Where is Bright Dairy headed? Bright Dairy has once again made headlines, not for its annual report, not for Mosilian, but for corruption. This is the fourth person associated with Bright Dairy to be convicted of corruption. In 2015, Wang Zongnan, former party secretary of Bright Dairy, was sentenced to 18 years in prison; subsequently, Dong Luping, general manager of Bright Dairy's subsidiary Jinfeng Wine, was convicted of bribery; in 2016, Guo Benheng, former president of Bright Dairy, was sentenced to 6 years for accepting 3.3 million yuan in bribes; this year, Li Ke, former vice president and marketing director, was sentenced to 3 years (suspended for 5) for accepting 1.2 million yuan. And Feng Yongming, the head of Bright Furniture, was given a suspended death sentence for embezzling 700 million yuan. Damn FMCG A marketing director taking 1.2 million yuan in bribes is unbelievable—not because it's too much, but because it's too little. As Lao Na knows, a provincial manager for Mosilian might take more than that. Distributors have reported that they give 20,000 yuan to provincial managers every Mid-Autumn Festival and Spring Festival. Plus, provincial managers apply for low-priced goods from the company under the guise of group purchases and resell them to distributors. In a year, these two sources alone can bring in more than 1.2 million yuan. Corruption is an unspoken rule in the FMCG circle; no one can talk about it. Who would break this rule? Cats can't resist fish. And when people chat about how much someone has embezzled, it's not with envy—same rank, same salary, but someone else with less ability goes to another company and drives a BMW. You'd say resentfully, "Lucky bastard." When you hear about a company giving kickbacks to a leader, you'd say that company knows how to handle things. If you stay clean, your subordinates think you're blocking their path, and colleagues think you're out of place. Water too clear has no fish; power unused expires—"In the Name of the People" is so popular, those corrupt officials in government fear losing power after decades, let alone how many years you can stay at a company. You're just an employee; who wants to end up with only a fatty liver and a meager salary? Every field grows grain. Over the years, so-called embezzlement charges are more a political strategy to get rid of someone, to expose this unspoken rule, and to dump this "dirt" on your head. You're just out of favor for a while; you can still be a hero when you come out. Remember Chu Shijian at Yuxi Cigarette Factory in Yunnan? He was sentenced to life for embezzlement and unexplained property, later commuted to 17 years. During medical parole, he planted oranges on a mountain, creating the inspirational story of "Chu Orange." Chu Shijian became more famous than the factory director. Although later, due to property distribution issues, his son-in-law and son's war dimmed Chu Orange's glory, the oranges are just oranges, but how many waves can one person make? He deserves a monument. And Zheng Junhuai of Yili: his power struggle with Niu Gensheng was a palace intrigue in a state-owned enterprise. After driving out Niu Gensheng, he fell into embezzlement charges. Now out of prison, Zheng Junhuai is chairman of Heilongjiang Hongxing. On Baidu Baike, his entry doesn't even mention his imprisonment (unlike Ele.me or 315, which get flagged on Baidu Baike immediately). The only regret is the respected Mr. Li Jingwei, who created the Jianlibao empire but died with a criminal record—sad and lamentable. His spirit will last forever. Poor Bright Dairy Bright Dairy, located in Shanghai, was a place where President Jiang Zemin once worked. Such political resources should be a huge advantage for Bright Dairy's development. But over the years, Bright Dairy has only lingered in Shanghai and surrounding cities. Distributors shake their heads at Bright Dairy's management; compared to Yili and Mengniu, Bright Dairy carries more of the old state-owned enterprise air. Actually, if Bright Dairy had maintained its pride and pursued quality standards, it would be fine. Guo Benheng said in 2011 that China's raw milk standard is almost the worst in the world, and you can't produce a high-end product with a relatively low standard. But he forgot the 2005 recycled milk incident. On June 7, 2005, at 11:00, People's Daily Online's Henan window published an article titled "Reporter's Undercover Investigation Reveals the Dark Secret of Expired Bright Milk Being Returned to Factory for Reprocessing and Resale," pointing out that Zhengzhou Bright Shanmeng Dairy used recycled spoiled milk to produce products. An article titled "Famous Milk Made Like This" began circulating online. The two sides had conflicting accounts. Bright Dairy's executive vice president Lü Gongliang said, "I am currently handling this incident in Henan; the municipal government's relevant departments are investigating the factory. We believe this is not factual." Henan Economic Life Channel insisted, "Our reporters filmed the footage; the incident is real." Zhengzhou Bright Shanmeng was a subsidiary formed by Bright Dairy in February 2004 with a 15 million yuan investment and Zhengzhou Shanmeng, with a registered capital of 25 million yuan. Bright Dairy held 60% and it was one of Bright Dairy's 17 local holding production enterprises. Bright Dairy authorized Zhengzhou Bright Shanmeng to use the "Bright" brand, and its sales were mainly in Henan. The products in question involved both "Bright" and "Shanmeng" brands. Actually, these are not Bright's main problems. The main issue is succession. Guo Benheng made Mosilian the number one yogurt brand in China, but after his imprisonment, Mosilian's 2017 sales data is no longer mentioned. Instead, some projects that Guo didn't prioritize are being repackaged and relaunched. This attempt to erase the previous leader's influence is too obvious. At this point, Bright is different from Yili back then. At that time, Yili's Zheng Junhuai's thinking was outdated, and Mengniu was beating him. Zheng was obsessed with power; for Yili, as long as Zheng was there, they couldn't surpass Mengniu. So when Pan Gang came up, with youthful drive and bold reforms, Yili became more flat and professional from organizational structure to distributor services, and faster in launching new products. Guo Benheng was a straightforward person with strong personal ability; after all, he was a dairy professional, and his credentials were earned. His research and ideas brought hope to Bright's development, making people feel Bright was respectable. But after Guo's downfall, Bright had no backup to fill the gap. His successor, Zhu Hangming, cannot compare to Guo Benheng, nor can he bring the effect Pan Gang had at Yili. Now, Mosilian faces Telunsu ahead and Chunzhen and Anmoxi behind; decline is an inevitable topic. In Lao Na's view, Mosilian is still a good product, although many question whether the longevity of Mosilian village is real, just as people always doubt whether drinking milk is healthy. This is actually "help" from competitors, making consumers doubt the product. Mosilian needs to strengthen the northern gift market, especially Henan. While competitors are managing extensively, Mosilian needs refined management, increasing personnel to guide distributor teams, not just giving policies to distributors and urging them to pay. Deep distribution is an outdated topic, but for Bright, your distribution hasn't reached depth; you rely more on distributor team management. In single-product operations, you're neither as good as JDB nor Red Bull. And this star product is your best chance for revival. In dairy, consumers push the company, not the company pushing consumers. In this regard, the beverage industry is at least two years ahead of dairy. At the same time, Bright's political system and organizational structure need further streamlining. We can't lead a rabbit with a camel's method. Compared to Yili and Mengniu's PR skills, Bright is far behind. Today's topic: Discuss the corruption in your company and Bright's future -END-