Chapter 397: People in the Jianghu

No. 25 Changqing Road, Pingyang, Hanxi, is the location of the Li Dongling High-Tech headquarters. Nowadays, mentioning Changqing Road in Pingyang basically refers to Li Dongling High-Tech. There is no other reason; more than half of the buildings on both sides of the entire Changqing Road have been bought by Li Dongling High-Tech or its subsidiaries.

For instance, the Li Dongling High-Tech Technical Department has bought five whole floors, setting up multiple R&D departments such as computer peripherals, digital cordless phones, mobile phones, and communication technology for 2G and 3G, all housed within these buildings.

Additionally, companies like Dongxin Semiconductor, Dongfang Optoelectronics, and Focus Media have also purchased office buildings on Changqing Road.

Other companies that cooperate closely with Li Dongling High-Tech, such as BYD, Hanxi New Materials, and BOE, have also set up offices or branches on this road, either by buying or renting. These companies are representative firms in Li Dongling High-Tech's industrial chain, with at least half of their orders coming from Li Dongling High-Tech.

It is not just them; other companies in Li Dongling High-Tech's parts supply chain also attach great importance to maintaining their relationship with Li Dongling High-Tech, fearing they might be kicked out of the supply chain. That would mean losing not just orders, but likely half their company's life!

Just like the mobile camera module and optical component supplier OFILM in the previous life, which was required by Apple to move its production base to India before it could receive orders, otherwise, it would be kicked out of the Apple supply chain.

OFILM stubbornly refused, and was then kicked out by Apple. Afterward, OFILM's stock price plummeted, its performance suffered a major blow, its revenue kept declining, and there were even rumors it would go bankrupt.

Later, after latching onto the "Chrysanthemum Factory" (Huawei), OFILM's performance began to recover, and the Chrysanthemum Factory's mobile phones sold well again, which in turn drove a host of domestic parts manufacturers.

Now, Li Dongling High-Tech's status in the domestic tech industry is similar to the Chrysanthemum Factory's status in the mobile phone industry in the previous life. Of course, its influence is not yet that great, but it is true that a large group of parts manufacturers are already relying on Li Dongling High-Tech for their livelihood!

Changqing Road has been bustling these past few days. Executives who rushed back from within the country and overseas have gathered here. In a few days, the Li Dongling High-Tech headquarters will hold a meeting attended by executives at the branch level and above.

It is not just the interior of Li Dongling High-Tech that is paying attention to this meeting, wanting to know Li Dongling High-Tech's direction for next year; various parts supplier companies are also looking forward to it, as this relates to their rice bowls, and many media outlets have also come over to join the fun.

……

"Manager Zhu, I heard you pulled in another order for the mobile phone department?"

Inside the Li Dongling High-Tech headquarters conference room, a group of people gathered, whispering and chatting while waiting for Li Li Dongling, Ren Ren Yuefeng, and others to arrive.

Although the outside world is looking forward to the executive-level meeting in a few days, in reality, it is this non-public meeting today that truly decides the major affairs of Li Dongling High-Tech.

The people attending this meeting are all figures who can decide the affairs of Li Dongling High-Tech's various departments, including General Manager Ren Ren Yuefeng and Finance Manager Hu Hu Zixian, who is also the head of the Budget Management Committee.

Others include Technical Manager Chen Tao, Marketing Department Manager Zhang Ao, Deputy Manager Zhu Zhao Jiang, Logistics and Procurement Department Manager Gao Peng, Legal Department Manager Gao Gao Zhiyuan, and Production Department Manager Duan Duan Youli.

Besides these figures who possess immense power at Li Dongling High-Tech headquarters, others like Feiyan Technology General Manager Yao Yao Luoying, Dongxin Semiconductor General Manager Wu Wu Xinyi, Dongfang Optoelectronics' two managers Tang Tang Qinliang and Miao Miao Xuguang, and Zhixing Foundation General Manager Lü Lyu Wenhua are also present.

Any one of the people in this conference room, if taken out and placed in the domestic tech industry, would be a renowned figure. If they were to leave Li Dongling High-Tech and join other companies, they could basically sit in the position of general manager or even partner. If rumors were to spread, a large number of companies would likely be holding equity, begging them to join.

If they were to "jump into the sea" (start their own business), it is estimated that a large group of companies would support them; banks, city investment firms, and even investors from places like Hong Kong would all be willing to support them with all their might.

And figures like Zhang Ao and Gao Peng have even greater influence outside Li Dongling High-Tech than they do internally. Countless people want to establish a connection with them, using all sorts of methods to do so.

Zhang Ao manages Li Dongling High-Tech's Marketing Department, responsible for sales, promotion, and publicity of Li Dongling High-Tech's products. When this department deals with those distributors and agents, which side is stronger depends entirely on whether the products sell well.

If the products sell well, like electronic pet machines, Little Smart (Xiaolintong) mobile phones, and Shenzhou USB drives, they were in short supply in the early stages. Those distributors would wave cash and run to Li Dongling High-Tech headquarters, begging to pull goods. That is when they are the ones begging Zhang Ao.

In order to get more goods and then sell them at a higher price to make a big profit, they can act like grandsons in front of Zhang Ao. As long as he gives them the goods, the distributors will do whatever Zhang Ao says!

But if they don't sell well, it's a different story. Like appliance companies such as Gree in the previous life, which were handled in various ways by Gome Electrical Appliances. Without even consulting those appliance companies, Gome would hold promotions and sell them at reduced prices. When settling accounts, they would also settle with the appliance companies at the promotional price.

Channel merchants are just that overbearing because they know those appliance merchants dare not fall out with them.

Even more direct is the television industry of these past few years; Changhong launched a massive price war, making it impossible for other domestic television brands to sell their products. In order to sell TVs, other brands of all stripes were desperately offering kickbacks to distributors and agents, just to get them to help sell their goods; it is evident how aggressive they are.

Anyway, since Li Dongling High-Tech was established a few years ago, given Zhang Ao's personality and the strength of Li Dongling High-Tech's Marketing Department, they have been quite overbearing when facing distributors and agents. Sometimes they can even constrain the distributors' selling prices, making them afraid to act recklessly.

And on Gao Peng's side, the power is even greater. He is responsible for Li Dongling High-Tech's procurement. In other words, which company can join Li Dongling High-Tech's supplier ranks is ultimately decided by him!

In other words, Gao Peng can truly decide the life or death of a small or medium-sized company. One can imagine the attitude of Li Dongling High-Tech's parts suppliers and other domestic electronic parts companies when facing Gao Peng.

The person who spoke just now was Gao Peng. He looked toward Zhu Zhao Jiang, who is now the Deputy General Manager of Li Dongling High-Tech's Marketing Department and is actually the person in charge of Li Dongling High-Tech's mobile phone department.

Although Zhu Zhao Jiang holds the title of Deputy General Manager and is currently mainly responsible for developing overseas markets for Little Smart, for Gao Peng and others, they all know Li Li Dongling's intentions. He basically treats Zhu Zhao Jiang as the future head of Li Dongling High-Tech's mobile phone department.

"Yes, I pulled in a letter of intent order. The order isn't huge, about 70,000 units, but this is the second Little Smart order obtained in South America, in Colombia, following Brazil."

"If this order can be completed smoothly, the South American market will be completely opened up to Li Dongling High-Tech!"

Zhu Zhao Jiang said with high spirits. He has been responsible for expanding territory for Little Smart overseas all year.

Overseas, Little Smart basically cooperates with Japan's Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) and domestic ZTE to promote PHS technology, base stations, and matching mobile phones.

The signal and call quality of PHS technology are indeed not as good as Europe's GSM technology, but its biggest feature is that it is cheap. In the face of absolute cheapness, any shortcomings can be tolerated. The PHS technology fee is cheap, the base stations are cheap, and the mobile phones are damn cheap. With all this, so what if the signal is a bit worse?

Anyway, relying on absolute cost-effectiveness, while GSM base stations have not yet covered Western Europe and other countries, PHS has already been conquering territory all over the world, cooperating with telecom companies in Brazil and Colombia to jointly promote PHS technology.

Zhu Zhao Jiang is responsible for promoting Little Smart to places where PHS base stations are laid. Currently, besides guarding the domestic big-city market, the rest of the focus of Li Dongling High-Tech's Little Smart business is placed on the overseas market. The domestic Little Smart market is simply too competitive, and the price war has become increasingly fierce.

"Old Duan, it's hard for you to explain things on your side. How many mobile phone orders have been backed up this year!"

After hearing Zhu Zhao Jiang's words, Gao Peng smiled toward Duan Duan Youli, who was sitting on the other side of the conference room. Upon hearing this, the latter showed a somewhat embarrassed expression on his face.

As the person in charge of the production department, Duan Duan Youli knows clearly how many Little Smart mobile phone orders Li Dongling High-Tech has backed up now. Even though he tried his best to build production lines and industrial parks, the production capacity still couldn't keep up with the orders. He has a huge pile of orders in his hands that haven't been delivered yet!

"The Colombia order won't be delayed!" Duan Duan Youli said, which counted as giving Zhu Zhao Jiang an explanation.

The group of people in the conference room were all chatting with each other. Even though they are all at Li Dongling High-Tech, they can't see each other every day. People like Zhang Ao, Gao Peng, and Duan Duan Youli all need to run all over the country, and sometimes even go overseas to handle affairs.

As the bosses of their respective departments, they all have a huge pile of things to handle, and countless people are counting on them to fight for more benefits for their subordinates. For Zhang Ao and the others, they hope to maintain the old friendship with Gao Peng and Duan Duan Youli, but sometimes, disputes inevitably arise.

Just like the Marketing Department, after pulling in an order, they need to sell it to get a commission. But if the Production Department can't complete the order, the commission goes down the drain. Or if it's produced but the Marketing Department can't sell it, causing inventory buildup or even huge losses, then conflicts inevitably arise between the people of the two departments.

Even if Zhang Ao and Duan Duan Youli can maintain a superficial relationship and know each other's attitudes, the people below them won't be like that, and the two of them sometimes find themselves in situations beyond their control.

"Old Duan, let's have a drink after the meeting!"

Zhang Ao turned his head and said to Duan Duan Youli. After hearing this, the latter looked at Zhang Ao a few times and nodded in agreement.

The conference room door was opened. Seeing Li Li Dongling, Ren Ren Yuefeng, and others walk in, the people in the conference room who were puffing away on cigarettes also extinguished their cigarette butts.

The window was opened, and a gust of cold wind blew through the room, replacing the air in the conference room. But seeing Li Li Dongling, many people present felt a bit of heat in their hearts. Today's meeting is not just a meeting; it also involves this year's bonuses, dividends, and so on!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 398 =====