Bulgarian Empire

Chapter 8: Developing Volvo

Chapter 8: Developing Volvo

Major Events:

In 1882, Germany, Austria, and Italy held an agreement in Vienna. On May 20 of the same year, the Treaty of the Triple Alliance was signed, marking the rise of the Triple Alliance.

September 30 - Began operates the world's first hydraulic power plant (the dam on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin is the world's first hydraulic power plant).

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On January 14, Ferdinand met with his managers and held a meeting for business plans.

The meeting included the new businesses that Ferdinand had built and the heads of the traditional businesses of the Kohry family.

Mainly, Ferdinand found that some traditional businesses still have a lot of prospects for expansion. There are many places in his plans that are intertwined and can benefit from supporting each other.

For example, like many great aristocrats, the Kohry family has its own wine estate that serves solely for their family. Mostly usually takes a little drink himself and feels the taste is very good. He felt it was a waste to raise a large group of people just to serve a few of his own family.

It is quite possible to expand the scale and sell to the market. Even if the output is expanded, which causes a loss of taste, Ferdinand will sell it as long as it is not lower than the market's great value.

At the start of this year, the estate that planted wheat and potatoes will no longer have to sell to the outside. Their own factories can fully absorb.

There are also cattle and sheep in the pastures. It is possible to build his own slaughterhouse and send it to the supermarket to sell.

Another case in point is the land from near his own city. He can set aside a place to grow his own veggies, self-produce and sell, etc.

The lineup of the great European aristocrats is often beyond the wildest likely picture.

Like Ferdinand now, there are more than a dozen private maids and a team of chefs no less than five-star hotels in the future. Whether Italian, French, Indian and a dozen other nations dishes, they will do it.

In the castle where he lives, the guards plus the staff are no less than 300 people. The clothes that he wears, he has special tailors to serve him alone. There are seven or eight lavish carriages for his own use.

When it comes to the milk he drinks, he has his own private ranch, where he chooses the best quality cows, solely for him alone. There is also the standard wine estate, where only the best choice of grapes is chosen to make wine.

Of course, his lineup is nothing. Princess Clmentine's is a great deal, fully in line with her status as a French princess.

Anyway, the Kohry family's income, in addition to the basic expenses, there are no less than 100,000 pounds per year, which are spent on their lineup, and this cost is still rising every year.

It is also the source of the change of the great aristocrats to the great capitalists. The income of the classic business can no longer meet their rising expenses.

Ferdinand is deep in disgust at these bad habits and anxious to change all of this. If he will lose the prestige of the aristocracy, he said he would bring his own vest.

Ferdinand did not intend to change the aristocratic system. The bottom decides the head, and he himself is already the one who benefits. On the surface, Ferdinand is still a loyal backer of the aristocratic system. The place he should be has not changed. At most, let the maid take on the role of secretary.

At the same time as Ferdinand's efforts to revamp the business, the retail business in Vienna was changing. The grocery stores are losing much of their profits due to the squeeze from Volvo. It makes the capitalists behind the scenes made the shift into the supermarket business.

From February, a supermarket called Tinker Bell opens its doors, which broke the monopoly of Volvo. From then on, a hundred stores in the retail industry began to compete.

It lasted until October, when more than eighty new supermarkets, whether large or small, began to open in the cosmopolitan city of Vienna.

At first, they also kept a certain distance from the sites they chose and kept away from the fierce conflicts. Although there is also rivalry between each other, they get along well and are friendly. Their profits are still over the top.

However, after entering 1883, the rising players have sprung up, and they can no longer avoid it. In some cases, there were seven or eight supermarkets on a single street. Some supermarkets were simply facing one another to steal business.

Since the supermarket business isn't technical, there is a surge of capital things. By the end of 1883, the density of supermarkets in Vienna was similar to that in future times.

The brutal struggle began. With all kinds of methods, the price war is always the first choice. The streets are full of discount offers, and it's the end of the good times for everyone.

Volvo is the top player in the business. Its stores spread over large and small cities in Austria-Hungary and also into Germany and Italy. Despite being hit as well, the Vienna stores are still making a profit.

It was not until 1884 when Gottfried Department Store changed its status in March. This giant department store business was finally moving into the supermarket business.

It was a surprise to Ferdinand that they hadn't done the brutal struggle for supermarkets in Vienna with little help from him. His aim to scare off some big capitalists from coming in.

It was also a great success before. Although Volvo's stores in Vienna took a hit, other cities felt the impact, which stopped capitalists, who were still fairly conservative. Volvo's losses in Vienna were made back twice as much in other cities.

Gottfried Department Store's background, Ferdinand still knows very well. The large consortia of the Kingdom of Hungary are behind the scenes, and the Kohry family is one of them.

It was the capitalist interests in Hungary ~ who are involved in the flour processing industry that took the lead. Although Ferdinand also had flour factories, they were mostly for their own use. They did not usually pay much mind to this aspect of the market and were caught off guard this time.

In response, Ferdinand took up his family contacts and found out what was going on.

As a result of Volvo's rapid spread and its growing share in the retail sector, Shuanghui Flour Mill normally grew along with it, and its market share kept growing.

The sales of Hungarian flour in the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell sharply. As a result, the capitalists in the flour industry were unable to stay in their seats. If Ferdinand was a common man, he might have been brought to their knees or sent to God.

But Ferdinand is also a major Hungarian aristocrat, which belongs to the inner rivalries. Therefore, many tactics will not be able to use. In other words, apart from the capitalists who have suffered from their own pain, others watch from the outside.

After all, they support the move of Gottfried Department Store to change the status of Volvo's monopoly in the retail industry and force Ferdinand to relent.

Ferdinand took the time to rest in mind. As long as it is not the purpose of the whole Hungarian consortium, he is not afraid of just one small Gottfried Department Store.

Besides, the news came so quickly. It is also clear that there is a sign of talk and peace, which means that the other party does not intend to fight him to the death.

This matter also gives Ferdinand a lesson that he must build up his intelligence work. The traverser is not omnipotent. If he pays more attention to these old relatives, it is estimated that the two sides have made peace long ago, and this matter will not happen.