"Boss"

Ke Yanping, the general manager of Changjiang Toys, brought a young man of twenty-seven or eighteen years old to Lin Zhichao's office.

"Well, let's sit down and talk!"

Lin Zhichao came to the conference table.

"Li Ziduo, I remember that you are an international student returning to Hong Kong, right?"

The young man Li Ziduo hurriedly said, "Yes, boss." My first job back in Hong Kong was as a designer at Cheung Kong Toy Factory, and this year marks my fifth year. ”

Lin Zhichao nodded and said, "General Manager Ke recommended you to me, saying that you know painting and are still a management talent. It just so happens that I need one of those people and am planning to set up a new company. ”

Li Ziduo's eyes jumped, he was promoted, could it be that he was still the general manager of the subsidiary?

Then, Lin Zhichao's words made his heart cold.

"I'm going to set up a comic publishing house, so I'll let you be the general manager!"

Even Ke Yanping was a little puzzled and said: "Boss, Hong Kong comics have been declining in recent years, and there is no market!" ”

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "Of course I know!" But do you remember, when we developed Belle Lily, did we use comics to promote it, although it was done by a German company? ”

Ke Yanping nodded, and then he said: "Isn't the boss planning to develop new toy products, and comics are just a means of publicity?" ”

Lin Zhichao said: "That's impossible, if that's the case, I'll find someone to do the work." Anyway, you don't care what the market prospect is, as long as you know that I plan to invest heavily in the comics industry, millions, tens of millions of scale investment, and the purpose of the investment, in fact, is ultimately related to toys, anyway, I think toys and comics can be combined. Bile Lily and Barbie dolls all have comics, and comics can bring soul and story to toy products. ”

Ke Yanping and Li Ziduo nodded hurriedly, and then asked the boss to explain, the two of them were afraid that they were ready to get out.

Li Ziduo immediately said: "I am willing to go to the new company!" ”

Investing millions, tens of millions, and the boss talking in person, these are all high-level levels that he has never been exposed to; He is just a technical talent and middle management of Changjiang Toys, with a monthly salary of more than 2,000, and I heard that the salary of the general manager of the subsidiary is very high, even if it is the general manager of a grandson company, the salary will rise.

Lin Zhichao nodded and said, "You remember it!"

First of all, in the name of Changjiang Toys, a grandson company was established - Oriental Publishing House;

secondly, advertise to recruit painting talents from all over Hong Kong, and ask them if they are interested in changing to Japanese comics-style comics, and if they are willing, they will be admitted; After admission, I re-studied and recruited Japanese manga artists to follow the teacher, referring to Japanese manga works.

Finally, to recruit apprentice-level talents, it is necessary to have a certain painting foundation and hobbies, and give priority to finding a little cultural level; After these people were admitted, they joined the Oriental Comics training class and followed the teacher to learn Japanese comics.

In short, the style of local comics is not good, the market is limited, I want to learn Japanese comics from Hong Kong comics, and then compete on the same stage. ”

Li Ziduo remembered it, and felt really strange at the same time, boss, there is no place to smash this money? Or do you like your own bad taste after the Japanese comics?

After the record, Li Ziduo asked, "What about the source of income?" ”

One recruits skilled workers and the other recruits apprentices, both of whom are trained, but there is no organization of production, which is not a company, but learning.

Lin Zhichao said: "After the painting talent learns the essence of Riman, he publishes the semi-monthly magazine "Manke World", which is a source of income. Of course, with such a large investment, my idea is to cultivate it into an IP or Intellectual Property in the future. For example, if our publishing house can make a classic comic, this comic will be IP, it can be developed into a movie in the future, its peripheral products and in short, this is a risky investment, you just do what I want. Let's start by imitating Japanese manga! ”

Although Li Ziduo still had some questions, he still chose to say: "Okay, I'll do it according to the boss's wishes!" ”

Lin Zhichao nodded and said, "As long as I am in Hong Kong, you can report to me if you have any situation." However, I want you to be more assertive. In short, I just want a group of excellent Japanese comic-style cartoonists.,Investment is not a problem.。 ”

"I see, boss!"

This matter is handled, Lin Zhichao is equivalent to having a channel for comics and toys, and in the future, he will cooperate with Audrey Toy Company, and even get out the "Transformers" of "Hasbro";

Audrey Toy Company will become a huge toy company, and when his son Lin Ruidong grows up (in the late seventies), he will enter the media field.

Of course, the most important thing for Oriental Publishing House is to grab Japan's anime IP - "Dragon Ball", "Conan", "One Piece", "Pokemon", etc., with Changjiang Toy Company, which is a huge industrial chain.

Of course, Oriental Publishing House will eventually be separated and formed into a part of the media group.

Hong Kong's comics originated very early, in the 40s, there was a comic column in the "Industrial and Commercial Daily", after the 50s, because there were many comic masters from the mainland to Hong Kong, so in 1959, Li Linghan, Chen Ziduo, Ou Qing, Huang Montien, Zheng Jiazhen and others jointly founded and published the semi-monthly magazine "Comics World", as well as Xu Guanwen's "Uncle Cai" created in 1958.

Many of these cartoons are on the theme of the Anti-Japanese War, after all, the painters are all from the mainland.

However, with the impact of the Western "007" series and the Japanese spy comic series in the 60s, from 1963, "Uncle Guess" and "Comic World" were discontinued one after another, and Hong Kong comics also fell into the first low period.

Although there are many comic masters in Hong Kong, Lin Zhichao naturally will not recruit them to work, the first is that their painting style may have been set, and the second is that they will not be willing to learn the Japanese comic style.

Therefore, Lin Zhichao asked Li Ziduo to advertise in Hong Kong, recruit painting talents to join, and redraw the Japanese comic series. These people themselves have a deep painting work, as long as they are willing to learn, they will be able to release "Manke World" in a year.

After Ke Yanping and Li Ziduo left, the assistant also came in and reminded: "Boss, it's time for a meeting!" ”

"Okay, right away!"

Lin Zhichao immediately got up and came to the conference room.

Not all the senior executives of the group participated in the meeting, but Wang Liang, deputy general manager, and people from the remuneration committee, including Tang Caiyun, rarely attended a meeting.

In fact, some high-level officials of the remuneration committee of Changjiang Industry concurrently serve, and Tang Caiyun, the chairman of the committee, rarely participates in the work of Changjiang Industry.

After Lin Zhichao sat down, he immediately said: "I want to raise my salary once this year, let's discuss how much to increase today, and how to increase it?" ”

As soon as the words fell, Wang Liang reminded: "Boss, our salary is already in the factories in Hong Kong, and we belong to the above batch!" I'm not against a salary increase, after all, I'm also a beneficiary, I'm worried about repeating the mistakes of the Yangtze River Plastic Factory and the Yangtze River Wig, and everyone won't even have to work at that time! ”

This is actually very reasonable, the high salary is good, but you have dried up the factory, and everyone has no job. It's like the trade unions in Europe and the United States, which are too strong and drive the factories away.

Lin Zhichao said: "Plastic flowers and wigs are already going downhill, and we are also taking the essence and removing the dross." Toy factories and zippers are technical, high-value-added industries and will not be affected. The purpose of this salary increase is to make Cheung Kong Industries Group the best-paid factory in Hong Kong, not the top batch. ”

Seeing that Lin Zhichao was so persistent, everyone stopped persuading him, anyway, the money belongs to your boss.

In fact, Lin Zhichao has a reason to add.

The Yangtze River Industrial Park, with its more than 13,000 workers, is a big ticking time bomb;

Because of this, Lin Zhichao decided to raise his salary, even if each worker raised his salary by 20 Hong Kong dollars per month, it would cost an additional 5 million Hong Kong dollars a year; Add 20 Hong Kong dollars per month next year, which will cost 10 million Hong Kong dollars more a year.

Importantly, Lam knew that from 1968 onwards, the wages of Hong Kong people would increase dramatically, and he only increased them two years in advance.

After 1968, Cheung Kong Industrial Group could also increase the price of its products to cope with the rise in costs. After all, costs will rise all over the world, and so will product prices.

In short, the salaries of workers in Hong Kong are too low.

At present, skilled workers are only 200~250 Hong Kong dollars per month, most workers only have 120~180 Hong Kong dollars per month, and there are even many child laborers and illegal workers whose salaries are only a few tens of Hong Kong dollars, and they may not even have enough to eat.

Bitter also!

The 13,000 people in Cheung Kong Industry have an overall salary in the range of 150~250 (including the leader of the worker group), which is an excellent factory in Hong Kong; Importantly, you can also enjoy double pay at the end of the year, three holiday benefits, overtime pay, and free lunch.

On the whole, it is not said that there is no better than Changjiang Industry, but there is certainly no number of hands.

"10% is more reasonable! After adding, our factory is almost the best treatment factory in Hong Kong, there is no one. A high-level suggestion.

"If you add 10%, you need to spend an additional 5.2 million Hong Kong dollars for the whole year, which is about 5.4% of the profit." Guo Xinxin, the group's financial officer, quickly came to a conclusion.

Lin Zhichao nodded and said, "10% is no problem, I agree." In addition, the group company also develops activities that can increase the cohesion of workers, such as sports activities and blind dates for single employees. In short, the time that workers spend in the factory every day is actually greater than the time they spend with their families, and this is also their home. ”

In fact, many people can only work as workers all their lives, and at most they will be mixed with the small bosses of the workers. Cheung Kong Industries' toys and zippers survived in Hong Kong until the mid-to-late 80s.

Wang Liang and others understood at this time that the boss was now bursting with great kindness and wanted to give the workers sweetness!

Then, everyone expressed their opinions, and many resolutions were quickly reached.

A week later.

You are in the Yangtze River Industrial Park, and tens of thousands of workers are full of smiles.

"A 10% salary increase next month, double pay this month, the benefits of the factory are too good!"

"You forget, there is also a Spring Festival benefit this month, according to the old practice, as long as you have half a year of service, you have to send rice oil."

"The benefits are so good! Some of our neighbors in the building work in other factories, working more than 12 hours a day, and their monthly salary is only 150 Hong Kong dollars a month, all year round! ”

"What are you, there are factories that are 90 days a month, but they are female workers. Don't eat it! ”

It's a very simple comparison, the workers are not stupid, and they will not say with a clear conscience that the Yangtze River industry is not good.

"It's a pity that the Yangtze River Plastic Factory and the Wig Factory have been cut off! It is said that because the wages were too high and the competition was fierce, there was not much profit, so the factory was closed. ”

There are many such remarks outside, and they all say that Lin Zhichao is because the salary is too high, and as a result, the plastic flower and wig factory is lost.

Of course, this kind of remarks are still very beneficial to Lin Zhichao, at least in the eyes of ordinary citizens, Lin Zhichao has a lot of points; As for the bosses of other factories, some of them may think that Lin Zhichao is stupid, why don't they squeeze that group of workers!

"That's right! I said how Hong Kong's largest plastic flower factory and wig factory suddenly closed overnight. By the way, will our toy factory be like that? "Some workers are worried.

"Yes, I heard that many factories will close down last year and this year, and it is difficult to find workers after they have no jobs!"

"Some of our neighbors are unemployed, and they haven't found a job for a month. Even if there were, it was only three dollars a day. ”

For the first time, they felt that wage increases were not necessarily a good thing, and that if the factories were gone, they would be unemployed.

Someone said, "Impossible! The Yangtze River Zipper Factory and Toy Factory are very stable, the Zipper Factory is the only zipper factory in Hong Kong, and the Toy Factory is the only factory in the world that produces Barbie dolls, how can it go bankrupt? ”

"That's it! It turns out that these two factories are so powerful, so I am relieved! ”

At the end of January, after the Spring Festival.

Lin Zhichao and Sandas led people to Kai Tak Airport to attend the opening ceremony of Hong Kong Airlines' fifth 'Boeing 707', which will now operate five Boeing 707s and two Viscount passenger planes.

Among them, the Japan route is three Boeing 707s, Taiwan is one Boeing 707 and one Viscount (two trips a day), Manila has a Boeing 707, and Seoul has a Viscount.

In the sixties, it was almost enough; But by the seventies, it may be necessary to add 7~8 Boeing airliners. For example, these routes have two flights a day, and there are also routes with new cities.

Although there are only three countries and one region, in fact, Japan and Taiwan are very closely connected with Hong Kong, and there are many tourists from South Korea and the Philippines later.

"Eastern Pearl, how do you translate into Chinese? Sir Lam painted the fuselages of all Hong Kong Airlines planes with this English, which must have a deep meaning, right? Sandas looked at the airliner with a new skin and asked curiously.

The seven aircraft of Global Shipping have changed their 'skin' this year and printed 'Eastern Pearl' to form a 'new atmosphere'.

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "Eastern Pearl, translated into Chinese, is 'Pearl of the Orient'." Hong Kong's economy developed rapidly in the 50s and 60s, and I am optimistic that it will become the 'Pearl of the Orient' in the 70s, so our Hong Kong Airlines passenger planes are printed with 'Eastern Pearl', and Hong Kong is the 'Pearl of the Orient', and our aircraft are printed with the 'Pearl of the Orient'. ”

In this era, some airline planes were called 'Stewardess' and some were called 'Air King', and now, Hong Kong Airlines' planes are called 'Pearl of the Orient'.

Sandas stroked his palms and smiled: "This name is very good!" ”

In fact, the media reported on this matter recently, and the response from the citizens has been very good.

Although Hong Kong Airlines is committed to Asianization, the 'Eastern' countries and regions also happen to include Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Originally, Lin Zhichao also wanted to change the name of Hong Kong Airlines to 'China Eastern Airlines', but all factors did not materialize; the first was that the Hong Kong government did not want to change its name because Hong Kong Airlines wanted to become a local airline; second, Lin Zhichao later believed that no matter how Hong Kong Airlines developed, it would be a local airline in the future, and Hong Kong would definitely be the light of Asia in the future, so there was no need to worry.

"It's time to cut the ribbon!" The new president, Gilbert, reminded.

The original president Hill retired honorably, and the new president was a British senior executive personally recruited by Lin Zhichao, although he was still British, but after all, he was recruited by himself, and he was still very trusted.

Taking advantage of Hill's retirement, Lin Zhichao also began to cultivate Chinese low-level management, and opened an opening first. In the seventies and eighties, the Chinese gradually formed a work together with the British management of Hong Kong Airlines.

"Please!"

Subsequently, Lin Zhichao and Sundash cut the ribbon together, symbolizing the cooperation of the two major shareholders.

After the ribbon cutting, Sandas asked, "Hong Kong Airlines' debt has increased to about $7 million, so Mr. Lin won't have any other plans, right?" ”

His tone was smiling, and relaxed, not worried.

After all, under the command of Lin Zhichao, Hong Kong Airlines has developed rapidly, and its net worth has reached about 28 million US dollars; Compared with six years ago, the total assets have increased by about 150%. For example, it has grown from $900,000 a year to $3 million a year.

A very bright report card, you must know that the Hong Kong aviation industry in this era is not very profitable.

Lin Zhichao said: "Not for the time being! However, it is expected that in another year or two, another Boeing passenger plane may be considered to open a new route to Okinawa, Japan, in one day. ”

At present, there are two routes to Japan - Tokyo and Osaka, of which Tokyo is twice a day.

There are a lot of Japanese people coming to Hong Kong for tourism and business, after all, Japan's population and economy are there.

Sandas nodded and said, "The development is very stable, and I have one thing that I admire Sir Lin very much, that is, you are always full of confidence!" ”

"Haha"

Nonsense, Lin Zhichao must be full of confidence, the population of tourists to Hong Kong is increasing so fast, he is very optimistic about Hong Kong Airlines.

At the moment, Cathay Pacific is not as good as Hong Kong Airlines, unless they have direct flights to Europe and the United States, but it is estimated that it will be in the late 70s, or 80s.

Hong Kong Airlines currently owns 90% of Hong Kong's airline food and 50% of ground handling and security, but the mechanics are all occupied by Swire.

Originally, the ground handling and security services were prepared by Hong Kong Airlines, but in the end they were vetoed by the Hong Kong government, and they had to retreat to form a company with Cathay Pacific before they were approved.

After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Lin Zhichao waited at Kai Tak Airport for a while, and then took his own flight to Japan for inspection.

(End of chapter)