Chapter 90: Recruiting people from Cheung Kong

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "I know about this problem. I have contacted a real estate agent to find a suitable location, but the supply of industrial plants in Hong Kong has been quite tight recently, so it may be a bit difficult to find a suitable one."

Zhao Liming said: "Yes, when I was chatting with An Yongqiang before, he also said that Hong Kong's industrial exports have been relatively high recently, and the docks are very busy."

Yang Wendong smiled and said, “Well, if it really doesn’t work, we can buy land and build a new factory ourselves.”

Zhao Liming asked: "Brother Dong, if this is the case, I'm afraid our funds won't be enough, right?"

"It's not enough, but how many people in Hong Kong do you think use their own money to start a company?" Yang Wendong shook his head and said with a smile: "Most of them use the bank's money. Only our previous mouse traps and sticky notes had no competitors and could quickly make a profit after selling them, so we didn't borrow money from the bank."

Whether it is Hong Kong today or the mainland decades later, all industries rely on banks, including manufacturing, which is even no worse than the real estate dependence.

The simplest example is that bank interest rates have a serious impact on the manufacturing industry. In the past, the United States wanted to rebuild its own manufacturing industry while engaging in a trade war, but in order to reap the benefits of other countries, it had to adopt a high-interest policy, and ultimately the manufacturing industry was left alone.

Zhao Liming smiled and said, "That's good too. We want to build a big one all at once."

"It would be better to have a bigger factory, but we don't have enough funds and workers to support a large factory. We still have to take it step by step." Yang Wendong shook his head and said:
"It is said that when plastic flowers were popular, Li Jiacheng was also like this. It took him more than a year to stabilize the market. This was when his foundation was much stronger than ours."

Zhao Liming said with a smile: "Li Jiacheng is called the King of Plastic Flowers, but you, Brother Dong, won't be called the King of Post-it Notes, right?"

"It doesn't matter if you're called the King, just don't be called the Rat Extermination King." Yang Wendong didn't care too much, and added: "However, it's not that easy to borrow money from the bank. We have to make some achievements first, at least have some cash flow in the account."

In this era, bank supervision is very loose, but that does not mean there is no supervision; even the Liao Chong Hing Bank where he previously opened an account only has loose control over lending to some companies, but this also presupposes that these companies or the people who are favored have some ability and achievements.

If you have nothing and an ordinary person goes to the bank to borrow a large sum of money, they will definitely kick you out.

Zhao Liming asked: "We have a cooperation contract with 3M, isn't that okay?"

"Maybe, maybe not, it depends on the bank." Yang Wendong said: "However, banks are generally not obliged to analyze the potential of your products. They prefer products with collateral first, you know this.

The second is cooperation with large companies. Although 3M is a large international company, it may not be well-known in Hong Kong. Our best way is to have a few large transactions with 3M as soon as possible, so that there will be bank records, which will be more convincing. "

"Well, then we can only wait a little longer." Zhao Liming thought for a moment and asked again, "By the way, Brother Dong, I know that banks need a lot of information for loans, but what is our current situation? The accounts are a bit messy, not to mention other information."

Yang Wendong asked: "Then what do you think we should do?"

Zhao Liming thought for a moment and said, “I think we should still recruit people who really understand management, just like those big companies.

I was able to cope with it before, but now the factory is getting bigger and bigger, and we need to connect with foreign countries, so I can’t do it anymore. Now I can’t even sort out the production data in the workshop. "

"This is indeed a bit beyond your tolerance." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Recruiting people is also necessary. I also need a stable production environment. So if you recruit professionals, what are you going to do?"

Zhao Liming said with a smile: "Stick-it notes are too complicated. I think it would be a good idea for me to be in charge of the mousetrap."

"Rat trap?" Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "It's suitable for you."

Zhao Liming said: "Yes, mouse traps are made by people, and they are all people from squatters. I think it is very suitable for me to make it."

"Okay, then you can just focus on making mouse traps in the future." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "We are now considered developed, but there are still tens of thousands of people living in squatter settlements in Hong Kong. You can recruit these people in the future, which will also be in my best interest."

In any era, the more jobs you control, the more say you have in many matters. Although Yang Wendong doesn't have any big ideas at the moment, the more jobs he has, the more stable he will be.

Secondly, as someone who once lived in a shanty town, he would naturally be willing to take care of this group.

It's not just mouse traps. If there are other human resources-based industries in the future, he will also recruit more people. Even if it is not very profitable, it needs to develop in this direction.

There is absolutely no harm in this for me. Labor costs in Hong Kong are low now, and many simple industries can make money.

When Hong Kong's labor costs become high in 20 years, the mainland will have just started its reform and opening up, and products that are labor-intensive and simple to manufacture will be very suitable for Shenhai City.

This will also increase my influence and help thousands of poor Chinese. When I make enough money to last a lifetime, it will be more meaningful to do these things.

Zhao Liming smiled and said, "That's good. Brother Dong, when you find a new place in the future, leave this place to me."

"Do you think this small space is enough for mouse traps?" Yang Wendong smiled, shook his head and said, "When the sticky notes are more stable, I will focus on developing the mouse trap market. By then, the production capacity will be insufficient, just like today's sticky notes."

Zhao Liming thought for a moment and said, "It's easy to increase the production capacity of mouse traps. Just recruit as many people as possible. You can do it in a place that is sheltered from the wind and rain. But sticky notes won't work."

"Yes, but if it weren't for patent protection, this kind of thing would have been unprofitable long ago." Yang Wendong shrugged.

The less technical content something has and the more it only requires manpower to make, the less profit it will make. This is true for the traditional textile and hardware industries. Over the past hundred years, these industries have always followed labor costs, flowing from high to low.

Li Jiacheng was able to become the plastics king because plastic flowers are considered a high-tech product in the plastics industry, and they have strict cost control. Ordinary companies simply cannot produce them. Even if some of them can produce them, their costs cannot compare to Cheung Kong Holdings.

Zhao Liming said: "Brother Dong, although we have the patent, our traders in Southeast Asia have reported that after our mouse traps were introduced, some people started to imitate them, and some even sold them better than ours."

"Well, it's normal. There are no patents in these places." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "We just need to seize the markets in Europe, America and Japan first.

This year, I plan to do the same thing as post-it notes, looking for a distributor with resources to reach a mutually beneficial cooperation and use their resources to protect our patents.”

Although patents have legal effects, they need to be in the hands of strong people to achieve the greatest effect. Since Yang Wendong is unable to sell the patent, finding a suitable exclusive distributor is a mutually beneficial way.

In the early days, he did not look for exclusive suppliers in developed countries because he could not find partners with strong resources, so the relationship was just an ordinary trade relationship.

Now, after more than half a year of operation, the mouse trap has made some achievements in the market. We have the basic conditions to attract dealers with resources, and we are also more fully prepared on the other hand.

Zhao Liming said with a smile, "It's a pity that 3M doesn't do the mousetrap business, otherwise we could have cooperated with them." Yang Wendong said, "3M doesn't do it, but they have a lot of connections. I've already talked to Robert and asked him to find a capable distributor in the United States for me. If it works, he will also benefit."

Zhao Liming said: "That's good. Our mouse traps have not yet entered the US market."

"So you'd better be prepared." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "This year, these two production capacity issues alone are enough to give us a headache."

Mouse sticky tape and post-it notes are both products that provide positive help to life and work. Once they appear, it is normal for them to become popular.

The only problem is that some people will copy and imitate. However, as long as we can hold on to a few large markets, that will be enough. As long as our scale is large enough, the cost will be lower, and we may have the opportunity to counterattack those markets that have no patent awareness.

Of course, these are things for the future. What is important at the moment is to increase production capacity.

Zhao Liming said with a smile: "That would be even better. If we really have hundreds of people working under us, I would be very impressive."

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "It doesn't have to be a few hundred, thousands are possible."

"Thousands?" Zhao Liming was shocked.

Yang Wendong smiled and then asked, "After the cardboard is replaced, will the effect continue to be tested?"

Although sticky mouse boards have competitors with other rodent control products, they still have strong advantages, especially convenience, which is why the cardboard is replaced.

Zhao Liming replied: "The effect is slightly worse than plastic board. I am still entrusting importers to find harder and thinner cardboard."

"Okay, we have to keep an eye on it. This matter is also very important." Yang Wendong nodded and said.

In the mainland, the world's largest industrial country, as long as you have money, you can buy almost all industrial products. Even if you open Taobao, you can find all kinds of customized equipment.

But in fact, in places where industry is underdeveloped, many common daily necessities cannot be produced, such as the most common plastic bags, snakeskin bags, lighters, etc.

Hong Kong has no papermaking-related industries and relies entirely on imports. This is naturally a headache for Yang Wendong at the moment. The core raw materials for his two main products are paper and glue, but Hong Kong cannot produce either of them.

Zhao Liming said: "Okay, Brother Dong."

When the factory becomes busy, there are many things to do. The second most important thing right now is the impending shortage of production capacity and the shortage of factory space that will arise to solve this problem.

The first and most important thing is to have a professional in charge of production to coordinate and solve this problem.

Although Yang Wendong has a lot of knowledge about the Internet in his previous life, he can only provide some good ideas for this kind of thing, but he is still not very good at production management in this era.

And he doesn't have the time to spend on production management. He should be responsible for customers and some new creative products.

Therefore, recruiting a suitable person is naturally the most urgent thing at the moment. If such a person is recruited, the problems of insufficient production capacity and new factory buildings can also be handed over to him to solve, killing two birds with one stone.

"Mr. Yang, here are several people who meet your requirements. Please take a look at their information." A middle-aged woman about 40 years old smiled and handed several file bags to Yang Wendong.

Yang Wendong checked the information and said, "Thank you."

In this era, if you want to recruit people, especially talented people, you can only look for headhunters. If you spend enough money, people in Hong Kong who meet the requirements will appear on your desk within a day.

This is the best solution for Yang Wendong, who is in a hurry.

Yang Wendong opened all the file files one after another and looked through them carefully. These people were all managers of some large factories in Hong Kong.

There are companies from Jardine Matheson, Swire Beverage Factory, Whampoa Port Ship Repair Department, Hongkong Electric, Cheung Kong Holdings, and some companies that Yang Wendong had never heard of in his previous life, but are now quite large in scale.

The intermediary woman asked, "What do you think, Mr. Yang?"

Yang Wendong put down the information and asked, "Do these people have the tendency to leave their current jobs?"

The intermediary woman smiled and said, "Yes, these people are all high-end talents. If they have no intention of leaving, we dare not give their information to other companies casually. If this is a waste of time for both parties, it will be a big burden for us."

Yang Wendong asked again: "Even if these people want to leave their jobs, they will generally go to companies of the same level, or even larger companies, right? Have you tried to find out in advance which people are willing to come to a small company like ours?"

This is the most difficult part for small businesses. Talents from large companies will go to companies of at least the same level even if they change jobs. This is true in any era.

It is probably extremely rare in the global business history for someone like Cai Chongxin to jump from a VP (vice president) of a large investment company to Alibaba.

The intermediary woman said, "Mr. Yang, in this case, we usually wait for you to decide who you want to meet, and then we'll ask them. I also need to give them your information."

"Well, let's find Wei Zetao from Cheung Kong Holdings and try him first." After screening, Yang Wendong decided on the candidate he liked.

As the agent said, it is very difficult to poach people from large companies. Among these options, although Cheung Kong Industries is now a rising star in Hong Kong's manufacturing industry, it is still not as good as the traditional British companies.

Moreover, there is a general atmosphere in the Hong Kong workplace where people would rather work for a British company and get a stable low salary than work for a Chinese company. Naturally, it is more difficult to poach people from British companies.

Another most important point is that Cheung Kong Industries launched plastic flowers last year, which became very popular in Hong Kong. They also experienced a long period of insufficient production capacity, which is a similar environment to the current situation of Changxing Industries.

After hearing the accurate answer, the intermediary woman smiled and said, "Okay, I will contact Mr. Wei tomorrow."

The next afternoon, Yang Wendong received a call: "Mr. Yang, I have contacted Mr. Wei Zetao, and he wants to meet with you first."

……

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)

previouscatalognext