Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho said to Jong-Suk, “This company will succeed. You just need the machines that you need to start the business and a bit of marketing. It’s not like anyone can open a business like this just because they are willing to. This is different from GH Mobile. As a matter of fact, the moulding product manufacturing industry is very competitive.”

“I have well kept the 500 million won in the business bank account that you sent to me. I’m purchasing necessary things with the money now. On Monday when I take out my money in the stock account, I will send you 100 million won.”

“Okay. Take your time. You don’t have to rush.”

“When I worked in GH Mobile, there were so many people who I had to manage, which was not easy. Here, I will have 6 people to start with, which I feel so comfortable about. I like that. I’m going to make this place a very friendly work environment. I’m hiring experienced workers mostly, and I guess there will be people who I can learn something from.”

“Hmm, I see.”

“Some of the workers in the GH Mobile’s maintenance team asked me if they could work with me. They said that they are willing to join me if the pay is good. I rejected their offer though. I didn’t want President Song to think that I’m taking people from GH Mobile.”

“That is a possible misunderstanding. Once you receive the machines that you need, create a company’s website as well. You can ask about it to the design team lead of GH Media that designed your business sign.”

“Hmm, really? Yeah, I probably need a website too. You know what? I can’t do this right now, but I’m planning to make the twin screws myself that we purchase from West Moulding in the U.S.”

“That’s very nice. You have all my support on it. I’m so proud of you, Jong-Suk!”

Gun-Ho tapped Jong-Suk Park’s back in encouraging him, and then he headed to Dyeon Korea.

While heading to Dyeon Korea in the car, Gun-Ho said to Chan-Ho Eom, “Chan-Ho, we now have one more factory that we have to stop by whenever we come to this area to work. That means there will be more driving for you.”

“No problem sir. It’s an easy drive to GH Machines. It’s on the way to Dyeon Korea anyway. Moreover, Mr. Director Park is, well, Mr. President Park is my favorite person. He is simple and direct. I like it a lot. Tae-Young bro like him too.”

“Hmm, really?”

While still in the car, Gun-Ho opened his smartphone. There was a recent public opinion poll about the upcoming by-election.

“42:58? That’s good. We are in the safe zone.”

Gun-Ho grinned as he turned off his smartphone.

When he arrived at Dyeon Korea, there were many freight trucks. As Gun-Ho’s Bentley arrived at the front gate, the security guard opened the gate right away after raising his hand for a salute. Director Kim was in the yard.

“What are those freight trucks?” Gun-Ho asked him.

“Ever since our company went public, we have seen an acute increase in product orders, which is very sudden. I figured that there were a lot of people who knew the brand— Dyeon— but had no idea that there was a joint venture company in Korea with Dyeon.”

“Really?”

Gun-Ho walked up to the second floor with Director Kim and entered the president’s office. The internal auditor and Director Yoon joined them soon.

Realizing that there were 6 executive officers in Gun-Ho’s office, Director Kim made a joke, “Do I have to call for Vice President Adam Castler as well? Since all of the executive officers are here, maybe we should have an executive meeting now.”

“Haha. We don’t need to have a meeting now, but since we all worked hard to have our company go public, let’s ask Mr. Adam Castler to join us to have tea with us. We can have time to talk freely about our company’s future and plan while enjoying tea.”

“Maybe we should ask Manager Hee-Yeol Yoo to join us too.”

“Sure.”

After a moment, Mr. Vice President Adam Castler entered Gun-Ho’s office, accompanied by the interpreter. Manager Hee-Yeol Yoo soon came into the office as well. Gun-Ho’s office was packed with people.

Gun-Ho asked Secretary Seon-Hye Yee, “Please bring us seven cups of jujube tea.”

“Yes, sir.”

A moment later, Secretary Seon-Hye Yee brought the jujube tea for everyone in the office. Gun-Ho said as he sipped his tea, “We’ve achieved our goal having our company go public, and I appreciate all of your hard work that brought us this positive result.”

“We haven’t done much, sir. Mr. Internal Auditor and you did all the work, sir.”

“It wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t have you all here.”

Gun-Ho continued as he took another sip of his jujube tea, “Now, Dyeon Korea is a public company. There will be more eyes watching our every move from now on. We will keep our business as transparent as we can. Since we are not having an official meeting, you can talk freely as you enjoy your tea. This jujube tea is from Ms. Secretary Seon-Hye Yee’s home. Her mother made it herself.”

“Oh, that’s why… I thought that there was something different about this tea.”

Director Kim said, “Sir, since we have more funds now, I think we should expand our business to having more factories in other countries. It was the very purpose of our company going public after all.”

“That’s right. We should establish additional factories abroad.”

“I think that we need another factory for Dyeon China in the Beijing area in China.”

“Currently, we have Dyeon China’s factory in Suzhou City which is close to Shanghai City, but pretty distant from Beijing. I think eventually we will need one in Beijing too.”

“That’s right, sir.”

“What about India?”

“If we have a factory in Noida which is close to Delhi in India, that would be nice. Samsung Electronics has its facility in Noida. Our Dyeon India’s factory is in Chennai which is in the southern area while Noida is situated in the northern area. It’s a good location to have our second Dyeon India’s factory. Manager Jong-Geun Lee can move to that location.”

“What about Indonesia?”

“I think we should open one in Vietnam before Indonesia. There is a good industrial complex in Vietnam called Loc An Binh Son. We can rent a factory building there. I saw several factory buildings on the market for lease in that complex.”

“Where is Loc An Binh Son located in Vietnam?”

“It’s close to Ho Chi Minh City. The location is good. It’s in the vicinity of Samsung Electronics, a harbor, and an airport. I’m sure many first vendor companies of Samsung Electronics are already there.”

“Vietnam is a community country. I guess the land where a factory is sitting on is not for sale, but we can only lease it, right?”

“It is for rent. If we don’t plan to take out a loan using the property, renting it should be good. Mr. Internal Auditor, how much funds do we have now?” Director Kim asked the internal auditor.

The internal auditor glanced at Gun-Ho before answering Director Kim, “We received 31.4 billion won so far.”

Director Kim had a rough idea how much it would be, so he wasn’t surprised, but Director Yoon and Manager Hee-Yeol Yoo looked startled. The internal auditor quickly changed the topic.

“What if we diversify our business a little within the industry? What if we acquire a pigment manufacturing factory? We use a lot of pigments in our compound room.”

“A pigment manufacturing factory? It is true that we use pigments in our research center, but we don’t use them that much, I believe. Also, a pigment manufacturing company is usually small in size, isn’t it? Mr. Manager Yoo, you probably know a lot about pigments. Can you explain more about it?”

“Organic pigments are produced domestically, but expensive pigments are mostly brought in from multinational large companies.”

“Really?”

“There is a large domestic company called Wookseong Chemical. It generates almost 100 billion won of annual sales revenue. Another large company— Cosmo Chemical— is making more than 400 billion won yearly.”

“Wow. I didn’t know there were chemical companies in that large size.”