King of Technology: A Fresh Start in 1983

When Zhang Wei stood at the door of the office of the director of the Qin Province Transportation Design Institute, Director Guo was sitting upright at his large desk, holding several documents in his hand.

Hearing a noise at the door, Dean Guo looked up and saw Zhang Wei. He waved and said, "Xiao Zhang, come in, come in. I thought you had already left."

Zhang Wei didn't mention that he had made a round trip within two days. He walked up to Dean Guo and said, "I visited several computer companies yesterday..."

Dean Guo nodded, then invited Zhang Wei to the sofa and skillfully and attentively brewed tea.

He used tongs to pick up the small teacup, rinsed it, and then poured it out. After warming the cup, he picked up the small teapot and swirled it around on the tea tray several times.

Then arrange the four small teacups in a row and water them back and forth like watering flowers.

Then, he held a small teacup between his thumb and middle finger and placed it in front of Zhang Wei.

He laughed and said, "This is my own Guo-style Kung Fu tea. It's a simplified version of the local methods used in Fujian and Guangdong provinces, only good for fooling laymen like you."

"When you arrive in Tangcheng, you can come anytime. My door is always open."

Zhang Wei was thinking about how to get to the point when Dean Guo seemed to guess what he was thinking…

He said bluntly, "Xiao Zhang, based on the years of friendship I've shared with Lao Li during our time working in the countryside, it's not that I don't want to help you."

"In organizations like ours, the right to purchase and use computers mainly lies with the business departments. At best, I can only offer limited support."

"Even if I swallow my pride and beg the sales department to get them to buy it for you, they might not necessarily agree."

"After all, it's their department's budget that's being used..."

"But what if it helps them make money?"

Zhang Wei suddenly threw out this question to Dean Guo.

Seeing the other party's surprise, he quickly explained, "What I mean is, if buying computers would benefit all the employees in the business department and the design institute, they wouldn't object to your offer, right?"

Dean Guo stared at Zhang Wei for a while, then suddenly smiled.

He pointed to the door: "Xiao Zhang, my door is wide open. You're quite brazen about it, aren't you?"

"Your company is a legitimate company that undertakes national-level projects, and you are a professional technician. You can't engage in bribery or corruption."

"To be honest, even if you wanted to, you couldn't beat them. You might as well keep a clean reputation."

Zhang Wei quickly said, "Dean Guo, you misunderstand. I didn't mean anything shady."

"My idea is to transform our relationship with the Qinshui Provincial Transportation Design Institute from a buyer-seller relationship into an industry partnership..."

"Industry partners?" Dean Guo was surprised.

Zhang Wei nodded: "For example, if our two companies set up a joint venture, the design institute can buy computers through this joint venture."

"We don't want the profits to go to outsiders. The more computers we buy, the more money the joint venture makes, and the more bonuses the design institute's employees will receive."

Dean Guo pointed at Zhang Wei: "Don't think that just because I'm old, I can take advantage of you and think I'm not as smart as you think."

"There's also money from Tiangong in the joint venture. The design institute gets a lot of dividends, so you get a lot too."

"The money comes from the sheep, and in the end, it all goes to the design institute."

"Dean Guo, please rest assured! Tiangong will absolutely not take a single penny of profit or dividends from the joint venture, and will even help the joint venture make money."

Dean Guo stared at Zhang Wei for a long time, completely baffled.

Zhang Wei continued, "Dean Guo, let me give you an example and do some calculations."

"The market price of a microcomputer is, for example, 20,000 yuan. The design institute pays this amount when it buys one from a computer company in Tangcheng. 20,000 yuan only gets you one microcomputer."

"If the design institute buys it from the joint venture, although it will pay the same amount to the joint venture, the joint venture will make a profit in exchange for a microcomputer."

"Because the joint venture gets its goods from our Tiangong Company at a nationally unified agency price of 17,000 yuan, the joint venture earns the difference of 3,000 yuan in that price."

"In this way, the design institute has not violated any laws or regulations."

"As for the money earned by the joint venture, that's the legitimate profit from the legal operation of the design institute's affiliated companies. What can others say?"

"That's what they say. On the surface, the design institute is still spending money to buy computers as usual, and the joint venture is just reselling computers as usual."

"But that three thousand yuan in the middle still easily makes people think of kickbacks..."

Dean Guo hesitated and said, "There is a policy risk involved, and it is no small matter for the design institute to invest in setting up a joint venture. I estimate that the leaders of the Transportation Bureau will find it difficult to make this decision."

"The bureau leaders don't need to make a decision,"

Zhang Wei said with a smile, "As long as all the employees of the design institute are determined, and as long as the employee representative assembly approves it, that's fine."

Dean Guo was taken aback, thought for a moment, but couldn't figure out what the mystery was.

He asked, somewhat displeased, "Xiao Zhang, what are you planning?"

"Dean Guo, I understand your concerns. There is a way to avoid these two problems."

"First of all, if the money earned by the joint venture is controlled by the bureau leaders or institute leaders, it may indeed cause controversy."

"But if this money is enjoyed by all the staff of the design institute and doesn't become the personal property of any individual, who can say anything against it?"

"Furthermore, the joint venture does not require the design institute to be involved; its subordinate tertiary industries can all be parties to the joint venture."

"Moreover, there is a more suitable department, but it depends on whether the bureau can make the decision."

The room was quiet. Dean Guo had long forgotten about the Kung Fu tea incident. After pondering for a moment, he asked, "You mean... the trade union?"

"That's right, Dean Guo. Is there anything more legitimate than the labor union to represent the interests of the vast majority of cadres and employees?"

"The union includes retired cadres, so the previous bureau leaders will definitely not have any objections."

"The union also includes current leaders who will be retiring in the future, so they will know that the decisions they made during their term will not be forgotten after they leave office."

"It is a good thing and an innovation for the labor union to take the lead in establishing a stock ownership association for all employees to benefit the majority of employees. It may be promoted to the entire transportation system in the future."

Dean Guo asked, "Can labor unions establish joint ventures?"

"Yes, Dean Guo. The Trade Union Law was just promulgated and implemented in April this year."

"Our union only needs to go through a simple approval and registration process to become a legal entity with independent civil capacity, so of course we can invest and start a company."

Dean Guo, clearly already in character, pressed on, "So how will we divide it between us?"

Zhang Wei said with a smile, "Our attitude at Tiangong is very clear: we will not hold a controlling stake, we will not send anyone, and we will not audit the accounts."

"All we ask is that the joint venture guarantees to source its goods from Tiangong."