Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

When Gun-Ho asked Assistant Manager Il-Gi Seong why he didn’t accompany Director Kim to meet with the potential clients— A Electronics’ vendor companies— since he was the one who gave the list of those companies to Director Kim after all, Assistant Manager Seong said, “I actually accompanied Mr. Director Kim at first, but I had to come back when I had a headache and stomach ache. I went to see a doctor at Asan Hospital and just came back from there.”

“Oh. Why are you still here? You should have gone home early and taken a rest if you feel sick.”

“I actually gave a call to the general affairs manager from the hospital for getting off work early today, but when I received a call that one of our clients was on the way to visit us, I had to come back to work. I feel better now after seeing a doctor earlier anyway.”

“After you meet with the client, you should go home, okay? And take good care of yourself. You are one of the most important assets to our company. Many people have highly spoken of you to me. Our former research center’s chief officer recommended you for the special training in the U.S., and also Director Kim selected you to work with him in the sales department. So, I’ve been keeping an eye on you, Mr. Assistant Manager Seong. You should keep up maintaining good health.”

“Thank… Thank you, sir.”

Assistant Manager Seong seemed to be touched when Gun-Ho told him that he was one of the most important assets for the company, and that Gun-Ho was personally keeping an eye on him.

The meeting regarding the preparation for the joint venture’s business in Antang City, Guizhou Province was being held. Jae-Sik Moon was sitting at the middle seat at the conference table as the chairman of the preparatory committee. Next to him, Mr. Chun Chang, who would soon take the position of the vice president of the joint venture, was sitting. He was the vice-chairman of the committee. The vice-chairman said, “We now have the investment funds of 450,000 dollars as a start, and the bus license has been issued by the transportation department as well. Therefore, this preparatory committee will be merged into the joint venture company as we no longer do the preparation but will start our joint venture’s actual business.”

Every time when Mr. Chun Chang said something, Jae-Sik’s interpreter— Ms. Eun-Hwa Jo— interpreted it for Jae-Sik. Mr. Choi from Social Science Academy, who was working as the interpreter for the Chinese business partner, hadn’t consistently attended the meeting. He sometimes came and sometimes didn’t.

“We will first have to determine the organizational structure of the joint venture company. We need a department that will operate the bus business. It will be called the operations department. We will also need a management department and accounting department. In addition, we will have a passenger transportation department, and also a construction department for the terminal construction. Within the construction department, we will have a construction team.”

“Hmm.”

“The members of this committee are mid-level managers of the Antang City’s transportation company. The transportation company’s sales manager— Dongji Wang— will take the position of the joint venture’s sales manager. The freight department’s Chiaodong will be assigned to the manager position of the passenger transportation department…”

Jae-Sik was sitting there listening to them. He didn’t really have anything to add anyway. He was just watching and learning how Chinese people structure a company.

“Lastly, Mr. Jae-Sik Moon, who is from Korea representing our Korean co-venturer’s interest, will be the president of the joint venture company, and I will be the vice president. If you have anything to add or object, please say it now.”

No one said anything. Jae-Sik could just hear people swallowing.

“Since I don’t hear any objection, the joint venture will be organized as such then. If you all agree to it, please give a big round of applause.”

The people sitting in the meeting room clapped loudly. Jae-Sik Moon clapped along with them.

“Okay. The joint venture will be structured according to what we just determined then. Mr. Zhihua Li from the accounting department couldn’t join us today because he had to attend the communist party’s meeting. We have everyone here except him, and as we all agreed today, the joint venture company has been established as of today.”

The people in the meeting room clapped loudly again. Jae-Sik Moon looked around, and he thought the way that some people clapped looked just like Kim Jong-Un’s clapping— Supreme Leader of North Korea.

After the meeting was over, Jae-Sik Moon was having a cup of tea when Mr. Chun Chang— the joint venture’s vice president representing the Chinese co-venturer’s interest— came to Jae-Sik with a smile.

“Mr. President Moon! I just received the message from Antang City’s transportation company’s general affairs department that you can now move to a place to live. You no longer need to stay in a hotel.”

“Hmm, really?”

“You can pick any place you want. Pursuant to our policy, you just need to find one that is not larger than 120 ㎡.”

Jae-Sik Moon thought, ‘These people now started moving forward. They postponed everything until they received 450,000 dollars from Gun-Ho Goo. By the way, how large is 120 ㎡? It’s about 36 pyung large which is okay. I am alone here without anyone to live with. I don’t need any place that is 40 or 50 pyung large anyway.’

“Sounds good.”

“If you pick a specific area where you want to live, we will make a lease agreement for you. It’s wiser for us to do it for you rather than you do it yourself. You could get easily ripped off since you are a foreigner.”

“Sure. I would appreciate that.”

“Also, you can pick a car that is less than 2200 cc. This restriction is imposed by the city’s transportation department. A joint venture’s president is considered as one level below a director position in the government. And the size of a vehicle is determined accordingly.”

“Okay. That’s fine.”

“You can pick any car though as long as it’s not over 2200 cc.”

“Okay.”

When the vice president was about to leave, Jae-Sik Moon asked, “Mr. Vice President Chun Chang! Since the bus business license is issued, are we going to purchase the buses right away?”

“No. We have to first go to Guiyang City to negotiate the bus lines and schedules with them. We— Antang City— want to run as many buses as we can while Guiyang City wants to run as less buses as possible.”

“Why do the two cities have different positions?”

“Guiyang City doesn’t like frequent incoming traffic from small cities like us. That’s why they are not very cooperative when we try to discuss the bus business.”

“Why don’t you have dinner with them or buy them a drink or something? You will need to try harder to get personally close to them in order to make a successful deal.”

“Speaking of which, I was planning to visit Guiyang City’s transportation department with our sales manager tomorrow. And then, we will have a joint venture meeting the day after tomorrow.”

“The day after tomorrow?”

“Yes. During the meeting the day after tomorrow, we will talk about the joint venture’s physical offices and also the result from the meeting that I will have with Guiyang City tomorrow on the bus lines and schedules. I think the joint venture business is going very well so far. There is nothing to worry about, Mr. President Moon. Why don’t you have dinner with the members of the preparatory committee this evening? That committee has dissolved as of today, and we officially start our joint venture today. You might want to get together with them to celebrate this day.”

“Well, since the preparatory committee would no longer exist, I will need a new business card accordingly.”

“Of course, you will have one. Once we move to the new office, and office phones are installed, we will get you a new business card.”

“Sounds great. Thank you.”