Wen Liang did not explain why the amount was raised to 500,000, leaving Li Shengli in deep thought. If a company with so many elite talents could not figure this out, Qinghe would eventually be nothing more than a fast food restaurant and would not achieve much.
Ignoring Li Shengli, Wen Liang turned to Tan Xue and asked, "Is the burden of the marketing department heavy?"
"Daily operations are fine, but with so many stores, I feel pressured in terms of personnel management..."
"It doesn't matter if you have pressure. Having pressure means you recognize your shortcomings. Only with shortcomings can you make progress." Wen Liang smiled and said, "After the overall situation is settled, I will arrange for Qinghe's mid-level and above managers to attend some economics lectures at Jiangdong University. I will also invite well-known domestic scholars and professors to teach you about company management and operations. Don't be afraid of not understanding. Just learn if you don't understand! Gu Shitong was just a poor teacher before he became rich, but he still became the richest man in Jiangdong, didn't he?"
Tan Xue's eyes shone with desire. She is now the marketing manager and clearly feels the insufficiency of her knowledge reserves. Wen Liang's suggestion just hits her sensitive spot, and she nervously asks, "Can I really go to university to study
“Of course. This kind of learning system must become the norm. You can take turns to study at different times. There should be at least two months every year for everyone to spend in learning. When Qinghe grows stronger in the future, we will send you to business school to study for an MBA…” These have always been in Wen Liang’s plan. As Qinghe grows step by step, the only way for this group of old people represented by Li Shengli and Tan Xue to avoid being eliminated is to work hard to improve themselves.
Since he had said this, and seeing that Li Shengli had also recovered from his contemplation, he had to give the two of them a few words. He changed the topic and said, "Aristotle once said a very interesting thing. An intellectual is better than an illiterate, just as a living person is better than a dead person. Do you understand what this sentence means? Without knowledge, you are like a dead person! So if you want Qinghe to go higher and further, you helmsmen, you must study hard..."
Hearing Wen Liang comparing herself to a helmsman, Tan Xue shyly said, "I am just a screw on the boat. The helmsman of Qinghe should be Mr. Wen, Mr. Ning, Mr. Li, Mr. Si, etc. What am I?"
Li Shengli closed the pamphlet about the franchise process in his hand, walked over and said with a smile: "Tan Xue, you don't have to give me face. Compared with President Wen, I am just a screw. To be honest, if we want Qinghe to ride the wind and waves and set sail, we can leave anyone, but we can't leave President Wen."
Wen Liang smiled and said, "Well, I haven't been to the company for a few days. Has the company's corporate culture become about flattery? Otherwise, why are you two so smooth at flattering?"
Tan Xue hurriedly explained: "I said it from the heart..."
"Okay, I know, I was just joking. You see, Mr. Li is thick-skinned. He pretended not to hear anything. This is a great advantage. Sister Tan, you should learn more from him," Wen Liang interrupted her with a smile and said to Li Shengli, "Have you figured it out?"
"I've thought of something, but I'm not sure if it's correct. Qinghe is positioned in the mid-to-high-end market. Considering the costs of advertising, human resources, design and planning in the future, if the franchise fee is too low, it will not be in line with Qinghe's corporate image, the cost will not be proportional to the benefits, and... "
Wen Liang now finds that Li Shengli has a great advantage. Of course, it is not the "thick-skinned" that he joked with Tan Xue, but that he has a very clear mind when thinking about problems and has a strong ability to summarize and generalize. Don't underestimate this point. Many people have ideas but may not be able to sort them out clearly, and they may not be able to express them accurately even if they understand them.
As a leader of a company, he does not need rich professional knowledge or strong business capabilities. What he needs is an active brain, quick thinking, oral expression skills with personal characteristics, and the insight and observation that can get to the core of the problem.
Lee Seung-ri cannot be said to be completely qualified, but in time, he is one of the most likely candidates to become such a leader.
Wen Liang listened carefully to his reasons and said, "It's rare that you can consider this level in such a short time. But my original intention is very simple. Raising it to 500,000 can raise the threshold for joining. With this number alone, many potential franchisees who are not strong enough will be eliminated..."
Li Shengli wondered, "Won't raising the threshold delay Qinghe's development? The domestic fast food industry is still in its infancy. If we can't take advantage of this gap to speed up development and occupy the market, we will have to pay a higher price to compete with competitors in the future. In the long run, won't this be more costly than gain?"
Over the past six months, not only has Qinghe been developing, but people like Li Shengli, Si Yajing, and Tan Xue have also been making progress. Si Yajing has initially built up confidence, Tan Xue has become more deeply aware of his shortcomings, and as for Li Shengli, in the past, it would have been impossible for him to question Wen Liang's decisions on the strategic direction!
However, such a change is what Wen Liang has always dreamed of. Since Yi Jun successfully acquired the water plant, his main energy and time will be completely transferred from Qinghe to Yishan. Although he will not abandon Qinghe, having a group of subordinates with independent thinking ability is much better than those who are timid and only know how to execute.
Wen Liang smiled and said, "Capturing the market does not mean taking the lead. This is a big misunderstanding. Uncle Li, you must remember this!"
"Yes!" Li Shengli was a little surprised and said, "I just said what I thought in my head. I don't have any other intentions..."
"If you have any questions, ask them. I don't have the final say," Wen Liang said, dispelling his worries. "But to accurately understand what I mean by raising the threshold, you must first understand what the fast food industry is. Uncle Li, Sister Tan, what do you mean by fast food?"
Li Shengli and Tan Xue looked at each other. Although they had already entered this industry and could even be said to have put their entire lives into it, when Wen Liang asked this seemingly simple question, neither of them could give a clear answer.
"My understanding of fast food is to simplify the meal, shorten the process and steps, exchange efficiency for time, and then gain benefits with time."
Tan Xue's words were agreed by Li Shengli. Wen Liang did not comment and said, "You know Qian Xuesen, the father of space missiles. I don't know if he was not full every day. He once said something like this. He said, 'Fast food is the industrialization of cooking. It uses modern science and technology and business management technology to transform the ancient cooking operations into industrial production and form a cooking industry. This is a revolution in human history! Just like the industrial revolution in Western Europe in the 18th century, machines and mechanical power replaced manual labor.' This is the true meaning of the fast food industry!"
He picked up a pen and wrote three words on a piece of office paper: scientific, mechanized, and standardized. Then he pointed at the paper and said, "Fast food is by no means a simplified version of a regular meal. It is a product produced on a production line under the premise of scientific, mechanized, and standardized production."
The two suddenly realized it, but before they could think carefully, Wen Liang asked a second question: "What is a chain franchise?"
This time, Tan Xue learned her lesson and shook her head. Facing Wen Liang's gaze, Li Shengli smiled bitterly and said, "Just tell me straight. My mind is a little confused right now and I can't think of an answer."
"I looked at the plan of the planning department. It seems that all aspects have been taken into consideration, but in fact, it only grasped the surface of the problem, but not its essence. They thought that as long as they unified the store name, uniform clothing, uniform store display, and uniform advertising, they would have achieved chain franchising. That's not all. They naively thought that as long as the chain was profitable, so they lowered the standards and expanded madly, intending to quickly occupy the market through this channel. But they didn't think about how the headquarters could ensure that the franchised branches would not only focus on the unity of external forms, but actually be at odds with each other under such a speed of expansion? Once this at odds with each other formed a chain reaction, the franchisees would act independently and fight alone, which would not only kill themselves, but also drag down the Qinghe headquarters. This is far from the original intention of chain franchising."
This is not just a problem for Li Shengli, Kang Sheng and others. Blind expansion was a common phenomenon in the domestic fast food industry from the mid-1990s until the first decade of the new century. They tried to increase brand awareness through market share, but subsequent results proved that although they occupied the market, they did not gain the upper hand and were still defeated by McDonald's and KFC.
So in the end, although Chinese fast food occupies 78.9% of the fast food industry's share, it has no real leader, no overlord, no dragon head. There are many flowers blooming in the market, but no flower can bloom forever!
However, this also shows that there are huge business opportunities in this market. Wenliang, who has been a man of two lives, certainly cannot let Qinghe repeat the detours and pains that Chinese fast food has experienced. Little by little, step by step, he wants to make Qinghe a frontal line of defense. When facing the impact of the behemoth Western fast food, it can remain motionless and give it a try. Eventually, like the Philippine Jollibee Group, it will become a legend of its nation's victory over Western food culture!
This is a warm dream, illusory, but also real!
Wen Liang's words were not a rebuke, but they were more like rebukes, making Li Shengli sweat profusely. The work of the Planning Department was under his direct leadership, so of course he was responsible. He said, "I didn't think this through..."
"Now is not about pursuing responsibility, but about solving the problem. I suggest that the planning department study how KFC operates its franchise model. They will understand that a century-old restaurant is still so cautious about franchising. There is no reason for us to be careless!"
"After figuring out these two questions, I still have a third question: how can we occupy the market and seize the initiative?" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets on Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation.) (To be continued)