2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 520 "The Pledge of Allegiance"

P.S.: Updates will continue as normal unless I ask for leave. I won't skip updates for no reason.

"Why me? Mr. Tan shouldn't know me before, right? Besides, Shanchi is supposed to be in the passenger car market, while I'm currently in charge of commercial vehicle sales at BAIC."

"Because according to the information provided by the headhunter, Mr. Zhang is the most suitable candidate in my mind."

This guy's emotional intelligence is really lacking. He's worked in a state-owned enterprise for 10 years and graduated from a prestigious university. After meeting him, there wasn't even a pleasantry; he just went straight to the point.

This would be normal for Tan Jincheng, but it wouldn't be normal for him.

State-owned enterprises are places where interpersonal relationships are very important. For a sales manager like him to not even bother to exchange pleasantries with Boss Tan, it's either because he's already distracted by Chen Jinwen, or because he simply has low emotional intelligence.

Rather than believing that Chen Jinwen had disrupted his plans, Boss Tan was more convinced that the guy simply had low emotional intelligence.

"That's all?" Zhang Yong was somewhat taken aback; this reason was too outrageous.

"Of course, it's not just these things. Actually, I noticed you, Mr. Zhang, a long time ago. I'm a car enthusiast and I often read car magazines, so I have a fairly good understanding of the automotive industry."

"Mr. Zhang graduated from a prestigious university, worked at BAIC for 10 years, and now holds such an important position at Foton. It's hard for him not to attract the attention of us private car manufacturers."

The most important point is that it's cheap. Take, for example, the price that Zhongtai wanted to pay to poach Xia Zhibin, a veteran of BYD.

Potential middle managers like Zhang Yong are actually better suited for poaching talent from other companies.

If an agreement is reached, it won't cost much and won't cause too much conflict with competitors. If an agreement isn't reached, it's okay; just find the next one.

If Tan Jincheng hadn't poached him, Zhang Yong wouldn't have stayed at BAIC for long either, as he was soon recruited by Chery to serve as the vice president of Chery's new energy vehicles, a position that was relatively higher than that of the current president of Weilai Automobile, who has nothing at all.

It's not fair to say they have absolutely nothing. In fact, Flash has invested quite a bit in car manufacturing and has acquired some resources, though they are rather scattered.

In terms of automotive industrial design, Flash Motors currently controls five design studios and has also invested in three research institutes. It has its own factory for power batteries and also has a cooperative relationship with Dongfeng Motor.

He is also one of the shareholders of Zhongtai, as well as an auto parts supplier in Ningbo, such as the factory owned by Chen Yanan, Gu Qingqing's college roommate, and Cheng Yongjun's factory.

Other companies, such as Joyson, which was founded in 2004 and is one of the leading automotive parts suppliers in the future, and Top, which is located in Beicang, are all still small in scale and have benefited from Tan Jincheng's kindness to varying degrees.

Many of Zhongtai's parts orders were secured with the help of Beicang and Tan Jincheng. Tan Jincheng played a significant role in these deals, and it's fair to say that Beicang and other auto parts suppliers in nearby Yinzhou have a very positive impression of Tan Jincheng.

The survival environment for ordinary small and medium-sized factories is always quite difficult, and stable orders are always the biggest problem for these business owners. They will do their best to maintain a stable customer.

Boss Xiao Tan is very generous. If you can get in touch with him, he will help you get a referral. Large orders depend on your own ability, but he can always get a small share of the smaller orders.

This has helped countless small auto parts factories during the off-season.

If there's one group of people who would be most happy to see Flash Motors manufacture cars, then the auto parts factory owners in Beicang and Yinzhou are definitely among the most supportive.

Aside from having few resources in the area of ​​gasoline-powered vehicles (because Mr. Tan doesn't value the terrible technology of Zhongtai), Shanchi has actually made a good start in terms of industrial design and new energy vehicle development.

The company also has good relationships with local parts suppliers. It can be said that Tan Jincheng has created a good start for Weilai Auto. At this time, finding a traditional car manufacturer to lead Weilai and integrate resources is better than companies like Zhongtai that dare to manufacture cars without even having automotive qualifications.

After talking with Zhang Yong about the plans FlashCar had made in the automotive business, Zhang Yong finally understood that Chen Jinwen's statement that FlashCar's car manufacturing was not a momentary impulse, but a serious undertaking.

This plan had been going on intermittently for several years, and they had even thought of building relationships with parts suppliers in advance, which was something Zhang Yong hadn't anticipated.

"What General Manager Zhang needs to do after joining the company is actually quite simple: integrate the resources I previously assigned to serve our car company, and also resolve the equity issue with Zhongtai Beicang Branch."

Tan Jincheng didn't discuss whether or not he should join the company with him at all; he immediately threw two specific tasks at him.

Setting up a company, assembling a car manufacturing team, and two other specific tasks—it all sounded quite challenging. For a pragmatist like Zhang Yong, challenging work was far more enticing than simply throwing money at the problem. Zhang Yong paused for a moment, but continued, "So how do you get the car manufacturing license? As far as I know, Flashcar doesn't have a car manufacturing license, right?"

The conversation had already entered Tan Jincheng's comfort zone. Having been a powerful CEO for several years, Boss Tan still had some skill. He was still lacking in the ability to handle important figures, but as a pragmatic person who had been in the comfort zone of state-owned enterprises for a long time, he was still quite capable.

After all, Comrade Xiao Tan is also the kind of person who is very good at bluffing.

"Not yet, but barring any unforeseen circumstances, it will be available soon," Tan Jincheng said with a mysterious smile.

This involves FlashTech's backdoor listing plan. Once Changfeng Group successfully acquires FlashTech, it will not only solve FlashTech's listing problem, but also solve Weilai Automobile's vehicle manufacturing qualification problem.

After the acquisition is completed, Flash Group can divest the existing listed assets of Changfeng Group. These loss-making assets are useless to the shareholders of the listed companies, but they are just right for Weilai Auto.

Although resolving the debts and other issues left by Changfeng Group is quite difficult, it is still very worthwhile compared to having a mature platform car factory, a lot of patented technologies, and car qualifications.

Some things can be solved with money, but some things can't. As for the qualification for new energy vehicles, Tan Jincheng isn't worried about that. When the policies weren't so strict, it was easy to obtain.

"Hmm?" Zhang Yong asked, somewhat puzzled.

Chen Jinwen quickly replied, "This involves our company's internal secrets. You'll find out once you join the company."

The biggest problem with backdoor listings is actually the issue of confidentiality. With the current A-share system, which is like a sieve, although it is impossible to avoid premature leaks, it is still necessary to keep things as confidential as possible.

Currently, only Tan Jincheng, Cheng Linfeng, and Huang Ming know for certain that Flashtech Technology has a plan to go public through a reverse merger with Changfeng. Gu Qingqing has guessed a little, but it is only her guess and cannot be completely confirmed.

In addition to the backdoor listing, Cheng Linfeng and Huang Ming also devised Plan B and Plan C. If the information leaked too much, they would not need Changfeng Group, as it would be a loss.

Plan B involves other potential backdoor listing targets besides Changfeng Group, which will also be pursued concurrently. The primary target will definitely be Changfeng Group, but some secrecy needs to be maintained.

Plan C is completely different from a backdoor listing; it follows the normal listing process. However, this process was definitely not feasible in 2008. With the market crashing so badly, IPOs would inevitably be shut down. This has become a common practice in the A-share market.

If you want to go public quickly, there's really only one way: through a reverse takeover. Otherwise, you'll have to wait many years.

If Plan A fails, it will still have some impact on Weilai Auto, as it will need to find a new automotive production qualification. However, it's not a big problem; at worst, they can cooperate with Zhongtai.

Zhang Yong had obviously thought of this. Just now, Boss Tan said that Shanchi was able to obtain actual control of Zhongtai Beicang Branch. Using this as leverage, there should still be a chance to negotiate cooperation with Zhongtai.

"In addition, if Mr. Zhang can bring some resources from Foton or BAIC, then we can be partners."

After discussing the specific scope of business, let's talk about compensation, of course. Zhang Yong has been working in Beijing since he was in college, for more than 10 years now.

Fukuda is living a very comfortable life right now, so Zhang Yong, as a middle manager, is unlikely to be poorly paid. If we're just talking about money, unless he hypes things up like that "King of Hired Managers," a regular salary would be hard to sway him.

"Of course, I won't force you on this, Mr. Zhang. If you join normally, we will give you exceptional benefits. In addition, there is an option plan. You may have heard that our company is somewhat different from traditional physical enterprises."

Zhang Yong smiled and said, "It's a bit like internet marketing, isn't it?"

The media often analyzes the reasons for Flash's success. Taking Flash alone seems incomprehensible, but Orange Technology seems to be able to glean the business strategy of Tan Jincheng, which is the combination of Internet and physical stores.

"That's a fair understanding. So we'll be very generous to the company's senior executives as well. We'll also be making organizational restructuring this year. Mr. Zhang, don't hesitate, join us."

Zhang Yong smiled but did not reply. In fact, he was still thinking about the issue of Tan Jincheng bringing some resources to join the company and becoming a partner. This was equivalent to starting his own business, and at the same time, it was somewhat like a pledge of allegiance.

At BAIC, there are many people like him in their 30s with no background who have been working their way up through seniority. It wouldn't be too difficult to bring a group of people over, but the resources that Boss Tan mentioned probably aren't in this area, right?
There's no need to specifically mention poaching talent, and poaching a team doesn't necessarily warrant escalating to a partner role.

However, Zhang Yong knew that this was an opportunity for him.

(End of this chapter)