this man is not calm

Chapter 488: Trade-offs

Qualified or not, Wei Shuangping couldn't help but laugh when she heard the word.

It’s hard to say about other companies, but with Jin Shangzai at Jinxi Culture, this small problem can still be solved.

Unable to help curling her lips, Wei Shuangping replied calmly:
"The listing quota for China Television Media, which went public last year, was almost decided before the company was even fully established. Our CEO Jin may not be so arrogant. If he really wants to find a channel to go public, it is not difficult. Strictly speaking, the listing procedures for Jinxi Video are not that easy to handle, but... there are definitely no flaws in the procedures. There are some thresholds that most people cannot cross, but for our company... it is not a big problem. It just depends on whether we are willing to pay the price."

If the company wants to be listed on the main board, Jinxi Mall has actually met the conditions. However, being qualified does not mean that it can be listed. Review is one thing, and raising funds is not easy. Whether it can be recognized by the market is another matter.

"It seems that the rumor that our President Jin is a child of an extraordinary aristocratic family is somewhat true?"

"There are many second and third generations who are more likely to cause trouble than to accomplish anything. To achieve something, you still need real ability. If you can stand up on your own, and with the blessing of a distinguished family background, you will be able to succeed in everything you do."

Wei Shuangping, who has been "other people's child" for more than 20 years, is a true genius. Her brain is obviously better than that of ordinary people. In addition, she has seen a lot of the world that she has never been exposed to in recent years. She can better appreciate the disparity in the world and the gap between people, which is beyond imagination.

Jiang Long also sighed with great emotion:

"Even someone like me who joined halfway can feel that the company is getting stronger and stronger. I never thought... after half a lifetime of doing nothing, I would have the opportunity to usher in a second spring in my career when I am almost 40."

As they spoke, they couldn't help but smile at each other.

Thank you for your help!
In one's lifetime, there are not many opportunities to change one's destiny. The only thing that most ordinary people can do is to study and rely on knowledge to change their destiny.

Not many people are lucky enough to meet a noble person who can help them and seize the opportunity to soar to success.

Jiang Long and Wei Shuangping are such people. It is indeed not easy for them to have their talents valued by Jin Shang and to be given space to display their talents.

The financing issue that the two people talked about has been delayed for a long time.

Jinxi Culture has passed the difficult initial stage and is basically not short of money. What it lacks is a strategic partner who can provide additional support.

The powerful investors have big appetites and always want to take advantage of Jinxi Mall in the financing process. Jin Shang will not tolerate it, so it is natural that the negotiations are difficult to advance.

The two overseas sovereign investment funds that are closest to success are able to offer significant discounts on financing amounts. However, the differences over the listing exchange, listing time, and equity restructuring are difficult to resolve.

There are certain restrictions on the flow of capital in China, which makes overseas investors worried, but if they go to Europe and the United States to go public and raise funds, there will be a lot of trouble.

Ultimately, venture capital and promoting IPOs are transactions that share the results of a company's development in exchange for more benefits.

It is better to focus on the e-commerce platform in the local market, preferably in China, or in Beijing.

If we were somewhere else, we would be unfamiliar with the place and it would be difficult to solve any problems.

"Then... Mr. Wei, do you think it is better to raise funds as soon as possible, or is it more cost-effective to go public directly?"

"You and I can both get options. In the short term, successful financing and increased valuation seem to be more advantageous. However, looking to the future, it is better to go public directly."

Wei Shuangping replied leisurely,
"Control and the right to speak are the capital for our survival. It's okay for workers who come and go, but if you want to work here for a long time until retirement, you have to think long-term."

After all, Jinxi Mall is not particularly short of money, and if it really has trouble cashing in, the parent company can provide support.

In addition, Jin Shang himself has a strong background, so the need for so-called "strategic investors" is not that urgent. It would be best to have one, but it is not bad if he doesn't have one.

It is precisely because of the attitude of "better to have nothing than to have something of poor quality" that the financing negotiations of Jinxi Mall have become so difficult.

On the surface, there were not many big capitals that could engage in equal business cooperation with Jinxi Culture. In mid-1998, the Internet had not yet demonstrated the potential to completely change the way the world operated. Jinxi Mall did look very good, but it was still far behind traditional physical businesses.

“Those willing to invest in emerging industries have limited strength, and most of them are looking for bargains with the attitude of ‘digging for gold in shit’. The ‘old money’ with big fortunes still prefer industries with heavy assets such as coal, steel, metallurgy, automobiles and home appliances, which are visible and tangible and can be measured using existing valuation models.”

Jiang Long reluctantly agreed upon hearing this:
"Many people add icing on the cake, but few provide timely assistance. Powerful large-capital business entities will never bet on any emerging industries. They will only integrate or even swallow them up after others have paved the way, cultivated the market, and the people have become accustomed to it."

Just like the commercial football market, some small clubs work hard to train young people, and after they grow up, they are sold in packages to well-known wealthy clubs. Those teams that are good at commercial development will only buy powerful big-name stars, snatching mature athletes from other clubs.

"Farming is not as fast as robbing! However, Jinxi Mall is not without followers. Those people made the wrong decision."

On this point, Jiang Long and Wei Shuangping agree.

As a number of large and small copycat e-commerce platforms collapsed one after another, peers in the niche fields who were barely able to hold on looked back at Jinxi Mall and discovered that its first-mover advantage was actually so great.

The problem of online payment alone has stumped a large number of weak entrepreneurs. More issues such as logistics, returns and exchanges, after-sales and security are simply too difficult and there are insurmountable hurdles everywhere.

If Jinxi Payment had not been opened to third-party platforms, alleviating the urgent problem, I am afraid that there would not have been so many online shopping platforms of all sizes in the country in the past two years.

When people went looking for other third-party payment software, they found that there was only one formal service provider with a license in the country, the other one was iPay platform which focused on cross-border payment and settlement, and Jinxi Culture was also a major shareholder.

In short, there is no way around it.

Specifically in terms of business, Jinxi Mall, which has a mature warehousing logistics and distribution system and uses its own genuine products as its selling point, is not at the same level as other mixed online shopping sites.

What is even more worrying for competitors is that after more than two years, the gap between other peers and Jinxi Mall has not only not narrowed, but has tended to widen. This is really embarrassing.

Logically speaking, if the tender sprouts grow into grass, it should be considered a success. However, if the saplings next to it suddenly become towering trees hundreds of meters high, the contrast is too strong.

"Let's put these aside for now. The most important thing right now is the Mid-Autumn Festival promotion next month. This may be the most important event in the second half of the year, and everyone is paying close attention to it..."

Jiang Long responded seriously:
"Everything is going smoothly. We have set up so many technician training teams to provide guidance to the operators of the brand flagship stores, and the promoters are already warming up."

"The co-sponsorship for the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala has been finalized. Someone from the TV station will come to negotiate later, and we will arrange for someone to connect with us."

"I understand. Leave it to me." Every Mid-Autumn Festival, Jinxi Mall holds a big promotion, and this year is a little special.

In its third year, Jinxi Mall has reached its current ceiling and is in urgent need of an opportunity to break out of the circle and appear in the vision of more people, gradually making people realize that the Internet, especially online shopping, is also a part of everyone’s daily life.

In addition, this year's abnormal water and drought phenomena have also had a great impact.

Now that the World Trade Organization has begun to formally play its role, domestic production and exports are increasing day by day. Overall, the country is transitioning from a stage of insufficient production to a stage of insufficient demand.

The general trend is the general trend, but local imbalances have always existed. Despite the booming foreign trade, some goods have been piled up.

It’s not that it can’t be sold, but there’s a mismatch between supply and demand.

There are no major problems at the macro level, but for small and medium-sized businesses, or even large enterprises, it may not be so easy to overcome the difficulties.

Coupled with the backdrop of large parts of the country being hit by floods and some parts suffering from drought, unblocking trade channels has become a major problem.

In view of this, Jin Shang and Sun Daqi discussed it and decided to organize an event with substantial discounts to clear out inventory and lighten the load, with Jinxi Mall and Yiguo.com as the main bodies. This event also received support from the foreign trade and economic cooperation and commerce departments.

In addition to fulfilling its social responsibilities, Jin Shang also intends to expand its own business while attracting more brand merchants to join, enrich product categories, expand the consumer market, and squeeze out competitors' living space.

The online market is a platform that embodies the winner-takes-all principle to the fullest. As long as Jinxi Mall becomes stronger, it will be invincible.

Of course, this is not a purely online activity. Offline discount promotions will be carried out simultaneously with offline warehousing, cooperating supermarkets, stores and suppliers. Each party gets what they need, and the goal is win-win cooperation.

In addition, the national online book club organized by Jinxi Library and its cooperative outlets has long entered campuses in various regions, covering everything from traditional serious literature, famous works, poetry, popular novels, serialized magazines, comic picture books to online novels.

All major cinema chains and local cinemas are also giving out coupons in large quantities, and there are also arrangements for drama performances, celebrity concerts, author signings, etc.

This is not just an online discount event, but a full-scale marketing campaign to clear inventory. The focus of the publicity is the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala on the 5th of next month.

After talking with Jiang Long about the process and details for a long time and receiving the approval and a batch of application documents, Wei Shuangping's office became quiet again.

Wei Shuangping, who had finished her work, stretched, took out eye drops from the drawer, and dropped a few drops into her dry eyes to relieve her fatigue. Only then did she have time to think about her own affairs.

"I have to hurry up. From now on, I have to devote some of my time and energy to housework."

It is not easy to find a good husband and get married smoothly with a burden. Not to mention marrying into a good family, it is difficult to find a good job.

Anyone who has worked in the workplace knows that women’s inherent disadvantages are unavoidable, especially in private companies that are more focused on profits. No matter what you say, it’s all empty talk. Whether or not you can create profits for the company is your core competitiveness.

In this regard, Wei Shuangping believes that she has some advantages.

Although Jinxi Culture has grown in recent years, its hunger for talent, whether recruited from outside or trained by itself, is not as strong as it was two years ago. Executives like Wei Shuangping who can stand on their own are still hard to come by.

However, in 1998, Wei Shuangping was already in her twenties, and her prime childbearing period was only a few years away. Although she already had a child, her husband, a coal researcher, was still getting married for the first time. For family considerations, they had to have at least one child for both of them.

Considering that the man is almost 30 years old, the elders in his family must be urging him to get married. It is not easy for them to accept an older woman with a child. What's more, Wei Shuangping didn't dare to think too much.

However, now is the rapid development period of Jinxi Mall. If you spend one or two years raising children, the high position you have worked so hard to reach may not be maintained.

Three years ago, Jinxi Culture was just a makeshift team. Only God knows what it will become in three years.

But one thing is certain, whether it is Jin Shang or Jin Xi Mall, it is impossible for them to wait for Wei Shuangping for three years, or even... three months would be enough.

As the boss, Jin Shang did not have any idea of ​​favoring boys over girls, nor did he do anything unfair to Wei Shuangping. On the contrary, he had taken good care of her.

Wei Shuangping felt ashamed when she thought about having to take another long vacation soon. She had a decent life, a good salary and excellent benefits, but it seemed inappropriate for her to go home to prepare for pregnancy and childbirth when she was most needed to contribute.

Fortunately, in the past two years, the company has begun to promote paperless and remote office systems. Not signing in does not mean being completely isolated from work, but the position of general manager of Jinxi Mall will not be occupied by an employee who is unable to work for a long time.

At least... there has to be an executive CEO to do most of the work.

Wei Shuangping even anticipated the candidates.

Jiang Long is the first choice, followed by Li Xuan, and then Jin Shang personally takes charge, with Huang Yiyi, who also majored in human resources, assisting. The worst option is to parachute in other senior executives or poach professional managers from outside.

"Go back and talk to your parents, then have a chat with Mr. Jin!"

Some things are hard to talk about, but they must be done.

It is not easy to balance career and family, but when Wei Shuangping decided to take this path, she was prepared to sacrifice some of her beliefs.
-
Early September is the harvest season. In North China, sorghum, which was planted on a large scale in the early years, has gradually been replaced by corn and wheat. In high-standard farmland with good conditions, more and more rice is planted.

After this harvest, either some vegetables will be planted or winter wheat will be sown.

With the development of agricultural technology, it is now possible to produce two crops a year on the North China Plain. However, considering the problem of "soil fertility", most people still use the method of three crops in two years.

After all, the mature fields on both sides of the Yellow River have been developed for thousands of years, and their fertility is actually just so-so. It cannot be compared with the black soil in Northeast China at all, and is only slightly better than the acidic soil in the south.

The soil here is highly sticky, and overall there is not enough water for irrigation and industry. Long-term and frequent crop rotation, improper tillage or excessive fertilization can easily lead to soil compaction, increased salinization and difficulty in controlling pests and diseases.

After fully considering economic benefits and long-term interests, the local area has explored an effective path for sustainable development.

"The machine is OK, the failure rate has decreased, and the operability has been greatly improved. Farm machinery operators generally say that their pressure has been reduced a lot."

Looking at the corn combine harvester in the distance completing its stage mission, the engineers who were busy changing shifts and performing maintenance and repairs to prepare for the next round of work, cousin Zhang Yunying patted Jin Shang on the shoulder and said:
"The effect of the assisted driving system is OK. After receiving feedback, we will continue to improve it in the next generation. But... your heavy oil and methanol dual-fuel power system is a bit difficult for me to get used to."

(End of this chapter)