“We have to spend as much as we can on the hardware and technology!
“As for profit margins, I think five percent is good enough. We’ll fight for more sales first.”
Chang You fell into deep thought.
He had many opinions about the cell phone business, but at that moment, he was completely at a loss for words.
Spend as much as we can on hardware and technology? A profit margin of five percent is good enough? It sounded like there was still the possibility of success. Yet, the plan sounded so unreliable at the same time.
Looking at Chang You’s pained expression, Pei Qian became very concerned. He asked, “Is there a problem with making sure our hardware and technology reaches this price range?”
Chang You hesitated and then said, “It’s not impossible if we insist on pushing the hardware and technology into this price range.
“However, there will be two problems.
“First of all, we will not sell that many cell phones. The high price is set by the low supply. That’s one.
“Two, if we want to push for expensive hardware and technology, we have to be prepared that they would not be fully mature. Little problems might crop up here and there, and we would not be able to guarantee our cell phones’ final pass yield.
“The former can be easily dealt with; we would only need to spend more money. However, the latter will be dangerous for a high-end cell phone brand. In fact, I would say it’s fatal.
“An eight-thousand-yuan cell phone cannot be breaking every two or three days. What kind of impression would this leave our customers with?
“Of course, things wouldn’t be that bad. I’m not saying that eight in every ten cell phones would be unusable. However, if eight or nine in every hundred cell phones are problematic, our reputation would still take a huge hit.
“The more new technologies we make use of, the more serious the problem would become.”
Low final pass yield?
Pei Qian smiled. “That’s easy to resolve. We can create a data transfer function. If our customers’ cell phones break down, we can deliver a new one to their doorstep. Since ours is a high-end brand, we can only replace cell phones and not repair them.”
Pei Qian was thinking that few people would buy the cell phone anyway. They would have so many stocks in their warehouse. Even if someone unfortunately received a problematic phone, they could promise to replace it unconditionally.
At that point, Pei Qian thought of another problem. They could solve it at the same time. “One more thing: we have to think of additional unique services that we can provide for our customers.
“One example would be free doorstep delivery. If customers’ cell phones break down and they stay in Jingzhou, our men would send a new one to their doorstep. They would help with the data transfer on the spot and recall the old cell phone. They would also bring a gift with them to express our apologies.
“If they live outside Jingzhou, we can partner with other delivery companies to get their cell phones delivered to them, have their data transferred, and bring their old cell phones back.
“They could also get a few free hours of gaming at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe every month if they show their phone or something
“All in all, we need to add a few additional services to make the price customers would be paying worth it.”
Since the System insisted that the cell phone had to be worth its price, Pei Qian thought about adding a few more expensive technologies in the supply chain and a bunch of useless additional services. At least this would roughly deal with the System’s restrictions.
Chang You stared at Boss Pei, his eyes filled with confusion and a hint of respect.
There were so many problems, but Pei Qian had dealt with them so decisively.
Of course, Chang You could not tell if these solutions would work out in the end. Yet, at least they had a game plan.
Chang You pondered for a moment and suddenly jumped. Inwardly, he questioned himself. Chang You, Chang You… since when did you transform into the very person you hate?
He recalled the environment in Hongcheng Technologies. Back then, he had tried hard to persuade his boss to use new technologies, set a higher price for their cell phones, and move away from the low-end market. However, his boss and other high-ranking employees kept finding problems with his suggestions in order to run away from adopting them.
Every day, he heard arguments like ‘we can’t work on high-end models’, ‘the customers wouldn’t like it’, ‘we can’t guarantee the final pass yield’, and ‘this isn’t appropriate’.
At the time, he had been very angry. These problems existed, but they could not sit back and do nothing just because that was true! Instead, they should have worked hard to deal with those problems!
Yet, now, Chang You was playing a completely different role in front of Boss Pei.
He kept raising problems. On the other hand, Boss Pei kept resolving them!
Chang You, Chang You… why should Boss Pei trust you if you keep running away from problems and shirking responsibilities?
After asking himself this question, Chang You made up his mind. “Alright, Boss Pei! I think this plan will work! I’ll work as hard as I can to do this well!
“However… Boss Pei, I have a bold request to make.”
Pei Qian nodded. “Go ahead; speak your mind.”
Chang You said, “When I was working at Hongcheng Technologies, I had a band of brothers. When the company collapsed, each of us went our separate ways. Some of them waited for job openings while some transferred to other companies. We still keep in touch.
“If you don’t mind, could I bring all of them over to Tengda? Don’t worry, Boss Pei. You don’t have to pay them that much!”
Huh?
When Pei Qian heard this, his eyes lit up.
Isn’t this the dream team that caused the collapse of Hongcheng Technologies? That’s great! It saves me from having to look for more people to recruit!
Pei Qian knew very well that Chang You was not well-liked in the industry. However, the new tech company would be Tengda’s subsidiary. No matter what, it would be a part of Tengda.
If Chang You tried to recruit others based on Tengda’s reputation, he might find big shots in the industry. Even if those big shots did not like Chang You, they could still join on account of Tengda’s fame. If Chang You managed to recruit a few big shots to join his team, the business could really succeed. What would Pei Qian do then?
Now, Chang You was intending to bring the dream team that caused Hongcheng Technologies’ collapse over to the new company. Of course, Pei Qian was pleasantly surprised.
“No problem! Recruit whoever you want. Just say the word, and I won’t interfere.
“However, there’s something else I must make clear. If you bring your brothers to Jingzhou for work, we have to make sure they are treated well. Each of them will be paid additional moving and accommodation allowance!
“We won’t be stingy towards your brothers either; their salary will be at least thirty percent more of what they used to earn!
“Once the products are complete—no matter the sales volume, we will award bonuses and benefits according to the holding company’s standards. We won’t shortchange them!”
Chang You’s hands trembled slightly. He felt both excited and moved.
What was this? It was his boss trusting him absolutely!
Just like that, Chang You was given the power to hire and dismiss whomever he wanted. Would Pei Qian have given him such a power if he did not have complete trust in Chang You’s skills and talents?
At first, Chang You thought that research and development would be extremely stressful. He would be working with technologies that had not matured yet. Even if he would just be piecing them together, there were bound to be many problems.
Yet, now, he would have the same group of brothers who had worked alongside him before. They could continue working on the projects that they had been f
orced to stop midway before.
What’s more, Boss Pei trusted Chang You so much. Even if the latter had to offer his life to resolve these problems, he would willingly do
so!
Pei Qian thought of another problem and figured that it would be best to clarify things as early as possible.
“Vice President Change, there is another matter.
“Although you will be in charge of all the projects under this new company, Tengda will also appoint a director. Formally, she will be ranked higher than you in the company.
“However, you must have your own opinions. If both of you meet with any conflict, just let me know. I’ll mediate between you, understand?”
Pei Qian had not forgotten that there was a secondary aim for this cell phone business. That was to push Lin Wan to take over her family business as soon as possible. If Pei Qian allowed Lin Wan to wash her hands off the cell phone business, she would remain unaffected even if it failed later on.
Thus, Pei Qian had to make sure that Lin Wan remained in charge of the cell phone business over all, even if it was only in name.
re
The end goal was to let Lin Wan have a hand in managing the cell phone business but not to let her micromanage her employees. The best-case scenario would be if the business failed, and Lin Wan felt responsible.
Thus, Pei Qian had to help Chang You in secret.
Chang You nodded. “Don’t worry, Boss Pei. I’ll get along well with the director.”
Chang You obviously did not understand the gravity of this problem. However, Pei Qian could not explain much more. He could only wait until real problems started to arise.
At that moment, Chang You recalled another critical issue. “Boss Pei, we haven’t thought of a name for the company.”
Pei Qian only remembered this after Chang You reminded him. That’s right. They had already thought about the development plan, and yet they had not even decided on the company’s name yet.
Pei Qian pondered for a moment about what name would be best.
What kind of name should a high-end cell phone brand have? One that sounded low-class! The name of the brand would greatly influence customers’ first impression of it.
Many brand names sounded low-class and tacky. Thus, even though they produced high-end models, most people did not see their products’ true value.
That was why Pei Qian had to think of the tackiest name possible.
Yet, he could not name his company ‘Goudan Mobile’ or ‘Cuihua Cell Phones'[2]. Chang You would never allow it.
After some thought, Pei Qian said, “To pave the company’s way into the international market and in hopes of becoming a big, international brand; we should come up with a name with a single English word. That would be easy to remember as well. “It will be a transliteration of a Chinese name with a deep metaphor.”
Chang You expressed approval. “Yes, that’s a good idea.”
Pei Qian considered for a moment and said, “We’ll be called Otto Technologies. In Mandarin, it would be Outu Technologies.
” ‘Ou’ stands for the mew gull, which travels all over the world in the space between the sky and sea. This is a metaphor for our company expanding all over the world like the mew gull. Our company’s prospects would be as vast as the sky and as magnificent as the sea.
” Tu’ stands for our ambition to become the master of the universe. Naturally, it symbolizes our company’s lofty goals!”
In actual fact, Pei Qian hoped for the company to become highly paralyzed and collapse as soon as possible.
Chang You fell into deep thought once again. The name’s metaphor was quite good, and it rolled off the tongue as well.
Yet, Chang You inexplicably felt that it sounded faintly foreboding.
[1] This is a Chinese internet slang to describe a hefty price that only uninformed customers would pay.
[2] Goudan and Cuihua are common and tacky names of people in the countryside.
Chapter 325 - Three Logos
Chapter 325 Three Logos
November 9th, Tuesday…
Last week, Pei Qian found himself busy with many things. Over at Fei Huang Workspace, Zhu Xiaoce and Huang Sibo were still preparing for filming based on Pei Qian’s script.
Zhu Xiaoce had to extend the script until it reached the ideal movie duration and hire staff as soon as possible. Once the script and scenes were ready, Zhu Xiaoce would have to talk over the script, shortlist actors, browse and select locations, and the like. There was a lot to do.
Over at Shang Yang Games, everyone was still playing as many horror games as they could, trying to find material and inspiration. However, Pei Qian guessed that-given Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin’s productivitythe design manuscript would be out in a few more days.
Everything that needed to be one for the investment firm was more or less done. With He Desheng’s help, Dream Realization Ventures would probably be open for business soon.
The HR department was also finalizing the details of the recruitment process. At the moment, the stages had already been set. However, the questions for the written examination and interview had not been decided yet. The HR department also had to think about admission and allocation of applicants, cooperation of various departments, and prevention of information leakage during the recruitment process. As for the cell phone business, Chang You had already contacted his brothers from Hongcheng Technologies. When they arrived in Jingzhou, they would look for a good office location. Then, they would more or less be ready to conduct research and development.
After that, it would be time for Pei Qian to swipe his card.
Pei Qian had already paid twenty million yuan to Dream Realization Ventures yesterday.
November 1st and 8th were Mondays-profit distribution days for the various games.
During settlement on the 31st of last month, the System had topped up the System Funds with ten million yuan more. However, that did not mean that Pei Qian only had ten million yuan to work with. Ghost General, Ocean Stronghold, Game Designer, Repent and be Saved (including its foreign versions), and the mobile version of Bloody Battle Song… there were so many games generating income at the same time. Take the mobile version of Bloody Battle Song for example. Each month, it earned four to five million yuan. That meant it earned about two million yuan in two weeks.
Ghost General and Game Designer were in a similar situation. At the moment, Repent and be Saved was at the peak of its sales. The domestic and foreign versions had generated about seven or eight million yuan over two weeks.
Ocean Stronghold’s income was more stable than Repent and be Saved’s.
Apart from these, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and ROF—which were suffering the side effects of Pei Qian’s spending spree-were now generating profits as well. Not to mention Ming Yun Private Kitchen, which was ever so steady, and Zhongdian Chinese Network which was just starting to see outstanding results. Even if Pei Qian deducted the money that Upwind Logistics had been burning off for him, he would still have earned more than ten million yuan over the last two weeks altogether.
In one month, that would add up to about thirty thousand yuan.
This settlement cycle was going to last five months. Within these five months, the games’ income would rise and fall. The standalone games would definitely earn less, but web-based games like Bloody Battle Song and Ocean Stronghold had very long lifespans. They would be the main driving forces of Tengda’s income.
Thus, Pei Qian was not aiming to spend ten million yuan in five months; instead, he was aiming to spend 150 million yuan.
What’s more, this was only considering the profits he knew he would generate for now. What if another project suddenly succeeded before the next settlement? Pei Qian would be better off spending as much as possible, as soon as possible.
Even though the System allowed him to use fifty percent of the starting sum for charitable purposes, that would only be five million yuan.
Thus, Pei Qian still had to work h
ard to spend money.
Pei Qian was planning to split his funds among the various businesses on his hands. He started out by giving twenty million yuan to Dream Realization Ventures, so that Old Ma could warm up.
His main consideration was the fact that Ma Yang was still considered a youth who knew no fear. That was the best time for him to waste everything away. If he gave Ma Yang too little money in the beginning, the most he would be able to lose was one or two million yuan.
Yet, Ma Yang could learn lessons from those failures and invest in more successful projects in the future. Wouldn’t Pei Qian be done for, then?
Thus, Pei Qian decided to give Old Ma twenty million yuan upfront, so that he could spend as much as he wanted!
As the saying went, a fall into the pit was a gain in one’s wit. As long as they lost enough money in the beginning, Pei Qian did not need to worry that Old Ma would become smarter in the future.
Boss Pei would also make the other businesses share his burdens by maximizing all of their budgets.
Shang Yang Games would have to spend at least twenty million researching and developing the next horror game.
Although Pei Qian had not decided what game Tengda would produce next, Tengda was the head of the group of companies after all. With greater power came greater responsibilities. Thus, Pei Qian thought that making them spend fifty million yuan would not be ridiculous.
Fei Huang Workspace would be filming a movie. Although there was not much content to film and the movie would have low-production value, they could spend more money on special effects. It would be reasonable to make them spend thirty million yuan. As for the cell phone business… they were not planning to mass-produce their high-end models, but Pei Qian still thought it would be necessary to make an initial investment of twenty million yuan. Once he confirmed that nobody would buy their cell phones, he would pour more money into the business and produce even more stocks.
If he still could not finish spending all of his money, he would pour the remaining into the business that had not yet borne fruit. As much as possible, he would delay production until the next cycle.
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