Chapter 545 – Issues of a partnership Part 1 of 2
The Li Family had confirmed their investments, and so does Fu Rongbing. Fu Rongbing was very interested in this venture and had sent his assistant over. Now that the Li Family had confirmed, Hong Guofa also nodded to Fu Guangwei.
The investors were settled. Now, all the parties need to confirm the amount they will be investing in. Other than Superman Li and Li Zekai shares had some changes, there were no changes to the rest of the parties. The total amount of Li Family’s investment did not change, but Li Zekai will own more shares while Superman Li will be getting lesser percentages. This was within their own family, and the other parties did not object to this.
The remaining 5% of shares were offered to the 5 assistant General managers. Among the assistants, Huang Zhigao was not present and Feng Yu represented him. Each of the assistants was offered 1% shares for 1 million USD, and they will be one of the shareholders.
Shareholders meeting and board of directors were different. Shareholder meetings do not take into account the number of votes. It was based on the percentage of the shares to make decisions. Whoever’s suggestions received the support of more than 50% shares, it will be approved.
The shareholders appointed Feng Yu as the Executive Director and his duty was to watch the company’s finances and the other higher management. He will also have the power to set up an audit team to audit the various departments. He will only answer to the board.
Feng Yu and the other 4 key shareholders will form Tai Hua Supermarket Enterprise’s board of directors. Feng Yu will be an independent director, and he will step down from the board once the company was listed. This was because as Executive Director, he should not be on holding on to any positions in the company.
Everyone voted Fu Guangzheng to be the Chairman of the board and Fu Guangzheng nominated Li Zekai as the General Manger of the company. The 5 smaller shareholders were also appointed to be the Deputy General Managers and were put in charge of various departments. Among them, Huang Zhigao was put in charge of the Finance department.
These were only some arrangements of their position after the company was officially set up. The Deputy General Managers envied Feng Yu for his position of Independent Director in the board. The board of directors was the core of the company’s management and had the most authorities.
With all these matters sorted out, Fu Guangzheng asked his lawyer to draft out the contracts.
The next day, Fu Guangzheng flew to Beijing. He registered Tai Hua Supermarket Enterprise in Beijing, and he will be the legal representative of the company. Feng Yu was the one who wanted the company to be registered in China. He had wished for the company to be registered in Bing City, but the rest of his partners objected.
One week later, all of them received the documents which stated their shares. This company was officially set up. But now, all of the shareholders had only transferred 10% of their investments into the company. After all, the locations of the supermarkets were not finalized yet, and there was no use for the company to hold so many funds. When the locations were finalized, then the shareholders will wire the money in.
The company had also formed a team to look for suitable locations for its supermarkets in various cities. Fu Guangzheng was still the one who will have the final say on the location.
At the same time, the Li Family had also sent some of his supermarket staffs over to the Fu Family’s company for training. But during training, issues arise. Fu Rongbing refuses to reveal his core business management secrets to the Li Family.
Both the Li Family and Fu Family were in the retail business. The Fu Family will never let their competitors know their secrets. Although both families were partners now, both families had their own strengths. If one party knew the secrets of the other party, then the latter will be out of the game soon!
At first, the Li Family’s staffs thought that they would be able to receive training at Wellcome Supermarkets and they would be appointed as the assistants of the store managers to learn how to manage a big supermarket.
But the Fu Family arranged them to ordinary positions like cashiers and packer. This was not what the Li Family expected.
What can the staffs learn in those positions? The Li Family’s staffs nearly resign on the spot! They knew their own capabilities. They could quickly get the position of a floor manager in bigger supermarkets. Was there a need for them to learn how to be a cashier or packer? What’s there to learn?
The Fu Family had also sent their staffs over to the Li Supermarket for training. They also wanted to learn the Li Family’s style of management and see if they could learn their secrets. At the same time, they wanted to learn Mandarin and other stuff.
But the Fu Family had mistreated the Li Family’s staffs, the Li Family’s staffs refuse to teach them anything.
Fu Guangzheng was busy in China, and he called Feng Yu to help settle this dispute. No matter if it was Li Zeju or Fu Guangwei stepping forward to resolve this issue, there will be biases. Feng Yu was the most suitable person.
Feng Yu was also feeling irritated when he heard about this issue. Why can’t everyone work together happily? When Tai Hua Supermarket Enterprise makes money, everyone will get a share. Was there a need to be hostile to each other?
But not everyone thought the same way as Feng Yu and was willing to surrender the authority to others. All of them were used to be in power and to get the most out of it.
Especially those store managers. Once more supermarkets were opened, it will be divided into zones. All the store managers will be fighting among themselves for the position of area managers.
The higher their positions, the higher their salaries. None of them were willing to give it up. At a more senior position, they would be able to command more people. If they could order others around, why should they choose to be ordered by someone else?
In the future, when the company was listed, the company will surely reward them with shares. The higher their positions were, the more shares they will be getting. If they were lucky, they might even become one of the directors!
Feng Yu called Fu Guangwei and Li Zekai over for a discussion. He wanted them to restrain their staffs. They have not even set up their first supermarket, and the infighting had already started!
How can this company prosperous if there were no unity within? Now, the staffs have their own positions, and they were already fighting among themselves. When the new supermarkets open, the fights will worsen when they compete for the store manager positions.
“Brother Kai, Wei Zai, when I asked every one together for this venture is to gather the strength of all parties and resources. But now, it seems that before we can combine our strengths, the infighting started. Although it was not recorded on the files, we do agree that the Li Family will send their staffs to Wellcome for training and at the same time pass some experiences of working in China to the Fu Family’s staffs. How did things turn out this way?” Feng Yu looked at both of them and said with an angry tone.
“Wei Zai, shouldn’t you give me an explanation? Your family had assigned our staffs to those junior roles, and they are not even management roles.” Li Zekai was the first show his displeasure.
Li Zekai and Fu Guangwei were not friends, and he despises him for being a useless 2nd generation, who knows nothing but to play. If Fu Guangwei were not Fu Rongbing’s only son, he would not have such a good life.
“Young Master Li, we had an agreement that we will conduct the training. Also, all the store managers in my family’s supermarket need to know all the positions in the store. This will help them manage the store better. We had agreed that they will be rotating their positions and they will be moving to another role after a week. Is there a problem with this? I still want to ask you about your staff’s attitude. All of them were so arrogant!” Fu Guangwei was young and impulsive. He was not ready to back down on this matter.
Others might be afraid of you and your Li Family. But I am not scared. If you want to compare our family’s wealth, we will win!
Feng Yu had a severe headache. He asked both of them here to solve this problem. How come both of them started to fight?
Translator’s notes:
Wellcome (Not sure if there was indeed a Fu Family in Hong Kong, but the name of the supermarket used by the author was very similar to Wellcome.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellcome
ParknShop (Li’s family)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ParknShop