Chapter 270: Chapter 270: Jin Ling
'Knock, knock,' the office door was knocked gently, 'come in,' Jin Ling answered, but she still looked out the window at the city illuminated by the setting sun.
'President Jin, it's time for the meeting,' Xiaoliu, the secretary, said standing in the doorway.
Jin Ling looked at her watch. It was two minutes to 7:30. 'I'll be right there,' she said.
She went into the office, checked her makeup and clothes in the mirror, then picked up a laptop computer from the desk outside. She really had to carry it, as it was an IBM she had brought back from the United States and weighed almost three kilograms.
On both sides of the conference room, people were already sitting, with an average age of 40 or a little older.
Jin Ling sat down in the main seat with a serious expression, 'Good evening everyone, today's meeting will now begin. Director Yu, please report on the progress of the three stores.'
'The renovation of the three stores is progressing smoothly. Among them, the store on Renmin Road is expected to complete the renovation work in another week, three days ahead of the deadline agreed in the contract. The remaining two stores will also be able to complete the renovation on time.'
'That means they won't be able to open before the Lantern Festival?'
'From the current situation, I'm afraid not. However, the company that is renovating all the group's shopping malls is a very reliable company.'
'Director Yu, I was thinking that for the next planned branch, we could find other renovation companies and let them bid. Competition is always good for us, isn't it?'
'Well, I don't see any problem with that.' Director Yu pondered for a moment, but still gave a positive response.
'Director Yan, is the work preparation in place for entering the store after the renovation?'
'It's already in place. We guarantee that within three days of the end of the renovation, the store facilities will be installed and the goods will be on the shelves.'
'Director Wei, what about staff training? How's that going?'
'The first batch of 30 employees have already finished training. They can start work on time once the store is set up.'
'30 is nowhere near enough. I hope the HR department will step up their efforts in this regard.'
'Yes,' said Director Wei, beaming, 'Mr Jin, what does the headquarters think about the matter you mentioned last time, recruiting sales assistants from the community?'
'I'm still communicating with them. For now, we'll mainly recruit the family members of our employees.'
The directors exchanged glances.
Director Yang from the Operations Department asked, 'General Manager Jin, the rental contracts for the other branches in the provincial capital are still being negotiated. Should the selection of sites for the branches in the counties and cities below be put on the agenda?'
'We need to make the relevant preparations, but the focus of our work at the moment is still on the provincial capital.'
'Director Sun, which manufacturers are willing to support the promotional activities for the opening of the store?'
'Because the current order quantity is not large, we mainly transfer goods from the head office, so the manufacturer's support is not strong.'
'Then the marketing department will work with the finance department to come up with a plan. If the manufacturer doesn't support it, we will pay for it ourselves.'
'Mr Jin, we have no problem paying for the opening promotions ourselves, but as more and more branch store lease contracts are finalized, it is estimated that the company's funds will soon be stretched to the limit, so we still need to make preparations early.'
'Don't worry about money, the headquarters is not short of funds. Any more questions?' She looked around, "That's good, please hurry up with the work at hand, complete the goal of opening 30 stores in the provincial capital within three months, meeting adjourned!'
She was the first to walk out of the meeting room, the heads of each department slowly packed their notebooks and cups, Wei, the head of the personnel department, said to Sun, the head of the purchasing department, "Sun, you're still relaxed, you can get whatever you want from the headquarters, unlike me, I'm born to work hard.'
'Lao Wei, you're standing there talking without any worries. You say that I'm a purchasing director, but I can't deal directly with the manufacturers yet. What kind of nonsense is this?'
...
Zhou Xinyu used a lot of connections and also obtained some information from the suppliers. After synthesising it, he passed some information about Jiamei Convenience to Feng Yiping.
The person in charge of the convenience store Jiameli is Jin Ling, an MBA graduate from Harvard Business School. After returning to China, she worked briefly for the Provincial Sugar and Wine Company for a few months. In September last year, she was transferred to the General Manager's Office of the Provincial Commerce Department, and at the end of the year she became the person in charge of Jiameli. It is believed that the Provincial Commerce Department's involvement in the convenience store project was personally promoted by Jin Ling, and it is not ruled out that she was inspired by Jiameli.
Another important point in the data is that Jin Ling's father is the head of the Provincial Planning Commission!
There is also some description of Jin Ling's personality below: career-minded, decisive, indifferent, fashionable...
An MBA from Harvard in 1999, that must be quite professional; decisive, born into a political family, and influenced by it since childhood, it's possible; indifferent, well, that's understandable, whether it's family background or knowledge, it's rare for her to be enthusiastic about comparing people; as for fashion, for them, this is normal.
The more Feng Yiping looked, the more he liked it. Such a person should be used for my benefit, of course, this can only be a fantasy.
It can be seen that Director Jin of the Provincial Planning Commission is a person with political aspirations who is relatively self-disciplined. Otherwise, with Jin Ling's qualifications, even if she has to return to China, it would not be difficult to find a job as a senior executive in a foreign company or start her own business. Director Jin has arranged for her to work in a state-owned enterprise, which has to be said to be very appropriate. Not only has he found a place for his daughter to use her skills, but it will not cause him any trouble.
Of course, we won't delve into the question of how Director Jin's salary can allow his daughter to attend Harvard Business School, which many Americans cannot afford, here.
However, Feng Yiping is not very optimistic about Jin Ling's prospects. If she goes out on her own, she might just turn out to be a formidable competitor. She might have the ability, but she definitely won't be able to give full play to her abilities in a state-owned enterprise like Shengshang.
Furthermore, although her father is considered to be in a high position in the province, he cannot bring about a crushing effect in a group like the Provincial Commercial Group. It is estimated that it took a lot of effort and connections to put her in the position of general manager of Jiamei this time, and it is unlikely that he will interfere in everything in the future.
Not to mention other things, in terms of key frontline staff, it is unlikely that Jiamei can now pick hardworking kids like there are in Jiamei. Most likely, they will take care of the families and children of their employees. What kind of service attitude will they let them have? It should be said that this is a beautiful wish.
In terms of settlement with suppliers, judging from the status and style of the provincial merchants, it is estimated that they will at least have to allow suppliers to provide a settlement cycle of two to three months. However, in Jiamei, payment is made immediately once the goods arrive at the warehouse. Even though the current volume is not large, the purchase price is discounted greatly.
Apart from the fact that the brand behind the merchant is more well-known, the service, price and network distribution are not comparable. How can you compete with me?
Jinling now also feels the difficulty of doing things. In terms of employing people, the group currently seems to regard Jiamei as a welfare company, specifically used to accommodate the families and children of employees.
In terms of funding, the group is making a fortune every day, but it has only given her five million yuan in start-up capital.
Not to mention the team she was given, everyone is so old-fashioned and stuffy. They all promise to do things well, but in the end they just do things the same old way.
The group is the same way, everything is about stability. Some of the measures she proposed to speed up the process were rejected on the grounds that they were too hasty.
However, when it comes to competition, one step slow means every step slow. With such a slow pace, how can they surpass Jiamei?