Chapter 874
A Ticket to Enter the Top Business Circle
While Wang Donglai was busy with thorium-based molten salt reactors and other matters, the news that Galaxy Technology was going to launch Galaxy Education and Galaxy Supermarket was gradually fermenting and turning into a tangible impact.
Of all these impacts, the most significant is the number of resumes received by Galaxy Technology.
Galaxy Technology's resume database has never stopped being updated.
After all, Galaxy Tech offers such good benefits and is developing so rapidly, and many of its positions don't have strict requirements regarding academic degrees.
Unlike other large companies that outsource employees, they don't hire ordinary people with associate's or third-tier college degrees for some assembly line jobs that require no technical skills.
However, the situation is different at the middle and upper management levels.
Compared to other major tech giants, Galaxy Technology has the most restrictions on its senior management.
As for the benefits and compensation at Galaxy Technology, they are actually the least valuable thing for the company's senior executives.
Because they either receive an annual salary or stock options.
Galaxy Technology, however, is extremely stingy in this regard.
Want to get shares? Sure!
They must demonstrate sufficient ability and results to acquire shares.
The difficulty of achieving this capability and result is simply unmatched by other corporate giants.
Under such circumstances, starting from the very beginning, many elites kept their distance from Galaxy Technology.
But now, the situation is different.
Pinduoduo went public, creating so many millionaires.
There aren't many seats left.
Therefore, the location of Galaxy Supermarket became highly sought after.
Some applicants volunteered themselves, while others were proactively contacted by headhunters.
Out of thousands of resumes, only five people made it to the final interview after passing through multiple rounds of assessments.
As the person in charge of a new business, Wang Donglai naturally had to be personally oversee it.
Yu Donglai serves as honorary chairman and has the responsibility of supervision and guidance.
Although Wang Donglai trusted Yu Donglai and was willing to hand over power to him, unfortunately Yu Donglai was unwilling to accept it.
Therefore, Wang Donglai had no choice but to recruit externally.
The five interviewees were senior managers from Walmart, RT-Mart, Carrefour, and Sam's Club, and there was even a vice president.
Besides, the last interviewee was Nie Yun.
Wang Donglai still held a sliver of hope for this interview.
After all, Galaxy Technology is playing its cards openly.
Galaxy Supermarket didn't hide its requirements; as long as you pay attention, you should be able to grasp the key points.
What he needs to do is select the most suitable person from among these business elites.
With this mindset in mind, Wang Donglai met with his first interviewee.
Senior Vice President of Walmart China, that's not a low-ranking position.
That's why it's ranked first.
However, the moment the vice president opened his mouth, Wang Donglai mentally sentenced him to death.
"...Through centralized procurement and AI-driven dynamic pricing, we can further increase Galaxy Supermarket's gross profit margin by 3.5 percentage points above the industry average. As for the employee costs you mentioned, Mr. Wang, we can absorb them through a flexible scheduling system and performance-based variable compensation, keeping labor costs below 12%..."
"stop."
Wang Donglai tapped the table lightly and said, "Mr. Zhang, in your model, employees are a 'cost item,' an object that needs to be 'optimized' and 'controlled.'"
“But in Galaxy’s model, employees are the ‘core asset for value creation’ and the source of the experience.”
"We are not afraid of high labor costs, but we are afraid of low value creation."
"There may be some differences in our beliefs, I apologize!"
Wang Donglai decisively rejected this person.
The second person is an operations expert from Sam's Club.
As soon as they sat down, they began to emphasize "membership-based elite screening" and "high-net-worth client services".
Wang Donglai listened patiently to the whole thing, then asked only one question: "If an ordinary elderly person who is not a member just wants to buy a bag of discounted flour, how would your store handle that?"
The other party reiterated the advantages of the membership system and the necessity of screening users.
Wang Donglai shook his head: "Yinhe Supermarket treats everyone who walks in the same way."
But he patiently asked another question: "If an elderly person wants to buy some food, but it's all in large bags and they can't possibly finish it all, how can this problem be solved?"
The other party was speechless and did not reply.
Wang Donglai shook his head and said, "Supermarkets are a service industry, and employees must have a service mindset. Obviously, this issue has not been addressed!"
The third person, a seasoned veteran from a local supermarket giant, patted his chest and guaranteed, "Mr. Wang, give me three years, and I can get Galaxy Supermarket to open a thousand stores nationwide and rank among the top three in revenue! I have a mature and rapid replication strategy!"
Wang Dong looked at him and said, "Is your strategy to cut costs on renovations, reduce employee salaries, charge high listing fees, and use near-expiry products to attract customers?"
"What I need is not speed, but depth!"
"If every store can become a warm center and a beacon of trust in the local community, with 300 billion in assets, anyone could do this! You can leave!"
Every industry elite who left carried confusion, resentment, and even a hint of anger at being offended.
In their view, they brought a "success formula" accumulated over decades in the retail industry. As long as they followed their script, Galaxy Supermarket would not need such a high amount of capital and could make profits faster, or even go public.
However, Wang Donglai refused them decisively.
It wasn't until the last interviewee that Wang Donglai was able to compose himself again.
When Nie Yun walked in, he keenly sensed that the atmosphere was somewhat different.
After exchanging Yunda shares for Galaxy Supermarket shares, he did have some regrets, but he quickly dismissed the thought.
He wanted to take a gamble!
As it turned out, he won the bet!
Galaxy Supermarket has already secured so much funding and support even before it has gone public.
The fact that Jack Ma, who also owns supermarket businesses like Hema, is willing to invest money in this venture is enough to prove something.
Even if these business tycoons invested money because of the share issuance system.
Nie Yun even had another idea: if Galaxy Supermarket failed, Wang Donglai probably wouldn't treat him unfairly.
After learning of Wang Donglai's idea, he began to ponder it.
I gathered all the information I could about Pang Donglai and started learning about it.
Pang Donglai's approach can be complex in some ways, but simple in others. When he went to Pang Donglai's place to learn with Wang Donglai, he spent two days exchanging ideas and learning from Yu Donglai, and he grasped the core key points.
"Mr. Wang, before the interview, I would like to talk about my understanding of the essence of the Pang Donglai model."
Nie Yun's voice was not loud, a little hoarse, but very calm.
"What outsiders see are high salaries, bonuses, and good service, but that's just the surface."
"At its core is a distributed autonomous system based on 'trust' and 'love'."
"For Mr. Yu Donglai, trust is not just a slogan, but a real delegation of authority and responsibility and a sharing of benefits."
"Love is not empty concern; it is putting yourself in the employees' shoes to solve their worries and being willing to share profits."
"The reason this system is difficult to replicate is not because the method is kept secret, but because it extremely challenges the profit-seeking instinct of capital and the control desire of traditional management."
Wang Donglai sat up slightly, showing some interest, and said, "Continue."
"Yinhe Supermarket takes Pang Donglai as its model, but not by copying it. Instead, it aims to solve Pang Donglai's bottleneck in scaling up."
Nie Yun quickened his pace and said, "Pang Donglai relies on the founder's charisma and deep local roots, while we need to standardize and make its core business transferable through 'institutional culture' and 'digital empowerment'."
Specifically.
"First, we institutionalize trust. We have established a 'Store Self-Governance Committee,' which is elected by employees and has certain financial approval authority, event planning authority, and internal dispute mediation authority within a certain limit."
"The company allocates a fixed percentage of profits, such as 20%, directly to the store-level 'happiness fund,' and the committee decides how to use it, such as for bonuses, team building, hardship allowances, etc. This transforms employees from 'executors' to 'operators.'"
"Second, love is measurable and supportable."
"Rewards that cannot be quantified in terms of numbers, such as the 'grievance award,' should not be vague. We can combine lightweight wearable devices, which are non-mandatory and allow voluntary application to qualify for rewards, with key service process records that also require customer consent, and AI emotion recognition assistance to establish an objective and fair evaluation system."
"At the same time, we will open up channels for employee promotion and establish the 'Star Promotion Program,' which gives any employee the opportunity to receive paid training and transform into a technical, managerial, or professional talent."
"Third, profit control? No, it's value creation control."
Nie Yun said something that would have left all the previous interviewees speechless.
“In the early stages, we should not make ‘profitability’ the core control indicator.”
"What we should control is the employee's proactive service energy value. This is achieved through anonymous surveys and data analysis, customer net promoter score, single store community connectivity, the frequency and depth of surrounding residents' participation in store activities, and the real negative review rate of product quality."
"Profits will naturally grow from these metrics."
Nie Yun said firmly, "When our store becomes the most loved and trusted center in the community, traffic will naturally gather."
“We don’t rely on price increases for goods, but on the value of traffic – brand collaborations and displays, integration of local life services, community data insights, and cross-empowerment within the Galaxy ecosystem.”
Wang Donglai clapped.
"President Nie, I really didn't expect you to give me so many surprises."
"Truly, one should look at a scholar with new eyes after three days' absence!"
When Nie Yun heard Wang Donglai say that, he couldn't help but smile bitterly.
"President Wang, I'm not President Nie anymore."
"After learning that Mr. Wang was going to launch Galaxy Supermarket, I started thinking about what to do."
Fortunately, I still learned something.
"Through my observation and learning at Pang Donglai, and through communication with General Manager Yu, I feel that I have a general understanding of General Manager Wang's thoughts and ideas."
“I also worked in the express delivery industry and know how hard it is for frontline workers. I didn’t have a choice when I was with Yunda before, but now with Mr. Wang’s support, I want to do something more valuable and fulfilling.”
"I plan to treat Galaxy Supermarket as a business."
"As Mr. Wang said, the future of the retail industry should not be about cold efficiency and brutal competition; it can be warm and nurturing."
“I may not have the professional retail skills of retail professionals, but I believe I understand the ‘way’ you want to create better than they do.”
Wang Donglai's office was completely silent.
A smile appeared on Wang Donglai's face, and he suddenly asked, "If the board of directors, or future investors, put pressure on you because the preliminary financial statements don't look good, and demand that you cut employee benefits and increase gross profit margins to quickly improve the numbers, what would you do?"
Without hesitation, Nie Yun said, "I will make 'employee happiness index' and 'customer satisfaction' my core KPIs."
“I will tell the board that if they want to change these things, they should remove me first.”
"Because once we betray the trust of our employees and customers for short-term numbers, Galaxy Supermarket will lose its only and most valuable asset. It will become no different from any other supermarket and will inevitably lose its value in the ecosystem you have built."
"Finally, I believe that with Mr. Wang around, this day will never come."
“If such a thing were to happen one day, I would think that Galaxy Supermarket has changed its nature and abandoned its original aspirations. I am willing to start over with President Wang!”
Wang Donglai finally showed his first real smile of the day.
That's the joy of finding a fellow traveler!
"Nie Yun!"
Wang Donglai stood up, walked around the table, and stood in front of him, saying, "What you just said is not a perfect business plan; it is full of idealistic risks."
"However, what Galaxy is going to do is inherently a risky and idealistic endeavor."
Wang Donglai extended his hand to Nie Yun: "Welcome to join the Galaxy Supermarket Business Group."
"Mr. Yu Donglai is the honorary chairman of Galaxy Supermarket. He will help you understand the core of the business more deeply."
"And your task is to take this core idea and go out to conquer new territories, to build offline 'ideal kingdoms' as examples."
"All the support you need—funding, technology, Mr. Yu's experience—will be provided to you."
"I have only one requirement: stay true to your original aspirations and boldly forge ahead."
Nie Yun gripped Wang Donglai's hand tightly, feeling a heavy sense of mission and a surge of boiling passion welling up in his heart at the same time.
He knew that the moment of reckoning had arrived for his high-stakes gamble, on which he had staked everything.
He is about to take charge of not just a retail company, but a social experiment about the possibilities of commercial civilization.
At the same time, it is also a ticket to enter the top business circles in China.
Although it may not be very profitable, its potential is much higher than that of Yunda before.
Those business elites who leave with exquisite PPTs and mature models will not understand that what they lost was not just an interview, but a collision between two completely different era logics, and even more so, a ticket to a new era.
Wang Donglai's choice of Nie Yun signifies that he is not choosing to continue the old retail war, but rather to usher in a new era of commerce driven by human values.
Outside the window, the Tang capital was bustling and vibrant.
Galaxy Technology has found a leader for another key sector.
This helmsman had no old nautical charts in his hands, but in his heart burned a fire, and a compass pointed to the North Star of humanity. (End of Chapter)