Any country's policy must be aimed at a group, if it is treated differently, it will be regarded as an unfree and fair market, unless it involves some national defense and security, but it is also the difference between internal and external, and the policy of external capital, unless it involves different foreign policies of the country, is generally the same.

Once China decides to allow some foreign investment to enter the domestic retail sector, it is impossible to just give Watsons this opening, although Chen Zhiwen is very important to China, but it is not enough to let China introduce such a partiality policy.

However, Chen Zhiwen doesn't care, first, overseas supermarket giants, now they are still in the expansion period in their own country or in the world, even Watsons is the same, it is unlikely to invest heavy capital in China, after all, the current domestic economy is not very good, and there are foreign exchange controls, the second is that it is really here, and it is absolutely not comparable to itself at the capital level, not that there is no retail giant with comprehensive strength stronger than itself, but there is no such determination to invest, third, even if there is really one, After all, the domestic market is so big, even Chen Zhiwen cannot cover the whole territory in a very short period of time, and it is not possible to have money, because human resources, management, transportation, procurement chains, etc. need to be built from scratch, and it is impossible to achieve rapid expansion, but from the mid-90s in later generations, after the domestic liberalization of the control of the foreign retail industry, major giants such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Auchan and other European and American retail giants did not enter the game on a large scale, otherwise, in later generations, It will not let RT-Mart steal the limelight of the first local supermarket.

"Okay, in that case, I will apply to the above, but in the early stage, it can only be limited to the cities that have been opened to the outside world, so as to ensure the success rate, but I don't guarantee whether I can be a sole proprietorship, and then I will see the decision above." Director Lin thought for a while and said.

"Okay, thank you Director Lin." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said: "I am already very satisfied with being able to develop new markets in 20 open cities, and it can also be used as a test field, maybe it can stimulate domestic consumption on a large scale." ”

Even if the state can invest freely today, then its priority is to start investing in these open cities, one is because most of these cities are economically developed, the consumption capacity and population are the strongest and the most, and the second is that these cities are mainly on the seaside, and the shortcomings of inland transportation can be made up by sea, otherwise, although the economy of some provincial capitals in the central and western regions of the country is not bad, the cost of logistics is very amazing.

In ten years, we can almost win a lot of these 20 largest urban markets, and when the national level allows wholly foreign-owned investment, then take these places as the center point and expand to the surrounding areas, and in this decade, we can also cultivate talents on a large scale, without hurry, waiting for the explosion of the mainland market.

"The premise is that the central government can agree, this is not only a request from my side, but also Mr. Chen's side." Director Lin said again.

"Of course, I will naturally arrange for someone to discuss such a matter with the Central Committee." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

When it comes to large-scale investment, it is not a request to wait for a reply, most of them are to send someone to follow up for a long time and negotiate various requirements with the other party, whether the other party is the government or another company, it is the case, as long as the early stage is not directly vetoed, it is negotiable, easy to discuss, and an agreement can always be reached later, so the most important point is the early stage.

However, Chen Zhiwen feels that the problem should not be very big, after all, he is about to invest in so many factories in China, driving millions of jobs and billion-dollar foreign exchange earnings, and this request in China is not too much. The most important thing is that it will not cause domestic foreign exchange losses, in fact, under the policy of foreign exchange control, it is an advantage for those who are not in a hurry to return for a while, because other people basically will not operate like this.

……

After Director Lin left, Chen Zhiwen also quickly called Zhou Jiayang and Dong Youwei, who were traveling with him.

Although Hutchison and Hongkong Land have a different division of labor, the former focuses on infrastructure and the latter focuses on real estate, but that is also because the Hong Kong real estate market is too small, there is no need for internal friction between the two giant companies under their own, therefore, Hong Kong's real estate is basically handed over to Hongkong Land, and Hutchison only develops its own land, does not participate in other auctions, etc., unless it is its own business needs.

But the domestic market is still a blank slate, and the potential is also unlimited, not to mention just two companies of Hutchison and Land, even if there are 20 more companies of the same level, they can be easily accommodated, even if it is the 20 cities that have just opened, it adds up to an infinite market, and there are unlimited opportunities inside, Chen Zhiwen naturally will not have any restrictions on the two companies, as long as the two companies are not stupid to compete for the same project for internal friction. Only some projects led by Chen Zhiwen will be allocated by him, such as Yanjing International Trade Center, hotels, and some shopping malls in the future, these projects will be owned by the land, ports, highways, etc., which will be allocated to Hutchison, so that on the bright side, the distribution is also very clear.

Watsons belongs to Hutchison, and this matter has little to do with Hongkong Land, but the nature of the investment is similar, and if Hongkong Land knows about it, it will be much easier for him to invest in the future.

"The number of cities that are open now is enough for us Watsons to expand, and without any big competitors, ten years may not be enough to complete the development." After listening to the boss's description, Zhou Jiayang said with some joy.

If a lot of different supermarket chain brands invest together, then under the multi-party competition, a city will soon be saturated, but if there are no competitors, are their own one, then the investment in the store must be a lot, and no matter how rich it is, it is impossible to invest at one time, the normal situation is to invest in one first, and then sum up experience, cultivate talents, find partners and supply chains, and so on, these are almost the same, and then slowly expand, the whole process is like exponential growth, the early stage is the slowest, and the later stage is getting faster and faster. And even if the development is smooth, the doubling time will be measured in years.

"Yes, so I don't need the government to introduce any policies that can be invested in the whole country, as long as these cities are enough, we need to have a start in the major economic zones in the mainland." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said.

Although it has been considered a success in Shenhai City, just talking about the supermarket, RT-Mart and Parknshop under Watsons have almost accounted for half of the market in Shenhai City, and even 711 has begun to expand on a large scale in Shenhai City, but a Shenhai City can only represent a small part of the southernmost economy, even if it is done well here, and when the domestic retail restrictions are lifted ten years later, it can only be said that there are preparations in eastern Guangdong Province, and it is unrealistic to want to be ready to enter the whole country with only one city, and the current Shenhai City, It is not much developed, it can only be said that it is developing fast and has great potential.

If we can do a good job in retail work in these 20 cities that have been opened, cultivate regional talents, logistics and transportation systems, supply chains, etc., then ten years later, it will be much easier to expand, and different places, business methods are also different, with multiple points, we can be prepared earlier.

"It's true that supermarkets are much more complex and have much more potential than our Hongkong hotels, and now even if it's a joint venture, we need to build a store first." Land's Dong Youwei also nodded and said that although Hongkong Land has no retail industry, as the owner of a large enterprise, this common sense is still there.

"Dong Sheng is right, the most important thing is to let the central government agree first, as long as the central government agrees, then there are things that are very simple." Zhou Jiayang also agreed that although business expansion is also a very difficult thing, but when there is no market competition, basically as long as you don't make big mistakes and don't lack money, you should be able to succeed, after all, this is not a mature Western market, and wanting to enter the retail industry there is like a pipe dream, Watsons can only focus on the Southeast Asian market in the past few years, the United States is mainly Costco, and Europe is dependent on the newly acquired Tesco supermarket. Of course, Costco and Watsons are only brothers, not reciprocal relationships.

"What do you think, Lao Dong?" Chen Zhiwen could see that Dong Youwei seemed to have something to say.

"Chen Sheng, before I was discussing one thing with Zhou Sheng, Hongkong Land is ready to cooperate with China Resources to develop some real estate projects in Hong Kong, I and some senior executives of China Resources, the normal model is to share profits according to proportion, whoever has more money or more resources, who will share the lion, however, considering the situation of our group in Hong Kong, cash is not of much significance, if the property is not particularly high-quality, it doesn't matter if there is, and the group is ready to invest heavily in the mainland, so my idea is, China Resources can get most or even all of Hong Kong's profits, while we can get investment opportunities in the mainland through China Resources. Dong Youwei didn't answer directly, but talked about his own things:

"At present, on the mainland side, unless it is a project specially approved by the central government, such as the Yanjing International Trade Center where we are located, or a hotel, and other commercial projects, Hong Kong capital cannot invest, but through China Resources, we signed a contract in Hong Kong, we paid for it, and China Resources came forward to buy it, and when the policy is relaxed in the future, we will make a transaction."

"Yes, we were discussing this just now, and if this method works, Hutchison can do the same." Zhou Jiayang nodded and said.

"Aren't you afraid that China Resources will regret it?" Chen Zhiwen asked rhetorically.

"China Resources is also a well-known company in the country, and it also represents the cooperation between China and many Hong Kong businesses and international companies in Hong Kong, doing this kind of thing, it has an impact on his reputation, and even the reputation of the entire mainland, and again, our contract in Hong Kong also locks in the assets of China Resources in Hong Kong, if he violates the contract, we can also counter them, there is a contract in hand, if they are wrong, even the mainland government is not good to help them, so the gains outweigh the losses, they have no reason to do it." Dong Youwei said.

"Well, that's true, it's possible to bypass some policies." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, this is indeed a good way, both sides tacitly agree to keep quiet, China Resources buys commercial real estate in China, there is no problem at all, wait until the mainland allows foreign capital to participate, then just trade. If the volume of transactions involved is too large, then trade in batches. In the future 90s, although the domestic economy is stronger, it is still far less than Hong Kong's, and China Resources does have no reason not to abide by the contract.

"The mainland is still similar to Hong Kong in the 50s, pure modern commercial real estate is basically not, so there is no need to spend money to build office buildings, shopping malls and the like, that is troublesome, I am ready to choose the target, that is, the shops along the street in the center of each city, the more central the location of the better, especially the pedestrian street that has recently become popular in China, these places, I estimate, no matter how the real estate industry develops in the future, such a place is unlikely to expand indefinitely like shopping malls and office buildings. Their value is only going to get higher. Dong Youwei continued.

"Yes, these key shops are indeed very rare high-quality resources, so you ask China Resources Group to focus on acquiring the shops on the pedestrian street, or the entire building, for us in the top 100 cities in the domestic economy, I don't refuse, I want it, foreign exchange acquisition is OK, but be cautious, you still have to use part of China Resources' interests in Hong Kong as collateral." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

Before the rise of supermarkets such as Wanda and Wuyue in China, in any city, the pedestrian street is always the most lively place, and a city, most of them only have one such street, only some mega cities, there will be 2 or more, and even if the large supermarket appears, the business of the pedestrian street is only affected, but it is still far more than the shops in other places, invest here, the rate of return is so high, it is estimated that it can beat anywhere else, even if it is the rise of large supermarkets in the future, build supermarkets next to the pedestrian streets, That would only lead to a greater flow of people.

"Okay, the pedestrian street is indeed a place that I am looking forward to." Dong Youwei paused and said.

"So you mean, let China Resources open a supermarket in China instead of us? This is impossible, the property is just to collect rent, and it is no problem to change hands, but the supermarket is a business, and the supermarket chain is a group, and China Resources itself does have a supermarket business, but they manage it, and that's them. Chen Zhiwen said again.

"It is a cooperation with China Resources, but it is not such a model, we can completely cooperate with China Resources, the same is to discuss first, at present it is just a name for him, even if they own 51% of the shares, after the establishment of the joint venture, it is the same as the domestic automotive industry, China Resources does not have to care about anything except the name, everything is our people are responsible, so that after the domestic policy relaxes the restrictions on foreign-funded supermarkets in the future, we can buy back the equity." Dong Youwei said.

"This method is indeed possible, but I still tend to give priority to my own sole proprietorship, supermarkets are not like property rent, which involves a large industrial chain problem, if the joint venture, we operate too well, if China Resources really regrets it, it is still too troublesome for us." Chen Zhiwen thought about it and said, mainland property, even if it was not involved at all in the 80s, it can be after the 90s, at most it is just to spend more money in the future, and the only regret is that you may miss a lot of golden opportunities.

But retail is different, this is one of the core businesses of its own group, it is really big in its own hands, but the joint venture party is a major shareholder, which is really troublesome.

Dong Youwei nodded and said: "I understand what Chen Sheng means, so if China agrees that we will build a supermarket in a city that has been opened, then we will be a sole proprietorship, and in other places, we can also try to establish a joint venture with China Resources and change a brand, anyway, it will not be the point, the most important thing is to understand the domestic inland market first." Moreover, we can also use the resources of China Resources to promote this matter, and they can also speak in the mainland. ”

"Okay, then try it first, and you can cooperate with cities in the central part of the mainland." Chen Zhiwen nodded and agreed. (End of chapter)