The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

The issue of succession by the second generation has troubled countless Chinese entrepreneurs.

This can be described as a historical problem, one that has existed since ancient times.

An An entered Snack Run for an internship without letting many people know, relying solely on the president's office secretariat for the arrangement.

What I saw was this shocking scene.

The company's veterans felt they had made great contributions to the company's development, and now their children had grown up.

Is it unreasonable to assign him a management position?
It may not seem excessive, but once such a position is assigned, it can easily disrupt the balance of the group.

This renders the fairness and justice that have always been emphasized completely obsolete.

No matter how hard ordinary people work, when it comes to getting promoted, the positions above them have already been arranged by others.

As a year or two passed, the group's culture gradually became corrupt and unbearable.

An'an called her father and asked him how to handle this situation.

Chen Pingsheng said it was up to her.

She will make all the decisions herself, and she will also bear the consequences of the outcome.

An An only stayed at Snack Run for a week, but she already discovered countless problems.

Putting aside the contradictions in these issues, they are all created by human beings.

The biggest contradiction stems from the fact that capable newcomers are unable to advance, while the older employees, after achieving financial freedom, are far less dedicated than they were at the beginning.

She even went around investing in stocks and searching for projects in related fields to throw money at.

Then they used the "Snack Run" platform to make huge profits for themselves.

To put it bluntly, it's like transferring profits from one hand to the other, using various affiliated companies to transfer corporate profits and resources.

An'an wanted to investigate this area and even wanted to expel most of the company's associates.

After returning to Taiyi Manor, she summoned Shen Youwei and Zhao Yingying, who had been following her.

They also brought together three female college students to discuss the matter.

The first question Shen Youwei asked was, "Will your dad come to support us in person?"

An An shook her head. "No, my dad's focus is entirely on the technology field right now. It's no exaggeration to say that this snack spree is nothing to him. Even if it has to be shut down because of this, he won't suffer any loss."

"That would be very difficult."

Shen Youwei remained silent for a moment and said, "Putting aside whether your decision is right or wrong, such a big problem has occurred in the group, which cannot be accomplished by one or two senior executives. There are likely a large number of long-time employees in the group involved, and they are all connected in a network. An'an, you have just taken over the company, and your prestige and status in the group have not yet been established. If you want to fire all the people with connections at once, or even touch those long-time employees, it will only make people say that you are ungrateful and discard them after they have served their purpose. Moreover, there is a high probability that you will not be able to touch so many people unless your father comes to support you personally."

Running a business is not easy, just like being an emperor in ancient times. It's not as simple as just sitting on the throne and getting rid of the ministers below you.

It was because he had that prestige, and most people were willing to listen to him, that he was qualified to take action against the senior officials below him.

It's obvious that An'an currently lacks that authority.

Under such circumstances, it is simply unrealistic to force the group to undergo radical reforms.

Those interest groups at the bottom can easily form a large network.

This large net will restrict her movements, making it difficult for her to move an inch.

Many companies have experienced similar situations when the second generation takes over the business.

That is, a direct conflict between the group's veterans and heirs like An'an.

Only a very small number of people succeed in this process; most second-generation leaders fail miserably.

"What should I do?"

An An is still too young and inexperienced to handle such a big matter.

Moreover, she knew that Shen Youwei was absolutely right; her father used to do things like that all the time.

Just because her father can do it doesn't mean she can.

Her father was able to succeed because he built the entire group himself.

It can be said that his father was the biggest contributor to the group, and all the senior employees were promoted by him.

Naturally, no one dared to disobey him. An'an was different; she was the type to reap the benefits without sowing.

She was able to take over such a large group entirely because she is the daughter of the big boss.

It's not about how capable she is; there's an inherent contradiction in that.

The fact that the senior members of the group dared to tell her that the overall backwardness of the traditional sector was mainly due to her father was also the main reason.

If her father were sitting there, who would dare to say such a thing?

An'an sat there, and others dared to say that it was because they didn't take her seriously at all.

They immediately put her in a tough spot upon arrival.

Is it really true that her father caused the traditional sector to fall behind in all aspects?

Putting aside the fact that the big boss has completely relinquished power, these veterans of the group are all racking their brains to put the group's profits into their own pockets.

This isn't something the big boss ordered them to do, is it?

It can only be said that after the big boss relinquished power, these people have all shown their true colors, and few can resist the temptation of huge profits.

These questions are indeed too difficult.

This is also a true test of whether An'an has the ability to inherit the family business.

The problem is already quite clear: it is the inherent conflict of interest between the second generation of successors and the group's veterans.

One wants to innovate, while the other doesn't need to and thinks maintaining the status quo is fine.

If the group's stock price is low, it only affects the income of shareholders.

These executives still manage to make a fortune from all sorts of affiliated companies.

Any attempt to move them would trigger a collective resistance from the elderly members of these groups.

It could easily paralyze a huge snack group.

This is no exaggeration.

Because these senior employees have a large management team below them, and many of them were promoted by them.

In such a culture, the key to getting them to improve is to make them obedient.

Instead of listening to the boss, they listened to their own words.

This net is unlikely to form in a short time, and once it has formed over a long period, it will be difficult to break it apart.

That would be extremely difficult.

At least given An'an's current status, without her father's absolute support...

She simply cannot break through it.

You'll only be forced to listen to these old people's opinions.

An An had seen her father reform his own company before, and he would often fire a large number of managers.

Then a new corporate decree was issued.

She thought that as long as she sat in that position, she could easily achieve it.

It turns out that it wasn't just about sitting in that seat; the person in that seat had to be her father.

When she came up on her own, she was clearly no match for him; that's probably the difference!

An'an was at a loss; she really wanted to move, but didn't know where to start.

If no one is willing to listen to her, things will only get more chaotic, and it's far better to maintain the status quo.

It can only be said that running a large enterprise is never a simple matter.

She used to think it was simple, simply because her father had carried the burden for her all along.

She now thinks it's not simple because her father has given her free rein to manage things.

(End of this chapter)