Chapter 620: Chapter 27: Counterattack
Chapter 27: Prepare for Counterattack
(A recommendation for new readers: an old completed book, "Legend of Enchanting Encounter," book number 78191. No need to say more, ten million clicks on the urban theme is the best evidence from fellow readers! Click on "Author Information" or "Paradise Yu" on the homepage for a link.)
For two consecutive days, Yurong was busy, facing the biggest external crisis test for Paradise Group since she became CEO!
She has been CEO for more than a year, and initially, the main challenges were internal conflicts within the company. Although she is the daughter of Zhang Tianyi, has founded her own company, and held key positions within the group, her age was too young. Managing a multi-billion-dollar group at the age of 24 made it hard to gain respect from some executives and to reassure the shareholders.
In Yun Country, credence and experience have always been emphasized, especially successful experience. This is inherently correct, as in management, credence and experience are very important; they help avoid detours, provide direct references when problems arise, and the process of accumulating experience is also a process of enhancing comprehensive skills and expanding and accumulating connections.
However, some people’s thoughts are overly stubborn and partial, thinking that since they’ve crossed more bridges and eaten more salt than others have walked roads or eaten rice, they must be better. In fact, that is only one factor, and more experience does not necessarily equate to greater ability.
Moreover, because Zhang Tianyi clearly established early on that he did not want Paradise Group to become a family-run enterprise, he did not support or insert many relatives into high positions within the company. Whether it was relatives on Zhang Tianyi’s side or Yang Yun’s maternal relatives, those who worked at Paradise Group all contributed according to their capabilities. Zhang Tianyi only gave them a priority opportunity, and did not place them in important positions. He did not regard them as confidantes because of the family relationship; his policy was to manage the company with talent, not with confidantes.
Therefore, the high-level executives included various talents, such as Hai Fu, who rose quickly through ranks from grassroots and demonstrated capability, but there were few family relatives. This meant that when Yurong took the helm, she couldn’t rely on a clique of confidantes for stability; she had to demonstrate her own ability!
But apart from credence, everyone recognizes Yurong’s abilities. Plus, although Zhang Tianyi had health issues, he had not fully stepped down yet, and he remained as Chairman of the Board. This gave all shareholders and executives a bit of a trial and hope. With Zhang Tianyi overseeing, even if Yurong made mistakes, they could be immediately corrected. If worst comes to worst, when his health improves, the old commander could resume being CEO.
During that period, there were many external factors besides internal issues. However, formidable competitors could not confirm whether it was a ploy by Zhang Tianyi! Because by age, he wasn’t yet in need of appointing a successor, many suspected it was a process to train and cultivate Yurong, and that Zhang Tianyi was still maneuvering behind the scenes for Paradise Group! So, while there had been some troubles, there were no significant issues.
By today, with her own abilities and the comprehensive assistance of generals like Hai Fu, Yurong had effectively taken charge of the company. Over the course of more than a year’s development, the shareholders felt reassured, and the executives submitted to her leadership. But equally, this also let other competitors realize that Zhang Tianyi had indeed retired to a secondary role. Hence, larger scale struggles began, both overt and covert conflicts.
Nobody knew what happened to Zhou Shiru in the end or how he explained the chaotic situation at the press conference, for after he left the conference, he seemed to vanish without reappearing.
After Li Yan helped them regain ground, the war at the table was personally commanded by Yurong. If it were Zhang Tianyi and a group of older ministers, they might have adopted a more conservative approach. Unfortunately, in this past year, not only did Yurong successfully manage the company’s operational rights, but through a series of measures, she promoted a batch of young and promising internal talents. For instance, the new director promoted after the planning department’s director incident, and Wen Qianyi serving as the acting director of the business department after Ye Jiahong’s incident, among others. This strategy was actually the direction approved by Zhang Tianyi, such as Hai Fu, who was also cultivated by his hands into the young generation.
The older generation often becomes conservative out of fear of failure, not wanting their lifelong reputation ruined in their later years, with the attitude that having no mistakes is an achievement, waiting to retire smoothly. When only the CEO is young among a conservative force, their strength would stifle her moves, but when the strength is comparable, or when more of the young generation exists, the relatively risky and aggressive decisions of the CEO can still pass.
If Zhou Shiru was the only issue, Yurong might watch and wait for a while, since a government-related department lawsuit was involved. But because of Li Yan’s discovery of Lin Fenni’s situation, her perspective changed. If there were still moles within the public relations department, continuing to wait would only give the other side more public relations measures with the government, and her side’s PR would become increasingly passive!
Thus, upon returning to the company, she promptly overturned many decisions from the previous evening’s emergency meeting and, with a strong attitude, launched a series of counterattack measures against Changhe Group!
If this was the prior evening, the executives would have opposed it, even the younger generation. After all, it is better to downplay or resolve friction between the two large groups as mere verbal battles or media warfare. Once the battles escalate and become actual confrontations, though not to the extent of life-or-death or mutual destruction, it would certainly create a lose-lose scenario.
But last night, everyone was urgently waiting to observe the situation, and see Zhou Shiru’s statements before planning further countermeasures. Yet, Yurong miraculously turned the tide, using Zhou Shiru to regain ground for Paradise Group in front of all the media and severely struck a moral blow to the opponent. This caused everyone to look at Yurong in a new light.
This was attributed to Li Yan, not merely for manipulating Zhou Shiru, but also because of the information he sent to the executives in advance, making everyone think Yurong had a way to change things. Even though Yurong doesn’t discuss or explain how it was achieved, nor does Zhou Shiru come forward to clarify, the company’s equity structure hadn’t changed, nor did the finance department face a massive outflow of funds. What they could guess was that Yurong might have used her private resources to get Zhou Shiru to change his tune.
Of course, this also owes to Yurong being a stunning beauty, deterring anyone from associating her with underworld-like means. Had she been a burly, bald tough CEO with a fierce appearance, people would surely have another perception.
With a surprisingly favorable outcome, Yurong’s counterattack strategy, in everyone’s eyes, was deemed tenacious pursuit, naturally gaining strong support.
Besides deploying aggressive counter-strategies, Yurong temporarily requisitioned the public relations department herself. Arguing that currently the public relations campaign battle was most crucial, she demanded the PR department accept her temporary involvement and direct leadership. All work was reported directly to the CEO’s office, and any decisions required her signature. Of course, she did not remove Lin Fenni; she only mentioned that this area was too important at the moment, necessitating her direct oversight and asked Lin Fenni to cooperate with her.
This was her first step in reclaiming power and sidelining Lin Fenni.
After two days of busyness, the major directions were essentially determined and various measures had been released through different channels.
For Changhe Group, this was a particularly troublesome time. The lawsuit over that land was essentially a stab in the back from them, but they felt it was too light. Even if Paradise Group lost the lawsuit, it wouldn’t be a fatal blow, so they intended to take the opportunity to stab more and sprinkle salt. Zhou Shiru served as that knife and that salt, buying him for a hefty sum was to heavily damage a direct competitor on all fronts, making it worth their while.
But neither did anyone expect that the knife, just when it started to make the opponent tense and reveal its threat, only to backfire and cut themselves instead!
Morality cannot limit people, and many companies have done unethical things to some extent. Yet, if exposed and amplified, a public outcry forms. Public opinion cannot directly cause financial losses but can impact consumer trust in the company, thus affecting the purchase and use of its products. The most immediate effect is reflected in stock prices. When a publicly traded company breaks such a scandal, notably the news of a 3-million-worth equity purchase, small shareholders and retail investors might follow public opinion with partial understanding, leading to sell-offs and declines. Subsequently, these stock price fluctuations may influence major institutional investors to reduce holdings, delivering the most direct impact!
This is also why Yurong personally led the public relations department, as even without Lin Fenni’s issues, it was an extremely crucial segment.
After two days of hectic work, even though Yurong did not require everyone to work overtime this weekend, the PR department staff were an exception. They were instructed to keep abreast of developments during their breaks, ensuring they were aware of not only regular PR attacks but also potential counteractions from the opponent.
Initially, tonight’s plan was to routinely head to the father-in-law’s house for dinner. However, after work, Li Yan received a call from Yurong, telling him to have dinner at home by himself. She didn’t mince words, saying that Yu Xiaodi had arranged to meet her to discuss something.
Although she mentioned meeting Yu Xiaodi, she didn’t specify what exactly, leaving Li Yan somewhat puzzled. Xiaodi mentioned she might call to express condolences yesterday, but could that be the sole purpose? It didn’t require setting up a meeting with Yurong; a phone call explanation would suffice. If not, then what else would the two have to discuss?
The relationship between the two hadn’t reached a warm dining-together familiarity, had it? Especially when opting to forego going home for a meal to honor the appointment.
Li Yan found it hard to fathom the girls’ thinking, though he believed they wouldn’t get into a fight. (To be continued, for more Chapters, please log on to www.qidian.com, support the author and genuine reading!)
