“Thus, until now, most of Tengda’s businesses—apart from its games, movies, cell phone, and the like—are still concentrated within Jingzhou City and Handong Province at the most.
“While many young companies choose to focus on super first-tier cities in particular, Tengda steers clear of them.
“Many people think that Tengda’s strategy is stupid. Why? Take their internet cafes for example. If they channel all their funds into opening more internet cafes across the country, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe would have a greater market share, and it might earn tens of times of its income. When the time comes for it to be listed, how much more could the company make?
“Yet, recently, fewer and fewer people have been echoing this thought. Why? That’s because most people have come to realize the merits of Tengda’s business model.
“We have noticed that Tengda’s various physical industries work together to support and help one another. No decision to enter a new field would be made hastily. Obviously, each decision is deliberate and well thought-through.
“What disadvantages are there to such a business model? Slow results.
“The company is depending on its own funds and only expanding when it has spare cash. Of course, this would take much longer to yield results than the conventional business model. Many companies would have raised several rounds of funds in a year or two, thus increasing their market share by sixty to seventy percent or even more. On the other hand, while Tengda’s physical industries are quite significant in size, they have not fully moved out of Handong Province.
“Its rate of expansion in a certain field cannot be compared to conventional models.
“However, what are the merits of such a business model? A solid foundation!
“You would find that the businesses are interconnected and interdependent. That forms an extremely stable and closed loop.
“Each time a new business is launched, customers of the other businesses would be channeled over. That would easily resolve the problems that most start-ups face. Once customers get used to that new business, they would become more loyal. Even if competitors start price wars, they might not be able to win customers over!
“Of course, between the two business models, neither is better than the other. Both could succeed, but it’s obvious that Tengda Corporation’s model is more stable and reliable. Once it’s formed, it would be unshakable.
“That’s why I think that Tengda Corporation has different ambitions.
“Many companies now think about burning money to create data and attract more investments. Then, they would seek to be bought over by larger companies for their founders to achieve financial freedom.
“Is that kind of behavior right? I won’t comment, but it’s certainly too short-sighted. Such business models would definitely not become commercial giants.
“On the other hand, Tengda’s business model is especially stable because it takes things one step at a time! Its end goal is to become a super-large enterprise with an extreme ability to fend against risks. Its future competitors would be multinational behemoths like Shenhua Corporation and Pineapple.
“Boss Pei’s goal is obviously not to sell the company off so that he can achieve financial freedom. His real goal is to fight the big guns.
“Such far-sightedness and patience are lacking in most entrepreneurs and are exactly what I want to encourage and promote.”
The host, Wang Zheping, nodded. “Professor Bai, do you think other companies can learn from or replicate Tengda’s business model?”
Bai Qimiao shook his head. “It’ll be very difficult.
“Tengda Corporation is able to adopt such a model because its founder, Boss Pei, is far-sighted and good at planning. At the same time, the group has Tengda Games to provide endless funding and support the group’s wide range.
“Other companies that want to adopt such a model could end up rupturing the entire company’s capital chain once a single project fails. The risk is too high!
“Then again, that goes to show how valuable Tengda Corporation is. We should really cherish private enterprises like that.”
The host, Wang Zheping, nodded again. “Professor Bai, Tengda’s slogan is the title of this episode. What do you think about it?”
Professor Bai Qimiao smiled subtly. “That’s a very interesting slogan that perfectly describes Tengda Corporation.
“To me, there are two ways to understand this sentence:
“First, it is directed to all users, telling them to believe that Tengda is a surprising enterprise that can create miracles.
“Customers must always believe that Tengda will surprise them.
“That’s because Boss Pei’s plan is so complex. At first glance, most of his businesses don’t seem related. That’s why it would make people feel ‘strange’.
“However, once the secret is revealed, people would feel that it was unexpected but reasonable.
“Second, it’s directed to employees to cultivate a positive attitude and acknowledgment of risk among them.
“A foreign economist once proposed the ‘black swan theory’. It’s complicated, so I won’t go too deep into it.
“That slogan perfectly fits the theory.
“Always believe that strange things are about to happen. That’s an emphasis on the co-existence of opportunity and risk. We have to be ever ready to grasp opportunities and to meet risks.
“Sometimes, the things you don’t know are more meaningful than the things you do.
“I think it’s that high awareness of risk that causes Boss Pei to attach great importance to avoiding it. That’s what drove him to create the embryonic form of a special business empire like Tengda Corporation.”
The host, Wang Zheping, nodded for the last time. “Alright. Thank you for giving us such an in-depth analysis of Tengda Corporation’s business model, Professor Bai. Professor Bai, what kind of guidance do you think this episode of Financial Observation would provide for other businessmen out there?”
After some thought, Bai Qimiao said, “It’s quite impossible to imitate Tengda’s business model, but other businesses can try to work together with Tengda more.
“I think that, given Boss Pei’s awareness of risk and Tengda’s defense against risk, Tengda Corporation would make an excellent working partner!
“Working together with a businessman like that would be much better than working together with those who can only think about burning money and selling their companies!”
…
At that point, the people on the 11th and 12th stories of the Sloth Apartments in Dawn of Prosperous City fell silent.
While Pei Qian’s mind was filled with question marks, Li Shi’s was filled with exclamation marks.
Li Shi was only now realizing a very serious problem.
Soon, many companies would be rushing to work with Tengda. The benefits that would have belonged to him would soon be snatched away by them!
On the other hand, Pei Qian was also realizing a very serious problem.
He had originally thought about setting an empty pot over the fire. However, Boss Li had inexplicably arrived with a portion of ingredients, forced them into Pei Qian’s mouth, and willingly drunk the soup.
Now, more and more people were going to bring their own ingredients and drink their share of soup!
Pei Qian could almost picture himself miserably choking on all the meat.
The only good news was that settlement would take place tomorrow. No matter how much meat he ate, he would only suffer the consequences in the next cycle.
On the night before settlement, Pei Qian had mixed feelings.
There was a hint of sadness as well.
Was it that hard to incur losses in secret?
Chapter 671 - Settlement
September 30th, Friday…
Settlement was about to begin. Pei Qian was feeling both tired and apprehensive.
After trying as hard as he could to spend money for a week—especially after o
pening up as many branches as he could and investing more money into Otto Technologies, Pei Qian finally managed to deplete his System Funds until 8.74 million yuan remained. That was already quite a miracle.
The starting sum for this cycle had been twenty million yuan. At the moment, Pei Qian was still unsure exactly how much he had lost.
That was because he still had to add the value of his fixed assets.
The System’s fixed assets value was not updated in real time. It would only be refreshed once at the time of purchase and then once more on each settlement date.
Still, Pei Qian guessed that there would not be too big of a problem.
Up to this point, Pei Qian had the villa in Ming Yun Villas that he had bought very early on, as well as four other buildings. Each had been valued at 8.61 million, 32 million, 20 million, and 8.1 million yuan x 2.
After some calculation, Pei Qian estimated that the total value of his fixed assets would come up to 76.81 million yuan this time. In other words, it would translate to about 7.68 million yuan more in the System Funds.
If all went well, he would probably be able to convert (874+768-2000) x 0.1 = 360 thousand yuan.
On top of that, he had been given a special mission. Even if he could not deduct the entire quota, he would still be able to deduct a portion of it. Then, he would not have worked in vain during this cycle.
The system screen automatically appeared in front of Pei Qian.
Pei Qian was stunned. His mind began to fill with question marks.
“???”
What the hell?
His Fixed Assets had only been worth 76 million yuan before this. How did it become 96 million yuan?
Pei Qian quickly looked closely at the details and realized that every building had appreciated to a certain extent!
The two buildings at Binhu District had appreciated from eight million yuan to twelve million yuan. The building in Dawn of Prosperous City where Pei Qian himself stayed had appreciated from 32 million yuan to 39 million yuan. Even the villa at Ming Yun Villas and the semi-commercial building at Shundong Gardens had appreciated.
All in all, there had been an increase in value of close to twenty million yuan. As a result, the expected losses for this settlement was reduced from 3.58 million yuan to 1.63 million yuan!
In other words, Pei Qian would only get a petty 195 thousand yuan in his Personal Wealth this time.
Pei Qian smacked his forehead as the color drained from his face.
This is bad!
Something has gone terribly wrong during this cycle!
The villa at Ming Yun Villas had appreciated because the nameless restaurant had become popular. Thus, the value of the entire area increased.
The other buildings went without saying. On one hand, they had been affected by Sloth Apartments’ fame. On the other hand, it was because they had been renovated.
Pei Qian had bought the three buildings in Dawn of Prosperous City and Binhu District for an extremely low price. The one in Binhu District, especially, had remained vacant for several years and ended up dilapidated. Each building had only cost five hundred thousand yuan.
Yet, now, the buildings in Binhu District had been styled and renovated by a designer. That explained the significant improvement in the environment and the jump in their prices. Now, they were worth about as much as other buildings in the market and probably even more!
Pei Qian had originally thought that, even if the actual value at settlement differed from his expectations, it would not differ that much. However, from the looks of the current situation, he had been very wrong.
Two hundred thousand yuan of his Personal Wealth had disappeared just like that. Pei Qian wanted to vomit blood badly.
That was even more painful than being stabbed in the back ten thousand times!
Yet, he had no time to grieve. The screen continued to flash past in his vision.
Pei Qian was stunned, and then he became elated.
Full completion?
At first, he had not been hopeful about completing this mission. He had thought that it would be good enough to deduct about two or three million yuan. Never would he have thought that he would be able to deduct the full amount!
As for how he managed to achieve ‘full completion’, Pei Qian guessed that it could be attributed to several factors:
He had successfully spent 1.6 million yuan worth of course fees and that showed that the System recognized He An and Qiu Hong’s true capabilities.
He An and Qiu Hong had not held back a single bit of knowledge when teaching Pei Qian. Instead, they had imparted every bit of valuable information to him.
Pei Qian’s understanding of games—and his own games in particular—had improved by a whole tier. Now, he had a more holistic view of game design concepts, the development of domestically-produced games, and so on.
In other words, Pei Qian had been blindly producing games before this without any knowledge whatsoever; now, Pei Qian was still blindly producing games, but he knew much more.
The System judged the outcome of Pei Qian’s learning by comparing his knowledge bank before and after the cycle.
In the past, Pei Qian could be likened to a child in elementary school, who had passed a university examination by guessing blindly. Now, his knowledge bank was comparable to that of a pupil in middle school. Although he was still blindly answering the university examination, the System could still recognize an improvement.
He could only say that life was full of surprises.
Without any hesitation, Pei Qian chose to deduct that amount from the System Funds. He had worked so hard to incur losses during this cycle to obtain this reward for the special mission!
If he added the 12.8 million yuan to the System Funds, he would only get ten thousand yuan more in his Personal Wealth. However, if he deducted it, he would get much more money!
At that point, Pei Qian patted his chest and heaved a long sigh of relief.
Life was filled with ups and downs, and it was terrifying!
At first, he had thought that he would only be able to get 160 thousand yuan. However, the special mission gave him 1.14 million yuan
in the end.
Pei Qian had over nine hundred thousand yuan in his Personal Wealth earlier. Ordinarily, he did not spend much either, but he could not avoid spending altogether. To take advantage of the System, he had to link his expenses with the company and then report them to the finance department. It could be a tedious process, and saving a few hundred yuan was hardly worth it.
On top of that, he received about forty to fifty thousand yuan from the sale of Ruan’s skins every month. At the moment, that sum was not increasing significantly.
That couldn’t be helped. Pei Qian himself had been cheated by GOG’s pricing model.
Since Ruan was a product of crowdsourcing, gamers could buy his skins at a huge discount whenever new ones were released. Although they would subsequently be sold at the original price, few people would buy them by then.
What’s more, GOG was focused on the overseas market at the moment. New heroes were still consistently being released by Hurricane Comic Company, and each hero needed new skins. Naturally, the research and development team could not afford to keep producing new skins for Ruan.
Thus, even after three months, the money that Pei Qian earned from the sale of the skins had only come up to about a hundred thousand or so. It had not been as exciting as Pei Qian expected.
Still, he was satisfied. Why should he complain? That was not a small sum.
It was time to redeem his mysterious reward.
Ever since the System was upgraded to version 2.0, Pei Qian had been offered a benefit at the end of every cycle. If he could convert up to two hundred thousand yuan of funds, he would be able to claim a mysterious reward.
There were all types of mysterious rewards. For example, the mysterious reward for the previous cycle was the special mission for this cycle.
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