2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 246 Leadership Strategies
The prosperity of Ningbo city far surpasses that of Yicheng. Zhang Suzhi, who had said she was going to spend a lot of money, seemed a bit hesitant once she entered the city.

The Tan family has two working parents, so their living conditions are not bad. However, both parents come from rural areas and have many siblings. They cannot spend money extravagantly on themselves and try to save as much as possible for emergencies.

The high cost of living made her, who came from a small city, hesitate. Even though she had money in her pocket, she felt very uncomfortable. There was no way around it; the lifestyle she had developed over 40 years couldn't be changed so suddenly.

However, they are willing to spend money on Gu Qingqing. I guess every parent is like that. They are reluctant to spend money on themselves, but generous to their children.

Tan Jincheng saw it all and felt warm inside.

It was Xiao Jinyue's first time in a large shopping mall, and she was so excited that she could hardly take her eyes off it. Gu Qingqing seemed to have a special fondness for this "little sister-in-law," and she had been dominating her all day, even holding her little hand while they were at the mall.

In Tan Jincheng's hometown, there is a tacitly accepted custom.

That is, between boyfriends and girlfriends, giving each other gold jewelry is equivalent to implicitly acknowledging that the other is marriage partner, somewhat similar to the saying about Yiwu boiled eggs.

Zhang Suzhi was quite satisfied with Gu Qingqing, so she bought her a lot of gold jewelry, such as bracelets and necklaces.

Gold isn't expensive per gram, but the sheer amount of it, coupled with the brand premium, left Gu Qingqing completely bewildered and unsure how to proceed.

Tan Jincheng chuckled and whispered "water-boiled egg" in her ear, and only then did she understand what he meant.

"Thank you, Auntie!" Gu Qingqing said softly as she accepted the gift, her face flushed.

In 2006, gold was 124 yuan per gram. If you only buy gold bars, it is indeed a good store of value. Tan Jincheng, who was eager to buy, bought 10 gold bars of 50 grams each in one go. If his mother hadn't stopped him, Tan Jincheng would have wanted to buy more.

It's reassuring to keep this at home. When needed, you can take one out and make some gold jewelry. It's quite suitable.

Today is the weekend, and Tan Jincheng, who submitted his proposal, can easily spend time shopping with his family. However, the leaders are not so relaxed. Tan Jincheng's proposal has caused quite a stir in the district's economic group.

The weekend plans were thus ruined.

As an important industrial chain for developing the local economy, the automotive industry is naturally a good fit for Beicang District. However, some people still think the plan is a bit far-fetched. Even if the information provided by Flash Technology is accurate, state-owned enterprises are unwilling to lend their qualifications, and Zhongtai Auto has no need to acquire production qualifications by giving up equity.

I can sell a car for four or five hundred yuan, and when the time is right, I can acquire a car manufacturer with production qualifications.

Zhongtai is a family business. Ying Jianren, the founder of Tieniu Group and the actual controller of Zhongtai Automobile, focuses more on capital operations, while his brother-in-law Wu Jianzhong, a state-owned enterprise leader whom he brought back, helps him manage Zhongtai Automobile.

The actual controller and the manager are brother-in-law and sister-in-law, and the decision to invest requires their consent. Family businesses generally place great importance on equity, and the opinions of the Yongkang government must also be taken into account.

The difficulty lies in synthesizing the opinions of all three parties.

If it were just FlashTech negotiating a partnership, exchanging production qualifications for a portion of Zhongtai Auto's equity, the chances would be greater. However, if the Beicang government were to invest, allowing them to establish a branch in the Beicang area, it would actually make things more difficult.

"Everyone, do you agree with this? Boss Xiao Tan has already sold the production license himself. It's easy to negotiate whether he wants money or equity. Why do we have to involve the district, even though this deal would be of great help to the district?"

"That makes sense. They're not short of money and don't need the city investment company to give them money. Doing this definitely increases the difficulty. Boss Tan's plan is well-intentioned for the district, but it doesn't seem very feasible."

"That's true, but it seems like it's worth a try. There's no decent automotive industry in the district right now. Setting up a branch factory, even a small brand, can help the rest of the industry chain. As for if it doesn't work out, then let Boss Tan try it himself."

"That makes sense. I think it's worth a try. We'll see if it works or not. Anyway, it won't cost us anything."

There were all sorts of opinions, but everyone's general thinking was fairly consistent: the plan was beneficial to the district, it was feasible, and they were willing to give it a try, but whether it would succeed was unknown.

Leader Gu and the senior leader exchanged a smile, seemingly quite satisfied with the outcome.

Although he had promised Tan Jincheng not to tell anyone, he certainly wouldn't hide it from his superior, Boss Gu, and told him everything about Tan Jincheng's ultimate intentions. Actually, what everyone said wasn't wrong. If FlashTech negotiated on its own, it might suffer some losses and earn less, but the probability of success would be much higher. One-on-one transactions are definitely easier and simpler than multi-party transactions.

At first, the top leader didn't quite understand Tan Jincheng's behavior. It wasn't until he heard Tan Jincheng's ultimate intention that he realized what was going on. Unfortunately, this matter couldn't be revealed in the meeting and could only be known by a small group of people.

Despite this, the top leader still appreciated Tan Jincheng's bold behavior. Young people dare to think and act, and whether they succeed or not, it will help the local economy. What's wrong with helping him or cooperating with him?

"How is Comrade Xiao Tan's main business, the electric vehicle business, doing this year?"

"It is said that sales are good. We don't know the specific sales figures, but we can get the electricity consumption of his two factories. They went into full capacity after the Lantern Festival, and there is not much inventory in the warehouse."

"So, is it really possible that his boast at the company's annual meeting about selling 20 electric vehicles this year will actually come true?"

"It seems likely that they will surpass it. The peak season for electric bikes hasn't arrived yet. If nothing unexpected happens, they may reach this goal after the peak season ends. I don't know if you're used to going online, but they recently launched a cycling marketing plan, which is becoming increasingly popular online."

"Oh? Is that so? I'll have to go check it out when I have time. This young man is really something. If we take good care of him, who knows, maybe the district will produce a second Shenzhou."

"That's right. FlashTech is currently developing very healthily, with a short cash cycle and good profits from electric vehicles. In addition, it has not expanded blindly. Apart from a lithium battery project, it has been very cautious in its other investments."

"Who can argue with that? He got the car production license and had his own car manufacturing plan. Most people would probably be out there trying to attract investment and get loans to build a factory by now. But he did something completely unexpected."

Then the senior leader laughed and said, "You could say this young man is bold, he really is bold. Electric vehicles have only just gotten on track, and he already wants to build cars. But you could also say he's timid, he really is timid. Apart from investing in batteries, he doesn't do anything else."

"He didn't completely abandon the idea. He bought 100 houses and rented them out to FlashTech as employee dormitories. That's a pretty good investment, which shows that this young man has good foresight."

Both of them were fully aware of the real estate policies, and they naturally understood the deeper meaning behind Tan Jincheng's purchase of 100 houses at once and subsequent rental to Flash Technology.

Even the stocks he previously looked down on seemed to have turned around after the Chinese New Year. For almost a year after he bought Moutai shares, they had been falling intermittently and were in a slump.

Until January 2006, the share price remained around 45 yuan. Then, after the Chinese New Year, for some unknown reason, Moutai shares hit the daily limit for several consecutive days. By the end of the month, the share price had actually risen to 62.5 yuan, and trading was suspended!
Leader Gu doesn't know much about stocks, but his secretary Zhao Jinsheng calculated that if Tan Jincheng had bought the stock at the same time, he would have made at least 30% profit. Moreover, the stock was suspended due to positive news, so it's estimated that it will rise again.

This made Leader Gu even more convinced of the concept of luck. During the era when Wuliangye was more popular than Moutai, even he, who didn't understand stocks, thought that if he were to buy a liquor company, he should buy Wuliangye.

However, he did buy a lot of Moutai stock, and unsurprisingly, he was stuck with it for a year. It was obvious that he didn't understand stocks very well. But then, by some stroke of luck, he made a fortune after the New Year.

What the leaders didn't know was that in December of last year, both A-shares and Hong Kong stocks plummeted, and Tan Jincheng's purchases of QQ and Moutai were both trapped. QQ fell to a low of around HK$4.5, breaking through the cost line of his first purchase, but Tan Jincheng added to his position in September when it was HK$7.8!

The single purchase in September resulted in a massive loss, with the Hong Kong stock account suffering an overall loss of over 35% at its peak. However, it was during this period that Tan Jincheng, who had money on hand, increased his holdings in both A-shares and Hong Kong stocks.

Currently, Tan Jincheng holds a total of 5 shares of Moutai, with a total market value of RMB 312.5 million, and 60 shares of QQ in Hong Kong, with a total market value of HKD 612 million. Indeed, after introducing new investors and implementing a new five-year plan, QQ's stock price rebounded rapidly and continued to rise to the current HKD 10.2.

These are things that Leader Gu doesn't know. If he did know, it would probably overturn his understanding. In his mind, Tan Jincheng is a good businessman with a long-term vision, but he's not good at stock trading.

"Then let's try to negotiate according to his plan, but we don't need to use the name of the city investment company directly. Let's find a subordinate shadow investment company, which will be more convenient."

Since everyone's opinion was in agreement, the top leader had nothing to refute, but he was clearly thinking further ahead than Tan Jincheng.

The city investment company is one of the shareholders of Flash Technology. The two are obviously related companies, and their intentions are too obvious. They found a shadow investment company to cooperate with Flash Technology to reduce the difficulty of negotiations.

At this moment, Tan Jincheng was choosing clothes for Xiao Jinyue, completely unaware that a group of people had held a last-minute meeting over the weekend to discuss his plans.

(End of this chapter)