King of Technology: A Fresh Start in 1983

Chen Jianghe paused, glanced at Zhao Xiaobo, and then said, "How about this..."

"I'll give you the Southwest and Central South regions first, or I'll give you Central China as well, and you'll be in charge of all six regions."

"Mr. Zhao has been in charge of East China and South China for a while now and has put in a lot of effort. Why don't we ask him to take charge of them for a while longer?"

"If all eight regions were put on your shoulders at once, you probably couldn't handle it. Wouldn't it be safer to proceed in two steps?"

Now that things have come to this, we have no choice but to go all out!

Zhang Wei remained tight-lipped: "President Chen, the reason I made this suggestion is that we should have one person in charge of managing the distributor channels in all regions."

"The current approach has quite a few problems. Some agents' business is not limited to one region and they often need to coordinate across regions."

"If no department is directly in charge, the result could be that each department acts independently, leading to a situation where the problem becomes too big to handle and uncontrollable."

"I suggest establishing a channel business unit, even if it's not my responsibility."

"The business unit system has proven to be effective in companies like Lenovo and Founder."

"You or Mr. Zhao can take charge personally, and I will handle the specific tasks. That would be fine too."

Hearing Zhang Wei's words, Zhao Xiaobo continued, "I agree with Xiao Zhang's opinion; let him handle East and South China as well!"

"The company is currently preparing for its IPO, so I can focus my energy on that, as well as financing and loans."

"This way, Engineer Zhou and Professor Li can focus on their technical work."

Seeing an opportunity, Zhang Wei added, "Yes, Tiangong is about to go public. We should take advantage of this opportunity to adjust our organizational structure and launch a channel business unit."

After pondering for a moment, Chen Jianghe said, "Let me think about it some more. We'll be having a company meeting in a few days..."

...

A week later, Tiangong Technology Group held a general meeting of all employees in the auditorium of Tsinghua University.

The employees in Beijing and Shenzhen, totaling less than four hundred people, gathered together.

Chen Jianghe delivered a passionate and inspiring report, and concluded by announcing the group's personnel appointments.

Chen Jianghe was appointed as the group's president, and Su Wanqing was appointed as the group's advisor.

Zhao Xiaobo was appointed as Executive Vice President, Zhou Yuguang as Chief Engineer in charge of Huaxin's business, Li Mingyuan as Vice President and Director of the ACL Laboratory, and Lin Wei as Deputy Chief Engineer in charge of Pengcheng R&D Center.

Zhao Lin was appointed General Manager of the Technology Development Department, and Wang Liping was appointed General Manager of the Production Department.

Zhang Wei was appointed as the Group's Assistant President, and concurrently served as the General Manager of the Channel Cooperation Business Unit and the General Manager of the Planning Department.

...

On this day at work, an old man stood behind Zhan Yiling's workstation with his hands behind his back.

He chuckled, startling Zhan Yiling.

She turned around, patted her chest, and said, "Old Wang, are you alright? Why are you like that? It was scary!"

Old Wang is in his fifties, and no one at IBM ever uses his full Chinese name or his English name.

Everyone agrees that the most fitting characteristic of Lao Wang is: old!

He was previously a section-level cadre in the Computer Department of the Ministry of Machinery and Electronics Industry.

In its early days, IBM was eager to cultivate good relationships with various ministries and commissions in China in order to expand into the Chinese market as quickly as possible. It needed people with extensive connections within these ministries and commissions.

They poached some people from government agencies. Old Wang was the oldest among them.

At IBM, foreign employees are typically in their thirties or forties, while Chinese employees are mostly in their twenties or thirties.

Old Wang has a generation gap with these people, and is even incompatible with them.

But after all, he had dealt with large domestic enterprises for many years.

Jason, a senior manager from the port city in charge of the manufacturing sector, relied heavily on him.

So everyone treats him very politely.

Old Wang didn't answer Zhan Yiling, but instead lowered his voice and asked, "Haven't you heard about the situation at Jiangji?"

"You mean Jiangji Group? I haven't contacted them since I submitted my bid. Do you have any news?"

"Of course, Linda, it's not enough to just focus on the clients. For every project in this industry, we need to get information from the department."

"The Ministry? You mean the Ministry of Machinery and Electronics?"

"Of course, which other department could it be?"

After keeping everyone in suspense, Old Wang continued, "There's been a problem with Jiangji."

"They originally wanted to secure special funds for technological upgrading from both the provincial and municipal levels to fund this information technology project, but at the last minute the funds didn't come through and the project fell through."

"Sigh, who knows where these funds have gone again..."

Zhan Yiling exclaimed in surprise, "Oh no! How could this happen? All that work has been for nothing!"

Old Wang said mysteriously, "Of course, Jiangji didn't want the project to fall through, so they went to the ministry for help."

"They were really lucky. It just so happens that it's almost the end of the year, and the ministry has some matching funds that haven't been finalized for specific projects yet, while Jiangji's project is readily available. The two sides hit it off immediately."

"With the support of the ministry, the Jiangji project went from being a local project to an annual project of the ministry."

"Jiang Ji benefited from the project, and the ministry not only invested the money but also achieved political success; everyone got what they wanted."

"That…"

From Lao Wang's words, Zhan Yiling vaguely saw a glimmer of hope.

"So, the final evaluation results for this project have to be submitted to the ministry for approval?"

"Of course, whoever pays has the final say."

"Old Wang, could you tell me which department in the ministry is in charge of approving this project?"

"It would be great if you could help me make an appointment with them."

Old Wang chuckled again: "Of course. But Linda, we need to discuss beforehand how to split the profits from this project."

"Should we split it in half, or should one person get a little more?"

Upon hearing Lao Wang's words, Zhan Yiling immediately became displeased: "That depends on how much you contribute to this project."

"Is it just an introduction to the relationship, or can it directly influence the final decision-maker?"

"Hehe, Linda, it all depends on how much you give me."

"If I get a larger share, I will contribute more; if I get a smaller share, I will contribute less."

"Old Wang, you're a senior, you definitely understand this principle better than I do."

"We should work together to win the project first. I believe Jason will make a fair assessment of our contributions to the project, and I will have no objection to how we divide the profits."

"If we spend all this time discussing it, but ultimately fail to secure the project, wouldn't it be a waste of time and effort?"

Upon hearing this, Old Wang's face darkened, and he said coldly, "I'm not afraid of fighting for nothing; I'm afraid of working for nothing."

After saying that, he turned around and walked away with his hands behind his back.

Watching Lao Wang's departing figure, Zhan Yiling suddenly hesitated...

Should we report this situation to Jason immediately?

He asked him to arrange for Lao Wang to cooperate with him.

Just as I was about to get up and walk towards Jason's office, I heard the phone on the desk ring...

She answered the phone: "Hello! This is Linda from IBM."

"Hello Zhan Yiling, can you recognize who I am?"