1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 536: Story. Reason. Motivation (4)

(PS: This chapter has been heavily edited and is difficult to read, please forgive me!)
"The first problem is that the Sangua Commune project took too long, and during that time, several leaders of the Chaozhou Economic Development Zone changed... and when Sangua Commune started the withdrawal process, it was not long before the handover."

Yang Mo's voice was very calm, and he only emphasized the tone a little when he said the words "not far from the junction between the front and the back".

Mr. Zhao and Gao Qingfeng naturally knew what this meant.

Gao Qingfeng looked at Yang Mo with a thoughtful expression; but Mr. Zhao raised his eyebrows and said, "Boy, I know

After saying that, Old Zhao snorted heavily and glared at him with his eyes slanted: "Humph! It turns out that this is a story made up by folk writers. They don't understand the situation at all!"

Although his words were full of contempt, there was an indescribable joy in his expression, as if he had breathed a sigh of relief for Yang Mo's misjudgment.

Yang Mo could probably guess what the old man was happy about, and a complex emotion surged in his heart: "Mr. Zhao, if it was a few years ago... No, even now, what you said is correct."

After a slight hesitation, Yang Mo finally sighed softly: "It's just that, have you forgotten that in that fictional timeline, the emergence of Sangua Commune was more than 20 years later.

More than 20 years later?
Mr. Zhao and Gao Qingfeng remembered something and were startled. Then they looked at each other and said in unison: "Boy/Boss Yang, what is this saying?"

Yang Mo shrugged: "Although the tax-sharing reform has not been officially launched yet, Dezhou is a pilot city for the tax-sharing reform after all. Although the time is still short, as the general manager of the Urban Real Estate Fund Company, I still have some experience."

Yang Mo hesitated for a moment before looking up at Mr. Zhao: "Mr. Zhao, to someone who doesn't understand the situation!"

“This is also the main reason why this idea was full of controversy when it was first proposed.”

"But in fact, based on what I have observed and felt now, I can tell you responsibly that this is wrong... at least it is very one-sided!"

Mr. Zhao was stunned. Before he could say anything, Gao Qingfeng interrupted him impatiently, "Boss Yang, can you explain yourself more clearly?"

The tax-sharing reform is one of the most important issues that countless people in the system are concerned about. It can be said that it is directly or indirectly related to everyone in this system. For Gao Qingfeng, a big boss who is in charge of part of the work in the province, it is even more important.

However, the tax-sharing reform has not yet been officially launched, and there are only a few pilot cities. In Qilu, apart from Qingdao, Dezhou, a city that was not originally selected in history, is the only pilot city. Therefore, as a person involved, Yang Mo's opinion is quite valuable.

Yang Mo glanced at him and smiled harmlessly: "It's very simple. People who hold this view only see the surface data...but ignore the secondary redistribution of transfer payments and taxes from the national finance to local governments!"

Gao Qingfeng perked up after hearing this, and then he took out a cigarette from his pocket and shared it with the two of them: "Boss Yang, can you... elaborate a little bit?"

As he said this, he looked at Mr. Zhao somewhat embarrassedly. His request was undoubtedly off topic.

Mr. Zhao smiled understandingly and nodded slightly to indicate that he didn't mind.

(More than a thousand words are deleted here, and the following content is skipped)
Yang Mo offered a flattery without any sincerity: "As expected of Mr. Zhao, you can see this...

At the moment, he just smiled indifferently: "Mr. Zhao, I mentioned in the second story that Qiangcun Company has introduced a modern management system and uses the same system as modern enterprises... In fact, everyone has a filter on the word "modernization" to a certain extent, and thinks that everything with these three words is a good thing."

“But in fact, the word modernization certainly means more precision and efficiency, but it also means less redundancy and lower fault tolerance… This is true for technology and business operations (I strongly recommend Mr. Wen’s Deconstructing Modernization again)”

At this point, Yang Mo paused slightly and said, "In the story, there is a widely circulated saying that goes... the wool comes from the dog, but the pig pays the bill."

"This statement is full of quick success and self-interest, but it is regarded as a guiding principle by countless companies."

“So, the profit model of the Sangua Commune in the story also borrowed this idea;”

“To put it simply, the Sangua Commune looks like a tourism project; but in fact it is a comprehensive commercial entity integrating primary, secondary and tertiary industries… It is precisely because of this outward-looking characteristic that it is regarded as a benchmark and has become a widely publicized case;”

"When you take a closer look, the Sangua Commune looks like a comprehensive commercial complex integrating primary, secondary and tertiary industries; but in fact it is a hidden real estate project."

"But when you analyze it more deeply, you find that Sangua Commune looks like a highly concealed real estate project, but in fact, it is a shell carrier for capital operation."

After saying a long tongue twister like a stand-up comedy, Yang Mo spread his hands and said, "In the early stage

Seeing that Mr. Zhao was having a hard time understanding, Yang Mo shrugged his shoulders and said, "In short, Mr. Zhao, you can simply understand the profit model of Sangua Commune as speculation in land. It's just that they speculate not only in land, but also in the industrial companies derived from the land... Don't forget that Huaishang Group bears the responsibility of the urban investment company in the early stage. According to the rules, they can get a certain proportion of the shops and properties after the completion of the project. Besides, they are also responsible for the initial investment promotion. It is not difficult to cast a wide net and focus on catching fish, and incubate a group of industrial companies with investment value."

Mr. Zhao pondered for a while before speaking, "Is this what you told me when you were my tour guide during my visit to the artificial mulberry mushroom cultivation base, 'Everything can be fried'?"

Yang Mo nodded: "Capital is profit-seeking. In that story, China was in the process of transferring industrial capital to financial capital, and financial capital was already in excess. How to find ideal projects and let these capitals increase in value has always been their focus... At that time, poverty alleviation was the focus of the country's work. With the country's endorsement, it was natural to take advantage of such a good opportunity."

"In addition, Huaishang Group is a trading group formed on the basis of the local Hualian Supermarket, Huaishang Logistics, Wanghuailou Hotel, Huaiyuantang Pharmacy and Agricultural Expo Park. It is a complex enterprise with many high-quality assets and extensive connections. With such a good foundation, they must be unwilling to not try capital operations on the road to rapid development."

At this point, Yang Mo curled his lips and said, "But for capital operation, leverage is definitely necessary. Otherwise, where would Huai Shang Group get 8 million to invest in the Sangua Commune project when it has so many physical businesses that need to be operated and maintained?"

At this point, Yang Mo shook off the cigarette ash and said, "Anyway, it's also Huai Shang Group's bad luck. They didn't calculate the time for withdrawal. I guess if they could guess that the country would complete the poverty alleviation task in such a short time, they would never have designed the project to be so large in the beginning... Once the project is small, the time from construction to stable operation will be much shorter, and the withdrawal mechanism can be activated more quickly."

"But no matter what, they fell into a trap after all. After the local authorities did not agree to repurchase the project shares, Huai Shang Group's capital flow encountered huge difficulties in just two or three years. Its asset scale also fell from 62nd in the local top 90 to th, and then fell out of the top list."

"The reason why it fell so quickly was that they wanted to quickly fix the various bugs in the Sangua Commune project and raise the operating indicators so that they could trigger the equity repurchase agreement after reaching the standards and then get their capital back."

"Oh, a well-known project that became popular all over the country a few years ago actually required an investor with a very large asset scale to spend such a huge amount of money to fix the various bugs in it. It was not even fixed before it completely collapsed. It can be seen that there are many problems in it."

"After this incident, the tourism industry was naturally hit hard. Over the past three years, Huai Shang Group has not only suffered heavy losses, but even many of its main business companies have become dishonest executors... This once again shows how much water there was in the previous operations of Sangua Commune, and how much money was invested in the early stage to set up the scheme."

"Let alone the fact that a company of Huai Shang Group's size should not have so many of its subsidiaries become dishonest executors just because of three years of difficulties, let's just talk about the Sangua Commune project itself. If the tea, food, cultural and creative, and health care industries derived from them are really as popular as they have been shown before, the revenue generated by these industries in three years would be enough to ensure the minimum survival of the project... I forgot to mention that their products could be sold through the Internet in those three years; and during those three years, the characteristic towns in various places were deeply affected, but many of them still survived with difficulty through e-commerce. But Sangua Commune, a project that plays an important role in the industry, has completely collapsed. Isn't it strange?"

As he said this, Yang Mo threw the cigarette butt to the ground and said, "Later,
"Then half a year later, the general manager of Huai Shang Group was released on bail pending trial and actively promoted the resolution of the problem. On the one hand, he disposed of, transferred, reorganized and resumed business of related companies under the group."

"However, just when the relevant work was about to be completed, another major change occurred. The main contact person for the Sangua Commune project at the tourist resort under the management committee was taken away, causing the acquisition work of the project to be put on hold again, and the time for restarting it became indefinite..."

After finishing the story in a rather hasty manner, Yang Mo looked at Mr. Zhao humbly and said, "Mr. Zhao, after listening to these three stories, do you understand some of my practices?"

At that moment, Mr. Zhao snorted softly: "So, you provide blood transfusions and food to those village collective enterprises, but you must let Dahua Company participate in them through restructuring. Is it for this?"

Yang Mo nodded: "Yes, the strong village enterprise model is a good idea, but different positions and different ideas. When the scale reaches a certain level, it is difficult to avoid doing some quick success and quick profit actions in pursuit of profit."

"Mr. Zhao, I say the same thing again. Different positions lead to different considerations and different focuses... It's not just a single economic consideration."

Gao Qingfeng suddenly interrupted and said, "Boss Yang, it seems that you are
Seeing this, Mr. Zhao smiled, thought about it, and didn't quite understand: "I heard that the Lin family and the Chen family in Nanyang have a good relationship with you, kid. Since they have decided to settle a large part of their assets in Texas, why don't you use their experience and resources to vigorously develop the tourism industry in Texas, but have to take ruthless action against those companies in the city?"

After that, he added: "Although Dezhou doesn't have any decent natural landscapes, it is a well-known tourist city in Shandong thanks to its culture. Tourism makes money quickly, and its contribution to GDP and boosting GDP cannot be underestimated... As long as it doesn't act like the Sangua Commune in the story, I think focusing on developing tourism projects is a very good idea for Dezhou today!"

Yang Mo shook his head: "Mr. Zhao, do you remember what I told you in the second story, that those strong village companies gradually subdivided into four development directions over time?"

Four development directions?

Mr. Zhao was stunned for a moment, then nodded.

After saying that, Yang Mo sighed, "People are shaped by the land they live in. I'm not saying this to discourage people, but to be honest, we in Texas are just stupid people who are not suitable for the financial and capital operations business that makes quick money... We can't think straight, okay!"

"Since this land and water can't support people who take shortcuts, then we'd better not cultivate this kind of soil in the first place!"

As he spoke, Yang Mo tilted his head and glanced at Gao Qingfeng: "Brother Gao, do you believe it? If Dezhou fully develops the tourism industry, in ten years at most, when everyone is used to making a fortune by pinching their fingers, it won't be long before most people will look down on the meager income brought by hard work, and then they will focus on making money in unconventional ways. Then those Qiangcun companies will unconsciously change their careers and start to take the route of capital finance, just like in the story." "In fact, the tourism industry, where practitioners make money the fastest, is the industry that is most likely to give rise to evil thoughts and leeks!"

Gao Qingfeng thought about it and nodded uncertainly: "Maybe...right?"

As the saying goes, pride breeds extravagance, and extravagance breeds leisure; when life is too good, people naturally don't care about that little bit of profit. It is natural that people with bulging pockets will start to enter some exciting and heart-pounding fields, which is not impossible.

Seeing this, Yang Mo did not explain and smiled again: "Besides, the strategic positioning is completely different from that side. The geographical location of Texas is even more special. If we develop the tourism industry just for the sake of good data, wouldn't that be throwing away the watermelon to pick up sesame seeds?"

Ok?
The whole country is like one chessboard?

Thinking of Yang Mo's industrial tentacles that have been continuously extending to surrounding provinces in the past six months, as well as the number of companies from other provinces that have come to sign up this time, Gao Qingfeng's eyes suddenly became sharp.

This young man...

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but glance at Mr. Zhao next to him.

Mr. Zhao suddenly asked, "Whether it is the Urban Property Fund Company or Dahua Company, their capabilities are limited after all. Without relevant documents, it is impossible for them to fully support so many strong village companies like the administrative unit in the story. However, if the number of samples is too small, it will be difficult to convince others to replicate the model in the story at a higher level... Boy, have you thought about this problem?"

Yang Mo shrugged: "Although the capabilities of the Urban Property Fund Company and Dahua Company are limited, as long as the seedlings are good, with the current capabilities, it is still possible to incubate dozens or hundreds of strong village companies that are not bad... A prefecture-level city can come up with dozens or hundreds of cases, which should be quite convincing, right?"

Gao Qingfeng immediately became interested: "Mr. Yang, whether it is Momo Baitou or Dahua Company, they have always been known for their accurate vision and high investment success rate. I didn't expect that they also have experience in incubating enterprises... Can you share your success stories?"

Supporting local enterprises is something that every place will do, and in addition to those star enterprises, all places will also choose some small-scale small enterprises with industry value and potential to support; but how to choose the right enterprises is the most headache-inducing problem for local administrative systems at present. Therefore, for Gao Qingfeng, the value of this matter is not much less than the previous story.

Yang Mo glanced at him, thought about it and didn't hide it: "Actually it's very simple. Venture capital and angel investors in Europe and the United States have already summarized 11 characteristics of potential seed companies. As long as we modify them slightly according to our situation, as long as they meet more than 11 of these 8 characteristics, we can consider key support and incubation."

11 traits?
Hearing this seemingly quantifiable standard, Gao Qingfeng perked up: "Boss Yang, which eleven are they?"

Whether you are doing management or hosting work, the most frightening thing is that you can only make judgments based on experience and subjective feelings. Unfortunately, now is the stage of crossing the river by feeling the stones. In many aspects, there is simply not enough reliable experience to learn from. Therefore, if some standards can be quantified, it will be a priceless thing.

Yang Mo shrugged. "Brother Gao, don't be too happy. Since it's called a trait, it's actually based on subjective judgment. It's still difficult to quantify... But if you have a specific direction to refer to, you can filter out a large number of companies with inherent deficiencies at the beginning, saving you a lot of trouble, and indirectly improving work efficiency."

Hearing that it was not a truly quantifiable standard, Gao Qingfeng was slightly disappointed, but he still looked at Yang Mo with expectation: "It's okay, Mr. Yang, please share your experience. I'm all ears."

Seeing this, Yang Mo smiled harmlessly and said, "Actually, these eleven traits are very simple. Brother Gao, you will probably get the idea after listening to them once."

“First, a potential enterprise worth incubating must have a clear vision—preferably one that can be fully summarized in one sentence.”

“Don’t underestimate this. A clear vision is a bold assumption and description of the future development of an enterprise. It is an ideal blueprint that an enterprise and its employees need to strive for forever and ultimately hope to realize their own social value. It answers the question of [where are we going];”

“We also believe that the power of vision lies in its ambiguous state of being achievable yet unattainable. A correct and beautiful corporate vision is like a lighthouse for long voyages, driving the company and its employees to strive for it forever. It is a spiritual source that guides the direction, arouses hope, enhances cooperation, and inspires strength.

“In fact, according to the personal experience and external observation of Momobaitou and Dahua in recent years, spiritual culture is extremely important for a company or team. The more spirited a startup is, the easier it is to succeed! In fact, if there is not even this, no matter how professional the project team is or how good the prospects are, we will not invest, because such a team lacking value cohesion is likely to have various internal problems after the initial stage of entrepreneurship, and even fall apart!”

At this point, Yang Mo paused and said, "There is a saying that has been circulating in the venture capital circles in Europe and the United States: a company that is worth incubating should never be obsessed with whether the strategy is sophisticated enough, but should pay more attention to the problem itself and whether the people in the problem-solving team are motivated!"

Upon hearing this, Gao Qingfeng nodded in agreement.

Seeing this, Yang Mo continued, "Secondly, the main projects of potential enterprises that are worth incubating must have sufficient market demand scale and potential - preferably a market where demand already exists and has huge development potential and space."

"This is easy to understand, so I won't go into details."

“Third, the main projects of potential enterprises that are worth incubating must have accurate valuable customers. To put it bluntly, they must be able to target those who are truly willing to pay and are willing to pay for your products right from the start.”

"This should be easy for Brother Gao to understand. However, precise value customers are divided into enterprise customers and end customers. The needs and characteristics of the two are different. Therefore, specific problems need to be analyzed specifically. Only when it is concretized in the project itself can a final judgment be made. Therefore, I will not expand on this here."

“Fourth, potential enterprises that are worth incubating must know how to focus. To put it bluntly, their main business and products must have a clear and precise selling point from the beginning to impress their target customers, or the products or services they provide can provide customers with real and continuous value.”

“Fifth, a potential enterprise worth incubating must be a pain point killer. To put it bluntly, it must have a precise enough vision and insight to find the most painful points of customers, and then give them a reason to buy products and services.”

"In this area... I actually think that township enterprises and private enterprises are much stronger than state-owned enterprises. After all, they are often at the forefront of the market. If you are willing to listen carefully and look for them, you will find that there are actually quite a few insightful small enterprises in our Qilu area."

“Sixth, potential enterprises that are worth incubating should have enough creative thinking. In simple terms, they should try to use different ways of thinking to innovate, build business systems or business models, and even dare to take a completely opposite route for this purpose… After all, in the business world, the most ruthless are those who dare to cross boundaries and dare to take an unconventional path!”

"Seventh, potential companies that are worth incubating should preferably have strong enough team genes. There is an old saying in China that if one soldier is incompetent, the whole army will be incompetent. Brother Gao naturally knows the truth behind this, and since we have the Xialiu Sales Agency as an example, I won't say much."

“It’s just that it needs to be emphasized that the NDA of a company or team is often formed within the first 90 days and is difficult to reverse. Therefore, in this regard, do not have any fluke mentality. Once you find that the backbone employees of the company lack fighting spirit or behave negatively, even if their leaders have ideas and say something fantastic, they are definitely not worth supporting!”

Gao Qingfeng's expression was a little unnatural. Although Yang Mo did not say it directly, the meaning of his words was obvious!
Yang Mo took his expression into account, smiled indifferently, and continued: "Eighth, potential enterprises worthy of being incubated must be flexible enough - the only way to defeat martial arts in the world is to be fast, and any enterprise must maintain sufficient flexibility and acumen in the tide of the market."

"In this regard, the manufacturing industry actually has natural defects - after all, it is an asset-heavy industry. If you don't have enough strength, many things can't be flexible just because you want them to be flexible. So if you are a manufacturing company, as long as you have this awareness and are willing to actively iterate and fine-tune, that's enough."

"Ninth, potential enterprises that are worth incubating must have the ability and mental preparation to adapt to the external environment. In this era of rapid economic development and treacherous environment, no matter how big or small the company is, it is necessary to constantly hone and upgrade the team's adaptability to face this ever-changing market and have the ability to continue, especially at this critical juncture of industry iteration. Enterprises without this kind of subjective initiative are absolutely not worth spending a penny to help, no matter how good the conditions are!"

Gao Qingfeng's face changed when he heard this. This was almost killing him. If those companies really had such subjective initiative, why would it give him such a headache?
and so……

What Yang Mo meant was that we can only follow the laws of nature and let the market decide the survival of the fittest, or we can use the whale fall method to let some companies divest their assets and reorganize them to those strong village companies, and then achieve another form of rebirth?

Seeing that he just looked a little unhappy but didn't argue, Yang Zhu nodded slightly and continued, "Tenth, potential enterprises worth incubating must have the characteristics of simplicity and frugality - during the survival and growth period of the enterprise, money needs to be spent on the cutting edge. Don't think that small money doesn't matter. In fact, most business leaders do not have strong financial management capabilities. After making a little money, they spend it recklessly, or because they don't pay attention to the details of expenditure, there are countless high-quality projects that have been killed by countless invisible small amounts of money!"

"Therefore, a high-quality enterprise must cut all unnecessary expenses; but it must be understood that money that should not be spent should not be spent, but money that should be spent should not be spent stingily - in this regard, township enterprises in Qilu are doing well at least for now."

"The last and eleventh trait is that potential companies that are worth incubating must know how to do things within their capabilities. Chinese people like to save face the most, so the trait of [doing things within the resources they have] is particularly important in our country."

"To be honest, according to the corporate data monitored by Dahua and Momo Baitou in the past two years... in the current economic framework, money is really not the first factor in the development and growth of enterprises;"

“Many of the projects we have invested in started with a little bit of start-up capital and resources, and then gradually snowballed and developed;”

"And their success has one common trait - whether forced or voluntary, they operate with extreme caution. While maintaining a high level of focus, they will never blindly do things beyond their resources or capabilities just for the sake of their own face, social skills, or the flattery of others;"

“In fact, any track that is worth investing in has a sufficient base of potential customers with urgent needs;”

“As long as you can really calm down and do a good job of internal work, and with an excellent team to provide high-quality products and services, you don’t need too much money and resources to succeed. Although it will be a little difficult in the early stage, it won’t be long before you find that more and more money and resources will find you, and the road will become wider and wider!”

After finishing speaking, Yang Mo looked at Gao Qingfeng meaningfully.
But at least...

After divesting a few more times of non-performing assets that are not related to their main business like this, those companies will be able to go into battle with less equipment, right?
Gao Qingfeng pondered for a long time under Yang Mo's humble and peaceful gaze.

Finally, he nodded slightly: "Okay, the situation this time... I basically understand it clearly."

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PS: The second half is newly added, firstly to make up for the word count (if the number of words in a banned chapter is less than one thousand words after modification, it will not be possible to apply for unbanning); secondly, it can be regarded as making up for the messy content that was deleted in the first half.

(End of this chapter)