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The story of idioms watching the fire from the other shore
Watching the fire across the bank means "sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight" and "watching the boat capsize from the Yellow Crane Tower". The enemy is divided, contradictions intensify, and they are at odds with each other. At this time, you must not rush in, lest they jointly deal with you for the time being. The correct way is to stand still and let them kill each other, weaken their strength and even collapse on their own.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yuan Shaobing was defeated and killed, and several sons fought for power and profit. Cao Cao decided to defeat the Yuan brothers. Yuan Shang and Yuan brothers defected to Wuhuan, Cao Cao sent troops to Wuhuan and defeated Wu, and Yuan brothers defected to Liaodong satrap Gongsun Kang. Cao Cao's generals asked Cao Cao to join the army. They wanted to concentrate their forces, subdue Liaodong and capture Er Yuan alive. Cao Cao laughed and said, "Don't move, Gongsun Kang will send Er Yuan's head." . So he ordered the troops to move back to Xuchang and wait and see the situation in Liaodong.

Gongsun Kang was suspicious when he heard that Er Yuan had defected. Yuan and his son have always had the ambition to seize Liaodong. Now, Yuan's defeat is like a lost dog with nowhere to live. Going to Liaodong is a last resort. If Gongsun Kang takes Er Yuan in, there will be future trouble. Moreover, taking Eryuan in will certainly offend Cao Cao, who is fierce. But he thought that if Cao Cao attacked Liaodong, he would take Er Yuan in and fight Cao Cao. When he found that Cao Cao had turned back to Xuchang and had no intention of attacking Liaodong, he thought it was harmful to take Eryuan in. So he laid an ambush, summoned Er Yuan, captured him in one fell swoop, beheaded his head, and sent someone to see Cao. Cao told people that Gongsun Kang had always been afraid of Yuan's annexation. When Yuan came to the door, he became suspicious. If we are eager to fight, it will lead them to resist together. If we retreat, they will definitely kill each other. Look at the results, as I expected.

story

At the end of the Warring States period, Wu, a general of Qin State, wiped out 400,000 troops of Zhao State in the battle of Changping, which caused Zhao State to panic. Tian Lei pushed the capital of Zhao to Handan, and Zhao could defeat the Japanese army. At that time, Zhao was in a critical situation, and a famous person offered a plan to the king of Zhao, willing to take risks to the state of Qin to save his eyebrows. The prince of Zhao discussed it with his ministers and decided to do it according to this plan.

Su Dai received a generous gift and went to Xianyang to meet Hou Ying, saying, "We have won a great victory in Changping today, and we are near Handan. He is the number one hero of Qin's unification of the world. I'm worried about you! You are above him now, and I'm afraid you will have to be below him later. This person is not easy to get along with. " Su Dai is eloquent, and his speech should be silent. It was a long time before I asked Su Dai what the countermeasures were. Su Dai said, "Zhao is weak. Why not persuade the king of Qin to agree to a temporary peace? This will deprive Wu Anjun of the military power, and your position will be as stable as Mount Tai. "

Fan Ju immediately called the king of Qin. "Qin Jun hard already a long time, need to trim. It is better to announce the rest of the soldiers temporarily and let Zhao divide the land for peace. " The king of Qin really agreed. As a result, Zhao gave it to six cities and the two countries went on strike.

Tian Lei was suddenly called to dispatch troops, and he was very unhappy. Later, he learned that this was done at Hou's suggestion, and he was helpless.

Two years later, the king of Qin sent troops to attack Zhao. Tian Lei was ill and sent 100,000 troops to visit the grave. At this time, Lian Po, a veteran of Zhao, was put into use. The fortifications are so tight that Qin Jun cannot attack for a long time. The king of Qin was furious and decided to let Tian Lei take the lead in the war. Bai Qi said: "Lian Po, commander-in-chief of the State of Zhao, is good at strategy, which is not comparable to that of Zhao Kuo; Besides, the two countries have made peace, and now attacking is a violation of the promise to the vassal. Therefore, it is difficult to win this time. " The king of Qin sent Fan Ju to mobilize Tian Lei. The contradiction between them was deep, and Tian Lei pretended to be ill and refused. The king of Qin said, "Is there no general in Qin except Bai Qi?" So the tomb was sent to attack Handan, and it was not until May. The king of Qin appointed Tian Lei as commander in chief again. Tian Lei pretended to be seriously ill and refused to take orders. The king of Qin was furious, cut Tian Lei's official position and drove him out of Xianyang. At this moment, Fan Ju said to the king of Qin, "Bai Qi bears a grudge. If you let him go to other countries, it will be a disaster for Qin. " When the king of Qin heard this, he sent someone to give him a sword and let him commit suicide. Poor Tian Lei, who made great contributions to the State of Qin, ended up like this.

When Handan was surrounded by Tian Lei, there was no "fire" in Qin State, but Su Dai ignited Fan Ju's jealousy, which led to civil strife in Qin State and discord between civil and military officials. Zhao watched the fire on the other side to save his life.

situation

● Copier factory cameras use their actions.

A luxury passenger plane landed slowly at the capital airport of a country in Southeast Asia. Among the passengers who got off the plane, there was a middle-aged man, not tall, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a black suit. He is particularly eye-catching. His expression is serious, his pace is steady, he is thoughtful, and his brow reveals shrewdness. You can tell at a glance that he is not an idle generation, but an old hand in business. Yes, he is indeed a businessman, and he is a businessman from Japan, an economically developed country. He is Mr Fujino, the business agent of Fuji Modern Office Supplies Company in that country.

This time, he shouldered an important historical mission, that is, he signed a contract with the national Taiheng Company to import a certain type of copier from Japan. Copying machine is a brand-new thing in this country whose economy has just taken off, and it has broad development prospects. Capturing this market is undoubtedly of great significance to the company's prospects. Mr. Fujino came with the company's instruction that "only success, no failure".

Walking out of the airport, Mr. Fujino was surprised to find that Taiheng Company didn't send someone to pick him up as promised. He couldn't help thinking: Did the other party neglect his work and remember the date wrong? But how could the two companies forget such a big thing? Impossible. Did the car break down on the road? What's the reason? A sense of foreboding appeared. With years of experience in business, Mr. Fujino intuitively noticed that things had changed. He didn't have time to think about it, so he immediately called a taxi to Taiheng Company to get to the bottom of it and find the answer to the question.

Sure enough, when the boss of Taiheng Company saw him, he just threw out a sentence coldly: "I'm sorry, Mr. Fujino, our company has new plans and is not going to sign this contract." It's a pity. " Say that finish, one stand hand walked away, in the face of this oncoming blow, Mr. Fujino felt dejected. Thinking of the entrustment of the company before leaving, Mr. Fujino decided decisively that he could no longer be depressed and complain. Only by keeping a cool head, pulling yourself together and finding out the truth can we solve this big problem.

In his view, Taiheng Company will never give up the big business of photocopiers easily, and will never let go of the hand holding the god of wealth for no reason. If they refuse to sign the contract now, how to explain it? Any new customers? Yes, very likely. Where does it come from? From other countries? Impossible, because at present, only Japanese products are first-class photocopiers in the international market. Taiheng Company will not forget the benefits and righteousness, and will not buy outdated products for the long-term development and reputation of the company. Then, it must be a Japanese company that does business with Taiheng Company. What kind of preferential terms do they use to attract Taiheng Company to be more flexible? These problems should be clarified one by one.

Mr. Fujino cleared his mind and planned a plan of action. First of all, he reflected the relevant situation to domestic companies and asked them to help find out the reasons. Soon, the company heard back, which proved that a company in China did secretly contact Taiheng Company to provide it with a lower price and more advanced performance copier, which led Taiheng Company to change its original intention and refuse to sign the contract.

At present, if we want to beat our competitors, we need to solve two problems immediately: first, get the contract with Taiheng Company as soon as possible before the other side; The second is to contact the manufacturer immediately, and get the distribution right of a copier in this country anyway. After the battle plan is finalized, the company will be divided into two parts, and Mr. Fujino will still be responsible for signing the contract with Taiheng Company. The company also sent people to the factory to contact the purchasing business.

When Mr. Fujino appeared in front of the boss of Taiheng Company for the second time, before the other party could speak, he came straight to the point and said, "Mr. President, I hope everything is all right with you. Do you mind if I come without an appointment?" I'm here to discuss the import of some kind of copier with you. I think you must be interested. Yes, this printer is indeed superior to other machines, so we have decided to cooperate with your company in this respect. I am glad to tell you that the price of the products we offer to your company is 30% lower than that you contacted the other day. "

The boss of Taiheng Company was surprised when he heard this. "How can this Japanese know everything in just three days? However, what does this have to do with yourself? As long as it is profitable to do business with people, it is different. Since the price of Fuji is much more favorable than that of that company, why not? " He immediately stepped forward with a big smile, shook hands with Mr. Fujino, and immediately signed a contract to import 1500 sets of this machine.

As soon as the contract was reached, Fujino flew back to Japan and found a copier manufacturer. In fact, manufacturers have found problems from Fujitsu's recent abnormal behavior, and only after investigation did they know that they were competing with another company for the exclusive rights of copier customers and Southeast Asia. The manufacturers are secretly happy, and it seems that their chance to make a fortune has come. They clearly knew that Fuji was eager to promote this business, and in order to make a profit from it, they took no time to explain to the newcomers: because they had reached an agreement with other companies to grant them the right to sell in this country, they said that they could not sign a contract with Fuji or simply ignore it for their own credibility. Of course, Mr. Fujino knew his intention, so he informed the other party that Fuji had won the contract to seize the market in this country, and asked the manufacturer to grant the distribution right of Fuji photocopiers and auxiliary materials and equipment, and Fuji was willing to raise the purchase price of 10% again.

After some bargaining, copier manufacturers think that the recent drama of "sitting still and watching the tiger fight" should come to an end. Now the other party's bid is so high that it exceeds its expected target. If you don't follow the trend, you will never come again. So he readily agreed to sign a contract with Fuji.

The shrewd Fuji businessman certainly won't suffer. The hundreds of dollars he lost when he bought a copier at a high price were finally compensated from the auxiliary materials and equipment sold at a high price later.

Looking back on the whole process, the reason why the copier manufacturer can clinch a deal with Fuji at a higher price is because he skillfully used the negotiation skills of "watching the fire from the other side". First, wait and see, and Fuji competes with another company to raise prices; Then he fanned the flames and forced the buyer to raise the price under various excuses. Finally, he saw that the time had come and took advantage of the fisherman.

When both brothers and sisters lose, the fisherman gains.

During the period of 1986, Zhuhai Optical Fiber Co., Ltd. fully negotiated with several foreign companies in order to grasp the international market situation of introducing complete sets of optical fiber equipment. On the basis of careful comparison of prices and benefits, we finally decided to hold substantive negotiations with ITT company in the United States.

ITT delegation's professional ability is excellent, especially its main negotiator Moore, who hardly uses words and figures in the negotiations, and all the calculations are correct. It seems that a lot of preparations have been made before the negotiation. Look at our representatives, they are not intimidated by each other's arrogance, nor do they show passivity. In order to reach the most favorable price agreement, they tried to use the contradiction between competitors to break through each other's asking price.

In the previous investigation, Zhuhai Optical Fiber Company found that there are many foreign businessmen who want to do optical fiber business with China, and there is a certain degree of competition, which is completely a buyer's market in a short time. So they decided to use this competition to lower the price in order to realize their original intention of negotiation.

After confirming the negotiation with ITT company, we also brought STC company in Britain to negotiate. These two companies are brother companies, among which STC is separated from ITT, but for their own interests, they are like brothers and sisters. After a negotiation, the British deliberately left two pages of documents at the scene for the Americans to see, because the two companies have been negotiating with China people in the same place, and the British kept the price of the documents very low, just to let the Americans back down after reading them. Americans didn't know what the plan was, so they picked up the documents and got the treasure. In the subsequent negotiations, they made maximum concessions on the price, and soon reached an agreement with China.

On July 25th, 1986, Zhuhai Special Zone Optical Fiber Company officially signed a contract with ITT Company of the United States. According to this contract, the complete sets of ITT optical fiber equipment imported by the optical fiber company and the technical patents purchased have reached the advanced level in the 1980s. What is more striking is that China has reduced the US quotation by $6.5438+0.86 million, which has saved a lot of foreign exchange expenses for the country, reduced the cost of equipment procurement, and created a prerequisite for enterprises to make profits and pay taxes as soon as possible.

Zhuhai Optical Fiber Company's great success in the negotiation of introducing complete sets of optical fiber equipment lies in its good use of the skill of "watching the fire from the other side" in time, which made ITT Company of the United States and STC Company of the United Kingdom compete to lower the price, provided us with the opportunity to buy at a low price, and finally made a profit.

In fact, under the condition that China's foreign trade system is not perfect, it is not uncommon for various regions to cut prices and undermine each other in the process of foreign import and export. Some enterprises even compete for local prices in order to earn some foreign exchange, regardless of the overall interests, causing losses to the country and enterprises.

There is a company in Shanghai that exports sodium sugar to the European market at a price of $6.8 per kilogram. Due to the reliable product quality and reasonable price, the company pays attention to contract and reputation, the sodium sugar exported by the company has occupied a relatively stable market in Europe, which has been recognized by quite a few customers and earned a lot of foreign exchange for the country.

Later, two companies in Tianjin and Jiangsu saw that it was profitable to export sugar and sodium, and they also wanted to take the opportunity to make a profit. So the two companies tried their best to mobilize all kinds of relationships and rushed to send letters to foreign businessmen to learn about trade information and negotiate relevant trade terms.

First, a company in Tianjin quoted $5.4 per kilogram, and a company in Jiangsu was not to be outdone. In order to win customers, it spared no expense to further reduce the price to $5.07 per kilogram. The two sides fought each other and killed each other, enabling foreign businessmen to "watch the fire from the other side" leisurely. When the time came, foreign businessmen quickly put aside the two companies in Shanghai and Tianjin and reached a 65-ton deal with a company in Jiangsu, easily profiting from it, lowering the price by 654.38 million+US dollars.

Things have come to this, and it's not over yet. According to the European anti-dumping law, if the price of sodium sugar per kilogram is less than 6.8 dollars, a certain amount of "anti-dumping duty" will be levied on the seller, and the tax rate is staggering. Therefore, a company in Jiangsu Province was forced to collect a large amount of taxes, and the lesson was painful.

Another serious consequence of this transaction is that our competitors, the United States and South Korea, "took advantage of the fire" and occupied a favorable position, with great pride in "replacing".

The painful lesson of this fat water flowing into outsiders tells us that fighting with each other can only be mutually destructive, and will eventually provide the negotiating opponents with opportunities to reap profits. Brothers and colleagues should join hands with each other and don't rush to fire each other. To this end, all parties should communicate information in time and try to avoid killing each other.