Sail across the sea

Chapter 551 only proves their incompetence.
"Bring in foreign aid? What kind of foreign aid?"

Everyone was a little confused.

If you're talking about foreign aid, everyone actually understands that. Several of you here have participated in foreign aid projects, such as building fertilizer plants for Albania.

But what about the "foreign aid"? Nobody understood. What made the design institute so capable of finding foreign aid?

“I went to see our former leader, Minister Zheng, a few days ago. He told me a principle: professional matters should be handled by professionals. Our design institute has always been a research unit, fully funded by the state. When it comes to market operations, we really don’t know how to do it,” Cai Muqing said.

“That’s true.” Dai Shenghua, unusually, didn’t argue but said with a sense of agreement, “I heard from Lao Liu in the metallurgy department that they responded to the institute’s call to provide technical services to external companies, but they didn’t earn much in service fees and even lost a lot in travel expenses.”

“That only proves their incompetence,” Di Sucheng said. “They’re both in hydrometallurgy, but look at the Zeshan Metallurgical Research Institute. Goodness, they earn hundreds of millions a year. After paying their profits to the China Nonferrous Metals Corporation, they still have tens of millions left. I heard that their engineers shake their heads when they hear about going abroad.”

"What does it mean to just shake your head?" someone asked in surprise.

“They just don’t want to go,” Di Sucheng said. “They go abroad like it’s nothing, each of them has gone dozens of times, who would want to go again?”

A murmur of surprise immediately filled the conference room. These days, which organization doesn't treat going abroad as a perk? In the chemical engineering design institute, let alone ordinary engineers, even the institute's leaders would be overjoyed to get a chance to go abroad.

But this Zeyan Institute has already made everyone tired of going abroad. What kind of tycoon is this?

Cai Muqing interrupted the discussion and said, "Old Di just mentioned Zeyan Institute. Does everyone know why Zeyan Institute was able to generate revenue successfully?"

"They developed a rare earth refining system, which perfectly catered to the needs of the international market," someone replied.

"They didn't just cater to demand; they actually seized it. Before Zeyan Institute, the high-purity rare earth market was dominated by the Japanese. I heard they snatched market share right out of the Japanese," someone added, providing behind-the-scenes information.

Rare earth refining using cascade extraction is also known as hydrometallurgy. This technology differs greatly from traditional metallurgical methods that involve smelting iron in a furnace; theoretically, it should be classified as a chemical process. Therefore, those working in chemical engineering are very familiar with the situation at the Zeyan Institute.

Cai Muqing said, "I talked to Pei Hengxue, the director of Zeyan Institute. He said that the reason they were able to get the rare earth refining project up and running, and also the market share that Lao Wang just mentioned from the Japanese, was all thanks to the introduction of a powerful foreign aid, namely Canghai Chemical Company in Maolin Province."

The mention of Canghai Chemical Company caused a stir among the people in the conference room:

"I know Canghai Chemical. Isn't its young chairman named Gao Fan?"

"He's the young man that Minister Zheng admires the most."

"He visited our design institute last month, didn't he?"

“He does come here often. But you don’t know, the first time Gao Fan came to the design institute, he had a big argument with our Dean Song, which made Dean Song so angry that he almost had a stroke.”

"I have to say, this young man is remarkable."

"By the way, Lao Cai, is it possible for us to invite Gao Fan over as well? If he comes to be our outside help, I think we might actually have a chance."

Upon hearing this last sentence, Cai Muqing smiled smugly and said, "Everyone has hit the nail on the head. I ran into Gao Fan at Minister Zheng's place last time."

"What? Dean, the foreign aid you're talking about, it can't really be this Gao Fan, right?" The questioner was clearly surprised and delighted. Cai Muqing shook her head and said, "I told him, and he said it's inconvenient for him to come directly as our foreign aid. However, he called me yesterday and said he found a company called Haike Technology Trading Co., Ltd. that can provide this foreign aid."

"HaiKe? Never heard of it." Everyone shook their heads in unison.

Di Sucheng asked, "Old Cai, you said that this Haike Company was recommended by Gao Fan. What is their relationship?"

On the surface, they seem to have no connection.

"On the surface?"

"Yes, on the surface."

"So that means there's actually a connection!" Dai Shenghua said. "Isn't this like taking off your pants to fart? What's the point?"

Cai Muqing did not answer, but said, "Haike Company's intention is to sign a long-term cooperation agreement with us. Haike Company can use our name to undertake various businesses, provided that it does not damage the reputation of the design institute. The technical part of the business will be completed by the design institute, while the production and operation part will be completed by Haike Company. After deducting costs, the company's revenue will be split between the two companies at a 70/30 ratio."

"Who is seven, and who is three?" Di Sucheng asked.

"We are seven, and the other side is three."

"That's reasonable."

“What’s reasonable!” Dai Shenghua retorted indignantly. “The business they contracted in our name was definitely technology-based, not production or operation-related. It’s like we did all the work and they took 30% for nothing.”

“You can’t say that. They’re also responsible for bringing in business,” Di Sucheng said.

Dai Shenghua said, "I've inquired about it, and many private companies now have a commission system for their sales staff, but their commission is only 10%. This Haike Company is asking for 30%, isn't that just taking advantage of us and treating us like suckers?"

Upon hearing his words, others echoed his sentiments:
"That's right, that's right. Taking 10% is one thing, but taking 30% is just taking advantage of someone's misfortune."

"Private enterprises really do only act when there's a profit to be made; they've set their sights on this big piece of the pie."

“Our brand name would fetch more than this price if sold elsewhere. Now we’re giving it to a private company for free. We’d be losing out if we didn’t charge them a brand usage fee.”

"In my opinion, cooperation is possible, but the profit-sharing ratio needs to be changed, just like Lao Dai said, it should be 90/10."

Cai Muqing hadn't expected everyone to raise this issue. When Gao Fan first mentioned this condition to him, he, like Di Sucheng, thought the 70/30 split was very reasonable. But who would have thought that so many institute leaders felt the percentage allocated to Haike Company was too high and were only willing to give 10%.

Cai Muqing thought for a moment and realized that if Gao Fan was only given 10%, he might just walk away in a huff. After all, was Gao Fan really someone who needed that small percentage of profit?

Even if it's only 30%, they only agreed to help out of respect for Minister Zheng.

As for the idea of ​​generating revenue to acquire talent, Cai Muqing felt it was just an add-on; the engineers poached by Gao Fan weren't really worth much money.

(End of this chapter)