Chapter 380 Suicidal Competition

“There’s no mole; this has nothing to do with our people.”

An Yimo said, “After our products were removed from the shelves of major chain pharmacies, the market space that opened up was immediately seized by Kaifeng Pharmaceutical from Jiangbei.

They first leaked our bottom prices to the chain pharmacies, then used low prices to grab our market share. This is clearly a long-premeditated conspiracy.”

Ye Bufan asked in surprise, “But how did Kaifeng Pharmaceutical know our medicine’s bottom prices?”

“It’s simple: Luo Feng and Shao Dongliang.”

An Yimo said, “After these two were fired from here, they quickly went to Kaifeng Pharmaceutical in Jiangbei.

One was a General Manager, and the other was responsible for medicine research and development. They were very clear about our bottom prices.

And now it seems Shao Dongliang must have handed over all our research and development Materials to Kaifeng Pharmaceutical.

They first produced similar products, then pulled this stunt. It’s clear they want to destroy our Longteng Pharmaceutical.”

“Those two guys?” Ye Bufan frowned and said, “Didn’t we say we would call the police and check their accounts at the time? Did they not find any problems?”

By all accounts, people like Luo Feng and Shao Dongliang must have had dirty hands and should be in jail by now.

An Yimo said, “We did call the police, and the officials also arranged for professionals to investigate, but somehow the relevant evidence disappeared overnight, and then the matter was left unsettled.”

Ye Bufan said, “It seems someone is helping them tamper with things. I underestimated these two guys; they have quite a bit of influence.”

An Yimo said, “It’s still unclear what happened, but perhaps this was the condition for them to join Kaifeng Pharmaceutical in Jiangbei.

They betrayed our Longteng Pharmaceutical in exchange for Kaifeng Pharmaceutical’s help.”

Ye Bufan asked, “What’s the situation with this Kaifeng Pharmaceutical? Why are they targeting us?”

The sales manager said, “As the saying goes, rivals are enemies. Kaifeng Pharmaceutical and our Longteng Pharmaceutical were originally competitors, and many of the products they produced were very similar.

In the competition over these years, the strength of both sides was quite similar, and the market share they occupied was also quite similar. They have always been evenly matched.

Now that the other party has captured Luo Feng and Shao Dongliang, they will definitely try to crush us and put us to death.”

“Want to crush us?” A smile appeared on Ye Bufan’s lips. “Tell me, what’s the deal with our bottom prices for pharmacy sales? How much profit do we have?”

An Yimo said, “Normally, if our medicine sells for, say, 10 yuan, 10% of that is the medicine production cost, and 30% is the company’s overall operating cost.

That means we must sell for at least three yuan to ensure we don’t lose money, and the remaining seven yuan is profit.

One yuan of that is given to the chain pharmacies as profit sharing, and the remaining six yuan is our Longteng Pharmaceutical’s profit.

Before, we always kept the bottom price a trade secret, and the chain pharmacies weren’t very clear about it. Now that the bottom price is exposed, the other party immediately feels they are earning too little and we are earning too much.

Coupled with Kaifeng Pharmaceutical’s products waiting in the wings, offering much higher profits than ours, these pharmacies didn’t hesitate to remove our products.”

The sales manager said, “Chairman Ye, if we don’t quickly find a good sales method, we really won’t sell a single one.

Moreover, medicine is not like other things; it has a strict shelf life. If it drags on for too long, we can’t bear the losses.”

Ye Bufan asked, “From the perspective of medicine production costs, do we have any advantages compared to Kaifeng Pharmaceutical?”

“No advantages to speak of. Medicine has been produced for so many years, and the supply channels for raw Materials are all pretty similar. There’s no advantage or disadvantage; the costs for both sides are basically the same.”

The speaker was a middle-aged woman around 40, the head of the production department.

“Since the costs are the same, that makes it easier.” Ye Bufan asked again, “How is Kaifeng Pharmaceutical’s pricing positioned?”

“Their quoted price is only half of ours; they’ve already squeezed their profits very low.”

The sales manager said, “This is a common tactic to suppress competitors: first lower prices, and once the competitor is completely defeated, then raise prices again to gain more profit.”

“In that case, it’s simple. We’ll go back and talk to those chain pharmacies, selling at cost price directly, with no profit.”

When Ye Bufan said this, everyone else was startled. An Yimo said in astonishment, “Xiao Fan, are you sure?

The consequences of doing this are very serious. If we sell medicine produced for one yuan for only three yuan, there will be no profit at all.”

“I’m talking about production cost. Medicine produced for one yuan will be sold for one yuan, without adding a single cent.”

Ye Bufan said, dropping a bombshell.

“This…”

Everyone present was stunned. If they did this, it wouldn’t be business competition; it would be suicide. They believed it wouldn’t be long before Longteng Pharmaceutical would be completely dragged down.

An Yimo quickly said, “Xiao Fan, this absolutely won’t work.

Originally, our overall costs were quite similar to Kaifeng Pharmaceutical’s, but you recently significantly increased employee salaries, so our overall costs are higher than Kaifeng Pharmaceutical’s.

If we compete with them in such a suicidal way, I’m afraid we’ll collapse before we even defeat them.

Even if we ultimately win this competition, if the prices are too low, the market won’t accept them being raised again later, and we won’t be able to continue making a profit.”

Everyone else was also anxious. They all thought the same thing. They had just received a month of high salaries, and if this continued, not only would their salaries not be guaranteed, but they might even lose their jobs.

They really didn’t know what this young boss was thinking. It seemed he was truly a rich second-generation who completely didn’t understand business management.

Ye Bufan still said calmly, “It’s not what you think. After the medicine prices are lowered, I didn’t plan to raise them again. They will be sold this way from now on.

I’ve looked at our medicine sales catalog, and the vast majority are essential medicines for ordinary people.

I am a doctor, and my purpose is to heal the sick and save lives. There’s no need to make money from these medicines; consider it our act of kindness and accumulating virtue.”

“This…” Hearing him say this, An Yimo immediately became anxious. “Xiao Fan, please don’t be impulsive!

Although you are a doctor, we are currently a pharmaceutical company, we are businessmen, and we must have profit guarantees to operate. If you do this, we will completely collapse in a few days.”

Everyone else also looked at Ye Bufan nervously, worried that this young boss wouldn’t listen to advice and would insist on continuing this way, after all, the company was his, and he could do whatever he wanted.

“Don’t worry, of course I know this principle. As a company, we must make money, but there’s no need to make money on these products.”

Ye Bufan said, “How are those three recently approved medicines doing? When can they be put on the market?”

When those three newly developed medicines were mentioned, An Yimo’s emotions immediately calmed down a lot. She said, “Mass production has already begun, and they will be launched for sale in the next two days.

Our medicines this time have undergone clinical trials, and the effects are extremely good, definitely crushing similar products on the market.

Xiao Fan, are you planning to price these three medicines higher and earn high profits? That might not be impossible; it should be able to make up for the losses from those other medicines.”