After rebirth, I became a great master

Chapter 364 Dream Showcase
Zhou Haoran is the deputy director of the sales department.

To hold absolute power.

But they don't do any work.

At most, he allowed his junior apprentice, Qiao Nuo, to indirectly direct the sales department, which resulted in poor sales performance in the first half of the year.

That's normal.

The sales department's biggest star salesperson is Zhou Haoran himself.

If he doesn't sign contracts, how can his performance not be bad?
The reason they found Jiang Feibiao this time was to sign a big contract.

Total value: 480 million yuan!

Jiang Feibiao spent 80% of the marketing expenses of the Narcissus Electric Appliance Factory in the second half of the year on him.

"Sigh! Business has shrunk!"

Jiang Feibiao sighed.

Zhou Haoran asked knowingly, "What is it?"

Jiang Feibiao said, "The expenses of the out-of-town company are higher than its income, and it has become a burden. In the first half of the year, the out-of-town company lost more than 4700 million yuan. There is no other way but to lay off employees."

"That means we have to lay off employees!"

Zhou Haoran wanted to help, but he couldn't care less about the consequences.

Fortunately, the country is now calling for layoffs, so Narcissus Electric Appliances can close down or lay off its branches in other places, shrink its business and focus on doing well in the port market.

In the harbor, "Narcissus" remains a relatively competitive brand.

"The old men's skills are terrible!"

Jiang Feibiao was indignant about this.

"That's right, I'm out of touch with the times, we still need you!"

Zhou Haoran smiled and offered a compliment.

"Sigh!" Jiang Feibiao sighed deeply. "I'm just not up to the task. The old men won't delegate authority or give me a chance to showcase my talents. My family also thinks I'm too young and doesn't want me to take the lead. If I were the general manager, Shuixian Electric Appliances would have successfully transformed long ago!"

Zhou Haoran offered him coffee and said after a moment's thought, "President Jiang, let me be frank about our relationship. The market is changing too fast these days. Look at companies like Haier, Gree, Lenovo, and TCL. The reason they're doing so well is because they've implemented market-oriented reforms."

"Narcissus Electric Appliances is also undergoing modifications."

Jiang Feibiao coughed, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

They're all large state-owned enterprises, who's willing to make changes?

No change will be made; the shares belong to the state.

That means the Chiang family has the final say.

The change was made, and the shares were distributed.

With fewer state-owned shares, the Chiang family's influence diminished. A more complex board composition further weakened the Chiang family's power, leading to more external voices within the company.

There will be many outsiders to supervise and audit the accounts, making it much harder to cover up the truth.

The company is doing well, but the Jiang family is in trouble.

After the change, you'll have to rely on your abilities to become a general manager, not on your power.

If one becomes incompetent, power will soon slip away.

Zhou Haoran wouldn't get involved in state-owned enterprise reform; the waters there are too deep. He simply said, "President Jiang, what I mean is that, given the current situation, many of Shuixian Electric's products are finding it difficult to compete with some of the major brands in the market."

“Who can argue with that!” Jiang Feibiao sighed deeply. “Anyway, the company has already made its decision to shrink the market. We just need to focus on our local market in the harbor. All future advertising orders will be yours. We won’t be doing advertising outside of our local area.”

Zhou Haoran smiled and said, "President Jiang, I didn't come here for advertising orders."

"Ok?"

"I've discovered a major business opportunity that Mr. Jiang might be interested in."

"Really?"

Jiang Feibiao's eyes lit up, and he became excited.

Although he was a bit of a simpleton, he had a clear eye and knew that the young man in front of him had a good business sense.

Zhou Haoran said seriously, "In market competition, the appeal of Narcissus Electric Appliances will probably become less and less attractive. President Jiang, even if you personally take charge, it will be difficult to save this traditional industry."

"Huh? That's what my family said too. If I step in now, it won't make a difference, and I might even become a scapegoat for the failure of Narcissus Electric."

Jiang Feibiao burst into laughter.

I think this person really has good taste.

Zhou Haoran said, "So, Mr. Jiang, you need to open up new tracks and achieve results in new fields. That's where your territory truly lies. Coincidentally, I've recently gotten involved in a small business and have this kind of need."

"which aspect?"

Jiang Feibiao was very much looking forward to it.

Zhou Haoran said, "Smart card."

"what?"

Jiang Feibiao looked completely bewildered, not knowing what this thing was.

Zhou Haoran smiled and said, "IC phone card, Mr. Jiang has used one before, right?"

"No."

Jiang Feibiao shook his head.

Zhou Haoran coughed and said, "An IC phone card is a type of smart card. This is a contact smart card; I'm talking about a contactless smart card, which is equipped with an radio frequency chip."

"This is too high-tech! I don't understand it!"

Jiang Feibiao was completely ignorant, yet he thought it was very sophisticated.

Zhou Haoran laughed and said, "Smart cards are a bit high-tech, and China doesn't have that technology yet. But card reading devices are just an assembly business, which China can definitely do. However, this is a blank market in China. If you lead Shuixian Electric to open up this track, you can instantly achieve an industry monopoly."

What is a card reader?

Jiang Feibiao was dizzy.

Zhou Haoran said, "Just like IC phone cards, if you want to use a phone card, you need an IC phone. Many public phones on the street are card readers."

"You mean you want me to manufacture telephones?" Jiang Feibiao was startled. "How would I know how to do that?"

Zhou Haoran said, "Making a telephone isn't actually that difficult. It's just a matter of buying all the parts and assembling them together. You don't need to do R&D on those electronic components. You just need to have connections, get the permits to buy the goods, and then assemble them in a factory."

"That's it..."

Jiang Feibiao only half understood.

Zhou Haoran laughed and said, "Assembling a telephone is quite difficult, but many contactless IC card readers are small devices that are easy to assemble. It's like the public transport cards used in developed Western countries; there's a card reader on the bus. You swipe the card on the reader, and the fare is automatically deducted."

"Really?" Jiang Feibiao was a rich young man who had traveled abroad and taken some public transportation, but he had never taken a real public transportation.

Zhou Haoran was at a loss; he couldn't explain things clearly to someone who was such an amateur.

He needs to see the actual product with his own eyes.

I had no choice but to take him to school with me.

Call ahead and tell Ning Yuanjia to prepare.

"Hey bro, where's your Mercedes?"

Jiang Feibiao sat in his Xiali car and felt it was too shabby.

Zhou Haoran said with a smile, "I'm a scientist now, so I have to keep a low profile. A car is enough for me."

"the scientist?"

Jiang Feibiao burst into laughter.

Zhou Haoran said seriously, "The smart card I'm talking about is one that I developed myself. China didn't have this technology before, lagging behind foreign countries by more than a decade. I assembled a team at Fudan University to fill this gap in the country's capabilities."

Jiang Feibiao was stunned for a moment, "Are you serious?"

"Of course it's true, you'll see when you get there."

If Zhou Haoran wants to make his smart card business a success, he really needs to bring in a few more partners.

It's absolutely impossible to do it alone.

Take, for example, the public transport card for the harbor.

Without the background of a state-owned enterprise and strong connections, even if it is a representative of domestically developed products and has the backing of Fudan University, it would be difficult to secure such a large order.

It would be even more impossible for them to achieve an industry monopoly.

Jiang Feibiao is a complete idiot.

Easy to control.

I went to Fudan University.

Seeing that Zhou Haoran was familiar with the route and even had a travel permit, Jiang Feibiao believed him halfway and said in surprise, "You've really become a scientist?"

"You underestimate me, don't you?" Zhou Haoran laughed heartily. "Come on, get out of the car! Let's go test our technological achievements!"

There were actually no significant technological achievements.

He's an outsider, so you wouldn't understand even if you explained it to him.

Just show him something he can understand.

Dr. Ning Yuanjia personally took the stage to demonstrate.

"Mr. Jiang, look at this card... It's a multi-functional card that can be used for attendance tracking. Look at the computer."

Ning Yuanjia held the card in his hand, swiped it against the card reader on the table next to the computer, and a "ding" sound was heard.

Less than a second.

A large photo appeared in the computer's attendance system.

It was Ning Yuanjia himself.

His personal information, such as name, age, gender, and job title, was also displayed next to it.

Ning Yuanjia smiled and said, "This card contains my personal information, so it shows my name."

Jiang Feibiao's eyes widened, truly impressed by the power of technology. His face flushed as he said, "Is this an attendance system? Employees won't need to sign in anymore. They just swipe this card on the device, and it shows up on the computer, right?"

"What President Jiang said is absolutely right!"

Ning Yuanjia was quite good at flattery.

Jiang Feibiao then took several other people's cards from the side and swiped them several times, as if conducting an experiment.

Sure enough, each time the page was swiped, the computer system would display the corresponding person's information.

"Amazing! Amazing!" Jiang Feibiao exclaimed excitedly, as if he had discovered a new continent. He looked at Zhou Haoran and said, "Brother, this is great, this is fantastic! Narcissus Electric Appliances wants to adopt your system!"

"Easy to say."

Zhou Haoran chuckled. In this day and age, for laymen who have never been exposed to IT, a simple attendance system is enough to make them feel incredibly satisfied.

Jiang Feibiao found this incredible demonstration hard to believe. "Did you really develop this system?"

Zhou Haoran pointed to some people next to him, "My labmates and I made it together."

"Are you really a scientist?"

Jiang Feibiao looked astonished.

I felt a deep sense of respect.

Thanks to years of propaganda and public opinion in China, scientists hold a unique and lofty position in the public's mind.

Zhou Haoran laughed and said, "This isn't over yet! The attendance system is only part of it; there's more over there."

Ning Yuanjia introduced, "President Jiang, let's go over there first. That's the display stand for the library's book borrowing system. It's the same card, but it can integrate many functions."

Here at the book lending system display stand.

The effect is about the same.

After swiping the card, the user's personal information is displayed, along with information on the books borrowed under their name.

"awesome!"

Jiang Feibiao didn't quite understand this; he didn't know how complex the technology behind using one card for multiple purposes was.

When they arrived at the next booth, Jiang Feibiao became excited again.

This is the booth for the cafeteria meal card system.

Ning Yuanjia took the card, swiped it on the card reader, and the small screen displayed a balance of 865 yuan. He then entered 4 yuan using the number keys on the back of the card reader and confirmed.

Then the payment was deducted, and I had 861 yuan left in my card.

This is the front-end operation.

There was also a computer next to it, displaying information from the backend database, which was also updating the data in real time. There was no need to show that much more; he wouldn't understand it anyway.

"I've seen this before; it's the same kind of card in the police canteen!"

Jiang Feibiao finally found familiar territory.

Zhou Haoran laughed and said, "That's different. The cafeteria card you mentioned is a magnetic stripe card, which is outdated technology and needs to be upgraded. Mine is a smart card, which is the mainstream choice now and in the future!"

(End of this chapter)