Chapter 170: Establishing the Group Headquarters
Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong Chinese Daily Building:
Yang Wendong led several executives to the top floor of the building and said, "Everyone, please take a seat."
"Alright," replied Wei Zetao, Qin Zhiye, Zhang Hui, Zheng Zhijie, Wang Fengzhi, and Lin Yuanshan—key leaders from various sectors of the company—as they each found a seat in the conference room.
Su Yiyi stood up and offered, "I'll get everyone some tea."
But Wang Fengzhi quickly interjected, "Let me do it—I'm more familiar with the setup here."
No one else commented, but it was clear they all agreed. They knew Su Yiyi's special relationship with the boss, and no one dared let her serve them.
Yang Wendong laughed. "No need to be so formal. Skip the tea. Just grab a few bottles of Watson's soda instead."
"Okay." Su Yiyi nodded and returned shortly with a tray. Everyone took a bottle, and the meeting officially began.
Yang opened with, "Everyone, the reason I've brought you together today is to discuss the formal establishment of Changxing Group's headquarters.
As I've mentioned before, our businesses are growing rapidly. Each unit needs to operate with independent finance, HR, and administration.
At the same time, we need a central group company that manages overall human resources and finances across all branches."
The others clearly already knew about this. Wei Zetao was the first to smile and say, "Mr. Yang, with your ventures expanding this much, forming a group company is the natural next step."
Yang nodded. "Yes. The group headquarters will set certain standards and control mechanisms for the subsidiaries.
At the same time, you'll each receive additional decision-making powers. In the future, we'll clearly define what decisions you can make and which require headquarters approval—or mine. We'll follow that system across the board."
Everyone in the room nodded. Anyone who had worked in large organizations knew: small companies rely on people, big companies rely on systems.
Yang continued, "Yiyi, you'll be in charge of managing the General Affairs Office. The role of this department is to maintain communication with each subsidiary, compile reports, and keep me informed.
It'll also handle urgent matters and coordinate cross-department cooperation."
"Got it, Dong-ge," Su Yiyi replied.
She had known about this assignment for a while. Initially, she wasn't sure she could manage it, having only worked in support roles before.
But Yang explained that this department wasn't a technical or operational unit. It was a bridge—an eye and ear for him—to keep the group informed. Trustworthiness mattered more than technical knowledge. Specialists could always be hired for the rest.
Yang continued, "Although the subsidiaries will operate independently, internal transactions will follow market pricing—maybe with a slight discount.
Particularly with Hong Kong Chinese Daily and Commercial Radio—you will serve as the group's media channels. Make sure to prioritize our own projects, especially the upcoming real estate developments."
Qin Zhiye and Zhang Hui nodded. Qin added, "Don't worry, Mr. Yang. We'll give top-tier promotional support to our sister companies."
"Good." Yang nodded. "For now, group HQ and Changxing Real Estate's headquarters will remain here. This building should be sufficient in the short term. If we expand rapidly later, we can consider buying more property."
When he first completed construction of the Hong Kong Chinese Daily building, Yang had already anticipated that the unused space would quickly come in handy. So he never leased out the extra floors.
And if the group continued growing at this pace, even this building might become too small.
Zheng Zhijie chuckled. "Mr. Yang, there are still plenty of old buildings nearby. We could buy and rebuild them into new office towers."
"That works," Yang said. "That'll be your next task—look into acquiring nearby older buildings. Once we have them, we'll tear them down and build new ones."
The credit line offered by Liu Chong Hing Bank was substantial, so it needed to be put to use. Of course, loans from other banks were also viable—just not with the same generous terms.
"No problem. I'll start scouting the area this afternoon," Zheng said.
Yang added, "Don't build skyscrapers—keep them around ten to fifteen stories. Buy more plots and build clusters of office towers. Even if we don't use all of them, we can rent out the extras."
From an economic perspective, whether a plot should have a tall building depends heavily on the land price.
The higher the land cost, the higher the building should go. But taller buildings also increase per-square-foot construction costs. In areas where land isn't ultra-expensive, it's more cost-effective to buy multiple lots and build shorter buildings.
While Central was pricey, it was still 1960. Even in the city's core, 20-plus-story towers were rare.
Hong Kong Chinese Daily's building was in the fringe of Central, making a 10–15 floor structure the most cost-efficient choice.
Plus, in this era, the key to long-term property investment was land banking. Twenty years later, when the first round of buildings was outdated, they could be demolished and rebuilt as high-rises—multiplying profits.
"Understood," Zheng replied.
Yang then said, "Let's discuss coordination across departments next."
The formation of a group headquarters was inevitable. There was simply too much for one person to handle.
The biggest challenge was geography. Factories had to be located in Kowloon—that was the natural direction of Hong Kong's industrial development. Yang hadn't had a choice early on.
Meanwhile, the newspaper, radio station, and real estate company all needed to be on Hong Kong Island. The necessary talent was based there too.
Still, for a major group, this kind of split was normal. Global corporations had even higher management costs. It came with the territory.
...
After the meeting:
Yang called Wei Zetao and Su Yiyi to stay behind.
He said, "Old Wei, even though we've launched a bunch of new businesses, the core is still Changxing Industrial. I'll be relying on you to maintain that foundation."
Wei replied, "Don't worry, Mr. Yang. Changxing Industrial is running exactly as planned. Our products are stable in the market—it's just a matter of ensuring production and quality."
Yang nodded. "The current lineup is performing well, but we can't rely on just a few items forever.
This year, your primary task is to build a dedicated R&D department—not like what Old Hong runs for product design, but a real R&D team focused on market-driven innovation. Like what 3M does."
Even though Yang planned to continue offering some of his past-life product ideas, he knew the company needed to stand on its own eventually.
Even if 90 out of 100 products failed, that one breakout hit would be enough. That was exactly how 3M operated.
"Understood." Wei nodded. "But 3M has a wide range of products. We don't have that kind of reach. Should we focus on a specific area?"
Yang smiled. "We're learning from 3M, not copying them. If you go head-to-head in their strongest categories, you're asking for trouble.
Instead, look where they haven't gone. Western and Asian lifestyles are completely different. 3M didn't design with Asian needs in mind. That's our opportunity."
"Great idea! You're absolutely right," Wei said, eyes lighting up.
No matter how big 3M was, it was still a Western company. Its core markets were always the U.S. and Europe. Asian countries were more of an afterthought.
"And especially when it comes to kitchenware, there's a huge difference between Asia and the West," Yang added. "Look at what causes inconvenience in Asian kitchens, and solve that.
If you can come up with a new hook-style item for the kitchen—something genuinely helpful—there's a real market for it."
"Got it. I'll form a team to focus on Asian kitchen solutions," Wei promised.
"Good. Let's start there," Yang said.
Every household has a kitchen—and that made it a massive market.
Su Yiyi then asked, "Dong-ge, Mr. Wei, what about patents in Asia? I hear it's tough to protect them here."
"That's true," Yang agreed. "But we can't stop doing business just because of it. We'll make our money the proper way.
Japan's legal protections are much better, and it's the biggest market. As for the others—even with rampant piracy, we'll still make some profit."
Piracy was a timeless issue—even in the 21st century, it was never fully resolved.
The only solution was to find workarounds—like partnering with local distributors and sharing a reasonable cut to ensure mutual benefit.
If that still didn't work—or if a country didn't even have copyright laws—then it became a matter of competing with price and quality.
Wei nodded. "Agreed. Japan's 90 million population probably has more buying power than all of Southeast Asia combined.
And who knows—maybe some of our products will catch on in the West too. That would make the market even bigger."
"That would be ideal," Yang smiled. "And we already have some connections in the West."
Thanks to the universal appeal of Post-its and adhesive hooks, Yang had already established contacts with Western distributors—some of whom had reached out themselves.
"Yes," Wei said. "Also, Mr. Yang, one more thing—Robert from 3M is coming to Hong Kong in two weeks."
Friends, if you enjoyed the novel, you can subscribe to my Patreon channel.
Until November 30st, get 30% off both your subscription and the purchase of your novel. Thank you for your support.
Read 40 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/johanssen10