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Chapter 297: Chapter 242: Sky Eye Enters, Sheng Tang Group (Please Subscribe!)_1
Seeing the energetic demeanor of the Sheng Tang Group’s executive team, Tang Qing smiled and said, "If everything is alright, then that’s good. I’ve done what I can, the rest is up to all of you. If we need more money later, we’ll revisit that when the time comes."
This round of investment and expansion doesn’t mean Sheng Tang is going to open stores in all cities countrywide. It’s impossible. Even if we sunk the entire 150 million RMB, it wouldn’t be enough. There are thousands of cities at the county level and above nationwide, affording to open a store in each city is simply unfeasible.
Therefore, initially, we can only guarantee that outside provinces will have five to ten stores in each province and municipalities, as well as two to three stores in a few developed prefecture-level cities. Only afterwards will we gradually enter the markets of general-level prefecture cities. As for the markets in county-level cities, it’s estimated that we will have to wait until the end of the year. At that time, Tang Qing may need to inject more capital. If Sheng Tang doesn’t have any major moves afterwards, Tang Qing doesn’t plan to continue investing, as we could completely make use of bank loans by then.
Then, Tang Qing remembered something else, and said to Yang Kai: "Boss Yang, there’s one more thing. Around the end of April or early May, I want to restructure Sheng Tang into a group. By then, we should have met the conditions, right?"
"Yes, Boss Tang. We will definitely meet the requirements to register as a group by then," Yang Kai said, nodding. Registering a group isn’t difficult. It only requires a registered capital of over 100 million RMB and five subsidiaries. There are a few more specific minor requirements, but as long as Tang Qing’s funds are in place, it would be relatively straightforward for Sheng Tang. Although setting up a group doesn’t differ much from the previous structure, all under unified leadership, being a group does sound much stronger than being just a company.
Tang Qing nodded and said, "That’s good. Now let’s discuss the final issue, which is also another reason for my visit today. I have a person I want to introduce to you all. I believe everyone here is curious. You must be wondering who this beautiful lady by my side is. She is Dou Jiao, the general manager of Sky Eye Information Consulting Company."
Seeing Tang Qing, who was usually bullied by her, showing such dominance and confidence just now, Dou Jiao was very surprised. She had never seen this side of Tang Qing before. He had never held such meetings at Sky Eye before, yet he was quite handsome doing it.
When Dou Jiao heard Tang Qing introduce her and nod at her, she immediately stood up and chuckled, "Nice to meet all of you. My name is Dou Jiao. I’m the general manager of Sky Eye Information Consulting Company. This is our company’s deputy general manager, He Zixin. Please take care of us."
The people below were confused.
A consulting company?
What does Sheng Tang need consulting for?
It feels necessary, yet somewhat unnecessary at the same time.
Yang Kai, deep in thought, suddenly brightened up and asked, "General Manager Dou, I heard your company is building a new headquarters building, is that right?"
Dou Jiao nodded in confirmation, "Yes, how did you know?" she asked, surprised. Had Sky Eye become that famous? That seemed impossible as they didn’t do business with outsiders.
Yang Kai, with an ’I knew it’ expression on his face, laughed and said, "Hmm, one of my classmates is your neighbor. They have offices on the same floor as your company. I heard from them that your company invested tens of millions in building a luxurious and enormous new headquarters. Your company offers good benefits, which has made them all envious. Many people are thinking about jumping ship to your company. However, your company has high standards, and few people can join. Moreover, all of them are elites."
Hearing Yang Kai praising Sky Eye, Dou Jiao couldn’t help but smile widely. Even though it’s not her own company, and she doesn’t own any shares, hearing praise about it from outsiders made her as pleased as if it were her own child.
"Haha, you flatter us, Boss Yang. Yes, that is our company," Dou Jiao said, laughing.
Spending tens of millions on building a new headquarters, now that’s luxurious.
Although they didn’t know Dou Jiao’s purpose, they had certainly felt her company’s strength. But what does this have to do with Sheng Tang?
Seeing everyone’s confusion, Tang Qing laughed and proceeded to explain, "Everyone must be curious about what a consulting company is doing here. The reason is... Sky Eye Consulting is my own company, specializing in providing services for my own businesses. Sheng Tang is just one of such businesses and I don’t have time to manage it directly, hence comes the existence of Sky Eye to monitor and review the various situations of my own businesses and serve them."
After pausing for few seconds to allow the surprised faces of Sheng Tang’s management team to digest the information, Tang Qing continued, "Sky Eye is only responsible for overseeing various aspects to ensure the company doesn’t make any strategic errors. So, there’s no hierarchical relationship with any of you. I hope you can understand."
The people below understood the purpose of Sky Eye after listening. It basically supervised the company’s finances and strategy, and regularly provided feedback to Tang Qing. In simpler terms, just like its name, Sky Eye was like Tang Qing’s eyes, ensuring his interest did not suffer from any avoidable losses.
The people below were silent, but Yang Kai couldn’t afford to be. With a serious face, he stated, "Rest assured, Boss Tang, we understand, and we don’t have any ulterior motives. On the contrary, we are very glad that you thought of this. To be honest, with so much money and power, I was a bit afraid that I would lose control one day. Now that we have General Manager Dou ’ensuring smooth sailing’, we can work with more confidence and boldness."
What Yang Kai said was indeed true. Tang Qing didn’t place any of his own people in the management team of the entire company. Qi Yan was not considered, she could only be described as a partner. This wasn’t normal for most companies. In what company would the leader not place their trusted ones in vital departments? Tang Qing was such a hands-off leader that it scared him a bit.
Qi Yan was the second to express her stance, "Indeed, what Boss Yang said is right. This shows that you’ve matured, young boss. I’m delighted. To be honest, given your past demeanor, I was really afraid you’d get fooled."
Everyone else also expressed their opinion. As uncomfortable as it might feel, it was that simple. Others might have thrown in a hundred or two hundred million and hardly stayed in the company, which really had them feeling on edge. They found Tang Qing’s character a bit rash. Even though Tang Qing is wealthy, they were still afraid of him messing around. Now, with the establishment of Sky Eye, they were relieved from the concern of Tang Qing acting rashly and felt more at ease themselves.
Employees with even slight ambitions would be perturbed by a boss who only provided funds and didn’t care about anything else, except those who were excited about causing trouble.
"That’s good," Tang Qing expressed satisfaction with their attitude. Regardless of their sincerity, power always needed to be restrained. Otherwise, once someone harbored ulterior motives, Sheng Tang would be thrown into chaos, and it would be troublesome to tidy up later. With Sky Eye to keep an eye on things, they could avoid such messy incidents as much as possible.
Having finished the introductions, Qi Yan became more open and curiously asked, "By the way, younger brother Tang, do you have any other industries?" Dou Jiao also stared at Qi Yan with wide eyes at this nickname, sensing a kindred spirit.
The others also looked at Tang Qing curiously. This was the first time they had heard that Tang Qing had other businesses.
"Haha, nothing much. I do not own absolute controlling shares in other companies. For instance, I own forty percent of the shares in Dream Melody Group, with whom you are currently cooperating. The acquisition of this company was also fully participated in by Boss Dou. She is heading to Shanghai to inspect a villa district project. Therefore, I had to urgently convene this meeting to avoid postponing it by another week," Tang Qing explained with a smile.
Dream Melody Group?
Tang Qing actually owns forty percent of the shares of this company? They had thought it was fully funded by Liu Qian.
A realization dawned on everyone.
They had previously assumed that Liu Qian had given special consideration to start a full-scale cooperation with Sheng Tang, but it turned out that their Boss Tang was also a major shareholder in Dream Melody Group. Forty percent, that’s worth over a hundred million RMBs. Everyone couldn’t help but marvel at Tang Qing’s financial strength once again.
Upon completing the introductions.
Afterward, Qi Yan and Dou Jiao suddenly chatted like good friends enthusiastically, constantly discussing ’work’ topics.
Upon finding out that all Sky Eye employees could get Dream Melody’s jewelry at employee prices, the managers were envious. However, as Sheng Tang and Dream Melody Group’s relations were not interconnected, only the management of Sheng Tang, and above, could enjoy the employee price of Dream Melody Group, others didn’t qualify. With Sky Eye, however, this perk could be enjoyed by any member of the team.
Tang Qing could only offer such conditions. After all, the majority of Dream Melody Group’s shares belonged to Liu Qian, so he shouldn’t act recklessly. But even if it were his own company, he had no plans for such large-scale ’benefits’. If that were the case, Sheng Tang currently had thousands of employees, and once the nationwide stores were opened, the number might even reach tens of thousands. If everyone enjoys such benefits, well, he’s not that generous, others may only enjoy promotional prices at any time.
Sky Eye was different - there were only a few people now and it was unlikely to exceed a few hundred in the future. A thousand would be the maximum. Due to its special work nature, having this benefit wasn’t odd. He wouldn’t mind it eating into his pocket.
"Jiaojiao, you must come and visit more often when you have time. You’re perfect for being our model for clothes fitting."
"Sister Qi Yan, I’ve been wanting to come for a while now, but our ’black-hearted’ boss said the timing was not yet right."
"Don’t look at me. I’m innocent. But you did try to win over our Boss Dou in front of me as soon as you arrived. What’s your motive?" Tang Qing asked.
"You’re outrageous. Beware we both tickle you together. And why doesn’t Sheng Tang have a headquarters building?"
"Isn’t where you stay considered as one? Besides, Sky Eye has no income, it’s entirely dependent on earning wages from doing jobs for me. But Sheng Tang can make money, so it can build its own premises."
"Hmph! Stingy, I reluctantly accept this reason."
"..."
Having chatted and rested for a while, Tang Qing then left Sheng Tang. Dou Jiao, on the other hand, continued the meeting with Yang Kai and others, discussing the details of stationing personnel and the likes. After all, they couldn’t always communicate via Tang Qing’s email. They also needed to discuss the scope and methods of future audits, as well what services Sky Eye could offer Sheng Tang.
Knowing that Dou Jiao was busy, Yang Kai and the others quickly decided on the connection matters.
PS: Chapter Two is here.
