Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 1318 We are foreign investors.

The next day, Xiaowei, Chen Hui, and Qin Xuemei went to Renmin University for classes.

Those two bosses who were banging on the table with Xiaowei and Chen Hui arguing about the system haven't come this semester. Rumors in the class say they've been investigated and are under investigation.

The CEOs of state-owned enterprises have been quite proactive in the past few days since the start of the school year. Their cliques have become less arrogant, and they are speaking to Xiaowei and Chen Hui with considerable politeness.

After hearing about it, Xiao Wei gave Chen Hui a thumbs up, saying, "Awesome, you did it right away."

Chen Hui curled his lip: "What's the big deal? You can find out by asking around locally. These people in state-owned enterprises are really arrogant. They do everything openly. Unlike the government, they don't have layers of restrictions. They call the shots."

Xiao Wei asked, "Isn't the local government doing anything about it?"

Chen Hui shook his head: "The level of authority is what it is, the local government has no jurisdiction. There are many companies like this, including your Beigang. Look at you, how powerful the young masters and sons of Beigang are, they suppress those in the city so much they dare not breathe."

Xiao Wei nodded in agreement. He'd already seen it in the incident in the county: the sons of the Bei Gang gang were doing much better than those in the city. The key was their ability to get money. Many of the big, profitable businesses in the city were run by people from Bei Gang—Prince Harbor, Prince Hotel, Tian Tian Fishing Port Oriental Bathhouse—all of them.

Without those big shots showing off, the three of them felt much more comfortable in class, just listening to lectures, taking notes, and participating in activities. This semester, the business school has arranged quite a few practical activities, including visits to various places and discussions of real-world cases.

All expenses for food and lodging during the trip are covered by the companies being visited. Xiao Wei glanced through the list and found that there were only two joint ventures and no foreign-invested enterprises. They wouldn't pay for it; you have to pay for it yourself.

Actually, it wouldn't cost much. The total cost for a whole class of students, including food and lodging, might not even cover one student's tuition. But there's no other way; the school won't arrange it if no one pays. Xiaowei had absolutely no interest in visiting state-owned enterprises.

After shaking the list, Xiao Wei asked Chen Hui, "Should we go with these?"

Chen Hui glanced at the list and shook his head: "I'm not going. There's nothing of substance in all this bragging and empty praise. What's the point?"

Xiao Wei nodded: "The key issue is that there's nothing to learn from or refer to, and it's not related to what we're doing. What about these two joint ventures?"

Chen Hui shook his head: "Everyone's gone crazy right now, forming joint ventures everywhere. The number of joint ventures that have appeared this year is terrifying. They're forming joint ventures for everything, whether it's foreign investment, foreign capital, or something else entirely. They're rummaging through every available resource and pulling out everything they can to find foreign investors."

A company that originally had both a market and a brand insisted on forming a joint venture with a foreign company it had never even heard of, and then ended up paying the lion's share. A company that was originally worth ten million only had the foreign company invest three million to take a 60% stake, and the company was quite happy about it.

Many brands were practically given away for free. These people don't understand the market, branding, or business operations; all they know is how to achieve political success. What are they looking at? How awesome are those foreigners?

The Chinese managers there still operate like state-owned enterprises, unable to even understand simple inbound and outbound forms. Foreigners, on the other hand, can do whatever they want, causing thriving companies to collapse and brands to disappear, with nobody caring.

Our workers are treated as second-class employees over there, exploited in every way, with no one able to get ahead, yet they follow the others around arrogantly.

This is still considered good. Some foreign investors are simply trying to get something for nothing. They don't provide the funds, but they still get the equity as promised. The promised technology and equipment never materialize, and nobody complains.

Why would you go look at something like that?

Xiao Wei sighed. Chen Hui said, "Actually, most of the large and successful companies that have developed well in recent years are actually privately owned and run by individuals. However, due to the unstable policies in previous years, they found someone to affiliate with and managed to turn them into collective enterprises."

Now that you're making money but can't keep going, all your nagging and pleading won't work. Who's going to acknowledge you? You're just a collective enterprise. None of the people who handled things back then said a word. Who wouldn't want to take advantage of a good deal?

Then the company really becomes a state-owned enterprise. In better cases, they'll give you some shares to continue managing it. In worse cases, they'll just issue an administrative order to replace the CEO, or if the CEO is temperamental and disobedient, they'll be sentenced.

This is what it means to be completely ruined, have your family destroyed, and die.

Qin Xuemei's eyes widened in surprise: "Is there no reasoning at all?"

Chen Hui said, "What is reason? Might makes right. Just you wait and see, in less than three years, all those original brand-name companies will be foreign-owned."

Xiao Wei suddenly paused for a moment, looked at Chen Hui and said, "We seem to be foreign-invested enterprises as well."

Chen Hui blinked. "Yeah, we're a foreign-invested company, so what?"

Xiao Wei waved the list: "If there are any suitable ones, foreign investment is so popular right now, why don't we get involved and buy them? We can even give the leader 45% a share and let him continue as CEO; that's definitely better than him being now, right?"

Chen Hui thought for a moment and said, "I'm afraid it's not that simple. What they want is a joint venture, not a buyout. The local government wants to hold shares, and the state also wants to participate. Then some enterprises and local collectives also have shares. It's too complicated."

Moreover, these days, the government approves joint ventures for a period of ten, fifteen, or eighteen years. Who knows what happens when those approvals expire? There's no explanation.

Xiao Wei clicked his tongue a few times, thought for a moment, and said, "Let's give it a try. It's just giving us benefits, right? As long as we sell, we can control what we buy, right?"

Chen Hui said, "You can buy the factory and then move it, right? Aren't you still on someone else's territory? It's too easy for them to mess with you from all sides. People are uneasy about you unless you keep paying them to stay."

"The way you're doing it, you might as well just poach people. Once they're here, all that's left is to invest more money. We can build the factories anywhere, but wouldn't it be more comfortable to build them on our own land? There's so much empty space in the Tiexi Development Zone; if you fill it with ten or eight factories, everyone will be grateful."

Qin Xuemei said, "What's there to be afraid of on someone else's turf? What do we have to be afraid of?"

Chen Hui said, "It's not something that can be done in a day or two. Yes, we're not afraid, but won't it be troublesome in the long run? We can't just let my dad stay in the factory, can we? Besides, my dad might not even be able to get the job, and we'd have to ask the provincial government for help, which isn't worth it."

Xiao Wei nodded and said, "That's right. We don't need to be afraid of anyone above us, but we have to rely on ourselves below. We can't depend on Uncle Chen for everything, or we'll exhaust him. Let's think about it. I have a feeling this is an opportunity."

Our supermarkets and shopping malls can't just keep selling other people's products. We should gradually build our own brands. It's already easy to succeed by relying on supermarkets, shopping malls, and convenience stores. What do you think?

Chen Hui stroked his chin and nodded: "That's true. Now that the lion's share has been taken, we should try to poach talent. Offer them money, shares, and power. Those with foresight know what to do."

(End of this chapter)