A Study Of Operation Of Taigu's Medicine Brand From Qing To Minguo Period

Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties,the scope of business activities of Shanxi merchants have spread all over the country.Taigu,as one of a financial and economic center of Shanxi,has been called "Jintaigu" since Qing Dynasty.As one of Taigu's "Top Ten Trades",Chinese medicine stores specialize in the purchase and sale of herbal medicines.Guangshengyuan,as a typical representative of Taigu's Chinese medicine stores with a long history and a large scale,and is also one of the most powerful brands in the "Guangbang".It is of great academic value for us to explore the actual situation and management mode and to know mode of operation of Taigu Chinese medicine industry and the mode and scope of operation of Shanxi merchants.Based on the main historical materials of The Letters of Guangshengyuan in the Thirty-five Years of the Republic of China in The Collection of Historical Materials of Shanxi Merchants,this paper takes Guangshengyuan,the Taigu Medicine Brand,and its business process as the research object,and analyzes the process and business characteristics of Guangshengyuan's Chinese medicine sales by interpreting the materials.Letters are an effective way of business communication and truly reflect business information.The materials contain more than one hundred letters of Guangshengyuan and its written to the general manager by semicolons in Beijing,Tianjin,Guangzhou and other places.The contents of letters involve daily reports and price fluctuations.This paper briefly introduces the writing format and content of historical materials,summarizes the characteristics of medicine merchants' letters and summarizes the research value of historical materials.Guangshengyuan divided into primary branch offices and secondary branch offices,with different responsibilities at all levels.Guangshengyuan's organizational structure is divided into three levels,from the highest to the lowest: the headquarter of Guangshengyuan,the first level semicolon and the second level garrison,with different responsibilities at all levels.The headquarter of Guangshengyuan can directly arrange the personnel and funds of different places;the first level semicolon is the right to communicate with the headquarter directly,and the right to allocate local funds and goods;the second level is responsible for the nearby first level semicolon According to different standards,the commodities are divided into three categories.According to the origin of the medicine,they are classified into domestic goods and foreign goods.According to the precious degree of the medicine,they are classified into crude goods and fine goods.According to the processing degree of the medicine,they are classified into unfinished medicines and finished medicines.From the perspectives of purchase and sale,including the purchase and sale of local Chinese medicine in these semicolons,transportation tools and routes selected for the transportation of purchased Chinese medicine,allocation of funds between semicolos in regions with large demand for funds,as well as the special purchase of the Chinese medicine for the Guangshengyuan's store in Taigu by each semicolon.In the period of abundant capital and strong strength,Guangshengyuan set up branches and expand its business,attached great importance to wholesale and brand construction,coupled with strict rules and regulations,which made Guangshengyuan far stand out in the "Guangbang",and Dingkundan and Guilingji of "Yuan" were deeply loved at home and abroad.