The declining aristocracy of France.

Fan Yimou has been described as a "declined aristocrat"

As for Danone's prosecution in the United States, Liu Hong said that they are not worried at all. "Fan Yimou is the biggest liar. In court, we will present relevant financial statements, which will be enough to expose the lies of Danone and Fan Yimou."

Liu Hong said that since the establishment of all non-joint venture companies in Wahaha, products have been sold by the joint venture company. Danone’s finances are audited every year and are reflected in the financial statements, so it is impossible for Danone not to know about these non-joint ventures. Fan Yimou told the media that he did not know about the existence of the joint venture, and he was completely deceiving the media and the Chinese people.

“In Fan Yimou, I only saw the hypocrisy, arrogance and stinginess of a declining French aristocrat.” Geng Qiang told reporters. Geng Qiang was transferred to Gaobeidian Co., Ltd. at the beginning of this year. Before that, he had been working in the non-joint venture Harbin Shuangcheng Wahaha Food and Beverage Co., Ltd.

Geng Qiang also told reporters that when the company was first established in Harbin, they tried their best to invite Danone to participate in investment, but Danone refused. At present, this company has entered the top five companies in the group's profitability, and Danone has proposed a merger and acquisition request, which is "very unreasonable."

In response to the various fierce accusations and even personal attacks from Wahaha, Danone has yet to make a public relations counterattack yesterday.

Fan Yimou must pass three thresholds if he wants to enter Wahaha (right headline)

Article source: International Financial News | Time: June 22, 2007

Danone The "fierce battle" with Wahaha lasted for more than two months. The latest "battle report" shows that Wahaha is causing more and more trouble to Danone Group.

On June 21, Wahaha sent an email to this newspaper saying that on that day, the Wahaha joint venture company held its latest board of directors meeting, but the Chinese and foreign parties did not reach any agreement, and the two parties ended up unhappy. At the same time, Fan Yimou, president of Danone Asia Pacific, also refused to sign the notice of arbitration on the Wahaha trademark transfer agreement sent by the Hangzhou Arbitration Commission.

China launched four difficulties

According to Wahaha, at the board meeting, Wahaha’s Chinese directors launched a challenge against Danone in four aspects:

First of all, Wahaha's Chinese directors believe that Danone's appointment of Fan Yimou as interim chairman violates the company's articles of association. Because according to its articles of association, the position of chairman should be elected by the board of directors. If the chairman is to be elected, Danone must announce in the media that the previous decision is illegal and correct it before it will consider re-election of the chairman. For this reason, Fan Yimou argued that the news released by the media was untrue and there was a translation error when translating from English to Chinese. It should have read "will take office as chairman".

Secondly, regarding the withdrawal of Fan Yimou’s business license. The Chinese director pointed out that the Chinese government stipulates that the business license must be hung in the company. If the business license, approval certificate, and official seal are all handed over to Chairman Fan Yimou, please prepare personnel and transportation. The business license must be hung on the wall of each company before going to work every morning, and the business license must be collected and sent to Shanghai after get off work in the evening. If Fan Yimou If you go to Paris, send it directly to Paris. You may be fined when you send it back. Finally, the Chinese suggested that Chairman Fan should consider this point carefully.

Third, Wahaha’s Chinese directors clearly expressed their distrust of Fan Yimou and told him that Wahaha’s corporate culture is a family culture, and Fan Yimou’s “vicious attack” on his “parent” Zong Qinghou has caused Wahaha’s All employees were extremely indignant and demanded that Danone and Fan Yimou be rejected. The Chinese director of Wahaha hopes that Fan Yimou will go to the company to meet with employees and express his attitude. Fan Yimou said it was inconvenient at the moment.

Finally, Wahaha’s Chinese directors questioned Fan Yimou’s ability. Wahaha China reported to Fan Yimou that due to dealers' boycott of Danone, there are currently no orders and some production lines have stopped production. Fan Yimou was asked to come up with solutions to the problem and arrange the next stage of production and operation plans. But Fan Yimou thinks this is the general manager's business.

So the Chinese director told him that all these things were arranged by Chairman Zong Qinghou in the past, and questioned Fan Yimou: "You, the chairman, are not sensible, so what kind of chairman do you do?"

In addition to facing these four difficulties, In addition, on other matters raised by Danone, such as dividends and other issues, Wahaha's Chinese directors expressed inconsistent attitudes with foreign directors and rejected all Danone's proposals.

Consistent with the attitude of Wahaha’s directors, Wahaha’s southern and northern dealers have recently expressed their opinions against Danone and taken unified actions to boycott Danone. To make matters worse, Wahaha’s non-joint ventures have recently The "Bubble" product was launched, but the Wahaha trademark was not used on it, which showed that Zong Qinghou was ready to part ways with Danone.

Fan Yimou must overcome three difficulties

At present, Danone has been deeply trapped in the "Wahaha Gate" in China, but its difficult situation is not limited to China. Some media reported that Danone's situation in the securities market is not good, and its market value has shrunk by 10%. If the conflict between Danone and Wahaha continues to worsen, Danone's stock price is in danger of falling further.

Therefore, quickly resolving the increasingly troublesome interest disputes with Wahaha has become one of Danone's most important tasks at present. To this end, Danone France asked Fan Yimou to bring Zong Qinghou back to the negotiating table within a month. Judging from the current situation, although Fan Yimou desperately wants to enter Wahaha, it is not easy because there are at least three major difficulties waiting for him to overcome.

There is no doubt that if Fan Yimou wants to take over Wahaha, the first obstacle he has to face is Zong Qinghou, the former chairman of the Wahaha joint venture company.

One of the important reasons why the conflict between Danone and Wahaha is becoming more and more intense is that Fan Yimou and Zong Qinghou do not agree with each other and have different views and fierce conflicts. It is understood that there were violent arguments during many of the sessions between them.

However, it is not impossible for Fan Yimou to break through Zong Qinghou's barrier. Zong Qinghou once said that compromise is possible, and there are two conditions: first, Danone cancels the "unequal treaty", and second, Danone China's directors apologize to Wahaha. These two conditions are not easy for Danone to achieve, but out of the perspective of safeguarding Danone's interests in China, Fan Yimou may also put aside his "nobility" and finally bow to Zong Qinghou in order to "take the overall situation into consideration".

In addition, it is not easy for Fan Yimou to pass the test of being a Wahaha employee.

At the Wahaha media meeting on June 13, the "Twelve Taibao" sitting next to Zong Qinghou expressed their "loyalty" to Zong Qinghou to reporters - all claiming They will move forward and retreat with Zong Qinghou. If things do not go as they want in the end, they will all leave the Wahaha joint venture

In addition to these "Twelve Taibao", Fan Yimou will also have to face what Zong Qinghou has to say. 78 directors assigned to Wahaha's 39 joint venture companies. Industry insiders said that these directors have followed Zong Qinghou to conquer the world for at least ten or twenty years, and are Zong Qinghou's most loyal "direct descendants". According to Ms. Yang Xiuling, the marketing director of Wahaha Group, they have never met Fan Yimou in person and have "no feelings" for him. They only know that he earns a high salary and does nothing except vacation, so in their hearts they have no feelings for him. It is difficult to accept him.

In addition to these senior executives, how to get Wahaha’s lower-level employees and dealers to accept Fan Yimou is also a difficult challenge. At Wahaha's North-South Distribution Conference, its dealers expressed their refusal to sell any Danone products.

The third hurdle that Fan Yimou needs to face - the market hurdle is not easy to pass.

According to Zong Qinghou, an important reason for the conflict between Danone and Wahaha was that Danone was initially unwilling to make new investments, so he and Wahaha employees had to fight against Danone directors who did not understand the Chinese market and established new companies to compete for a larger market. Now these companies have grown and grown, and their profit margins are much higher than those of joint ventures. Danone cannot see that these companies are making so much money, so it has to acquire them at low prices, which is why today's contradictions have arisen.

“I have seen that our joint venture with Danone in Indonesia, managed by them, is still losing money.

"Zong Qinghou's meaning is very clear. Danone's directors do not understand the Chinese market and are restricting the development of Wahaha in every way. If they had not made the right decision at the beginning, Wahaha would probably end up like Robust today. And "We cannot let Wahaha change. "Become Robust" has become the most important slogan for Wahaha employees to boycott Danone.

Now, the operation of the Wahaha joint venture has begun to appear disorderly, and the income has begun to decrease. The Chinese manager of the Wahaha joint venture has begun to ask Danone Urged for written production and marketing plans.

How will Fan Yimou, who “doesn’t know where the company’s door opens”, plan Wahaha’s production and operations? How to adjust product structure? How to improve operating efficiency? How to expand the market? Competing with competitors such as Master Kong?...A series of problems have really been put in front of Fan Yimou.