Developing Volvo

Chronicle of Events:

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

September 30—The world's first hydroelectric power plant began operations (the dam on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin, was the site of the world's first hydroelectric power plant).

On January 14, Ferdinand summoned his management staff to hold an industrial development planning meeting.

The attendees included not only the heads of the emerging industries Ferdinand had established but also the managers of the traditional industries belonging to the Kohary family.

Ferdinand had discovered that many traditional sectors still held significant untapped potential. In his plan, many areas overlapped and could complement one another.

For instance, like many great nobles, the Kohary family owned their own wine estates, which served exclusively to supply the family.

Ferdinand himself drank a little from time to time and felt the quality was quite good. He considered it a waste; maintaining a large staff just to serve a few family members was truly extravagant.

It was entirely possible to scale up production and sell to the market. Even if increased output caused a slight dip in flavor, as long as it remained above the standard market fare, he could sell it.

The wheat and potatoes produced on the estates, for example, no longer needed to be sold off-site starting this year; his own factories could fully consume them.

As for the cattle and sheep on the ranches, he could build his own slaughterhouse and then ship the products to supermarkets to sell.

Furthermore, he could designate a portion of the land near his own city to grow vegetables for self-sufficiency and retail.

The extravagance of the great European nobility often exceeded the imagination of ordinary people.

Take Ferdinand himself: he had over a dozen personal maids and a culinary team that rivaled a modern five-star hotel, capable of preparing cuisines from over a dozen countries, including Italy, France, and India.

The castle he resided in housed over three hundred guards and servants. He had dedicated tailors who worked solely for him, and he owned seven or eight luxury carriages for his personal use.

The milk he drank came from his own private ranch, where only the highest-quality cows were selected for his exclusive consumption. He also had his standard wine estate, which used only the finest grapes for his vintages.

Of course, his display of wealth was nothing compared to Princess Clémentine, whose lifestyle was truly grand, fully befitting her status as a French princess.

In any case, aside from essential expenses, the Kohary family spent no less than 100,000 pounds annually on their displays of status, and this cost was rising year by year.

This was the driving force behind the great nobles transforming into great capitalists; the income from traditional industries was no longer enough to satisfy their ever-increasing consumption needs.

Ferdinand detested these bad habits and was eager to change everything. As for whether he would lose face as a noble, he decided he would simply wear a mask.

Ferdinand had no intention of challenging the noble system; one's position dictates one's perspective, and he was a beneficiary himself. On the surface, Ferdinand remained a loyal supporter of the noble system, and his displays of status remained unchanged—at most, he had his maids double as secretaries and his valets as assistants.

While Ferdinand was reorganizing his industries, the retail world in Vienna was also undergoing changes. Squeezed by Volvo, many grocery stores saw their profits plummet, and the capitalists behind them began to pivot, with many entering the supermarket industry.

Starting in February, a department supermarket named Doraemon opened, breaking Volvo's monopoly and ushering in an era of fierce competition in the retail sector.

By October, over eighty department supermarkets of various sizes had opened in the international metropolis of Vienna.

At first, everyone kept a certain distance when choosing locations, intentionally avoiding direct confrontation. Although there was competition, they coexisted harmoniously, and everyone's profits were acceptable.

However, entering 1883, newcomers sprouted like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, and avoidance was no longer possible. In some areas, there were seven or eight supermarkets on a single street, and some were even door-to-door, directly poaching each other's business.

Since the supermarket industry required little technical expertise, capitalists swarmed in. By the end of 1883, the density of supermarkets in Vienna was comparable to that of later generations.

Cruel competition began, and all sorts of tactics emerged. Price wars were naturally the first choice; advertisements for discounts and promotions covered the streets, and the good days for everyone were over.

Volvo was the industry leader, with stores spread across cities throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and it had even entered Germany and Italy. Although it felt the impact, its Vienna stores remained profitable.

It wasn't until March 1884 that the Kotei Department Store announced a reorganization, and this retail giant officially entered the supermarket sector.

Ferdinand was quite shocked. He had played no small part in fueling the cruel competition in the Vienna supermarket sector, with the goal of scaring off major capitalists.

He had been quite successful previously; although Volvo's Vienna stores were impacted, relatively conservative capitalists in other cities had retreated due to the influence!

Volvo's losses in Vienna were doubled by its earnings in other cities.

Ferdinand was well aware of the background of the Kotei Department Store; it was backed by a major financial group from the Kingdom of Hungary, and the Kohary family was one of them.

The dominant force was a group of capitalists involved in the flour processing industry.

Although Ferdinand also owned flour mills, most were for self-consumption, so he usually didn't pay much attention to that sector, leaving him caught off guard this time.

Having regained his composure, Ferdinand immediately utilized his family connections to get to the bottom of the matter.

Due to Volvo's rapid expansion and its growing share of the retail industry, the Shineway flour processing plants had naturally risen with the tide, and their market share continued to grow.

Sales of Hungarian flour in the Austro-Hungarian Empire plummeted, and the capitalists in the flour industry could no longer sit still.

If Ferdinand were an ordinary person, they could naturally find ways to force him to submit, or even send him to meet God!

But Ferdinand was also a great Hungarian noble, and since this was internal competition, many methods could not be used. Aside from those capitalists who felt the pain, others chose to watch from the sidelines.

To change the situation where Volvo dominated the retail industry, they chose to support Kotei's entry, primarily to force Ferdinand to make concessions!

Once he understood the ins and outs, Ferdinand felt relieved. As long as it wasn't the collective will of the entire Hungarian financial group, he could crush the mere Kotei Department Store whenever he pleased!

Moreover, the fact that the news arrived so quickly and clearly signaled a willingness to negotiate meant the other side didn't intend to fight him to the death.

This incident also taught Ferdinand a lesson: he must strengthen his intelligence gathering. A transmigrator is not omnipotent; if he had paid more attention to these old family relationships, the two sides would likely have talked it out long ago, and this incident would never have happened!