King of Technology: A Fresh Start in 1983

Dean Guo hesitated: "But the problem is, our union doesn't have much money coming up right now, and it will take time to get all the staff to raise funds..."

"Don't worry about that."

Zhang Wei lowered his voice: "Even Tiangong can't come up with the money."

"It was just an order placed with Tiangong under the name of the joint venture."

"The payment from the design institute goes through its financial accounts. Once the order is completed, the profit remaining in its accounts can be used as the registered capital of the joint venture."

Dean Guo was overjoyed: "I never imagined that the labor union could actually do something like this..."

"That's interesting. This is all thanks to the reform and opening up! And you, Xiao Zhang, are also thanks to you."

Dean Guo suddenly seemed to remember something, and frowned. "Do Lao Li and your General Manager Chen know about all of this you've been talking about?"

"Of course, I spent half the day on long-distance calls with them yesterday, and every word I said was at their behest."

Zhang Wei smiled again, "Except for not being able to sign for them, I can represent them in everything else."

Dean Guo lowered his eyelids and pondered for a moment, then made up his mind and said, "Alright, I'll call a few people over to discuss it. Let's do it right away, and if we're going to do it, let's do it well!"

He walked to the large desk, made a few internal calls, and then returned to sit on the sofa to wait.

Dean Guo suddenly asked, "Xiao Zhang, how old are you this year?"

Zhang Wei immediately replied, "Twenty-seven."

Dean Guo smiled and nodded: "The younger generation is truly formidable..."

...

Two weeks later, Zhao Xiaobo was reporting to Chen Jianghe in his office when Zhang Wei suddenly pushed open the door, holding a roll of fax paper and shouting:

"General Manager Chen, General Manager Zhao, the first batch of orders from the Qinjiang Provincial Transportation Design Institute has arrived. Guess how many units they need?"

"Didn't you already report this? One hundred and seventy units," Zhao Xiaobo said with a smile.

"Wrong! It's two hundred and seventy units!"

Zhang Wei couldn't contain his joy and spread the fax paper out on Chen Jianghe's desk.

Zhao Xiaobo looked incredulous and quickly leaned over to check, muttering, "Wasn't it supposed to be 170 units? How come there's 100 more..."

"Isn't more a good thing? Look here, the total amount!"

Chen Jianghe tapped on the fax machine with his finger and said to Zhao Xiaobo, "Are 170 units really worth that much money?!"

Then he asked Zhang Wei, "Xiao Zhang, tell me, what happened?"

Zhang Wei chuckled: "I didn't expect them to actually do it!"

"When we were compiling the demand statistics for each department, someone said that the batch of computers we bought last year had too low a configuration and suggested that we simply sell them to the employees at a low price so that they could take them home for their children to use for learning, and then buy a new batch to supplement the supply."

"At the time, Dean Guo felt that this was not a good idea and suggested that the replacements be made in the second batch. It seems that he ultimately couldn't persuade his subordinates otherwise."

"This tactic is incredibly effective, it works like a charm! They even replaced nearly new machines with brand new ones. It seems those people are even more eager to make money than we are!"

Zhao Xiaobo couldn't help but exclaim, "It seems that this kind of cooperative relationship is truly a great magic weapon; just look at their enthusiasm."

Zhang Wei chuckled: "I heard from Dean Guo that all the staff of the design institute have mobilized and are going door-to-door in the transportation system to promote our microcomputers."

Chen Jianghe gave Zhang Wei a thumbs up: "This is all thanks to Xiao Zhang. One inspiration brings a new model, and one new model opens up a huge market."

Zhang Wei said somewhat embarrassedly, "President Chen, we've been following up on the Qin Province Transportation Design Institute's project for several months..."

"If it weren't for Professor Li's connections, and if it weren't for the inspiration you gave about employee stock ownership, I really wouldn't have been able to come up with any good solutions right now."

Zhao Xiaobo said with a smile, "You should think carefully about whether you can press your advantage and expand your gains. When luck comes, you can't stop it."

"Yes, Mr. Zhao, what I'm thinking about now is whether this partnership model is replicable..."

"If it works, I will further promote it in the three major regions I am in charge of, hoping to create a chain reaction."

"Developing industry distributors through joint ventures has a significant advantage."

Chen Jianghe continued, "Our relationship with our clients is no longer a simple business transaction but rather that of affiliated companies, so we don't have to worry about our agents turning against us one day."

"Yes! This is how you build a channel that will build loyalty and people will definitely follow you."

Zhang Wei continued, "This is what I think: they buy our desktop computers now, and they will buy our laptops in the future."

Upon hearing Zhang Wei's words, Chen Jianghe couldn't help but glance at Zhao Xiaobo.

Zhao Xiaobo probably didn't understand Chen Jianghe's meaning. He picked up the fax, walked to the door, and called out to the busy employees outside:

"Attention everyone, Xiao Zhang just signed the largest industry order in the history of Tiangong."

"To celebrate, after dinner tonight we're all going bowling at the Lido Hotel. The company will pay. Who's signing up?"

The office erupted in cheers and jubilation.

Zhang Wei came out of the room, bowed to everyone, and said repeatedly, "I'm sorry, I'm just so lucky. Thank you all for your support. I've finally struck it lucky."

Chen Jianghe stepped forward and loudly emphasized, "Each person is limited to two games; any additional games will be charged separately!"

Some people laughed, while others exaggeratedly feigned disappointment.

Chen Jianghe gave Zhao Xiaobo a wink, then called him back to the room, closed the door, and asked, "Did you mention to Xiao Zhang that we were going to work on the laptop project?"

"No, I've never said that. Why bring it up when nothing's even started?"

Zhao Xiaobo asked, somewhat puzzled, "Why did you suddenly think of asking this?"

"Didn't you hear that? He said he'd sell our laptops in the future."

"I just said it offhand, it was just a casual remark."

"No, he must have had this idea clearly in his mind, otherwise he wouldn't have said it so naturally and naturally."

"I just thought about it carefully, and this is the first time that anyone in the company, apart from you, me, Engineer Zhou, Professor Li and the technical department, has proposed to make laptops, and so early at that."

Zhao Xiaobo laughed and said, "That Zhang fellow, he really thinks far ahead."

"That's because," Chen Jianghe thought for a moment and said seriously, "that from the very beginning, he considered the problem from Tiangong's perspective."

...

Compared to Zhang Wei's hardships in sales, Zhan Yiling was practically treated like royalty by her clients.

For most projects, Zhang Wei couldn't even get shortlisted, let alone win the bid.

On the contrary, thanks to IBM's renowned reputation and leading position in the industry, clients would proactively invite IBM to participate in any project.

While it's uncertain how sincere the client is, and whether IBM will actually win the bid, at least Zhan Yiling never worries about not getting involved.

...