Sail across the sea

Chapter 448 I have an idea
Jia Liuming led several vice chairmen to a secluded spot outside and addressed the group:
"Let's discuss this and see what we should do."

“This General Manager Gao definitely has an ulterior motive,” asserted a vice chairman named Luo Wei.

"Pshaw!" Another vice chairman named Zhang Yongjun sneered and said, "Even a fool can see that she has an ulterior motive. Adam Smith said long ago that companies are all about pursuing profits. Why would they do something that doesn't generate profit?"

"Then tell me, what is her purpose?" Luo Wei retorted indignantly.

"Of course it's for fame. Just think about it, being able to paint classrooms at Peking University, what an honor that is," Zhang Yongjun said.

A vice chairman named Chen Zhihong shook his head and said, "You've overlooked a detail. Just now, General Manager Gao said that they have developed a new type of environmentally friendly interior wall coating that can fill a gap in the domestic market, and she wants us to use this coating to paint the classrooms. I think she wants to use this method to advertise their new product."

“Of course I noticed,” Zhang Yongjun argued. “Didn’t I just say that businesses pursue profits, and advertising is for the purpose of making profits?”

“But you said she did it to become famous,” Rowe exposed.

"Is there a conflict between being famous and advertising? Do you know how much Coca-Cola spends on advertising globally every year?" Zhang Yongjun continued to show off his economic knowledge.

“Alright, there’s no need to argue about this anymore,” Jia Liuming said. “President Gao’s purpose is obvious: she wants to use Peking University’s reputation to advertise her company. What we need to consider is whether or not to cooperate with her.”

"Wouldn't we have fallen into her trap by cooperating?" Luo Wei blurted out.

"It's like we were all used by her," Chen Zhihong chimed in.

“But what’s wrong with being used by her?” Zhang Yongjun contradicted the two men. “If you’re willing to sponsor me 10,000 yuan, I’m willing to be used by you every day.”

Luo Wei and Chen Zhihong were immediately speechless. He started throwing money at them the moment they met, he was so extravagant that he was inhuman. Who could resist that?

Jia Liuming immediately began issuing orders:

"Old Chen, could you talk to the general affairs office and get their approval to paint all the classrooms?"

Chen Zhihong nodded: "I said this is an activity arranged by the student council during the summer vacation, and it won't harm the school. I think the general affairs office will agree. In any case, we've saved the school money."

Luo Wei suddenly thought of something and reminded him, "But do you think there might be something wrong with her paint?"

"What problem could there be?" Jia Liuming asked.

Luo Wei said, "She repeatedly emphasized that they developed environmentally friendly paints, so will their paints cause pollution?"

"Because it emphasizes environmentally friendly paint, it's polluting? What kind of logic is that?" Zhang Yongjun spread his hands, mimicking a scene from a foreign movie, to show that he couldn't understand Luo Wei's wild idea.

Luo Wei sneered, "You don't understand, do you? There's a saying, 'You make up for what you lack.' There are so many paints on the market, and none of them mention environmental protection. She insists on saying hers is environmentally friendly, which might be because it doesn't meet environmental standards. Think about it, if her paint is polluting and is used in classrooms, causing all the students in our school to be poisoned, can we afford to offend her?"

"That is indeed a problem." Everyone hesitated. Jia Liuming even had a thought: Could this Xinglong Coatings Company be sent by the vocational school next door specifically to scam Peking University students?

"I'll go ask Ms. Gao if she can issue an environmental protection certificate," Chen Zhihong said.

He was a gofer in the student council, and quite capable. Without waiting for Jia Liuming's approval, he went back to his office to verify with Gao Min.

A moment later, Chen Zhihong came out again. Several people looked at him with questioning eyes. He smiled wryly and said, "President Gao said that they have an environmental monitoring report issued by the Environmental Protection Bureau of Shuainan Province, but she thinks we definitely won't believe it."

The group was taken aback. They hadn't really considered this question, but after Chen Zhihong's explanation, they realized they might not actually believe it. This General Manager Gao really was adept at understanding people's hearts.

The reasoning is simple: local protectionism is rampant everywhere these days, and they've heard stories of provincial environmental protection bureaus issuing false certificates to companies within their own province. If Gao Min thinks she can convince them that her product has no quality issues based solely on a test report from Shuainan Province, she's unlikely to succeed.

"Then what should we do?" Rowe asked.

Chen Zhihong said, "She said we can ask the environmental protection department in Beijing to do the testing, or we can ask the teachers in our school's chemistry department to do the testing. They are willing to pay for the testing."

She also said that we could compare other domestic paints on the market. If other domestic paints were more environmentally friendly than theirs, she would cancel the requirement to paint the classrooms, and the original sponsorship would remain unchanged.

"They're so confident!" Zhang Yongjun exclaimed. "If they can say something so bold, their product might actually be really good."

“I have an idea,” Luo Wei said. “Didn’t President Gao say we could use other paints for comparison? Let’s just do a real comparison and find a chemistry professor to do it.”

"If the comparison results really show that their paint is the most environmentally friendly, then we'll have something to say to the general affairs department, and it will also show that we're serious about our work, right?"

"Great idea!" Jia Liuming clapped twice to show his appreciation. "This way, we don't have to tell the general affairs department that Xinglong Company came to us. Instead, we can say that we had the idea of ​​painting the classrooms from the beginning, and after comparing the paints on the market, we found that Xinglong Company's paints were the most environmentally friendly, so we took the initiative to contact Xinglong Company."

"Our student union officers had a long discussion with the representatives of Xinglong Company. They were moved by our enthusiasm and finally agreed to donate all the paint to us free of charge."

“Yes, yes, it was mainly the result of Chairman Jia leading us in negotiations with General Manager Gao,” Zhang Yongjun said shrewdly.

"Don't say that, it's a collective achievement," Jia Liuming said modestly, waving his hand.

“So, if we’re sure we’re going to do this project, shouldn’t we consider the publicity?” Chen Zhihong reminded us. “This should be considered our student union’s biggest achievement this year, so we should get it reported in the newspapers. By the way, didn’t we just analyze that President Gao and his team also intended to advertise? Perfect, let’s give them some publicity too.”

Luo Wei nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, we can't just take the sponsorship from President Gao and the others for nothing. If we can't offer them some benefits, they won't come to us again."

"Publicity is a must," Jia Liuming concluded, then his gaze swept over Luo Wei and Zhang Yongjun's faces. After a moment's hesitation, he pointed at the two men:
"You two can go together to contact the newspaper."

(End of this chapter)