Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Jong-Suk Park went to see the accounting director while having Suk-Ho wait for him outside.

“I have a guest here, and I will need the company’s business credit card please.”

The accounting director handed the credit card to Jong-Suk Park and said, “Don’t forget to bring me the receipt.”

Jong-Suk pulled Suk-Ho’s arm and said, “Bro, I have the business credit card with me. Tell me what you want to eat. The lunch is on me.”

Jong-Suk Park and Suk-Ho Lee went to a nice Korean restaurant that specialized in Galbi (Korean grilled beef ribs) for lunch.

Gun-Ho had lunch with Chan-Ho Eom that day. On the way to Dyeon Korea in Asan City, they stopped by a restaurant in front of a reservoir in Eumbong Town. They had a pork cutlet. After finishing their lunch and a cup of coffee, they took a brief walk around the reservoir before heading to Dyeon Korea.

When Gun-Ho arrived at his office in Dyeon Korea, the internal auditor walked into the office. Director Kim was not in the office as usual since he had a meeting with a client or potential client most of the time.

“According to Director Kim, we can apply for the certificate to be recognized as a start-up company with technology and also for our research center, after we receive the external audit for this year.”

“Right, that’s what I heard from him too. I think that’s what we should do, right?”

“We will be even more prepared after receiving the external audit and also filing our corporate tax.”

“It has been a year and a half since Dyeon Korea was established. We will have our financial statements for this year and also the half of the previous year by then.”

“That’s correct, sir.”

“Okay. Let’s not rush. If we try something when we are not fully prepared for it, we will encounter various unexpected obstacles that will make us waste our time.”

“In the worst-case scenario, we will have to pay the full corporate tax at 22%. As a matter of fact, 22% is not that bad. We will generate more income later on. So, maybe it’s not so bad to pay 22% of our profits now, and we prepare for the later time when we would generate more profits, by figuring out how to save the tax.”

“Sounds good.”

“When Lymondell Dyeon decided to form a joint venture with us in the first place, they probably believed that the Korean market and business environment were attractive, which is true. Our country is in a constant and high demand of the materials that we are producing, and also it’s easy to find quality chemicals here that we need in producing our products, not to mention the quality labor. Moreover, they must have taken into account our relatively low tax rate for a corporation. China, India, and even Japan charges 25% for corporate tax.”

“Hmm, I didn’t know Japan also charges that much for corporate tax.”

“Japan charges 25% for any taxable income that exceeds 8 million Yen. The Abe administration is trying to lower it to 20% by the year 2020.”

“Tax is closely related to running a country. Politicians’ judgment on taxation must be critical.”

“That’s right. The government will have to develop the source of tax revenue or reduce their welfare budget when they lower the corporate tax rate.”

Director Kim continued, “Our sales revenue in China and India are increasing. We are selling more than 100 tons per month in each market.”

“Hmm, really?”

“They both requested to hire one more worker in the management through their weekly report. I will make the request form by the next meeting, so you can review and sign it.”

“If I am not available at that time, you can proceed with Mr. Vice President Adam Castler’s approval or Director Kim’s signature.”

“Yes, sir.”

“We do have an internal delegation of authority policy implemented, don’t we?”

“Yes, we do, sir. We needed it in order to apply for the Inno-Biz certificate. Also, it’s an essential policy in preparing for an urgent situation where we can’t find a final approver.”

“I see.”

“Well, I will get back to work now, sir.”

Gun-Ho thought about the internal auditor who just left his office.

‘I wish he was younger, so he could work with me for a long time. I can’t break the rules just for him by extending his terms even after he reaches his retirement age.’

Gun-Ho went down to the production site, and headed to the research center which was previously called a compound room. The research workers there were all wearing masks while working with chemicals. They were also all wearing a white lab coat. They used to wear the same uniform as any other workers in Dyeon Korea, but they now wore a lab coat instead. They started wearing the lab coats after they changed the compound room to the research center.

“Sir, you are here.”

The plant manager and also the deputy chief research center— Mr. Hee-Yeol Yoo— came to Gun-Ho to greet him.

“We have all of our newly purchased equipment installed over here.”

When Gun-Ho walked to the new equipment, the workers who were handling the equipment gave a bow to Gun-Ho. With the lab equipment and tools lined up, the office indeed looked like a true research center.

“We will need to keep dust levels here at a minimum by constantly monitoring the air pollution measurement in this center.”

“Yes, sir. We are regularly monitoring our air quality. In addition to monitoring the level of dust, we also check the level of sulfurous acid gas and carbon monoxide as well since we work with chemicals. We have the checklist for it over there on the wall.”

“Hmm, I see. Is the chief research officer in the office?”

“Yes, sir.”

The old man— the chief research officer— was looking into something through a microscope when Gun-Ho walked into his office.

“Are you researching something?”

“Oh! Sir. You are here.”

The chief research officer stood up from his seat rapidly.

“Please stay there. I just stopped by to see how things are going here.”

“I feel like I’m holding a permanent position as a chief research officer here like the old days, with my own office and all these lab equipment. Haha.”

“I’m so glad that you are healthy and doing well here.”

“Manager Yoo is doing an excellent job managing the research center, which enables me to focus on research only.”

“What are you researching by the way?”

“I was observing the chemical reactions when some chemicals were compounded.”

“Haha, I see. Well, I’d better leave you going back to your research.”

When Gun-Ho went back to his office on the second floor, Director Kim, who just came back from a client site, entered Gun-Ho’s office.

“You must feel tired about making a trip to a client site all the time.”

“It’s okay, sir. It’s my job, and I’ve been doing this for a long time.”

“It’s November now. It looks like we don’t have anyone who would get promoted in Dyeon Korea this year, right?”

“That’s right, sir. We have many people who are transferred from GH Mobile, and they were already promoted to one level up in position when they joined us, so we won’t need to promote anyone this year. We will probably have to promote a few people considering their work performance next year though.”

“Our plant manager— Mr. Yoo— is in a manager position. He’s not going to make one level up this year, right?”

“Manager Yoo received his promotion to the manager position last year. He works hard, and I recognize his competency, but it’s too early to promote him again this year.”

“Hmm.”

“We can give him a bonus at the end of this year though. It’s not like we are distributing the bonus to everyone at Dyeon Korea, but we will give it selectively to only those who did remarkable work this year. That way, the workers at GH Mobile won’t make any complaints.”

“Hmm, sounds good. Let’s give a bonus to those who did a good job this year then.”