Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

“Why don’t we all have a cup of tea?”

Gun-Ho asked his secretary—Ms. Hee-Jeong Park to bring them some warm teas. The secretary soon brought six cups of tea to his office. President Song started his report.

“The five products which were newly ordered by S Group have been successfully developed and we already started supplying them to S Group. S Group’s factories in Changwon City and Ulsan City are the two biggest buyers among the five factories, and they issued the approval that we can use Dyeon Korea’s raw materials in manufacturing our products for them.”

“How much raw materials of Dyeon Korea are we using?”

“We are using about 35 tons per month.”

“I believe that Dyeon Korea’s price per ton is 4.8 million won. So, Dyeon Korea is providing their raw materials worth around 168 million won on a monthly basis.”

“That... that’s correct.”

No one seemed to do the math more quickly than Gun-Ho. Gun-Ho used to work as an accountant before, but that wouldn’t fully explain why Gun-Ho was so good with numbers. Gun-Ho seemed to be gifted naturally in the field. He was not an outstanding student with high grades in high school and he wasn’t admitted to a top university either, but he was highly talented with computation. In hindsight, that seemed to play a decisive role in his life in helping him to become a substantially rich man now.

After President Song’s report, the internal auditor’s report on the current status of debts ensued. The general affairs director then suggested hiring ten more workers for the production field.

“Director Jong-Suk Park, do we need ten more people in the production site?”

“Yes, we do. We are currently experiencing an acute shortage of labor in the production department. The workers in the production field have been working till late at night to fulfill our current production demand.”

The research center’s chief officer announced that he would do a presentation in Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade.

“Is the presentation about the products we applied for a patent earlier?”

“That’s correct. It will be an excellent opportunity for us to hear professional opinions from the experts in various fields. Also, Gyoda Company from Japan sent us a product design drawing. They are asking if we could develop a product for them, which will be used as a part of their motorcycles. We are reviewing the request right now.”

“Gyoda Company? How did they contact us?”

“Dyeon Korea’s vice president—Mr. Adam Castler introduced them to us.”

“Mr. Adam Castler? I didn’t know he could reach to the companies in Japan. He used to work as a managing director for Dyeon America’s joint venture in Mexico.”

President Song smiled and corrected,

“Actually, Mr. Richard Amiel—Dyeon Japan’s president— introduced that company to Mr. Adam Castler. Japan is not far from our country geographically. I think it’s doable, even though the quantity of their order won’t be much.”

“Even though we start with a small order, it can connect us to another business deal later.”

“I totally agree with you, sir.”

“Okay, if anyone has anything further to add, we will end our today’s meeting here. Mr. General Affairs Director, please stay after the meeting. I have something I need to discuss with you.”

After all the other executives left the office, Gun-Ho and the general affairs director were in the office.

“Have you purchased the business membership for a golf country club and the condos under our company’s name?”

“We have purchased three condos, and we are still working on the business golf membership. The internal auditor is holding the approval request for that purchase.”

“He must have a reason for holding it without giving his approval.”

“President Song is saying that we need it to facilitate our sales work while the internal auditor insists that we have to pay off our short-term debt first. They are still debating on it.”

“Hmm.”

“I would say it seemed to have reached an impasse. Some say that we have to let you decide, and some say that since you are so busy running several companies, we shouldn’t give you another problem to solve.”

“The condos we have purchased will be used by our long-term employees as an award.”

“Understood, sir. I will prepare the approval request form.”

“You don’t have to wait for my approval. Once President Song signs the approval, you can carry it out.”

“Yes, sir.”

“How’s the wage negotiation going with the labor union?”

“The representatives of the company and the labor union have met. They will soon start the second negotiation.”

“I see. Keep up the good work.”

In the afternoon, Gun-Ho headed to Dyeon Korea.

Director Yoon came to Gun-Ho’s office to give a report.

“We have hired two workers in the production field and one for the maintenance team. They already started working. Do you want to meet them, sir?”

“That wouldn’t be necessary. If you—Director Yoon with Director Kim approved the hire, it’s good enough with me.”

“And, we will need to purchase a freight truck.”

“A freight truck?”

“Yes. As we sell more and more products, it’s not efficient to use delivery service in sending our products to our client companies.”

“We will need a truck driver as well, right?”

“That’s right. We will need to form a distribution team anyway. We start with one freight truck for now, and buy the second and the third freight truck if we see necessary.”

“I don’t see Director Kim today. Where is he?”

“He went to Mandong Company. He seemed to have a meeting set up with Mandong Company’s executives of their purchasing department. He took our product samples and testing results. I guess he went there for his usual sales work.”

“Hmm. I see.”

Director Kim came back to Dyeon Korea when it was almost time to go home.

“Sir, I didn’t know you would be here today.”

“How did it go with Mandong Company?”

“Yes, I went there because I was told that they have a new protector product order to request.”

“It’s not about raw materials then. They will need custom-molded products then.”

“Right. So I had them in contact with GH Mobile’s President Song.”

“Did President Song want to take their product order?”

“He wants to outsource the work since the producing process is complex and the product quantity of their order is not much anyway. But he wants to sell to them under GH Mobile’s name.”

“How much did they order?”

“It’s about 20 million won per month. GH Mobile will ask YS Tech for the work.”

“YS Tech?”

“Yes, and YS Tech will use our raw materials in manufacturing those products.”

“I see. Do we have a company website now?”

“We are currently developing it. GH Media’s design team leader—Ms. Min-Sook Oh visited our factory the other day and took a full tour. She took a lot of pictures of our factory. She already sent the initial draft of the website design, and we are modifying it right now to add something missing.”

“Hmm. I see.”