Chapter 236 Cash Flow Strategy
Su Yuanshan's few simple sentences left Zhang Ke feeling deeply shaken.
Zhang Ke took a long breath, put down his pen, and stared at his nephew, eyes wide:
"One hundred million? Xiaoshan, you're not joking?"
"Uncle, I'm really not joking," Su Yuanshan said calmly.
He understood that, to his uncle, suggesting a 100-million-yuan subsidy sounded utterly insane.
At that time, what was 100 million? Many county governments across China didn't even have that much in annual fiscal revenue.
Su Yuanshan got up and rummaged through his filing cabinet, pulling out the first-quarter report his uncle had sent earlier.
"First-quarter sales, eleven billion yuan. Uncle, these numbers are solid, right?"
Zhang Ke nodded. "From the start, our mall's reporting system has been very strict. Everything is real."
"Good. Now, what's your payment term policy? One month? Two? Three?"
"It varies. It depends on the manufacturer's pricing policies and our margin.
The thinner our margin, the longer the payment term.
If we have higher margins, we pay faster."
Zhang Ke understood where Su Yuanshan was going. He thought for a moment and added:
"Our accounts receivable flow regularly exceeds ten billion."
"Mm... theoretically, that ten billion can be leveraged," Su Yuanshan said thoughtfully. "Of course, there's always the risk of a cash flow break."
He knew Zhang Ke already understood this, but he still spoke cautiously.
"Uncle, leveraging cash flow is already a proven business model abroad.
But the risk... you'll have to manage it yourself."
"In the end, whether it's traditional malls or future internet malls, the core business model is all about cash flow."
"Really, almost every business comes down to cash flow:
as long as cash flow doesn't collapse, even if a company loses billions every year, it can still survive."
Zhang Ke nodded. "I get it.
As long as there's 'grain' to borrow against future harvests, you can keep eating."
"Exactly — unless a total economic collapse happens, like a national-level crisis, you'll be fine."
"Before competitors showed up, malls could just expand with profits, letting cash lie around earning interest — the safest but dumbest strategy."
"But the most aggressive strategy is to pour all cash flow into expansion:
open more stores, drive more volume, boost cash flow again,
and achieve rocket-speed growth."
"Now, we need to assess how aggressive our competitors are.
If they're crazy enough to max out their cash flow,
we could smash them into the ground with overwhelming capital bombardments."
"Cash flow comes from sales.
So don't even worry about one billion —
even ten billion would be worth it if it leads to market domination."
"Besides," Su Yuanshan added,
"Is there any better PR move than a real 100-million-yuan subsidy?
How many millions are wasted each year on ads?
This kind of real subsidy will generate way more buzz."
Zhang Ke licked his lips, drank some tea, and after a long silence, let out a sigh.
"I get it.
So how should we do the campaign?
Straight discounts?"
"Of course not!"
Su Yuanshan shook his head. "Since it's a subsidy, let's make it a real subsidy."
Picking up his uncle's notebook, he wrote as he spoke:
"Don't treat consumers like idiots.
If you say it's a subsidy, it should feel like one."
"First, classify products by price bracket.
For example, list how many items cost over 10,000 yuan."
"Offer, say, a 2,000 yuan subsidy for those.
5,000 yuan items get maybe a 500 yuan subsidy.
And so on —
1,000 yuan, 500 yuan brackets.
Low-ticket items can just get regular discounts."
"Of course, no actual cash handouts —
print promotional posters plus distribute vouchers."
"Posters should clearly list price brackets and subsidy levels,
and tell customers exactly where the 100 million yuan is going."
"Make them feel your sincerity."
"Technically, it's still discounting.
But using different methods will make the customers feel differently about it."
Su Yuanshan scribbled quickly, sketching out a rough poster design.
He paused and sighed:
"Too bad the internet isn't mature yet —
Otherwise, we could set up a live sales counter on a giant screen, updating sales numbers nationwide in real-time."
Handing the notebook back, he said:
"This is how we'll do it.
Also, think of a good marketing slogan."
Zhang Ke took the notebook and nodded heavily.
"Good. Let's show them we're not sick cats.
We'll smash them into the ground."
Su Yuanshan smiled and nodded:
"The domestic market is too big.
As the economy grows, the market will keep expanding."
"Trying to monopolize it forever is impossible."
"But isn't monopoly the natural ambition of any business?"
Zhang Ke grinned.
"That's what you always say."
"Haha, that's right!"
They chatted a bit more, mainly about risk management and cash flow control.
Su Yuanshan didn't dictate every detail.
He trusted that once he set the strategic direction, his uncle's team could handle the execution.
He also reminded him to maintain absolute confidentiality around the campaign plan.
...
At the end of June, more good news came.
After three months of silence, Quake — the game Su Yuanshan had pinned high hopes on — finally took off.
Honestly, this version of Quake was a rushed product.
Combined with idSoftware's stubbornness, it hadn't dominated the PC gaming scene the way it had in Su Yuanshan's previous life.
But with rising PC sales — especially after Intel released the second-gen Pentium (not the later Pentium II) running at a blistering 100MHz, combined with the Voodoo 3D accelerator card —
players finally experienced true 3D gaming.
Word of mouth among players, along with gaming magazines promoting the experience,
led to a surge of Quake+Voodoo sales in June.
Orders flooded into Meijie like a blizzard.
Luckily, thanks to their trust in Su Yuanshan and confidence in the Voodoo card,
Meijie had stubbornly kept producing graphics cards even during the darkest months.
This highlighted the value of sister companies:
Starsea, Meijie (Special Zone branch), and even Texas Instruments —
all bore losses together to push Voodoo forward.
Now, with the 3D graphics card boom ignited,
all three companies upstream in the supply chain finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Su Yuanshan, too, felt a massive burden lift from his shoulders.
At its smallest, failure in Voodoo would have been a market setback.
At its largest, it would have represented a failure of vision.
And what terrified Su Yuanshan most was —
if the world's development diverged from his memory too much, it would become unpredictable.
Thankfully, everything was still on track.
As July arrived,
with the release of True Lies in North America,
giant billboards featuring Schwarzenegger holding a Vidoo phone quietly went up on the streets of New York.
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