Super Zoo-Chapter 780 - 759: The Nine True Words

"Knock, knock, knock!" Someone tapped softly on the door.

Mr. Qian from Baoke was processing documents and, without looking up, said, "Come in."

The door opened, and Jin from the marketing department came in with a smile, holding a stack of documents.

Sometimes people need to be struck by setbacks. Some never recover, blaming heaven and earth; others strive in secret, determined to take revenge; yet others are able to see reality clearly and adjust their attitude.

Jin from the marketing department belonged to the third kind. Probably due to his age, he had lost much of his combativeness and sharpness. His edges had been smoothed out, allowing him to see reality more clearly.

Although he had always been dissatisfied with Mr. Qian, the young upstart, reality had proven that the man had real talent, and he was even about to join the board. Jin had completely lost his temper, and so his previous dissatisfaction gradually faded. In its place came the determination to work well under this young and promising boss, which might just give him a decent future and a comfortable life for his remaining years.

"Jin, what's up?" Mr. Qian continued working without looking up. Sometimes Jin's complaints weren't without reason; Mr. Qian did have the skills, but he could sometimes be harsh and indifferent towards his subordinates.

"Mr. Qian, Taoyuan Cinema held a management meeting, chaired by the Group's head, Suming." Jin placed the documents on the desk with all due respect, "This is the summary of the internal meeting that our marketing department has obtained."

Upon hearing anything related to Taoyuan Group and Suming, Mr. Qian finally looked up, reached for the summary of the meeting but suddenly frowned and glared at Jin, discontentedly saying, "Haven't I said it before? Don't make any sneaky moves against Taoyuan!"

"I didn't," Jin said blankly.

"Then how did this summary come into our possession?" Mr. Qian tapped the summary on the desk, "How could our company know about their internal meeting?"

"Oh, Mr. Qian, you're really wronging me this time!" Jin said with aggrievement, "Not only Baoye got hold of the meeting summary, I bet every other cinema in the city has a copy of such information by now..."

"Hmm?" Mr. Qian was taken aback, then quickly understood, "Are you saying that Taoyuan Group deliberately leaked this?"

No, that can't be right. What company would deliberately reveal the contents of its internal meetings, involving such confidential internal information, if not trying to keep it secret as much as possible?

Is Taoyuan Group planning some move, thus intentionally releasing false information to mislead competitors who might compete with them?

What major action? Who are the competitors?

Being too clever is not necessarily a good thing. The overly clever have minds that twist and turn, guts twisted like a maze, a heart too cunning, full of schemes, wearing themselves out with worry. On the other hand, the confused can often live a simpler and more relaxed life.

Here, Mr. Qian, only in his early forties, bore a face full of wrinkles and a head of premature white hair, looking more like a man in his fifties - the result of heavy thoughts, born of weariness.

"Mr. Qian, I don't think it's false information," Jin sounded quite certain this time.

"Why do you say that?" Mr. Qian asked.

"This summary – Taoyuan Group distributed it in their name to all internal staff, especially to the employees of Taoyuan Cinema. That's why it was so easy for us to get it. They might deceive others, but they wouldn't deceive their own staff, right?" Jin explained.

"That's strange," Mr. Qian was puzzled, Jin was right. Corporate leaders might create illusions for employees or exaggerate targets for business purposes, but they certainly wouldn't outright deceive them.

The leadership set a performance target of twenty billion for this year, but to put pressure on the employees, they communicated it as thirty billion, which is possible.

But if our strategic direction is to head east, yet we tell our employees to go west, that's impossible—it's like asking for trouble, and courting disaster.

"What is Mr. Su thinking about now?"

With a sense of doubt, Mr. Qian carefully read through the meeting summary from beginning to end, word by word, three times over.

The 'summary' is not a detailed meeting record and is not long. It serves to capture the essential points, with only a few pages of paper.

In summary, it mainly addressed one major issue.

The current primary task of Taoyuan Cinema is not to expand externally or to seek profits, but to continue to maintain the style of 'good films' based on the existing good reputation, to firmly exclude market factors, and to stay the course.

Besides the films themselves, the various services of the cinema must also keep up, ensuring that audiences enjoy high-quality service while paying low ticket prices. Additionally, the cinema halls are to be transformed according to the characteristics of the films being shown.

Do not expand, focus on Yangchuan City, and build up the stronghold that is Yangchuan City Taoyuan Cinema.

"No expansion, just focus on managing the stronghold!" After reading it, Mr. Qian took a sharp breath.

He finally understood Suming's intentions.

This young man was indeed patient enough, more composed than he had imagined.

"Mr. Qian, what does he mean by this?" Jin asked with an attitude of learning.

Mr. Qian thought for a moment and said, "Nine characters."

"What?" Jin was puzzled.

"Build high walls, stockpile grain, delay claiming kingship," Mr. Qian enunciated each character and then explained unhurriedly, "In the fiercely competitive national cinema chain environment, a new path has suddenly emerged. One can achieve a good reputation, and if well executed, it's not impossible to make a profit. At this point, even if the major cinema chains do not join the competition, many smaller investors and even official parties may enter, after all, Taoyuan's approach doesn't require highly advanced technology and isn't difficult to copy. If he were to launch an attack now, he might not be able to handle these competitors, as his energy would be entirely consumed by commercial warfare."

Jin nodded, waiting for Mr. Qian to continue.

"Good ideas come often, but the harder part is to hold onto the benefits those ideas bring. Taoyuan is set to implement a strategy of 'what others don't have, we have; what others have, we excel at.' Their biggest advantage is being the first to run an art cinema line, so they must maintain this edge, concentrate their efforts on one point, and simply need to ensure they are 'always imitated, never surpassed.' If they can achieve a reputation where, in Yangchuan City and throughout the country, everyone thinks of Taoyuan first when they think of art cinemas, then they will have succeeded. Once Taoyuan gains this level of reputation, spreading out will be easy. Heh, it would only take minutes, and even without money, banks would be eagerly offering loans. Mr. Su is quite impressive."

"Oh, I see!" Jin finally understood, and then said with a smile, "Mr. Qian, you saw right through his strategy; you are truly a master."

"Heh, noticing is one thing, but doing it is quite another. I'm just playing the role of Zhuge Liang after the fact," Mr. Qian said with a laugh, waving his hand with a mix of modesty and seriousness, "If the roles were reversed, I'm not sure I could resist the temptation to expand and attack prematurely."

Jin was about to offer more praise, but Mr. Qian waved his hand and asked, "If I'm not mistaken, Taoyuan hasn't made any initiative to contact us yet, have they?"