Rebirth 2010: I taught Mr. Lei how to make a mobile phone

Chapter 817 Isolation, Division, and Winning Over
"There is only one heroism in the world: to see the world as it is, and to love it." — Romain Rolland
"...Your report only talks about how much money you made, and that in itself is the biggest problem!"

Yu Donglai's voice boomed through the room, his knuckles pounding the podium: "If a store earns 300 million a month, why can't more of that money be distributed to the employees? Don't give me that high cost or losses in other departments—anyone can make excuses."

He swept his gaze across the silent crowd below, his eyes blazing with fury: "It's unrealistic to expect you all to take 90% of the profits to pay salaries like Pang Donglai did, but I've done the math at Yonghui. Taking 50% as bonuses is more than enough! That's more effective than any management rhetoric!"

"Why are Yonghui employees not smiling when consumers complain?"

Yu Donglai suddenly raised his voice, "The more work you do, the more your salary remains unchanged. Would you be laughing in that situation? Let me tell you this—a company that only thinks about pocketing its own money and doesn't care about its employees will not last long!"

Before the angry rebukes on stage had even faded, the smile on the face of Yonghui's chairman below the stage had already frozen, replaced by a complex and indescribable expression.

Regarding the controversy surrounding the restructuring, opinions within Yonghui were not unified. He himself strongly supported the reform, but his elder brother cast the only dissenting vote at the shareholders' meeting, which led to the restructuring at Yonghui.

Yu Donglai's attack was clearly not just an emotional outburst.
He glanced sharply at the Yonghui executive standing to the side and said, "It's my turn to share. You can go now."

The executive glanced at the leaders below the stage, and seeing that no one spoke up for him, he had no choice but to slink off the stage with his neck hunched over, his back looking particularly pathetic under the spotlight.

"These are Pang Donglai's operating data in Beijing, with daily revenue exceeding 600 million yuan."

Yu Donglai switched between the projected images, which showed empty shelves, crowds of people, and long queues at the entrance.
This scene made the competitors in the audience hold their breath, their eyes burning with longing; it was a sight they had always dreamed of.

But the next second, the numbers on the screen instantly brought everyone to their senses: the annual employee turnover rate was less than 3%, and salaries at all levels exceeded those of their counterparts in Beijing by 50%...

"It is only natural and understandable for businesses to pursue profits."

Pangdong's success lies not only in pursuing profits, but also in providing customers with an excellent shopping experience, creating a dignified working environment for employees, and as an entrepreneur, placing greater emphasis on social responsibility and the long-term development of the company.

Why did I help Yonghui make the adjustments?

The initial intention was to improve store operations and enhance the customer shopping experience, thereby promoting the healthy development of the entire industry.

As it turns out, the adjustments made by Pang Donglai's team to Yonghui Supermarket have yielded remarkable results: from the first day the renovated store reopened, sales soared fivefold, peaking at over tenfold, and averaged 12926 customers per day, nearly 14 times the pre-renovation level.

Seeing the red upward arrows, the group of business partners in the audience were somewhat tempted. They knew that Yonghui's three stores were more profitable than before after accepting Pang Donglai's restructuring, but they didn't expect them to be this profitable.
Looking at the diverse faces of the audience, Yu Donglai suddenly laughed, a cold laugh: "I naively thought I had succeeded. But what have I seen in these past two months?"
Before the restructuring was fully completed, Yonghui Supermarket's management couldn't wait to cash out through capital operations.

My concern is how to create a better environment for customers and employees, but obviously some people don't think that way; they only care about how to get the biggest return in the shortest amount of time.

This 'capital-driven' business model is often prone to falling into the trap of prioritizing short-term profits, neglecting the real needs of consumers and employees.

I am deeply saddened by this.

In this public forum, I unilaterally announce that Pang Donglai will withdraw all Yonghui support teams and will never cooperate with Yonghui again.

Upon hearing Yu Donglai's resolute statement, Yonghui Chairman Zhang Songxuan subconsciously raised his hand as if trying to grasp something, but ultimately gave up in dejection with a sigh.

"Of course, Pang Donglai's doors remain open. Other companies that wish to cooperate with Pang Donglai are welcome to discuss and communicate privately."
Finally, I would like to offer a piece of advice to my colleagues here: whoever can motivate employees has grasped the true essence of management.

So how do you motivate employees? Simply making empty promises and shouting slogans won't work. First, you have to be willing to share profits before you can talk about anything else.
That's all I have to say. Take care of yourself!

When Yu Donglai began his attack, the other retail business leaders present initially gloated. However, after Yu Donglai uttered those two sentences, many of them felt a sudden urge; an opportunity had arrived.
Despite its small size, Pang Donglai has become a retail phenomenon in Beijing in the past year, known to both merchants and consumers alike, and every store it opens becomes a hit.

Yonghui only had a slight connection with Pang Donglai, and by learning a few tricks, its turnover increased several times over.

It's a pity they were given the opportunity but didn't use it; now it's their turn.

The heads of several domestic companies had shifty eyes, and when they occasionally bumped into each other, they immediately looked away.
All talk of a community of shared interests is bullshit. Nothing is more important than making money for oneself. Yonghui doesn't know how to play the subservient card; they do. As long as they keep a low profile when cooperating with Pang Donglai and are tied to it, it's all about making money.
Executives from foreign companies like Walmart and Carrefour expressed some regret, as they had no say in the matter and knew that it was impossible for companies like theirs, which were "capitalist," to cooperate with Pang Donglai.

This meeting was held in the morning.

The news report was released at noon.

Yu Donglai angrily denounces Yonghui's management model: Companies that exploit their employees have no future!

The founder of Pang Donglai speaks out: If Yonghui continues its current management style, it will be eliminated by the market sooner or later.

"Fat Donglai was tricked by Yonghui Supermarket, and Yu Donglai announced the permanent withdrawal of his support team."

Did Yonghui just copy Pang Donglai's "kung fu manual" and end up with nothing?

The article, titled "Fat Hui Breaks Up: Incompatible Ideologies, Fat Donglai Teaches the Model, Yonghui Learns Traffic?", reported that Yonghui's stock price plummeted after the market opened in the afternoon, falling by more than 8% at one point, and eventually closing down 6%, with a market value loss of over 30 billion yuan.

Ironically, since the opening of Yonghui's three renovated stores, they haven't even earned 30 million yuan, let alone 3 billion yuan.

Online discussions surged:
"Yonghui is learning from Pang Donglai while simultaneously laying off employees to cut costs. If Yu Donglai doesn't criticize you, who else should he criticize?"

"Stop joking. One lives for the employees, and the other lives for the shareholders. They are not even in the same universe. Brother Donglai, give up. You can't force a relationship."

"Actually, Yonghui's actions aren't wrong. If they don't take advantage of this opportunity, and instead fully emulate Pang Donglai, their labor costs will skyrocket, and their stock price will likely plummet. The capital market doesn't care about employees or anything else."

"What kind of gang is this? I think Pang Donglai would be better off focusing on developing and strengthening itself instead."

"At the very least, we need to learn from the other side and become the industry leader first."

"@Bi'an Chenmo, your brother is being bullied, are you going to do anything about it?"

Just as online public opinion was escalating, the doorbell at Yu Donglai's residence suddenly rang.

He opened the door and was taken aback when he saw who it was: "Xiao Mo? What brings you here at this hour?"

Chen Mo shook the bottle of liquor in his hand, a bright smile on his face. "After seeing the news about your attack on Yonghui this year, how about a big toast and a couple of drinks? This is 82 Maotai."

"Just drinking it straight?" Yu Donglai smiled and stepped aside to let him in.

"No way." Chen Mo pulled out a small bag from behind his back. "Look, I just had someone pack this from a time-honored brand."

As they talked, they walked to a small balcony on the second floor. Chen Mo placed the box on the table and opened the beautifully packaged box inside. "Peanuts in vinegar, smashed cucumber, edamame—perfect snacks to go with drinks!"

"Tsk tsk, the price of the vegetables isn't even as high as the packaging box~ Your behavior is nothing like that of a billionaire."

"Even the richest man is human." Chen Mo slumped back in his wicker chair. "Even if I become the richest man in the world, I'll still love eating at street food stalls. I can't change that."

After several rounds of drinks, the night had deepened.

Beijing is a city without spring; before you know it, it feels like summer.

A gentle breeze brings a touch of coolness to the otherwise sweltering heat.

Under the bright moonlight, we drank wine, ate snacks, and chatted with friends.

This was a rare moment of comfort for Chen Mo and Yu Donglai.

After a few drinks, Yu Donglai became more talkative. "Why can't they understand?"

“It’s not that we don’t understand, it’s that we’re pretending to be confused.” Chen Mo peeled a peanut and threw it into his mouth. “If you ask me, Pang Donglai should just expand one store at a time. As for those who are pretending to be confused, let them die in their confusion.”

Yu Donglai didn't reply, but got up and went to the next room.

When he returned, he had a stack of documents in his hand. He first handed me a few pages: "These are the lessons I just summarized. I hadn't even had time to organize them before you arrived. They might be useful for your training plan at the end of the month."

Chen Mo took it and glanced at it; the words "Responsibilities of the Supervisory Team and Supplementation of Corporate Breach of Contract Clauses" were particularly eye-catching: "This is..."

"Since some people are trying to play dumb, let's use regulation and default to make them wake up. Aren't you also going to help small and medium-sized enterprises at the end of the month? See if it helps them. Just don't follow in my footsteps. You had good intentions but didn't get any good reward."

"Now that I have the stuff, I'm off." Chen Mo made a move to get up, but Yu Donglai slapped him back with a smile.

Chen Mo looked curiously at the remaining documents in Yu Donglai's hand. "What are these?"

"Several companies contacted me privately today, wanting to cooperate. Since you're here, you can give me some advice. They include Jingkelong, Wumart, and Hualian."
This is the information I have on my end.

Chen Mo glanced at the page; the equity structure, supply chain map, and store distribution were densely packed. Yu Donglai's annotations were also written in the margin: "Wumart's fresh food section has potential, but the management team is seriously aging," and "Hualian's community store density is sufficient, but its employee benefits are the worst."

He shook his head slightly, feeling a little dizzy. "No, I've had too much to drink today. I'll take a closer look when I get back and give you an answer tomorrow or the day after. This is just one person's opinion, for reference only."

(End of this chapter)