Comprehensive chambers of commerce in China first appeared in the late Qing Dynasty. There were no similar organizations before, but they were more often limited to a specific industry, such as the salt industry or the silk weaving industry.

The reason why Zhao Weiji wanted to create the Chamber of Commerce in this era was not only because his advanced knowledge allowed him to know the various benefits of the Chamber of Commerce, but also because the Song Dynasty was the most developed era of commodity economy in ancient Chinese history. This era had the opportunity to form the Chamber of Commerce.

Foundation.

"What is a chamber of commerce?" Seeing that no one understood the concept proposed by King Wu Yue, Wang Bin was the first to ask.

"The Chamber of Commerce is an organization established by a group of us, and then we discuss and formulate a set of normative systems, which we supervise and implement to ensure the common interests of all members of the Chamber of Commerce. It also facilitates industry mutual assistance among members of the Chamber of Commerce."

"Are the rules made by you, or by just a few people?"

"Rules are made by everyone. Everyone puts forward the rules they want to have, and then everyone votes to decide which ones should be used and which ones should not be used. But as long as the rules are determined, everyone needs to abide by them."

“What happens if you don’t comply?”

"A fine may be as minor as a fine, but a serious punishment may be expulsion from the chamber of commerce."

"What will happen if we are kicked out of the Chamber of Commerce? It won't affect our business."

"Am I going to propose something new here?"

The faces of the big businessmen present here are all green. How many messy things does this guy have in his head? Let's first hear what new tricks he has up his sleeve.

"You tell me."

"This kind of thing is called brand effect, which is what you call time-honored brands. Time-honored brands always make more money than emerging stores, right? Unless the items sold by emerging stores are really outstanding."

Everyone below nodded in acquiescence. Generally speaking, time-honored stores have better business than new stores, because not everyone who does business can launch any shocking new products. People are willing to buy goods from time-honored brands. After all,

The risk is smaller.

"This is branding, so what will happen if we make our chamber of commerce a huge brand?"

All of you here are veterans who have been in the shopping mall for many years. How can you not know the power of this. Once the chamber of commerce becomes a huge brand, all its franchised firms will definitely be able to gain huge benefits. Just like the iso9001 or iso9001 in later generations.

It's the same as 3c certification. Although that thing is useless, it makes people feel so reassured.

This is the power of the Chamber of Commerce. Having the certification of the Chamber of Commerce will reduce the obstacles to sales. Once you lose the certification of the Chamber of Commerce, the original consumers will suspect that you did something shameful to be removed from the Chamber of Commerce, so they will naturally treat you

There will also be doubts about the products.

"But how can you guarantee that the Chamber of Commerce will definitely form the brand effect you mentioned?" At this moment, Cheng Hui also had great interest.

"First of all, the original founding firms, that is, all of you here. I think the names of all of you here are huge brands in themselves. It would be very attractive for all these big brands to establish a chamber of commerce at the same time, right?"

All the businessmen here nodded in agreement. Zhao Weiji invited the best businessmen from Huizhou. Of course they have this kind of confidence.

"Then we need to formulate reasonable rules. I think rules that can protect everyone's interests will definitely gain the consent of the people."

"Wait a minute." At this time, Jiang Shao interrupted Zhao Weiji. "When we make rules, we must protect our own interests first. Why should we estimate the interests of the people who buy them?"

Of course Zhao Weiji knew that this question would definitely come up, and he already had the answer.

"Brother Jiang, imagine this scenario. What will happen if we enact regulations that can only protect ourselves but sacrifice the interests of others? For example, you paper merchants jointly suppress the purchase price of raw materials, or jointly

The price of the product is too high?”

A complete private monopoly is impossible in any era, unless there is intervention at the national level. So what would happen if a third party suddenly appeared when you, the paper sellers, also jointly suppressed the purchase price of raw materials? Or maybe there was a joint effort

What happens when a new sales point outside your system appears when you raise the selling price?

It is the nature of animals to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, and humans are no exception. Even if your chamber of commerce has huge brand benefits, these are just clouds in the face of huge benefits.

Thinking of the above scene, Jiang Shao, as a sensible person, couldn't help but shudder.

Although this era is an era dominated by natural economy, it does not mean that there is no market economy, and it is still a completely free market economy.

Businessmen who want to survive must adapt to the rules of this game that is completely dominated by market choices.

"Since Brother Jiang has no objections for the time being, I will continue.

After we have formulated this rule that is acceptable to many aspects, we need to carry out a lot of publicity to let all our relevant stakeholders know the existence of this thing. From the supply of raw materials to the sale of finished products, all links

Try to be as comprehensive as possible. Let all links accept it and think it is a good thing, so that when someone violates these regulations, they will inevitably be questioned and despised by people in these links."

"So cruel." This is the unanimous thought of all the businessmen present.

"The last thing is persistence and impartial execution. Once this set of rules is established, we must implement it unswervingly. Anyone who violates the rules will be punished without mercy. I want everyone to know the story of Shang Jun Yimu Lixin

Everyone knows that this is our best example."

At this time, all the businessmen in the room were caught in a fierce ideological struggle, because this set of things cannot be done just as long as it is said to be done. It is not so easy to just formulate the rules, although it is said to take care of all aspects.

Interest alone means that some of your own interests have to be sacrificed, and conflicts of interest are inevitable.

Seeing that everyone was deep in thought, Zhao Weiji leisurely took the tea bowl and took a sip. It was not that he was not in a hurry, but he understood this group of people very well. After all, this was an idea that was far beyond this era. Although the commodity economy of the Song Dynasty

The development of the concept has provided the ground for its realization, but it is still not easy to accept it ideologically.

After about a stick of incense, someone finally spoke: "I agree with the prince's idea, and I will join."

As Zhao Weiji expected, the first person to speak was indeed Wang Bin. From his previous conversation and the questions he asked, we knew that he had extraordinary foresight and courage. Moreover, this person's business was huge.

The breadth of the field is also the first among everyone here. If he can join, today's work will basically be half done.

Sure enough, after he joined, other people also chose to join this cause.

In the end, Zhao Weiji united with leaders of almost all the industries that the state allowed private management, including the grain industry, silk textile industry, four treasures industry, tea industry, wood industry, pawn industry, brothel industry, fishery and so on, which represented the Song Dynasty at this time, and a total of fifteen people were established.

The world's first chamber of commerce.

The principles of the trading houses are fair competition, mutual help, and mutual benefit. All trading houses that join the chamber of commerce must pay an annual membership fee in addition to complying with the rules, but the founders have no objection to this because Zhao Weiji

One point I made is that any businessman will encounter times when cash flow is insufficient, at which time this money will come into play.

To put it in Zhao Weiji's words, in addition to fulfilling obligations, joining a chamber of commerce will of course also provide you with corresponding rights or benefits. The chamber of commerce will not only provide interest-free loans with membership fees when members' funds are in short supply.

And you can also enjoy mutual discounts between members. For example, when a member restaurant wants to purchase ingredients, you can enjoy certain discounts when you go to a grain store that is also a member. Members of the pawn industry can also enjoy certain discounts when you go to a member restaurant to have a banquet.

Discounts. In short, any two industries may intersect, and at this time, the discounts between members will be very beneficial.

Moreover, due to the regulations on fair competition, members of chambers of commerce in the same industry can only compete with their own genuine materials. This way, while ensuring that no one’s reputation is damaged, they can also tap potential internally to promote the growth of the entire industry.

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Moreover, Zhao Weiji implemented a set of principles to ensure the fairness of the Chamber of Commerce. First, a committee of fifteen people was initially established to be responsible for the operation of the Chamber of Commerce.

Then, in order to resolve the disagreement, a president and two vice-presidents were selected among these fifteen people to lead.

However, in order to avoid corruption caused by long-term concentration of power, the three-person leadership group is re-elected every two years and can be re-elected.

At the same time, as the Chamber of Commerce continues to expand and more and more members join, the fifteen-member operating committee will also be re-elected every six years.

Yes, this method of operation will look familiar to future generations. This kind of thing is called folk cooking.

Zhao Weiji certainly knows that people cooking also has disadvantages, but it is better than a group of people occupying the pinnacle of power for a long time. Absolute power will inevitably bring absolute corruption.

When this set of rules formed a rough outline, all participants had to admire what kind of head this Wuyue King had. He had taken all possible loopholes into account.

Of course they don't know that the things Zhao Weiji put forward were not what he thought alone, but were summed up by countless sages from several generations or even more than a dozen generations in later generations. He is just a shameless person standing on the shoulders of giants.

Just a plagiarist.

But this did not prevent Zhao Weiji from being elected as the first president. And Chairman Zhao was about to start his next plan.
Chapter completed!