Chapter 165: A difficult decision

September 18, 1997 was a very difficult day for Kazuo Wada, who was once known as the king of Asian department stores. He deeply felt that his former wealth and glory instantly turned into a flash of water. Today he was going to apply for reconstruction procedures to the Shizuoka Prefecture District Court, where the company's Japanese headquarters was located, which was actually announcing the bankruptcy of Yakan Japan. This was the only way to rescue the current difficulties after discussions with his family. He developed from his parents' hard work from a vegetable stall to a transnational commercial group, and then returned to nothing overnight. Even for him, who had been storms for a long time, it was a difficult decision.

In fact, Yakan also had the opportunity to save himself. Half a year before the bankruptcy was announced, some of the branches and branches of Yakan Group overseas had already shown bad signs. At that time, a person in the Hong Kong banking industry advised Kazuo Kawada that he might as well declare Yakan Japanese company and these companies whose business deteriorated, and retained overseas companies in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and other places with better operations. The hero cut off his arm and threw away these burdens.

But Kazuo Wada refused. Afterwards, he recalled, "If you do this, you may be able to keep the brand of Yakone. I can continue to operate overseas, but a large number of employees of Japanese companies will be unemployed due to the company's bankruptcy. I hide overseas and enjoy myself. As an operator, it is immoral. I think at the last moment, I only have one choice: either survive with Yakone and Yakone, or sacrifice together. I cannot be a deserter alone and leave disaster to others."

Yang Xing once read this passage in an article in his previous life and was deeply touched. He felt that it was reasonable that Japanese companies could rise to a point where they could threaten the US economic hegemony in the 1900s. Although he was not interested in Japan, he believed that looking at Asia, the operators who know how to regard employees as family members and make employees have a great sense of identity with the company were Japanese entrepreneurs. In the eyes of many entrepreneurs, they may only have the pressure of business, but in many Japanese entrepreneurs after the war, they can still see more social responsibilities for employees and their families, which is a good example for Chinese companies that have just started.

But it was precisely because Japan's Yakone and the Group were not cut in time that the entire group was in crisis. Half a year before Japan's Yakone declared bankruptcy, Kazuo Wada rushed back to Japan and personally served as the head of the Japan Yakone Company to implement the company's rescue plan. He reached an agreement with another large supermarket group in Japan, Daerong Company, to sell 16 stores to Daerong Company, and received 32 billion yen.

But at this time he made another mistake, which once again reflected the dilemma of Yokoyo's lack of support from the big bank. At that time, Yokoyo's largest creditor bank promised that he would repay the bank's debt first and then lend it to Yokoyo. He believed this promise. But the result was that after the bank received the 32 billion yen, it did not fulfill its promise and refused to borrow again. In this case, Japan's Yokoyoko was exhausted and had no working capital, and had to declare bankruptcy.

Early that morning, Kazuo Wada came to Shizuoka Prefecture District Court and submitted a report to the court on the company's application for reconstruction procedures. The court quickly accepted it and handled the relevant procedures until the afternoon. When he walked out of the gate of Shizuoka Prefecture District Court, he felt a moment of dizziness. An old subordinate who had worked with him for many years hurriedly supported him. He broke free from the other party's hand and stood up straight, waved to the crowd around him to tell him that he was fine. He knew that he could not collapse now, and he had to solve many serious problems. Now he was going to return to the Japanese company headquarters in Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture to announce and explain bankruptcy to the entire company.

At this time, an assistant ran back from the parking lot and said a few words to him. He looked away in confusion. On the clear Pacific Ocean, several people were walking on the beach and looking at it. In September, Shizuoka's marine climate was full of light. Facing the sun, he couldn't see clearly what those people looked like. His assistant just now told him that several Hong Kong visitors wanted to talk to him about the life and death of the Yakan Group, and the Japanese named Soichiro Fujino was the leader.

For Kazuo Wada now, any signal of hope is the only lifebuoy in the sea. He hurriedly rushed over. Stepping on the soft sand, he looked at a group of young people surrounded by stars like the moon. He pointed at the Pacific Ocean. The Soichiro Fujino, who was mistakenly considered the leader, followed respectfully after him.

Is it the heir to which Japanese chaebol? A hint of doubt and panic arose in Kazuo Wada's heart. Their family is an authentic civilian family and knows little about hereditary chaebols that control the Japanese economy. They have always felt that chaebols are arrogant. He would rather move his headquarters to Hong Kong because one of the reasons is that he is not willing to be controlled by these chaebol families.

Soichiro Fujino walked up and bowed in a standard Japanese style of 90 degrees, then handed over the business card and said, "Thank you for your hard work. I am Soichiro Fujino from Zhongxing International. This is our president Yang Xingjun. We came from Hong Kong specifically to want to talk to Sang Wada." Soichiro Fujino has been in Hong Kong for a long time and was not surprised that Soichiro Fujino is an employee of a Hong Kong company, but he was a little excited after learning about Yang Xing's identity.

"Shancai Boy", "Wonderful Boy", and "The Youngest Hong Kong Listed Chairman" are concentrated on a young man in his early twenties. He has been talked about recently by the Hong Kong financial industry. Kazuo Wada has heard of it. What made him most excited is the news that he just raised $1 billion not long ago. For the turbulent Yakan Group, Yang Xing in front of him is like a white knight riding a white horse in the Bible to save Yakan!

Yang Xing did not have the usual politeness of Japanese entrepreneurs when talking to each other. He turned his hand to the other side of the Pacific Ocean behind him, "I heard that Watan Jun once dreamed of building a department store empire that spreads the world. Now, there may be some setbacks, but I can give you a chance. This time your business in mainland China, Hong Kong and other places has not been affected yet. Japan failed, which does not mean there is no chance in the Chinese circle. Isn't it because of this that you insisted on moving the company headquarters to Hong Kong? Is it because of this? I also have a trading company under my command, and I lack overseas supervisors. Are you interested in revitalizing Yakan together?"

Atakami Yakawa Japan headquarters for a long time, Japanese financial reporters were eager to see that the total amount of debt before the announcement of bankruptcy of Yakawa Japan was 1

64.3 billion yen (equivalent to about 1.3 billion US dollars). It is the first large-scale bankruptcy department store listed on the first market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It is also the largest bankruptcy incident in the Japanese department store industry after the war, so it is destined to shock the Japanese and Asian business circles. The news materials are what every financial reporter dreams of, so many Japanese reporters who received the news came from all over the country, surrounding the Yakone Company's door.

But it is said that the company's president, Kazuo Kazuo, who completed the bankruptcy procedures in the afternoon, has not appeared now. The dusk is getting darker and he still cannot see his shadow. The reporters who have been waiting for a day are a little impatient. Several of the young reporters couldn't help but shout, "It's not because of bankruptcy, I feel it's difficult to bear the pressure, so I escape first, right?"

"Who said I would run away?" A majestic voice sounded from outside the crowd, and everyone couldn't help but move aside, leaving a passage for Kazuo Wada's short and straight body. Many employees of Yakan knew that many of the company's loans were guaranteed in Kazuo Wada's personal name. After the company went bankrupt, he would bear 200 billion yen in debt. It was not that he had imagined that he would escape at the last minute, but now seeing his president standing firmly in front of him, he couldn't help but applauding in tears.

Sitting on the Tokaido Shinkansen train from Kobe to Tokyo, Yang Xing and Ma Sanqi had no time to enjoy the beautiful scenery along the route. Instead, they focused on discussing the lessons that the bankruptcy of the Yakan bankruptcy brought to Xinghai Trading. After just talking about the expansion of Yakan's company was too fast and lacking strong finance, they now talked about two other problems that Yakan had - no clear positioning and backward talent cultivation.

Ma Sanqi analyzed that there is no business strategy for Yakan to sell to a clear target. In the process of marching overseas, he sometimes targets Japanese overseas Chinese and then turns to local people. He not only constantly changes the sales target, but also constantly changes the business methods, and always swaying between supermarkets and department stores.

He then analyzed that if the acquisition is successful, it is necessary to position the business target of the new company, use the reputation of Yakone in East Asian countries to develop in the direction of mid-to-high-end department stores, and choose to promote it to the middle- and middle-class Asians such as mainland upstarts and overseas Chinese. The Damaru Department Store, which was originally acquired and many department stores acquired in China, have laid a good foundation and multiple outlets. The urban white-collar class that grew up with the gradual wealth of the country will have a very broad prospect. Xingrong Supermarket focuses on the middle and low-income class in the city, and Xingle Electric still focuses on the electrical chain.

As Xinghai Trade formed a retail network covering all levels of high, medium and low, talent training must keep up. When Yakkai expanded overseas, he made a mistake on this issue. He was

In the early 1990s, some measures were taken to cultivate talents in international enterprises, but the career development was too fast and the talent reserves were not kept up. There was a consensus within the Yakan Group, "Ikao Wada is actually a good striker, but no one can guard the rear for him." Yang Xing and the others were deeply wary of this.

And Yang Xing is also considering that not only will the talent demand issue of a Xinghai Trading company be put on the table, as the financial crisis develops in the future, Zhongxing International will also take advantage of the chaos to acquire high-quality enterprises. How companies can expand rapidly without falling into the trap of talent scarcity and fail, this is one of the biggest challenges that the entire group will face!

Seeing Yang Xing talking with his subordinates and discussing the opportunities and challenges of this trip to Japan, Soichiro Fujino had a knowing smile. The young boss had just agreed to acquire Japan's largest retail company, but he was not satisfied with the success. Instead, he was fully focused on the subsequent series of problems. The rebirth of Yakone is probably just around the corner!
Chapter completed!