2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 497 Group Annual Senior Management Meeting
Christmas Day is the 16th day of the 11th lunar month.

Snowfall has begun to spread in the northern regions, while there has been no snowfall in the south yet, although it seems to be getting more rainy.

After entering the latter half of December, Tan Jincheng paid much more attention to the weather. In addition to collecting data from the meteorological bureau, he also followed social news from various places every day, keeping a close eye on the changes.

Zhang Xupeng, who had been traveling for work all year, was also summoned back by Tan Jincheng a few days before Christmas. Tan Jincheng also asked him to bring his parents over for the Chinese New Year, ostensibly to make it more lively for both families to celebrate together.

Outsiders may not know, but those close to Boss Tan do. Tan Jincheng's unusual attention to the weather is seen as somewhat strange by his family, especially by Old Comrade Tan.

What kind of weather could make my usually mature and composed son so nervous?
This kid is probably like other bosses, starting to become superstitious. Tan Lihua knows that many business owners are actually quite superstitious and believe in all sorts of strange things.

"Let's call the senior executives from Orange Technology over today and have a meeting on the top floor."

Before leaving, Tan Jincheng discussed the daily work with Gu Qingqing. The winter vacation at Ningbo University this year is from January 19th. New Year's Day is just around the corner, and CEO Gu Qingqing should also return to school to prepare for her final exams.

The school doesn't say anything if my child doesn't go to class normally, but there's always a final exam.

"I still need to prepare for my final exams. I hope our delivery staff can remain calm and make up for the inconvenience I've suffered during this time after I finish my exams."

"Yes, I'm just a student. Studying is the most important thing. Because of Orange Technology, I've missed too much of my studies. I feel like I've let my parents and the school down. If possible, I'd be more at ease if Orange Technology shut down."

"No, no, I'm not a strong woman. Work isn't everything. I have a loving family and a boyfriend who loves me. Whether Orange Technology goes bankrupt or not doesn't really matter to me."

"Even if it really goes bankrupt, my boss Tan will still support it."

"Agricultural assistance project? It will continue. This is a poverty alleviation project led by President Tan. Even if Orange Technology can no longer support itself, it will be transferred to Flash Group to continue operating."

Listen to this, listen to this! This is what Tan Jincheng taught Gu Qingqing to say during the interview: never mention Lao Ma, but every sentence is about Lao Ma.

Yes, the CEO of Orange Technology is still a college student. He still has final exams to take. Old Ma, is it fair of you to bully him like this?
If not deliberately emphasized, the public seems to have forgotten that the CEO of Orange Technology is actually just a college student, which is her real identity and cannot be faked.

This interview spread particularly quickly, with Tencent widely reposting it and placing it alongside other articles featuring Lao Ma's interview, the intention of which is self-evident.

In terms of being unethical, Tencent is not much worse than Boss Tan.

However, this has nothing to do with Pony Ma, as he wouldn't be involved in the specific operations of Tencent's news department. Nevertheless, Pony Ma was quite pleased when he saw these press releases.

"Damn it, this kid is still so shameless. He quit on his own. Who can stand it?"

A valuation of 450 million yuan for an internet company was nothing in the era of the internet investment boom in 2007. However, for the local government, it was a well-developed internet company with the prospect of going public. After listing, it would be no problem for the company to reach a peak valuation of 10 billion yuan.

The bigwigs guessed that the words Gu Qingqing said in front of the media came from Tan Jincheng. Although they knew it was a joke, no one dared to gamble.

This kid is completely out of control. What if he really quits? They've already cashed out hundreds of millions, and their initial investment of 1000 million yuan has yielded many times the return.

If he really gets dumped, the Beicang District will suffer the most. In an era when listed companies were rare, having a company that was about to go public was a political achievement for the Beicang government.

Due to both internal and external factors, the heated online battle over oranges has calmed down.

This wave of controversy, fueled by Taobao's counterattack and Tan Jincheng's efforts, suddenly ended amidst Taobao's major personnel changes, as new topics emerged and overshadowed the original buzz.

The large subsidies during the Taobao Shopping Festival increased Taobao's GMV, but had little impact on Orange Products. From the time its sales exploded in 03 until this year, the impression Taobao left on most people was that counterfeit goods were rampant.

The GMV increases are mostly for unknown brands, while branded apparel hasn't seen much growth; people are hesitant to buy.

This made Lao Ma, who had cleaned up Sun Tongyu's system, even more convinced of the necessity of accelerating the launch of Taobao Mall. He had to change Taobao's image in the minds of consumers as soon as possible. The success of Orange Products Club also made Lao Ma realize the importance of brand reputation.

This made him increasingly believe that Sun Tongyu's view was wrong. Since it was difficult to change the image of the existing business, it would be better to set up a new business.

To some extent, both Lao Ma (Jack Ma) and Sun Tongyu agree on creating a new Taobao Mall, similar to Jingdong Mall, but with differences. Taobao's self-operated portion would be reduced, and well-known brands would be invited to open exclusive stores. However, the difference lies in Sun Tongyu's belief that a gradual approach is necessary. While improving the image, it's also crucial to protect Taobao's existing business; small and medium-sized businesses are the foundation of Taobao and cannot be compromised.

"A group meeting? Are we attending too?"

Today is the day of the FlashCheer Group's annual senior management meeting, and Tan Jincheng has called back all the senior executives who were out of town.

"Okay, you guys join too. You, Cheng Hao, and your cousin should come together."

As the year draws to a close, companies like Flashpoint, ByteDance, and Orange Technology all need to review their achievements and shortcomings in 2007. For Flashpoint Technology, the most important thing is naturally the commissioning of its Tianjin and Wangjiang industrial bases.

As the saying goes, big cities are big cities. Although the Tianjin Industrial Base was the largest electric vehicle industrial base in the country at the time, it was quickly surpassed by second-tier brands such as Flash, Xinri, Yadea, and even Devon.

However, Tianjin did not become perfunctory because of this. The project was still being treated with high standards. As the largest electric vehicle and bicycle industry cluster in the country, the entry of major brands and their factories is more important than the scale.

Today, the top three electric vehicle brands in the country have all established themselves in Tianjin. In addition, local electric vehicle companies are also developing well. Tianjin has become an important choice for entrepreneurs in the electric vehicle industry. Even ordinary migrant workers in northern China mainly choose Tianjin first.

Sun Yuming had been away from headquarters for a long time. Although he was the furthest away, he was the fastest to get there. After Tan Jincheng issued the recall notice, he finished his work immediately and took the next available flight back to Ningbo.

Compared to before going to Tianjin, Sun Yuming has lost a lot of weight. His originally obese body now looks much "slender". Influenced by Tan Jincheng, Sun Yuming also likes to have short hair, which makes him look much more energetic.

From a salesperson who couldn't even do sales well to now being in charge of managing a branch company, Sun Yuming's pressure has increased significantly, and he works several times longer than before.

He also needs to study various things regularly to avoid making major mistakes at work. Sun Yuming is well aware of his own abilities. If he hadn't encountered such a miraculous opportunity, he would probably still be a salesman with an unstable commission.

If you were to ask Sun Yuming which period of his work experience, from joining Jinpeng to founding Shanchi Automotive with Tan Jincheng and up to the present, is his favorite, it would be a great choice.

That must have been the early days of Flash Motors. He drove a pickup truck around every day, doing odd jobs for the boss. Although it was hard work, he watched the company grow from nothing to something, gradually building it up by renting factory buildings, buying equipment, and hiring workers.

He felt a sense of accomplishment that was no less than that of Tan Jincheng. He remembers once buying a set of second-hand equipment. He negotiated with the owner for a long time and finally got a discount of just over a thousand yuan, but he was really happy.

At that time, Sun Yuming was only thinking about saving money for his boss and the company. If the journey was short and the amount of goods he was buying was small, he would not even drive there. Instead, he would ride his commute vehicle to pick them up.

It's not that Sun Yuming was so great, but these days there are quite a few workers who think similarly to Sun Yuming back then. Tan Jincheng was relatively honest; he promised a lot while also paying the full wages. Some bosses who only make empty promises only give a living allowance, yet their employees are still loyal.

Although he held great power in Tianjin, he didn't need to be greedy. Even a tiny bit of his wealth would be enough to make him rich. However, Sun Yuming no longer had the same feeling as when he drove the pickup truck.

To say it's like walking on thin ice is a bit of an exaggeration, but there's definitely some trepidation involved. The boss is growing so fast that he's afraid of falling behind and being left behind.

Taobao and Orange Club have been locked in a fierce battle recently, which Sun Yuming has naturally taken notice of. Regarding the rumors circulating outside that the "father of Taobao" has joined Orange Club, most people believe it to be just a rumor and untrue reporting.

But based on Sun Yuming's understanding of his boss, Sun Tongyu must have been in contact with Orange Products Club. Otherwise, the boss, who never gets up early without a profit, would not have tolerated such rumors spreading. It's even possible that the boss deliberately leaked them.

Sure enough, the day before Christmas, Ali officially confirmed Sun Tongyu's departure, and Sun Yuming knew that his guess was correct.

"Hello boss, hello boss lady, Merry Christmas!"

Early in the morning, when Tan Jincheng and Gu Qingqing were about to leave, they ran into Sun Yuming at the entrance of the residential area. He was carrying a Christmas-themed doll and several wrapped apples.

"What? Is Brother Sun trying to bribe me?" Tan Jincheng asked, somewhat amused.

The nickname "Little Princess" is even more well-known internally than her own. If you want to please Boss Tan, you should try to please the Little Princess instead. Send her some small gifts, make her happy, and then the Boss will be much easier to talk to.

"No, it's just that it's a holiday, so I'm giving Jin Yue a small gift. I haven't seen her in a long time, she probably doesn't even recognize me anymore," Sun Yuming replied with a smile.

The fact that the boss can still call him "Brother Sun" in private is already a great thing.

(End of this chapter)