Every year after New Year's Day, the Regal Hotel in Hong Kong Central begins to close its doors to welcome guests from all over the country for the return of senior executives from the Lee Group.
This year, the Lee Group's high-level meeting has been adjusted again. This time, only the presidents and financial directors of major groups, as well as the heads of the review department, legal department, and confidentiality department attended the meeting.
The subsequent annual meetings will also be held by each group on their own, instead of the entire Li company gathering together. This will highlight the presence of each major group and reduce the attention of ordinary people from the outside world.
This meeting was held separately. On the 3rd, Zhou Xiaoning, Qing Hong, Peng Xiaoli, and Chen Dong held a meeting of their respective departments.
On the afternoon of the 4th, there was a meeting between the executive team and the president of the Lee Group.
On the morning of the 3rd, Li Guangyu specially discussed with Gan Qinglin in the office, mainly about the Eastern European market.
In the reception area, Li Guangyu listened to Gan Qinglin's report on the development of Central and Eastern Europe in the past six months, mainly reports on the markets of Austria, Yugoslavia, Turkey and Hungary.
Li Guangyu did not expect that Gan Qinglin would open up the Hungarian market. You must know that Hungary is currently a member of the Warsaw Pact, and it is not easy to enter this market.
And once the Hungarian market is opened, it means there is hope for opening the markets of other Warsaw Pact member countries.
Moreover, Li Guangyu knew very well that a new round of economic reform in the Soviet Union was coming, and the business environment in the Eastern European market would become increasingly relaxed in the future. In the future, Li's products would be able to continuously enter the Eastern European market.
Li Guangyu said: "Qing Lin, I believe you also know the situation in Eastern Europe. Due to development positioning problems, there is a serious overcapacity in heavy industry, but there is a serious shortage in light industry. Our current main products are concentrated in light industry, with clothing
, mainly agricultural products enter the Eastern European market, and the profits earned can be used to purchase the raw materials needed by our industries at low prices locally."
Li Guangyu knew very well that Eastern European countries were currently heavily in debt. If the Li Group only sold its products unilaterally and did not purchase its domestic products, the business would probably not last long, let alone become big.
Only through mutual transactions can we maintain long-term cooperation. Due to the severe overcapacity in heavy industry in Eastern Europe, Li Guangyu does not mind purchasing some raw material products at low prices.
The surplus machinery or production lines in Eastern Europe are in short supply in the mainland, such as chemical production lines, especially fertilizers. You must know that the mainland is currently a large agricultural country, and its demand for chemical fertilizers is very huge.
Li Guangyu doesn't mind being a second-tier dealer, buying production lines at low prices in Eastern Europe and then shipping them to the mainland to sell them, making a profit in the middle.
In this way, his market in Eastern Europe has also been opened. The economy in Eastern Europe has also improved to a certain extent. There will not be a large trade surplus with the Li Group. The mainland has also received much-needed production lines, allowing farmers to obtain higher incomes.
income.
However, this matter still needs to be well prepared. All channels must be opened up. Only in this way can the business be consistent and Li Guangyu can make money.
Hungary is a very good partner. Their government stopped adhering to the Soviet economic model twenty years ago. They still have some internal market economies, such as the retail industry.
Moreover, Hungarian domestic enterprises have considerable autonomy, which will make the development of these enterprises more flexible.
However, Hungary has been continuously suppressing imports and expanding exports in recent years to reduce foreign debt. The current internal political situation in Hungary is even more responsible. There are parties outside the party and factions within the party. Nearly half of the people live below the poverty line. There are calls for domestic reform.
The rising trend, coupled with the series of policies implemented by Gorbachev after he came to power, has relaxed the supervision of Eastern Europe, which has caused undercurrents within Eastern European countries.
The strategy Li Guangyu is planning to implement this time is not to make a lot of money in Eastern Europe. He sells some products and then uses the profits to purchase very cheap raw materials and some goods locally. Although the profits obtained by these local enterprises are very low,
But they can at least put the production line into operation. Li Guangyu believes that some countries in Eastern Europe are facing extremely serious domestic situations and will definitely be willing to cooperate with him.
Gan Qinglin was not fighting alone in Austria. The section chief in charge of Eastern European affairs of the Political Research Office of the Li Group also went to Austria with him. He had read a lot of information about Eastern Europe.
He knew the internal situation of Hungary very well, which was why he chose Hungary first when entering the market of the member states of Warsaw. In fact, Poland was more suitable, but it was a pity that the Soviet Union's control over Poland was much stronger than that of Hungary.
Many countries in Eastern Europe are now heavily in debt. The Lee Consortium only wants to sell products in these markets. Its business is unsustainable. These countries do not have much foreign exchange at all. If they do not trade with each other, these countries and companies just want to buy the Lee Consortium.
They can't get foreign exchange for the products.
Gan Qinglin said: "Li Sheng, Hungary has good mineral resources and good technology in chemical industry, and the most important thing is that it is a member of the Warsaw Pact. They purchase products from within the Warsaw Pact through the Economic Cooperation Council. We don't have to
We are worried that Hungary cannot provide us with low-price and high-quality products. We can even cooperate with Hungary and let it become a middleman to build a bridge between us and Eastern European countries."
Li Guangyu agreed to Gan Qinglin's proposal, but he just wanted to implement this idea, which could not be completed in a short time.
There are a lot of interests involved, and whether Hungary is willing is also a big question.
Finally, there is also the issue of interests. The Li Group will not work for Hungary so that the middleman can make a lot of money, but the Li Group will not even have a drink of soup. This aspect needs to be negotiated well.
We still need to take our time in the past two years. When the Soviet Union's economic reforms are fully liberalized in 1989 and capital from all parties can enter, that will be the time for the Li Group to show its talents.
Li Guangyu said: "You know the current internal situation in Hungary better than I do. We can't just trade. We must also pay attention to establishing good relations with some forces, especially those who are willing to have good relations with us. This will help us and Hungary
Cooperate.”
At present, it is better not to think about Li's consortium companies entering these countries. The time is not yet ripe, and they still need to wait and wait for the storm to arrive.
In the future, Li Guangyu hopes to occupy the retail markets of Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and other countries. This cooperation with Hungary is only the first step. In the future, he will establish cooperative relationships with more countries, such as Poland and Czechoslovakia.
Gan Qinglin responded: "Kirishenko is currently arranging matters in this area. I believe he can do a good job in this area. He is also more convenient than me to come forward. I mainly focus on business matters. If there are sufficient funds,
, I suggest that we enter the oil industry. In fact, Eastern Europe is also rich in resources in this area. In this way, our products can be exchanged for crude oil, and then processed and sold to Southeast Asia, Xiangjiang, Taiwan, and even the mainland market. This will allow us to