Eisenberg And Also Tried To Cooperate

By Patrick Hanna

pharmaceutical market. The project took a whole year to complete. At the request of the local government, we are not allowed to buy seaweed directly from fishermen but must buy through cooperatives. After three months of operation, Mexican fishermen saw it was profitable so they rushed to exploit it, leading

• Language: English
• Publisher: Patrick Hanna
• Release date: Feb 1, 2024
• ISBN: 9798869209009

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Eisenberg And Also Tried To Cooperate

Eisenberg And Also Tried To Cooperate

Copyright © 2023 by Patrick Hanna

All rights reserved

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 : BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEUR STORIES

CHAPTER 2 : THAT HAVING RICH KNOWLEDGE

CHAPTER 3 : BUSINESS INTRODUCTION..

CHAPTER 4 : WHAT FACTORS MAKE AN OUTSTANDING SALES PERSONNEL?

CHAPTER 5 : BUSINESS HONG KONG DOLLARS PER GRAM

CHAPTER 1 : BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEUR STORIES

Many MBA programs around the world offer students a course called Entrepreneurship. It includes many sections to help develop students' business skills and some experiences of successful entrepreneurs in case studies. However, business is like a sport, skills can be trained, but to be successful, athletes must need a few additional factors such as: talent, help from teammates and luck. It can be said that business is a blend of science and art.

My story when starting a business

After graduating with a master's degree in drinking water and environmental engineering in the US, I returned to teach at Phu Tho school (now Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology). Honestly, at that time I didn't think I would do business. One time, drinking coffee at the Continental Hotel waiting to meet my girlfriend, I saw a foreign man struggling to read the city map, which seemed difficult. I asked him if he needed any help. He said he wanted to go to the Ministry of Economy. That day, I had a few friends who worked there, so we talked and got acquainted. His name is Henry Kauder, and he is working as Deputy Director of Eisenberg - a famous Jewish corporation, present in 43 countries around the world. This time he came to Vietnam, Kauder wanted to find business opportunities for the company here. Hearing that, I promised to take him to the Ministry of Economy tomorrow.

After that reunion, I continued to accept the invitation to help Kauder do some small tasks quite smoothly. As a result, I officially received an invitation to work for Eisenberg in Vietnam. With quite a bit of free time at Phu Tho school, plus an attractive salary offer, I agreed to work for this Jewish corporation. Actually, after working with Kauder, I found that I learned a lot of things, far different from what I learned in school and books. I just worked for Eisenberg and also tried to cooperate in developing some deals with this group and was given a sizable stake.

In 1975, when I came to America to live, I worked for Wall Street. In 1982, I moved to work for Polaris Leasing (later acquired by GE Capital Group) in Singapore, specializing in selling and leasing aircraft. At that time, my income was very high, I regularly enjoyed huge bonuses, sometimes up to 400,000 - 500,000 USD for a successful deal. But at this time, because of the nature of my job, I had to travel everywhere, from one country to another around the world, my health seriously declined. I travel so much that the hotel has become a second home. Finally, I decided to take some time off from work and then founded Hartcourt.

The first year with Hartcourt was very difficult, I often faced the abyss of bankruptcy. Problems with employees, customers, the government, banks, capital investors... seriously affect my family's health and happiness. I knew clearly about the uncertainties of business when I was working as an employee and participating in friends' business activities on weekends or outside of work hours. But I never imagined the pressures and difficulties I would face once I jumped into full-time business. Many entrepreneurs conclude that this is really a career rather than a profession.

A problem not often seen in other professions is that entrepreneurs must always be ready to face any unforeseen uncertainties. And according to Murphy's law(2), trouble always comes at the most unexpected times.

In 1978, when I was working for an investment bank in Los Angeles, an overseas Vietnamese friend invited me to join in establishing a factory in Ensenada city in Mexico. We have a joint venture with a Japanese company specializing in seaweed collection to produce Spirulina powder for the pharmaceutical market. The project took a whole year to complete. At the request of the local government, we are not allowed to buy seaweed directly from fishermen but must buy through cooperatives. After three months of operation, Mexican fishermen saw it was profitable so they rushed to exploit it, leading to the supply of seaweed starting to exceed demand. Naturally, if supply exceeds demand, prices must be reduced, but on the contrary, the cooperative here demands a price increase. We are not happy about this because while the cooperative buys seaweed from fishermen for only about 800 USD/ton, it sells it to us for 1,100 USD/ton. Even then, the cooperative's purchase price from the people was only 600 USD, but they wanted to sell it to us for 1,200 USD. The factory manager at that time was a Japanese. He found it unreasonable and decided not to buy from the cooperative anymore but to buy directly from the fishermen. So the cooperative leaders gathered and demanded that the local government close the factory, then organized people to beat the Japanese factory manager, and at the same time sent people to protest in front of the Japanese consulate. Seeing the chaos, the Japanese side closed the factory, so we lost all the money we invested and the time and effort we put into this project.

My overseas Vietnamese friend in my seaweed business is a tireless creative businessman, always finding new business projects, as if he was... addicted. At that time, a university professor experimented with raising abalone at sea with a fairly high survival rate. My friend and I raised capital to set up a farming factory in Santa Barbara, which cost about 500,000 USD. But after only one season of farming, mass farming was not as successful as expected, because industrially farmed abalone were not as large as laboratory-raised abalone, and then pollution at sea caused all the abalone to die. . So once again we are empty-handed because of things that were not in our plans.

The business mindset of American businessmen...

The time spent working as an employee, then becoming an owner, and experiencing many different markets around the world has helped me learn many things about how to do business. But the two markets where I really have a lot of experience and knowledge are China and the US.

In America, the choice of becoming an entrepreneur is expressed by a clear mindset, with endless passion. The reason an American businessman must have these two things is because living in America, finding a job with a decent salary is not difficult at all, even if it is manual work. That's why the average salary of a mechanic or plumber is 60,000 - 80,000 USD/year (in 2010). Therefore, in America, the concept of being an owner or a worker is not of much interest to anyone. Many people also correctly assess that being a worker requires fewer headaches and makes it easier to enjoy life more. Because working on time means coming home, and America has many cheap mass entertainment facilities. The amount of income in the US is also comfortable and all purchases for life are based on credit or borrowing very easily. Therefore, when you have a job, you will have everything. However, because we rely too much on credit, when income stops, such as being unemployed or no longer able to pay, everything previously purchased can be confiscated.

Therefore, for a normal person, losing his job is a big difficulty, but for a businessman, if his business loses money, it will be a disaster. Therefore, an individual only chooses to become an entrepreneur when they have great support from a wealthy family, or have saved a large sum of money. According to US statistics, 80% of businesses after three years of start-up fail and have to close, only 15% survive. Therefore, in a fiercely competitive environment, if there is no advantage, businesses will quickly be eliminated.

It is in these conditions that American businessmen must form a very clear mindset: In work, there must be passion and in difficulties, there must be an indomitable will. In addition to passion and will, entrepreneurs must have skills and good relationships in their industry.

... and of Chinese businessmen

Contrary to the US, Chinese entrepreneurs' business paths are often guided by urgent needs and circumstances. After jumping into the action, entrepreneurs are forced to improvise by doing whatever they can. If it fails again, continue to modify it until it is successful.

I first came to China in 1976, when I worked for Eisenberg. I know Mr. Liu Shandong who works as an interpreter in the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Public Security. When we were quite close, he invited me home. The whole family, including a couple and a child, lives in a room only about 20 square meters in Beijing, including eating, sleeping, and cleaning. Liu's monthly salary at that time was 30 USD/month, so he was very surprised to hear me say that the cost of parking for a day at the office in Manhattan, New York was also 30 USD.

Three or four years later, Liu quit his government job and thanks to his wide acquaintances, he began selling goods from state-owned factories to the market. With just one transaction, Liu can earn a few dozen dollars. Liu confided that in the past, he only dreamed of going to America to study. But at that time, China's economy began to inflation, making the lives of many families extremely difficult. Therefore, Liu's goal changed completely to how to earn enough money to support his family. Liu's reason for entering the business world is similar to that of many Chinese people. Choosing to be an entrepreneur is like a motivating factor when people's lives are at a dead end.

Similarities and differences

Although the conditions for entering business are different, according to my observations, the personalities of Americans and Chinese are similar in that everyone wants to be the boss, it seems to be in each person's mind. This is very different from countries like Russia, Mexico, Guatamela... - people here don't want to be the boss, they just need to make ends meet, and don't want to buy debt or hold on other troubles and troubles. .

I remember when I was still studying in the MBA program, when it was time to intern, I was sent here by a company leader who had a garment factory in Guatamela. At that time, this factory was at too low capacity. The price paid to a worker for a shirt or pants is 7 cents. The deputy director of the branch here proposed to the parent company a stimulus measure to motivate workers to increase productivity. With approval, he raised the wage to 8 cents/product. But as a result, by next month, factory capacity not only did not increase but on the contrary, it became slower. This deputy director does not understand that workers here work only for the purpose of earning enough money to live, the rest of their time is spent... having fun, or drinking. The funny thing is, thanks to the increase to 8 cents, they only need to work 7 hours a day instead of 8 hours like before. The desire to get rich and be the master means nothing to them.

Once they start a business, American businessmen work very goal-oriented, whether it's making money or finding success. That is the only goal in business, and has nothing to do with external pressures. Therefore, the measure of success in running a business in America is the coefficient of return efficiency - making the most money in the shortest time. Meanwhile, the goals of Chinese businessmen are more complex. The main motivation that motivates them is the respect of family, friends, society... creating excessive ostentation and pride. Perhaps that is why Chinese businessmen love to show off their power to subordinates, like to create relationships with high-ranking officials, like to be praised by the press...

In 1994, I had two years of experience investing and working in the field of film production in the US. That year, I had a pretty good script so I had a meeting with famous actor and film producer Clint Eastwood to invite cooperation. At that time, the image of Hollywood was always associated with flashiness, so before the appointment, I carefully rented a limousine and driver, dressed neatly and went to the meeting place, a luxury entertainment club. But when Clint Eastwood arrived, he drove an old car and dressed extremely simply. His simplicity made me truly surprised and admired.

Meanwhile, the image of new businessmen in China is completely contrasting. In 1996, I met a famous businessman. Although at that time China was not as prominent as it is now, he had a Rolls Royce and was accompanied everywhere by several bodyguards and a group of subordinates. He took me to the headquarters to introduce projects that needed cooperation. There, I saw countless pictures of him taken with China's most senior leaders and many leaders of different countries hanging in the room. That external image was very impressive, but after returning home, I conducted an investigation and found out that his company was about to go bankrupt. And literally two months after I met him, that company actually went bankrupt.

Back to the story of my friend Liu, the interpreter. Meeting him again in Beijing in 1987, I was very impressed to see that from the old bicycle, Liu now owns two luxury BMW cars and lives in a luxurious villa at Tsinghua University. . Liu quit his job as a factory merchandiser when he found an official sponsor to develop an industrial park project in Tianjin. After that, Liu owned a fur coat factory near the Mongolian border, and his wife owned three large gold shops. Liu boasted that he had just obtained a mining license in Xinjiang and said that if I wanted to do business there, he would introduce me to many officials thanks to his close relationship with the local government. Because I am not familiar with this field, I refused. Five years later, when I returned to Beijing again, I couldn't call Liu. I asked friends and found out that he had been sent to prison for failing to do business.

I had