2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 453 Mooncakes? Of course, we'll send out a whole box.

"Don't worry, I really won't poach your company's R&D personnel. I'm not going to poach anyone right now. Besides, if I were to poach someone, it would definitely be from Chery."

Damn, this reputation is getting too outrageous, and now everyone wants to make fun of me, even Old Wang does it when we meet.

I think I only did one really outrageous thing at Tencent; Pony Ma is such a big mouth.

Mr. Wang chuckled and wagged his finger, amused. "You little rascal, you're really cunning. But do you really have plans to build cars? If you do, it's fine to say so. If we older brothers can help, we can."

Chery is jokingly referred to as the "HP (JUN) school" of the automotive industry. Many private car companies, such as BYD and Geely, poached a lot of talent from Chery. Whenever a company needs staff, they will go to Chery to recruit a few people.

This pattern has continued for many years and will continue in the future. It's really impressive that Chery can still develop so well under such aggressive talent poaching.

The reason why everyone is poaching talent from Chery isn't because of him, but because of his own internal problems. The factional struggles within Chery are particularly severe. They often develop a popular model, only to have it targeted by other teams within the same company. It's common for them to fight each other.

If you have internal conflicts with your own faction, you can't blame others for poaching your people.

Despite internal factional strife and the poaching of numerous talents, the fact that they have managed to maintain their position as one of the top three private car companies in both the traditional fuel vehicle and new energy vehicle markets speaks volumes about their capabilities.

Old Wang was surprised that Tan Jincheng also knew this meme. Their company had poached a lot of people from Chery, but since Tan Jincheng even knew this kind of meme in the automotive industry, it seems that he really has plans to manufacture cars.

Of course, it's also possible that the people from Zhongtai told him.

You know what, if you really want to poach talent, it's easier to go to Chery. Compared to other private car companies that treat technical talent like a treasure and find it difficult to poach them, it's much simpler for Chery.

As for poaching talent from state-owned enterprises, it's not worthwhile for ordinary talent, and it's even more difficult for high-end talent. You can't offer them stable compensation, and if you go too far, you're likely to be targeted.

"Okay, then. If I ever plan to do this in the future, please remember to help me out, Brother Wang. But for now, I only plan to get the battery working. Of course, I would also appreciate any help you can provide in this regard."

It's not that Tan Jincheng doesn't want to make money from gasoline cars. It's a bit late to start making gasoline cars these days, but it's not impossible to do something like Zhongtai, buying and selling cars and launching a few models to build brand awareness.

It doesn't matter if you can't afford it, just copy it. Everyone does it now, so it won't make a difference if you're the one with a bad reputation.

However, with its current strength, Flashcar is indeed unable to handle both power batteries and automobiles simultaneously. Doing so would strain the company's cash flow. It's not that they don't want to, but that they can't.

This is one of the reasons why Tan Jincheng has consistently denied that his company would enter the car manufacturing industry.

You could do some preliminary preparations, such as investing in auto parts companies and industrial design institutes. This would be a form of investment, and even if you don't manufacture cars in the future, you could still get some returns on your investment.

However, if they directly announce their entry into car manufacturing, it will change the investors' views on Flashway and Tan Jincheng himself, requiring a reassessment of Flashway Group's financial situation, and may even affect the valuation of Orange Technology.

The major investments in the power battery project, such as mining, have not yet been made, and for the time being, there is no clear plan. Currently, the focus is on technology research and development and factory construction. With the support of the local government, the project has little impact on the group's cash flow.

Once you start buying mines, it means a long-term and large-scale investment, which can't be done with just your own funds. That's when you need to combine it with capital.

In his previous life, Prince Ning followed a similar path in the early stages, scraping together some funds on his own. Once he had reached a certain scale, he brought in several investment institutions to expand the market. Jinshidai also plans to follow this route.

However, if you want to invest heavily in a power battery project that requires a large amount of capital upfront, and also want to personally manufacture cars, how much money would that cost?

When a company develops to a certain stage, the capital market's view of it becomes very important. Just like listed companies, even if they report good performance, their stock price will still fall if the capital market does not recognize it.

To raise funds in the capital market, it is necessary to value their opinions. Before FlashTech went public, the opinions of the capital market regarding the group's parent company were still very important.

On another front, it also affects the banks' credit lines to the group.

"That's no problem, as long as you don't let the driver hand out business cards. If you want to learn, you can send someone over."

Beyond competition, there is actually a lot of cooperation between companies. Competition is only directed at end-users in the market, but there is still a lot of cooperation in other areas such as technology. Mobile phone manufacturers call their competitors stupid every day, but they have a lot of cooperation behind the scenes.

At least, many patent levels cannot be bypassed. "Let's not talk about this anymore. Since you've agreed, I'll have Dexian Electronics send a few people over to learn from you. Your company's cost advantage is something we should learn from."

Both being Shenzhen-based companies, Dexian Electronics is much smaller than BYD. While it has its own battery technology capabilities, it is still a junior compared to BYD in terms of mobile phone battery R&D and production capabilities.

The younger brother is learning from the older brother, and there's nothing wrong with that.

However, giving out a mooncake for the Mid-Autumn Festival is just something I wouldn't do. Boss Xiao Tan really wouldn't do something like that, even though the original benefits at Dexian Electronics weren't great either.

Labor costs are already low enough; there's really no need to skimp on them.

Having more employees can indeed save a lot of costs for a company. Take Flash Group's current number of employees as an example. Even if each employee receives one less mooncake, a lot of money can be saved. But can this money really be saved?
I doubt it. Maybe it was spent somewhere Tan Jincheng couldn't see.

"That's fine. I'll arrange for someone to receive them when they arrive." Old Wang nodded noncommittally.

This young man is really shameless. Just like the rumors say, he always manages to take advantage of others wherever he goes. But that's also his advantage, since he's young and can call everyone "big brother." In a few years, he won't have that advantage anymore.

Tan Jincheng contacted Boss Wang through Chen Qixing's connection, clearly expressing his desire to visit the BYD factory and meet him. Otherwise, Boss Wang would be too busy to meet Tan Jincheng, even though they were from the same hometown.

Just like how Boss Ding acted as a go-between for Huang Zheng, Tan Jincheng switched from being the one being connected to being the underling. He saw this as a rare opportunity and eagerly sought to recognize the big brother, hoping to gain some benefits in the process.

Shenzhen's industry and technology are indeed leading the country at present, with factories everywhere, which is the most beautiful scenery for business owners.

ZF's service attitude is also impeccable. When Mr. Tan visited BYD for a public event, the relevant park leaders accompanied him throughout. Even if there was no investment plan, it didn't matter; the main thing was to provide excellent service.

This is probably the case in industrially developed cities, where government officials tend to adopt a more humble attitude, as is the case in Ningbo, unlike some places in the interior where officials are aloof and superior.

Tan Jincheng ate a decent work meal at the BYD cafeteria. He wasn't going to pretend to be superior and insist on eating the same food as the ordinary workers. Wouldn't that just make him uncomfortable?

A day's visit won't reveal much, but time is limited, and Mr. Wang can't possibly spend that much time with a junior colleague.

Tan Jincheng, who still holds some status in front of Huang Zheng, is nothing compared to this industry bigwig. It's already a great honor for him to spare a day to spend with him.

Every company has something to offer. BYD's benefits are something to complain about, but both Mr. Wang's life experience and the company's business model are things that Flash can learn from.

With no major moves planned for the second half of the year, Tan Jincheng has more free time to visit and learn from these large companies.

Shenzhen was the last stop on Tan Jincheng's trip. Dexian Electronics had a new person in charge, Qin Junchao, who was the actual person in charge of Jinyi Industrial. He was also Tan Jincheng's fellow townsman from Yicheng.

In the future, many of Dexian Electronics' production businesses will be handled by Jinyi Industrial. Qin Junchao is someone that Tan Jincheng trusts, and he is also very familiar with Jinyi Industrial.

Once he became familiar with Dexian Electronics' business system, the leader, who was very familiar with both companies, was able to reduce a lot of friction in the cooperation.

Those who followed Tan Jincheng from the very beginning and remained in the Flash Speed ​​system have all been promoted to varying degrees. In terms of ability, these people are all about the same, not particularly outstanding, and could even be considered somewhat weak.

Ordinary order follower like Li Yanning, and her sister Li Jinglan, who couldn't even do a good job as a factory worker, may improve their skills in two or three years, but how much can they improve?

In other companies, Li Jinglan might still be earning a salary of a few thousand yuan, complaining that her work is boring and she doesn't earn much money. However, due to an unexpected event, she came to Jinpeng Trading, which seemed to be on the verge of bankruptcy at the time because of her sister's lack of staff.

Li Jinglan had no ambition or big career plans. She was content with an easy job and a decent salary. However, due to her cousin's introduction, she became Jinpeng's number two employee.

She was Tan Jincheng's second employee in his life. If she had been mentally sound and hadn't overestimated her abilities and resigned voluntarily, Tan Jincheng would never have treated her unfairly.

They don't assign any important positions, just easy jobs where you can slack off at work, play games, and live a life without worrying about food or drink.

(End of this chapter)