely, with the company's stock up about 33% for the year. Like Buffett, Cascades likes investing in utilities.American newspapers believe that although public utility stocks generally rise slowly, they are highly resilient and are relatively safe investment targets.Gates already owns 5.9 percent of Walter Thiel Power through Cascade Investments.Shares of the Minnesota-based electric-energy distribution company also rose for the year.Gates also has investments in Avesta, a Washington state electric and gas company, and a New Mexico utility.

Many of Gates' investments are long-term, such as investing in Alaska Gas Group and Shunisar Steel Industries.His investment agent, Larson, called Cascades a "long-term investor," "a bit like Buffett in that sense." In summarizing Gates' investment strategy, Gradant, president of the New York-based investment consultancy firm Hennessy Group, said that investors, even the super-rich like Gates, should not "bet all their capital on technology stocks that have already risen very high." ".That is to say, even the super rich like Gates don't put all their eggs in one basket.

Lee Dong-chan, president of Korea Koron Group, was engaged in nylon yarn production and import trade in his early years.At first, because the clothes woven by nylon silk were flexible, the price was cheaper than cotton fabrics, and the market was relatively large. Li Dongcan’s business was relatively smooth, and the production of nylon silk developed rapidly. Seven or eight new factories were built, and many small merchants gathered under his banner. At that time, he also focused on this business, thinking that as long as he took advantage of the general trend of the market to do everything possible to expand this business, the company would be settled once and for all. Soon, the changes in the market were like a pot of cold water pouring down. First, the production of nylon yarn in the international market was sluggish, the textile industry experienced a product decline, the original export plan was frustrated, and a large number of orders were returned; Generate static electricity, harmful to the body.This dealt a huge blow to Li Dongcan, the funds could not be withdrawn, the goods in the warehouse could not be shipped, and the company had internal strife, and the company was about to close down. Li Dongcan was quick to gain wisdom and decided to send troops to borrow money in multiple ways, first to solve the urgent need, and then to go to the scientific community to clarify the rumors.He sent competent financial personnel to raise funds from the company's retail customers, and he also persuaded the president of "Sanqing Products" to finance a large sum of money to stabilize production.Soon, South Korea's official demonstration also showed that "static electricity is harmful" has no scientific basis, and the production of nylon yarn began to improve. After Li Dongcan learned this lesson, he decided to have a few more "sons" in the company, which were divided into 15 subsidiary organizations, which also engaged in the business of oil trade, transportation, real estate, tourism and other projects, and cooperated with some large construction companies to seize Favorable region, development of tourism facilities.In recent years, Gaolong Group has expanded its business to Japan, Thailand and other places, all of which take the textile industry as the leader and drive the business of other subsidiaries.This move invigorated the company and provided a support point for dealing with sudden market crises. The strategy of having more "sons" is called "the art of family separation" by the Japanese.From big to small, the enterprise can stay young forever, because whenever a huge enterprise is difficult to reach the peak of operating efficiency, proper separation is more conducive to the development of the enterprise. In Wenzhou, when enterprises are separated and looking for a path suitable for their own development in the market, it is very similar to the swarming of bees in nature.When the bees are crowded in a hive, many bees will gather around the hive.When some elite bees are selected to fly out to collect honey, new hives will be built, and when the hives are crowded again, new branches will appear. To sum up, "Don't put all your eggs in the same basket" is a valuable experience of Wenzhou businessmen and one of the successful philosophies of all successful rich people.If you want to be rich, you must learn this business rule and develop a habit.