Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

After the general affairs manager listed all the employees who attended the meeting, Interpreter Yee was preparing to interpret what he just heard. At that moment, Gun-Ho told him,

“Please make it short.”

“Okay, sir.”

The interpreter listed everyone at the meeting with their positions only and he didn’t list their names, to make it short.

Gun-Ho then said,

“Thank you for joining us today. We could successfully establish our joint venture because of your hard work. Now, we began producing our sample products, and this is the time when we focus all of our time and energy on sale. In order to efficiently support the sale, we first have to produce quality products.”

Gun-Ho gave time to the interpreter to interpret what he just said before continuing his speech. He made his statement short enough so the interpreter could easily interpret it. Once he finished a fragment of his speech, he turned his head and looked at the interpreter and let him interpret before he continued to talk.

“Also, in order to produce quality products, the production team needs support from the maintenance team. To make all of these work smoothly, the support from the accounting and general affairs team is essential.”

It was Mr. Adam Castler’s turn.

“The American company and the Korean company are in the same boat now. Both companies invested 500,000 dollars in cash into this joint venture company, not to mention any investment in kind. We started with 1 million dollars to operate the company, and we have already spent a lot on the wages, equipment, etc, and we will be continuously spending the money as we operate the company. Since we now started producing products, we will have to focus on selling them.”

Director Kim also made his speech.

“I made a tour of our potential buyer companies yesterday with our sample products. At first, they all seemed to be satisfied with our products since they look the same as Lymondell Dyeon’s products. We will have to re-calculate our product cost though. I had a rough product cost because I didn’t have enough time to make it precise. After this meeting, we will make an official product cost statement.”

Mr. Adam Castler raised his hand.

“I have the cost accounting of Lymondell Dyeon with me. I will give it to you so you could use it as a reference.”

The new female worker—Ms. Seon-Hye Yee from the general affairs team walked out of the meeting room and came back with green tea. She distributed to each attendee of the meeting.

Gun-Ho started speaking again,

“Our target market is not just Korea. Our products are not made for the purpose of the national sale only, but we are mainly targeting the China and Southeast Asia market. That’s why Lymondell Dyeon sent us Mr. Adam Castler who has rich experience with the multinational market.”

Mr. Adam Castler was paying great attention to what Gun-Ho was saying at that time because he heard his name. After he heard the interpretation, he said,

“Once we stabilize the national market, I will make my tour to Southeast Asia for sales work.”

“Well, I guess it’s almost time to wrap up our meeting today. Anyone has anything to add?”

It was quiet until Director Kim raised his hand.

“The most important thing at this phase is producing quality products. So, I’d like to make a request to take one more person from GH Mobile. He came here yesterday to help with producing the sample products. He used to work for GH Mobile as a research chief officer, and he is now working in an advisory position. I’m requesting to have him with us for a limited period of time.”

Gun-Ho added as he had discussed with Director Kim before the meeting started,

“His contract with GH Mobile expires at the end of this year, so we don’t have to worry about keeping him as an employee. He received his Ph.D. from the Technical University of Munich in Germany, and he has been working at a research center for a long time. Mr. Adam Castler, what do you think? I think it is a great idea to have him here with us.”

“Did you say that he obtained his Ph.D. from the Technical University of Munich in Germany?”

“That’s correct.”

“Okay! I agree with you.”

The first meeting of the joint venture ended.

After the meeting, Gun-Ho was reading an economic newspaper that Ms. Seon-Hye Yee brought to him, in his office, when he received a call from Min-Hyeok Kim in China.

“I heard Dyeon Korea already started producing its sample products.”

“That’s right.”

“I just talked with Jong-Suk on the phone, and he said the sample products looked exactly the same as the products from Dyeon America.”

“Well, they certainly appear to be, but we are not sure yet. Our clients will have to use them before we know for sure.”

“Maybe we can store some of them in China.”

“Let’s give it some time. I want to see first if our clients in Korea are satisfied with the products after their use. We currently have only two machines. We will have to get more.”

“Oh, you know what? I went to see Seukang Li yesterday. He asked me to see him.”

“For what?”

“He gave me a pamphlet. He said you would know if you see it.”

“What kind of pamphlet is it?”

“It’s about an art exhibition for Chinese young painters, Chinese avant-garde art, and for the world-renowned artist—Mr. Chao Chin’s relics, etc. There was a lot.”

“Okay. Send it to me.”

“And I received a call from Suk-Ho Lee. He said he would stop by my office tomorrow.”

“Suk-Ho Lee? The one who is running a bar in Gyeongridan Street?”

“That’s right.”

“What’s the occasion?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really want to see him though. He was not a nice person to me when we were in high school.”

“I think you should meet him since he wants to come to see you there. You can buy him a lunch or something. I’m wondering why he wants to go all the way to China to see you.”

“We will find out once he gets here.”

Gun-Ho talked to President Jang-Hwan Song about sending the former research chief officer to Dyeon Korea.

“The vice president—Mr. Adam Castler agreed to have him in Dyeon Korea. Why don’t you inform him? So he can go to work at Dyeon Korea starting tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

“We probably won’t be able to extend his contract for the advisory position, but I want him to work in a comfortable environment while he is working with us. Please assign him an office.”

“Thank you.”

“Have you heard anything from the S Group’s factory in Changwon City? We sent our products there the other day.”

“I haven’t heard anything from them yet, but they ordered more products. I guess they are satisfied with our products.”

“Really?”

“I went into S Group’s ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system this morning and verified their additional order. They want 10,000 more by December.”

“Really? Haha.”

“And Director Kim is here now.”

“Director Kim?”

“Yes, he brought Dyeon Korea’s sample products to us as part of his sales effort for Dyeon Korea. I’m giving it a passing grade for their appearance. Director Kim asked me to mention Dyeon Korea’s products to our client companies when I visit them. In return, he will do the same.”

“That sounds great. We can help each other.”

“Out of five orders from S Group, we are already sending products for three of them, and we are still working on developing products for the other two orders. Once they are ready, I will see if we can use Dyeon Korea’s material to produce the products.”

“Sounds good.”