Chapter 562: Domineering Deterrence (2)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Right after Zhao Youlin spoke, the audience inside the meeting room felt their expressions changing. The way they looked at Zhao Youlin suggested wariness and curiosity.
Zhao Youlin was not bothered by this. She flung the documents that she had prepared earlier on the table in front of the audience. “This is the daily turnover report of the resort since its opening. Secretary Xiao, please distribute the documents for everyone to take a look at.”
Xiao Jingyao had been waiting at the side. He pushed back the glasses on the bridge of his nose before he took the documents on the table and distributed them to the chiefs of departments.
“What do you make of the documents?” When the chiefs of departments received the report, Zhao Youlin gave a gentle smile and asked softly.
The chiefs of departments did not feel at ease when they were greeted by the sight of Zhao Youlin’s smiling face. Instead, they became more tense and suspected that there was a malicious intent lurking beneath her smile.
After hesitating for some time, one of the chiefs reluctantly rose and quietly stated, “The profitability of this project looks good. The number of customers, restaurant turnover rate, so on and so forth have increased multiple folds since the beginning.”
Zhao Youlin gave a nod. She lightly tapped the table with her long, slender fingers, hammering each and every audience member’s heart.
“If that’s the case, according to Chief Zhuang, how long do we need in order to achieve break even or a profit?”
“I…” The chief who had spoken up turned his head around and exchanged glances with the other senior chiefs behind him before he said hesitantly, “I think… it should take at least ten to twenty years…”
Zhao Youlin narrowed her eyes when she heard his words. She then sneered, “At the very least, ten to twenty years, huh? Chief Zhuang, so you think it’s going to take about ten to twenty years to achieve break even, right?”
“I…” Chief Zhuang was rendered speechless. It took him some time before he said, “General Manager, how long do you think we could achieve the break even, then?”
“Five years.”
“Five years?! How can it be?!”
Zhao Youlin’s words were like a bomb that had blown the audience up.
It took them some time before they whispered among themselves to discuss the issue, as if they were rebooted robots.
Zhao Youlin cocked one of her eyebrows when she saw the changes of expression in the audience’s face and said, “Why? What is the problem?”
“General Manager, while property development generates a lot of money, it’s also a high-risk project. This project’s profitability appears to be promising, with a steady upward trend. However, no one can predict the unforeseeable events that may occur in the future. Furthermore, most property development takes more than ten years to break even, and some take up to forty years, let alone our resort, which is a type of entertainment project. Profits would be made by property developers as long as customers are willing to buy their properties. It’s nearly impossible for us to increase our profitability in such a short period of time!”
“Based on your argument, we have to wait for at least more than a decade before we could earn a profit from this project, huh?”
“I…” Several chiefs exchanged glances and were rendered speechless.
Meanwhile, Zhao Youlin had already run out of patience. She no longer wanted to wait for their babbling. “As I mentioned earlier, as a businesswoman, our primary concern is the return on investment. How would a project benefit an investor if it has to take more than half of our lives to gain the profits?”
“General Manager, but…”
“There isn’t any but. In five years. I’ll give you the entire five years. We must recoup our initial investment in the first three years and our final investment in the last two years. Any profits earned would be allocated to you. If you fail to meet the target, I believe you are all aware of the consequences.”
“General Manager, it’s not that we are incompetent, it’s just that you abruptly came up with this yet not giving us the exact instruction on how to work on it. It’s like forcing us to perform impossible tasks!”
Zhao Youlin silently looked up at the person who had spoken up. A mocking smile arched across her lips. “Chief Xie, you’re an experienced staff in this company. How can you still say something so stupid?”
“You…” Chief Xie was the same chief who had challenged Zhao Youlin in the last meeting. His face turned red after he heard Zhao Youlin’s words.
Just when he was about to say something, Zhao Youlin interrupted him once more. “If I have to give you clear instructions on how to work on it, teach you everything, and tell you all the dos and don’ts, then the company might as well hire from the bottom to perform jobs at your levels from the start. If I have to think about everything, I might as well make all the decisions, delegate them, and let them carry them out. How easy is that?!”
“General Manager, you shouldn’t speak like that!”
A majority of the chiefs of departments were basically competent employees, except for those who were connected to the Zhao family.
Whether they got their position through connections or talent, the majority of them grew arrogant in some way. When Zhao Youlin compared them to those random people, their faces darkened. The way they looked at Zhao Youlin suggested dissatisfaction.
However, Zhao Youlin did not care what they thought of her. These people had been haughty. They acted smugly because they were slightly more privileged than the others and believed they were better than the others. As a result, the company was in turmoil.
If she did not take advantage of this opportunity to teach them a lesson, they would undoubtedly grow into malignant tumors within the company!
“What’s wrong? Did I say it wrong?” Zhao Youlin snickered as she swept her glance across the seniors who were staring fiercely at her. She then said coolly, “Your salary is several folds higher than that of those miscellaneous workers, yet you perform similar job roles. Where on Earth did such a free lunch come from in this world?”
Zhao Youlin’s powerful voice echoed inside the meeting room. The faces of those in the audience who felt humiliated turned white. They were furious at her, but they were afraid that their positions would not be saved and Zhao Youlin might remove them from their current posts if she found them displeasing in her sight.
“Chief Xie.”
Xie Fangtong was diffident when he heard Zhao Youlin call him out of the blue. His entire body shuddered and his eyes widened as he stared at Zhao Youlin. “General Manager, what’s… the matter?”
Zhao Youlin was amused by his panicked look. She smiled faintly as she said, “Didn’t you mention that resort development is considered an entertainment project, and unlike property developers, where they could gain a return on investment easier as long as customers are willing to buy from them?”
Xie Fangtong hesitated for a while before he said hesitantly, “Yes… That’s right.”
Before Xie Fangtong finished speaking, Zhao Youlin had already interrupted him.. “Let me ask you, can you think of anything in this world that could make a profit without relying on customer spending?”
