Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

The vice president of S Company laughed loudly and said,

“Okay, we will send you the product drawing. Send us a sample product accordingly. Please make sure that the test report must show the name of Lymondell Dyeon’s product for raw materials.”

“Of course, I will make sure of it. What about the moulds?”

“It is an extrusion mould. You can make it here while referring to the product drawing; it won’t cost you much.”

“How many do you think you will need?”

“Once we decide to place an order from your company, we will make orders worth more than 1 billion won per month since they will be used for our new product. Am I right, Director Park?”

The vice president asked the director who came with him.

“Yes, it is, sir.”

Gun-Ho was thinking,

‘Oh, my gosh. This is going to be great. We can increase our sales revenue significantly. If we sell our products to them, which is worth 1 billion won on a monthly basis, it would add 12 billion won to our annual sales revenue. Mulpasaneop currently generates 70 billion won per year, and we will make 82 billion won if we get that contract with S Company. If we get this business from them, let’s try to manufacture the product without hiring more workers. I believe we can handle it with our current workforce. ‘

The vice president stood up from his seat to leave.

“Well, we’d better get going now. We have other companies that we need to visit today. I believe you, President Goo will be a good business partner with our S Company. You are young, passionate and driven. I like that, and I look forward to working with you.”

The vice president offered his hand to Gun-Ho for a handshake.

“It’s almost lunchtime, sir. Why don’t you join us for lunch today?”

“Thank you for asking, President Goo; however, we have a rather very busy schedule today. We need to stop by Pyeongtaek City and Ansan City. I’ll take a rain check.”

The S Company’s vice president patted Gun-Ho’s back with a smile.

Once the president of S Company left Gun-Ho’s office, the general affairs manager entered the room.

“Umm, sir. The employees from GH Development arrived here from Seoul. They are waiting for you in the meeting room.”

“Oh, that’s right! Please let them in.”

“Hello, sir.”

Manager Kang and Ji-Young greeted Gun-Ho respectfully by giving a bow to him.

“It has been a while.”

Gun-Ho smiled broadly.

“What’s in your briefcase. It’s huge.”

“I’ve brought all the reports and forms that require your signature, sir.”

“Oh, Manager Kang. You didn’t have to bring all those here. You could have reviewed and signed on them with your authority as a manager.”

“I suppose we’d better have your signature on them, sir. I am sure that the accountant office prefers to have your signature on this paperwork.”

“Well, since you are here, let’s have lunch together after having a tour of the factory.”

Gun-Ho picked up the interphone and asked for the general affairs manager.

“Can you show these two around the factory? Just a cursory tour should be good since it’s almost lunchtime.”

Manager Kang and Ji-Young followed the general affairs manager to the factory.

Hydraulic press machines were standing along with the wall and they were making loud noises.

“It’s scary.”

Ji-Young peeked inside the factory and hesitated to enter.

“Wow, it’s amazing.”

Manager Kang couldn’t close his mouth while looking inside the factory. The general affairs manager laughed while looking at their reaction.

“I was told that President Gun-Ho Goo worked at a factory in Pyeongtaek City with a machine like these for a year or so in manufacturing some products.”

“President Gun-Ho Goo is still young but he is an amazing person.”

Manager Kang sincerely admired Gun-Ho.

Gun-Ho took Manager Kang and Ji-Young to a sashimi restaurant that was located in the Asan Bay area close to Asan City.

“Oh, my goodness. I see the ocean.”

Ji-Young seemed to be excited to see the ocean.

While they were having lunch, Manager Kang asked Gun-Ho and he looked worried.

“Umm, sir. Can I ask you something?”

“Of course. What is it?”

“Since you acquired that big factory, you will continuously stay here, right?”

“Well, I am not so sure about it. I will have to see how things go here first before I know it.”

“What is your plan with GH Development in Seoul then? GH Development is a small company compared to Mulpasaneop. I am wondering if you intend to sell or close GH Development. If you do so, we will become unemployed. I have a hard time sleeping these days worrying about my job.”

“Haha, you don’t have to worry about it at all, Manager Kang. I will keep GH Development, of course. And I have a plan to grow it to a bigger company.”

Manager Kang and Ji-Young felt a sense of relief as Gun-Ho made sure that they would be able to continue to work at GH Development. They then could enjoy the food.

After she is done eating, Ji-Young said she wanted to suggest something while wiping off her hands with a wet tissue.

“Can I suggest something, sir?”

“Sure. What is it?”

“Have you thought of CIP (Corporate Identity Program) before?”

“CIP?”

“It’s a program to build a strong corporate identity that creates a public image of a company.”

“Hmm.”

“So, I was thinking that you might want to consider changing the name of Mulpasaneop.”

“Change the name of Mulpasaneop? To what?”

“You can name it as GH Tech, for example, or GH Motors or something. The factory in China can be called GH China. That way, people can see some sort of unity in the names of the companies you are running, and it creates the corporate identity.”

“Haha. That’s what big companies do. I just have small companies. Moreover, Mulpasaneop has its customers and vendors that they have worked together for years under their current name. So, it won’t be easy to change Mulpasaneop’s name right away.”

“I don’t think Mulpasaneop is a good name, sir. Ordinary people like me wouldn’t recognize what Mulpasaneop does by looking at its name, and the name reminds people of Mulpaseu*.”

Manager Kang laughed when Ji-Young said Mulpasaneop sounded like Mulpaseu.

“Hmm. Actually, you are right on it. I have no idea what Mulpasaneop means, either.”

“CIP is not just for big companies, sir. Since you are planning to continuously expand your business, you can integrate all of your companies under the name of GH. That way, you can earn your customers’ trust. I read it somewhere about it.”

“Hmm. I think you are good at not only accounting but also the design area, Ms. Ji-Young Jeong.”

“Hahaha. I learned the design from a friend next door—the design company.”

“How are they doing? That design company next to our GH Development office?”

“They are not doing well.”

“Ms. Jeong, I heard what you said about CIP. I will seriously think about it.”

One month later after Gun-Ho acquired Mulpasaneop, Gun-Ho changed its name.

“We will change our company’s name from Mulpasaneop to GH Mobile.”

Gun-Ho had a design company that made a new logo for the company and changed the company’s official envelopes and notes, and so on accordingly.

He also changed the name of his factory in China to GH Parts Company.

Note*

Mulpaseu – a Korean liquid medicine for temporary relief of muscle pain