wavenovel Chapter 79 Solving Piracy
Chapter 79 Solving Piracy
Inside the meeting room, near the end of the workday, Lu Zhaoxi gave the following instructions: Have the people from the Tmall project department and the Taobao project department discuss the issue of piracy related to the Three Little Bees flagship store.
From the Taobao project department, an M2 engineer arrived with Taobao assistant Sun Yuan.
M2 thought to himself: their team has good performance, so they should have more say.
If it weren't for the headquarters backing them up, the Tmall project team would have collapsed long ago.
Now that the other party has produced a hit product, what's wrong with Taobao Marketplace taking a share of the traffic?
Although he knew this didn't align with Alibaba's values, Taobao's performance was skyrocketing year after year, and KPIs were becoming increasingly stringent. To meet the targets and maintain its leading position, he had no choice but to protect the merchants under his company.
Not only their group did this, but other groups did similar things. Moreover, if he can't even protect his subordinates, who will be willing to risk their lives for him in the future?
On the other side, Taobao employee Sun Yuan was filled with trepidation.
He had long been corrupted by the merchants under his command, and had received a lot of good cigarettes and alcohol. This piracy incident was precisely because he used the rules to protect the merchants behind the scenes.
He just didn't expect that Tmall would be so tough, and would directly file a complaint with President Lu.
"President Lu is really something, not protecting his own people, but instead standing up for Tmall." He complained inwardly, feeling a little guilty at the same time, since he was being paid to do the job, but this feeling of guilt was fleeting.
"No values or justice are as real as money. Society today is all about money, and that's not my fault, it's a problem with society."
At the same time, Wang Jialei, with a dark expression, led Lin Mu into the conference room.
He had learned the whole story of how this happened. Taobao had M2 involved, and he also had to stand up for Tmall.
Wang Jialei thought to himself: The internal atmosphere at Taobao has deteriorated too much recently. Since the company's performance has soared, HR has hired a lot of external hires. These people are good at boosting sales, but their values are mixed and chaotic.
Like this piracy incident, the perpetrator acted purely out of self-interest, prioritizing personal and departmental performance over mutual protection and building departmental walls, disregarding Alibaba's values. If this continues, the entire Alibaba group risks collapsing.
Lin Mu, on the other hand, felt somewhat helpless. In his previous life, he had worked himself to death by drinking three iced Americanos every day. Even after being reborn, things weren't much easier.
Holding meetings close to the end of the workday is a classic practice at Alibaba, and overtime pay isn't given for these meetings.
After a brief rant, he quickly rallied: this matter was ultimately related to him; he had received a high commission from the Three Little Bees flagship store, so he had to get things done properly.
Besides, since he's eating Alibaba's food, he should fulfill his responsibilities.
In the long run, this internal chaos will have a negative impact on the entire Alibaba system, and if he has the ability, he must handle it properly.
As for whether he will switch jobs in the future to found Pinduoduo and become a competitor of Alibaba, that's another matter entirely.
At this moment, as an Alibaba employee receiving Alibaba's salary, he must live up to that compensation, considering not only his own position but also the entire system.
Some might call him a "scoundrel" or a "traitor," but the reason he was able to rise to a high-ranking position at Alibaba in his previous life was precisely because of this awareness of upholding core values.
To get promoted, you can't just focus on the small things in front of you; you have to step outside your job and consider the customer and the entire system.
Furthermore, this kind of thinking, which takes a holistic approach, also serves as a mental exercise for future entrepreneurial endeavors.
However, Zhang Yong must have communicated with Lu Zhaoxi. Even with President Lu personally taking action, he was still unable to resolve the matter within the department.
Thinking about it more deeply, Lin Mu gradually understood. After all, it had only been a year since President Lu took over as CEO of Taobao. As the saying goes, even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake; the other party could challenge President Lu based on rules and regulations and performance.
But then I thought about it again. Lu Zhaoxi’s nickname is “Temujin”. As soon as he took office, he resolved the “evaluation gate” incident with an iron fist. After that, he implemented a number of measures. Throughout his career, he was by no means a weak and kind person, but a sharp figure who could accomplish great things.
It's hard to believe he would compromise on such a trivial matter. Lin Mu couldn't help but put himself in Lu Zhaoxi's shoes and wonder what his intentions were in doing this.
Before he could figure it out, the people from Taobao arrived.
As soon as they sat down, Sun Yuan launched an attack: "I've already told you about this. According to the rules and regulations, these shops are not violating any rules, nor are they counterfeiting. Just because Three Little Bees sells soft white bread, does that mean that bread is their exclusive product? Everyone gets their goods from the OEM factory; they didn't copy your main image or your title."
Lin Mu retorted, "First of all, many shops directly use Xiao Yang Cuisine's portrait as the main image for their product promotions, which is blatant infringement of portrait rights."
"I am very familiar with the actor who plays the role of Xiao Yang Cuisine, and I have never heard of him signing an endorsement contract with these shops."
"What's more, you may not know that Xiao Yang's real name is Sheng Mingyue. Before making cooking videos, she was a minor celebrity in the film and television industry. She has a dedicated legal team."
Sun Yuan felt a chill run down his spine and was instantly speechless. He thought to himself: These merchants have really gone too far. Ever since they started taking their money, they've become increasingly daring and unscrupulous.
M2 on the other side quickly tried to smooth things over: "We will report this matter and remove the merchant involved from the platform."
Lin Mu smiled speechlessly: Take it down? He didn't want it to be taken down temporarily, but to prevent such things from happening again and to establish clear rules.
What's the point of taking these merchants down now, only for them to simply reappear under different names and continue pirating once the storm has passed?
Lin Mu immediately dropped his trump card: "You just said that everyone gets their products from OEM factories and that Three Little Bees doesn't have food patents. You're wrong about that."
"The soft white bread was independently developed by Three Little Bees. Currently, there is only one OEM factory in the country that can produce it, and this OEM factory has signed an exclusive contract with Three Little Bees."
"I'd like to know how those counterfeit merchants will deliver the goods? Will they send fakes? Or will they pass off inferior goods as superior ones? You're blatantly protecting counterfeit and shoddy products!"
As soon as he finished speaking, M2's expression darkened.
He never expected that a small pre-made bread would involve independent research and development. Was the other party bluffing or was it really true?
He can protect his subordinates and ensure performance, but his subordinates cannot go too far by protecting counterfeit or substandard products. If customers have problems with the products, he will only get burned and will not be able to bear the responsibility.
Sun Yuan felt a chill run down his spine and thought to himself: "Seriously, brother? It's just selling bread, why are you so well-prepared? Forget it, I'll tell those other vendors to stop trying to ride this wave of popularity. If we're really going to do it, we should at least develop our own soft white-skinned bread."
Just then, the conference room door was pushed open from the outside.
Everyone turned to look, and a man in a suit and tie with a serious expression walked in, wearing a badge that read "Disciplinary Inspection Department" on his chest.
He began, "Excuse me for interrupting the meeting. Sun Yuan, come with us. We found evidence of embezzlement and bribery on your computer. Please go back and explain yourself."
Sun Yuan's face turned deathly pale, and he stood frozen in place, completely dumbfounded.
Lin Mu suddenly realized: So, President Lu had asked them to come to the meeting in order to cooperate with the inspection department's surprise inspection. That was their real intention.
……
P.S.: The story of calling someone into a meeting and then conducting a surprise inspection is not made up by the author; it's a real case the author witnessed in the workplace.
The author used to work in the catering industry. One of the purchasing agents was reported on and was called to a meeting where he was dismissed.
The newly appointed purchasing agent is the one who snitches.
He did a pretty good job.