Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Chapter 375 - Joint Venture’s Board Meeting (4) – Part 2

Chapter 375: Joint Venture’s Board Meeting (4) – Part 2

The next day, Gun-Ho and Yeon-Soo Oh went to GH Mobile in Jiksan Town. Right after Gun-Ho sat at his desk in his office, Mr. Brandon Burke’s party arrived at GH Mobile. The general affairs director, who was waiting for them at the building entrance, led them to a small meeting room after greeting them. The executive officers of GH Mobile came to Gun-Ho’s office before heading to the small meeting room.

“Mr. Brandon Burke’s party is in the small meeting room right now. Maybe we can greet them and give them a tour of the factory?”

“They actually don’t need a factory tour. Mr. Brandon Burke had already visited here once before we started the joint venture. For most of you, this is the second time to meet with him. Just thank them for visiting us, and then we will have lunch together.”

“Yes, sir.”

Gun-Ho walked to the small meeting room accompanied by the executive officers.

Once they entered the meeting room, both parties started greeting each other delightedly.

“I’m so glad to see you again, Mr. Burke.”

“Good to see you.”

For Ms. Angelina Rein, it was her first visit here. Gun-Ho introduced GH Mobile’s executive officers to her.

“This is President Jang-Hwan Song. He is running GH Mobile on a daily basis. This is the internal auditor, and this is our research center’s chief officer. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Technical University of Munich in Germany.”

“It’s a pleasure meeting you.”

Gun-Ho continued to introduce other directors to Ms. Angelina Rein. “And, I believe that you’ve already met the director of our general affairs. He welcomed you at the entrance and showed you to this meeting room. The person who is standing next to him is our production director.”

Angelina Rein received a bunch of business cards, but she couldn’t remember everyone’s job titles and names. She made a lot of mistakes when she had to call some of them. She once called the general affairs director as Mr. Production Director.

President Jang-Hwan Song asked Mr. Brandon Burke in English without going through the interpreter,

“You’ve already seen our factory before. You don’t need another factory tour, do you?”

“Right. I don’t need to see it again. If you could get me GH Mobile’s product catalog written in English, that would be great.”

“We don’t have an English version of our product catalog, but we have a digital copy of some documents with all the information. I can print them out for you if you want to. It’s written in English.”

“It won’t be necessary then. If you happen to make an English version of your product catalog some time later, would you please mail it to me? My office address is shown in my business card that I gave to you.”

Gun-Ho and President Song felt a bit embarrassed that they didn’t have an English version of their product catalog ready to show to their guest.

“You have a company website in the English language, don’t you?”

“Yes, we do.”

Even though they had a company website in both languages: Korean and English, Gun-Ho and President Song were hoping that Mr. Burke wouldn’t ask to show him the website because they were not very proud of their current website. The company’s website was too simple without enough information.

Mr. Brandon Burke continued to talk, “You know that you don’t have to limit your target clientele to Korean vehicle manufacturing companies only, right? Why don’t you expand your market to U.S. automobile manufacturers such as Ford and General Motors for example.”

“Actually, we are thinking of going to the motor show that will be held in Chicago this fall. We are planning to make an English version of our product catalog by then, so we can distribute our product catalog along with business cards there.”

“Distributing your catalog is certainly one of the ways of marketing, but you can do more than that. You can participate in it by reserving a booth there. You can take some sample products there and introduce them to potential customers there. That should be more effective.”

“That sounds like a very good idea. We will definitely take it into consideration, Mr. Burke.”

President Song took GH Mobile’s executive officers and Mr. Burke’s party to a Korean restaurant for lunch that was located inside an orchard. It was a restaurant that specialized in Korean table d’hote.

Ms. Angelina Rein seemed to love the place. She screamed in joy when she saw some fruits hanging on some trees.

They ordered all sorts of Korean traditional dishes including marinated raw crabs, marinated and grilled beef dishes, and Korean-style vegetable pizza. They also ordered Korean rice wine.

They all enjoyed the food and time together.

Mr. Brandon Burke’s party would return to the U.S. the following day.

Gun-Ho wanted to treat them extremely well during their stay in Korea. Gun-Ho believed that it would bring a bigger return someday. He didn’t think of the price when he chose a restaurant or hotel to treat them. Well, the expenses were coming from the joint venture, not from Gun-Ho personally anyway.

Gun-Ho said to the joint venture’s vice president—Mr. Adam Castler, “Mr. Brandon Burke is your boss, isn’t he? I made a room reservation with a luxurious hotel close to Itaewon Town. It’s a Hyatt Hotel.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“And tonight, we are going to the bar in Hannam Town. We will enjoy our dinner there while listening to Korean traditional musical instruments. I will tell Mr. Burke that you made all these arrangements for the day for him.”

“Oh, thank you, boss!”

After lunch, Mr. Brandon Burke’s party went straight to Seoul from Jiksan Town. There was some time left before dinner, and Mr. Burke’s party decided to go around the city a little bit before dinner time.

Gun-Ho made a call to Ms. Jang.

“Ms. Jang, I want to make a dinner reservation for tonight. I will be with three Americans and myself. I won’t bring my interpreter there, so please have your ladies ready who can speak English. Oh, and please note that one of the three Americans is female.”

“Haha. Understood, sir. You will love my arrangement tonight.”

Gun-Ho stopped by Insa Town for gift shopping before heading to Hannam Town. He prepared two gifts. One was a Korean traditional doll and the other was a Korean traditional ceramic pottery. The pottery had a subtle blue color with a painting of grapes.

In his car heading to the bar in Hannam Town, Gun-Ho thought, ‘We currently have eight machines. If those machines start fully working for 24 hours, we will generate about 300 to 400 billion won of sales revenue according to Director Kim. I can get additional machines by lease, so I don’t have to spend a significant amount of money at once for it. If I bring another eight machines and make them fully work, the sales revenue of 700 to 800 billion won would be generated. If that happens, the company would be categorized as a large company.’

‘As Mr. Burke suggested earlier, I can have a global investment banking company like Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley issue convertible bonds for us and get foreign investment funds. With those funds, I would be able to build several factories overseas. By that time, my company’s sales revenue will exceed a trillion won. I will become the owner of a large company then.’

While Gun-Ho was lost in thought of his plan to expand his business, his Bentley was getting closer to the bar in Hannam Town.