Reborn since 1993

Chapter 1297 Asia's Best Partner

Every New Year's Eve in the Li family seems somewhat similar, yet also somewhat different. On this day, it becomes the domain of Old Mrs. Wang Xiulan, and the entire Li family must obey her commands.

Every year, Wang Xiulan personally prepares the New Year's Eve dinner for the Li family, with Li Zhenlin, the old man, assisting. Li's two daughters-in-law, Yao Luoying and Miao Jiahui, also help out.

Li Dongyue and Yang Peipei, who are little tangerines, are the two little ones who are taking care of the next generation of the Li family.

Li Dongling and Li Dongshan were responsible for putting up couplets and cleaning. No one said that the Li family had to do these things personally. If needed, they could just say the word and plenty of people would be willing to do it for them.

On New Year's Eve, the Li family members all tacitly agreed to do things themselves, including Li Dongling. In fact, they mainly accompanied the old lady Wang Xiulan.

After putting up a couplet, Li Dongling dusted himself off and looked at Li Dongshan. "Brother, I heard that Oriental Times Shopping Mall is planning to build a shopping mall in Zhongguancun, Beijing?"

Oriental Times Shopping Mall belongs to Oriental Times Group, which includes businesses such as shopping malls, real estate, office buildings, and plazas.

Li Dongshan was the main person in charge of the Oriental Times Group. Back when Dongling High-Tech was first established, Li Dongling asked Li Dongshan to help out at Dongling High-Tech.

Once Dongling High-Tech stabilized, Li Dongshan withdrew. At the time, Li Dongshan's original intention was to open a supermarket, and Li Dashanren naturally gave his full support to Li Dongshan's expectations.

In his past life, Li Dongshan had given almost everything for the Li family, even ruining his health in the process. Now that he knew what Li Dongshan wanted to do, how could Li Dongling not support him?
Li Dongshan wanted to enter the shopping mall market, so Li Dongling naturally helped him set up the mall, only the scale was "slightly" larger than Li Dongshan had expected...

Li Dongshan nodded, revealing a warm smile, "Now, many cities are inviting Oriental Times to open shopping malls there!"

The immense popularity of Oriental Times Shopping Mall in Pingyang has naturally attracted the attention of countless cities, but what truly draws attention from these cities is the achievements and impact of Oriental Times Shopping Mall itself.

Once completed, the Oriental Times Shopping Mall will create thousands of jobs and generate tax revenue, which is essential for any city leader.

Moreover, the Oriental Times Shopping Mall has clear requirements regarding the construction period, which is to be completed within three years. From the start of construction to the opening, the three-year completion time is just within the term of office of the city's leader, ensuring that this achievement can be fully realized.

It can serve as a city's calling card, provide jobs and tax revenue, and ensure the success of the local city government. How could Oriental Times Shopping Mall not be snapped up?

“But…” A look of worry appeared on Li Dongshan’s face.

Seeing this, Li Dongling couldn't help but ask, "What's the trouble? Or is the Oriental Times Shopping Mall facing obstacles in entering a particular city?"

If it's Oriental Times Shopping Mall that encountered obstacles or local bullies when entering certain cities, then Li Dongling would have to speculate whether this was a deliberate attempt to target Oriental Times Shopping Mall, or a case of Xiang Zhuang's sword dance aimed at Liu Bang, but rather a pretext to attack Dongling High-Tech.

Previously, when Chitu electric bicycles were launched in Shandong, they encountered local bullies. Dongling Hi-Tech also encountered problems when entering other markets, but Dongling Hi-Tech solved those problems!
Nowadays, it's rare to find a local bully who dares to openly cause trouble for Dongling High-Tech, because if they anger Dongling High-Tech, they might really face a heavy blow.

Do you really think that all the taxes Dongling High-Tech pays every year, all the jobs it creates for the local area, the charitable donations from the Zhixing Foundation, and the supplies, police equipment, vehicles, and banners donated by the police station and other organizations are paid for nothing?

Even if they dare not reach out to Dongling Hi-Tech, there's no guarantee that there won't be those who try to sabotage Dongling Hi-Tech's subsidiaries. This is unavoidable; they can only deal with whatever comes their way.

Hearing the coldness in Li Dongling's words, Li Dongshan quickly waved his hand, "Nowhere is there any obstacle preventing the Oriental Times Shopping Mall from entering."

Having been in charge of the Oriental Times Group for so long, Li Dongshan has seen all sorts of people and all kinds of things. In such a large shopping mall, there are bound to be some people who are not thinking straight and come to cause trouble.

Li Dongshan had experience in dealing with those kinds of troubles. He knew that if he really encountered trouble and couldn't handle it, Li Dongling would have to step in. Li Dongling's methods were completely different from his!

"However, the Oriental Times Shopping Mall in Xiyuan, the provincial capital, is still under construction and will not be fully completed until the year after next."

Furthermore, after the shopping mall, supporting facilities such as office buildings and residential areas will need to be developed, requiring substantial subsequent investment.

Li Dongshan said, "If we were to build a new Oriental Times shopping mall in Beijing or other cities, the cost would likely be even greater, as the cash flow would be stretched too thin!"

The Oriental Times Shopping Mall project is not just about building a shopping mall and calling it a day. To be honest, the Oriental Times Group doesn't have a strong desire to make a lot of money from shopping malls.

On the contrary, Oriental Times Department Store's gross profit margin is only around 20%, lower than the industry average of 30% to 40%. Oriental Times Department Store invests more money in product selection, quality control, staff training and salaries, as well as after-sales service, which makes its net profit even lower than that of its peers.

However, this model allows Oriental Times to have a product quality that far surpasses other shopping malls, and its service quality is also excellent. After all, the salary of Oriental Times' employees has now reached nearly two thousand yuan, which is comparable to that of an office worker today.

If such a salary cannot provide service quality, then that's just ridiculous.

Although the profit margin of Oriental Times Shopping Mall is not as high as that of its peers, the five-star hotel, office buildings, and residential areas built around Oriental Times Shopping Mall can make up for that part of the profit for Oriental Times Group, and it is a steady and continuous stream of income.

Oriental Times Shopping Mall serves primarily to attract customers and enhance brand awareness. Wherever Oriental Times Shopping Mall is located, it becomes the city center and focal point!
"As for funding, you don't need to worry, brother. As long as the quality of the mall is guaranteed, Oriental Times Mall can enter major cities first!"

Li Dongling stated directly that the domestic retail market would experience exponential growth over the next ten years. Once the Oriental Times Mall opened, as long as he didn't do anything reckless, it would basically be a cash cow that brought in a fortune every day.

Furthermore, even if Oriental Times Shopping Mall collapses and its cash flow breaks down, there's no need to worry about bankruptcy. With the philanthropist Li backing it up, Oriental Times Shopping Mall will never fall.

"The domestic shopping mall retail market has been booming. Oriental Times Shopping Mall does not need to worry about the cash flow problem when opening stores in major cities for the time being."

If needed, the Zhixing Foundation can provide sufficient cash for the Oriental Times Shopping Mall!

From his past life to the present, Li Dongshan has finally found something he wants to do, and Li Dongling is determined to support him to the end.

"Then let's start construction in Zhongguancun, Beijing!"

After thinking it over, Li Dongshan let out a heavy sigh and said, "Li Dongling has already covered for me. It would be unreasonable for Li Dongshan to hesitate any longer."

Furthermore, even though Oriental Times Shopping Mall has become the most profitable shopping mall in China, countless people still question its success, suggesting that it would be better to visit foreign shopping malls such as Walmart, Carrefour, Yaohan, and Aeon in China.

Li Dongshan also had a temper; he wanted to test his skills and see just how formidable Walmart's competitors really were!

"Dongfang Times Shopping Mall needs new senior executives; we're already short-staffed!"

Upon hearing Li Dongshan's words, Li Dongling immediately said, "We can hire headhunting firms to poach talent, and different professional managers can be in charge of the shopping mall and other supporting facilities!"

Whether Li Dongshan is proficient in these things or not is irrelevant; as long as he can maintain a balance with those professional managers, that's enough.

Separating the Oriental Times Shopping Mall from its hotel, office building, and residential businesses, and entrusting them to different professional managers, is also a way to achieve a balance.

On New Year's Eve, it wasn't until evening that Mr. Li finally calmed down. After taking a bath and changing his clothes, the entire Li family sat down at the dining table and began their New Year's Eve dinner.

The LCD TV in the Li family's living room was showing this year's Spring Festival Gala. This LCD TV was not the 34-inch one from last year, but a new 40-inch LCD TV that Dongfang Optoelectronics had replaced for the Li family this year.

This LCD TV was also developed by the Oriental Optoelectronics Laboratory, but it was made using a third-generation TFT LCD panel production line that was acquired from Hyundai Group at a bargain price.

Taking advantage of the Southeast Asian financial crisis, the technical personnel, technology, and production lines poached from South Korea and Japan were acquired at bargain prices and have now been absorbed by Oriental Optoelectronics and Oriental Memory, and are now starting to yield results.

The company that profited the most from this deal was Dongfang Optoelectronics, which not only acquired a third-generation TFT LCD panel production line from Hyundai Group at a bargain price.

Similarly, Dongfang Optoelectronics poached a lot of LCD panel engineers from manufacturers such as LG, Samsung, and Sharp. Or rather, it's not so much poaching as these companies were laying off employees to cope with the crisis at the time, and Dongfang Optoelectronics had no choice but to "reluctantly" accept these R&D personnel who were regarded as a burden by them.

As for the LCD panel technicians who were not laid off by LG and other companies, Oriental Optoelectronics also considerately paid their breach of contract fees so that they could leave LG and other companies first, so as not to waste LG's cash flow. I ask you, has Oriental Optoelectronics considered its competitors? Is it the best competitor in Asia?

To address the concerns of poached technical personnel, Dongfang Optoelectronics has established R&D centers in Japan and South Korea. Once they leave their jobs, they can seamlessly join Dongfang Optoelectronics' local R&D centers with a 25% salary increase!

With a series of smooth moves, Dongfang Optoelectronics has now become a player on par with companies like Sharp, Samsung, and LG in LCD panel technology. They all have third-generation LCD panel technology and can produce LCD panels up to 40 inches in size!
The Dongfang Optoelectronics Laboratory has successfully produced a new panel. The first thing they did was send it to Li Dashanren's side to prove to Li Dongling that Dongfang Optoelectronics was not just sitting around doing nothing.

(End of this chapter)