"You've got something stupid again"

In the old house of the Lee family, Lee Kun-hee stared at his son standing in front of him. The change in the world's smartphone rankings is no small matter. Samsung surpassed Or to become the world's number one. As the former head of Samsung, Lee Kun-hee, it is impossible for him to know that he even received congratulatory calls from some old friends.

It is said that he was the former leader. Because Lee Kun-hee had resigned from his position as chairman (president) for personal reasons a few months ago, the current chairman of Samsung is temporarily vacant, and the main business is the responsibility of 47 vice presidents of the group. When he resigned from his position as chairman, Lee Kun-hee mentioned his eldest son Lee Jae-chong as the vice president to replace his management of the company and also had the intention of arranging a successor.

But Lee Kun-hee never expected that when he had just left Samsung's core level and had not even completely retreated, the arrogant Samsung prince made a big mess without telling him.

When he learned that Samsung smartphones surpassed Or to gain the world's first place, Lee Kun-hee was very happy at first, and even praised Lee Jae-chong a few words. But after a short while, Lee Kun-hee got the market sales report of Samsung smartphones. When he saw the sales figures in it, he felt something was wrong with the ups and downs of the business world all his life.

The reason is very simple. Lee Kun-hee is an old-school businessman and is particularly sensitive to numbers. Because this market sales report shows that although the total market sales of Samsung mobile phones have increased compared with last year, the growth rate is still within a reasonable range and has not shown a sudden explosive growth trend.

Then the problem comes. Since Samsung's business growth is long within the estimated range of performance, how could it suddenly surpass Or and jump to the first place? It's not that Lee Kun-hee has no confidence in his products, because he knows very well that Or's company's strength and advanced technology are comparable to Samsung. In addition, Or as the pioneer of smartphones and the advantages of having mobile phone operating systems and online platform stores, its brand influence is slightly stronger than Samsung. Judging from last year's market share, the gap between the two is not too big, but it is not as small as Samsung can immediately surpass the other party. So this time Samsung suddenly became the first. Could it be that there is something wrong with Or's product?

With this doubt, Lee Kun-hee immediately asked someone to collect information for him and investigated the information about Or Company. When this information was summarized into Lee Kun-hee's hands, Lee Kun-hee frowned at a glance because he found that the reason why Or Company's sales decline was not a product problem, but a limitation of its production capacity, and this reason also led to the delay in the promotion of Or smartphones. There is no such problem with OrA Samsung. With one increase and the other decline, it is natural for Samsung to surpass the other in overall sales.

If ordinary people saw these things, they might just forget it, or they might be secretly happy, or even laughed at Or for a few low-level mistakes such as not even making reasonable arrangements for production capacity. But who is Lee Kun-hee? He is the first person in the Samsung Empire. How can these superficial things be hidden from him? Lee Kun-hee, who felt something was wrong, not only wasn't happy, but on the contrary, his face became heavy and hurriedly sent his confidant to continue to investigate in depth until the truth was found out.

Without much effort, Lee Kun-hee knew what was going on. After listening to his subordinates' report, Lee Kun-hee had a dark face and waved to leave without saying anything. By the next day, he found Lee Jae-chong, which led to the current scene.

"Father, I don't understand what you mean." Li Zai Chuang replied calmly, as if he really didn't know why his father said that.

Seeing his son's appearance, Lee Kun-hee laughed rather than angry: "There are many means to do business, and there are various ways to attack the other party. In the business world, competition is cruel, and it is common to live and die. The reason why Samsung Group can go from a small company back then to the scale today is the success of countless losers' bodies. But what effect can your seemingly smart but actually clumsy and stupid methods have? The world's number one smartphone? Hahaha, can Samsung completely defeat its opponent?"

Li Zai Chuang did not answer his father's question immediately. He was silent for a while before speaking: "But doing so can at least suppress the other party, and it is also conducive to the promotion of our new product. My son thought that now is the era of technology, and in this era, he can gain an advantage by just one step ahead. As a new company that has only been emerging for a few years, isn't they getting to where they are today because of their pioneering smartphones? As long as we seize the opportunity, we can hold the advantage firmly in our own hands. When our new product is launched in advance than our competitors, with our Samsung's strength, we will definitely be the first."

"Childish" looked at Lee Jae-chong, who was clenched in his fists and waved them hard, and was intoxicated by his imagination. Lee Kun-hee spit out two cold words.

"No, this is definitely not naive," Li Zai Chuang said unconvincedly: "Besides, I did it very cleverly this time, and the other party will never catch any handle. Father, I understand that your concern is nothing more than the cooperation between Or and us. What is this? Can we Samsung not develop without the support of the other party's operating system and platform? We can completely use the new operating system and our own platform. Regarding this, I have reached an agreement with HTC. Relying on Microsoft's mobile phone system, we can also build our own alliance. In addition, our Samsung also controls the supply of Or's smartphone touch screens. What are you afraid of?"

Lee Kun-hee looked at Lee Jae-chong, who was full of confidence, and shook her head secretly. It seemed that his son still had not been trained. As the leader of a huge multinational enterprise, he lacked his abilities and was as impulsive as before. How could he feel assured to hand over the company to Lee Jae-chong in the future?

"Some things do not require evidence." Lee Kun-hee said heavily: "Do you think your little moves can be hidden from everyone in the world? You can't even hide them from me, let alone Zhou Liwen? With Zhou Liwen's intelligence, he probably understood who took the action long ago. Besides, although I am old, I am not old and confused. High-tech products are not just technical reasons. The rise of Or's company's technological leadership is just one of them, not a decisive factor. You use this method to block your opponent, in Chinese, it is to "cover your ears and steal the bell, and your stupidest thing is not to attack the other party. Do you know what it is?"

"What is it?" Li Zai Chuang asked subconsciously.

"It's not a matter of excuse." Lee Kun-hee raised her eyebrows and yelled and said, "How did I teach you before? Have you forgotten everything? Don't talk about the right or wrong of your doing this, but since you have to do it, you should kill the other party. If you can cut off the supply of Or's products at the time and prepare to replace the operating system and organize a new alliance, it will give the other party a heavier blow. Although it cannot make the other party fall into a slump, it can at least increase the cost of our Samsung's advantage and completely take the initiative. When the other party recovers for a year or even longer, Samsung will firmly stand in the position of world number one and will not be shaken, rather than just making a false reputation now without any benefit."

"I...I." Lee Jae-chong didn't expect Lee Kun-hee to say such a thing. She felt gasping for air conditioning and sweating was rising on her back.

After careful consideration, Lee Jae-chong had to admit that what his father said made sense. If he had been prepared at the beginning, and directly turned against the other party with the power of thunder and caught Zhou Liwen off guard, then what Lee Kun-hee said would probably become a reality.

Just imagine, Or's foundry was seized, and Samsung terminated its supply of touch screens to Or, and then the two parties stopped technical cooperation, withdrew from the system alliance, formed a new system alliance with HTC and other companies, and then launched the network platform at the same time. This series of combined punches is enough to cause great turmoil in the world's smartphone industry. Maybe by then, the unprepared Or company may not be defeated in one fell swoop. Even if it does not fall completely for a while, it will affect the overall layout of Or, and thus will never recover. It will take at least one or two years to recover. With this time difference, Samsung's dominance will no longer be shaken, thus completely replacing the other party.

He suddenly felt regretful. Only then did Lee Jae-chong clearly see how big the gap between him and his father was. Of course, he didn't know Lee Kun-hee's real thoughts. The reason why Lee Kun-hee said this was just to tell him that he had to be far-sighted before taking action, but once he took action, he had to be steady, accurate, and ruthless, and never leave any troubles. If Lee Kun-hee made his own choice, he would rather wait for his opponent to make mistakes according to the previous model, as long as he ensured his second-largest share in the world. Once Or Company and the previous Nokia went astray, then Samsung would naturally replace him.

In addition, he told Lee Jae-chong that these methods were theoretically possible, but in fact Lee Kun-hee would not use them unless she had to. Because doing so would be extremely harmful to Samsung. If this is true, Samsung Group's reputation in the international field would plummet, and the business community should pay attention to credibility. Samsung unilaterally tearing down cooperation is equivalent to violating this point. Unless you are sure to kill the opponent in one breath, Lee Kun-hee's stable personality will not take such risks.

"Father, if we do this now, is it still too late?" Li Zaichong couldn't help asking while regretting it.

"Haha, what do you think?" Lee Kun-hee asked back with a sneer, with a hint of sarcasm on the corner of her mouth.

"It's really damn," Li Zai Chuang cursed himself inwardly, and after thinking about it, "Father, why don't we cut the supply of each other's touch screens first on the grounds of production capacity? At least this will delay a little time."

"It's too late..." Lee Kun-hee shook her head and sighed softly. Seeing Lee Jae-chong looking at him in confusion, he said: "I just got the news that Chow Liwen's Or company has acquired shares in Corning's United States. Although these shares are not many, Or company can occupy a seat on Corning's board of directors. You have been in charge of Samsung Corning's business, you should know what this means. Can you still use this method to stop the other party at this time?"

"What" Lee Jae-chong was shocked. He stared at his father with incredible eyes, hoping to hear the denial of "this is a joke" from his father. Unfortunately, Lee Kun-hee's expression told him that all this is true. Samsung controls the supply of mobile phone touch screens for Or Company. Don't forget that Samsung Corning is not an independent company, but a joint venture between Corning and Samsung in the United States. In terms of touch screen technology, the patent is in the hands of Corning. Once Zhou Liwen really becomes a director of Corning, the advantages and disadvantages of both parties will be completely reversed.

"This is impossible," Li Zai Chuang said excitedly: "Didn't Corning in the United States never sell or transfer shares? Father, don't forget that when we were in the joint venture, we Samsung proposed to invest in Corning in the United States, but the other party refused. Or company's overall scale is not as good as our Samsung. How could he do this?"

"It's nothing impossible." Seeing that his son was still as naive as the ostrich who buried his head in the sand in the face of the facts, he shook his head in disappointment: "Our Samsung Group is indeed larger than Or Company in the overall scale, and Corning, the United States responded to us in the same way, but you forgot an important question."

“What is it?”

"It's very simple. Both companies are American companies, and our Samsung Group is a Korean company. With the habits of Americans and the unspoken rules of the business community, it is impossible for them to let a large foreign-funded company enter the core level of each other, especially sensitive companies like Corning."

"No way, father, why did the Japanese do it? For example, Sony..." Li Zaichong retorted anxiously.

"Sony? Haha..." Lee Kun-hee shook his head and smiled, "Don't forget that the companies that Japanese people entered are not sensitive companies, most of them are ordinary traditional companies or entertainment-related companies. And you have never studied the miserable situation after the failure of the Japanese economic bubble? All their investments in the United States have become Americans' victory. As for the Sony you mentioned, is Sony still a Japanese-funded company now? You should know that in Sony's equity ratio, US capital has exceeded Japanese capital, and this old Japanese company has long become an American company, but it is still covered with a layer of Japanese capital."

Seeing Lee Jae-chong staring blankly, Lee Kun-hee said again: "What's more, Or company is not as simple as you think, especially his founder Zhou Liwen is a business genius. Zhou Liwen's name is not just Or, but he has many other industries. Maybe you don't know that Zhou Liwen has a background of Wells Fargo, and he even directly controls the direct control of the three Chinese and American commercial banks. I heard that Zhou Liwen also has close cooperation with Goldman Sachs. Judging from his abilities and background, it is not too difficult to acquire equity in Corning."

I felt that my eyes suddenly turned dark, and Li Zaichong shook his whole body. He couldn't hold on even though he had been standing there. He slowly sat down with the back of the chair beside him. If... it shouldn't be true, if someone else said that he might not believe it, but if he told himself that these were his father, he would never lie to him.

Now, Zhou Liwen has joined Corning's board of directors and said that Samsung Group's only means to restrict Or has completely lost its effect. Even as a member of Corning's board of directors, Zhou Liwen may be able to support a Corning joint venture to compete with Samsung for the touch screen market. Once this news comes out, it will be a serious blow to the entire company.

In addition, if Zhou Liwen's Or announces that it will stop working with Samsung and directly take back the application of the mobile phone operating system and network software platform, then Samsung Group is not prepared at all and will shoot itself in the foot. Not to mention the world's number one smartphone brand, it will be dangerous to fix the position of the second child before.

"What should I do?" Lee Zaichong was confused. Lee Kun-hee was not wrong at all before. He was indeed a stupid thing. Even Lee Kun-hee was still polite in criticizing him, saying that he was more stupid than a pig this time.

If he is worried that it will become a reality, Li Zai Chuang will be the subject of thousands of people. Don’t think that Li Zai Chuang is now the vice president, the prince and heir of Samsung Group. However, as a huge family business, some situations are not known to outsiders.

The founder of Samsung Group is Lee Jae-chong's grandfather Lee Byung. Lee Byung is not only Lee Kun-hee, but has three sons. Lee Kun-hee is just his third son. According to Korean tradition, the family's heir should be the eldest son, which is the customary inheritance of the eldest house. However, because Lee Kun-hee's business talent was valued by his grandfather, he finally handed over the control of Samsung Group to him.

This led to conflicts within the Li family. Li Zai-chong's uncle Li Mengxi, who is Li Bing's eldest son, was the eldest son of Li Bing. The former Samsung prince of the previous generation was always dissatisfied. He always believed that he was the real heir of the Samsung Group. Li Bing's eldest son was Li Zai-chong's cousin and Li Jae-hyun, the president of CI Group. For this matter, brothers, uncles, nephews and others fought many lawsuits, and even caused a lot of trouble in South Korea.

Once his father temporarily resigns from his position as chairman (president) and he takes over Samsung Group as vice president, he will suffer huge losses due to problems with Or Company. Then it is certain that Lee Byung and Lee Jae-hyun, who have always been unwilling to accept it, will definitely jump out of the old things and bring them back again, mobilize all forces to completely drive their father and son out of Samsung Group, and thus perform a "Return of the King".
Chapter completed!