IWSF – Ch 251

Cheongryong Motors, which had made a name for itself as an SUV powerhouse, went through a major crisis during the IMF crisis. It failed to recover even afterwards, and was eventually sold to Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) of China.

At the time of the acquisition, SAIC made a firm promise to invest a large sum of money to develop and release new cars and revive Cheongryong Motors. However, as soon as they completed the acquisition, they changed their tune.

Far from investing, they were only eager to take away the technology Cheongryong Motors possessed. In the end, they siphoned off all the technology, moved key personnel such as the development team to other corporations, and then resold it when it became worthless. In the meantime, Cheongryong Motors’ sales and profits plummeted, and numerous workers lost their jobs.

It’s safe to say that they acquired it with the intention of completely running away with the profits.

It may be impossible for a Chinese company to acquire Eunsung Motors as a whole, but acquiring only the Chinese corporation is a perfectly possible scenario.

Even though it gets criticized for various reasons in Korea, Eunsung Motors’ technology is world-class. Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Toyota, etc., which have superior technology to Eunsung Motors, may not feel the need for acquisition, but for Chinese automakers, it would be something to drool over.

Eunsung Motors’ situation is not that serious yet, and the CEO and executives would not make such a foolish decision, but shareholders may think differently.

If shareholders, in a situation where the company is in trouble, want to liquidate unprofitable overseas businesses, it is not possible to just blindly oppose it.

In fact, despite many bad examples, numerous companies have been sold to China. Even Kumho Tire was taken over by China’s Doublestar a few months ago.

The possibility of running away with the profits is high this time as well, but since the only place that offered to acquire it was a Chinese company, it must have been unavoidable.

I said to Daryl.

“Keep an eye on the situation, and let me know if you see any real signs of that happening.”

“Understood.”

After the video conference ended, the screen turned off. I put down the materials I was holding and leaned back in my chair, thinking.

Experts pointed to this year as a singularity point. A major change is taking place in politics, society, and the economy from this year onwards.

In fact, the changes started a long time ago and have been prepared for. Now, it’s just that they are manifesting on the surface.

This is also true for the automobile market.

CarOS releasing autonomous vehicles and OTK Research Institute developing OTK batteries ignited the change.

Just as other companies flocked to Gooble’s Andromeda camp after Nphone was released, companies that were developing future cars on their own have united into one.

In the United States, Nikola, Arriver, Gooble, GM, Ford, etc., in Japan, Toyota, Honda, SFT Bank, etc., and in Europe, Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen Group, PSA Group, etc. have formed alliances.

Taek-gyu, having listened to the explanation, asked.

“Are we the only ones being ostracized?”

“Well, we’re also joining hands with Seosung Electronics and Seosung SB.”

CarOS’s share of the market is still insignificant. Nevertheless, it is receiving checks and balances from companies all over.

The Stone Age did not end because stones ran out.

When new technologies emerge, existing technologies naturally go down the path of decline.

Even when Nphone was released, its sales volume was only a few percent of the total mobile phone sales volume. However, in just a few years, smartphones pushed out feature phones and took over the market.

Was Nokia ruined because they couldn’t make feature phones well? Quite the opposite. They were ruined because they made feature phones better than any other company. So, even when other companies were focusing on developing smartphones, they were making feature phones to the best of their ability.

It’s like they were making even bigger and more magnificent stone axes even after the Bronze Age and Iron Age had arrived.

The current automobile industry is in the process of transitioning to the next era. In the process, companies that adapt will welcome a new era, but companies that do not will naturally disappear. That’s why everyone is desperately moving to survive.

***

We finished work and returned home.

“Dinner, Chinese food?”

“Let’s do that.”

At this point, shouldn’t we just buy a Chinese restaurant?

I changed into comfortable clothes and sat on the sofa. As I was drinking a canned beer and taking a breather, the food arrived.

“Thank you for always using our service. We’ve included fried dumplings as a service.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Taek-gyu set the food on the table and tore off the wrapping.

“How is Noona doing?”

“She went to the hospital with Henry yesterday, and they said there’s nothing wrong.”

Hyun-joo noona’s belly was noticeably swollen. Now she wears loose-fitting dresses instead of high-waisted skirts. She is still working, but she doesn’t work overtime and leaves work on time. According to Ellie, Golden Gate employees are happy about the branch manager leaving early from work.

Henry rushes to the building next door as soon as it’s time to leave. These days, his face is completely beaming. He’s so happy, I don’t know how he’s been holding it in all this time.

“When is the move?”

“Next Saturday. Clear your schedule that day. We have to go and carry moving boxes together.”

“……Huh?”

Shouldn’t we just buy a moving company? But helping each other on moving day is our virtue, right?

Anyway, to think that Hyun-joo noona and Henry would really live together. Seeing this, it seems that there really is such a thing as fate.

I turned on the TV to watch the news.

News about the Eunsung Motors strike was just coming on. The union is currently staging partial strikes, and has declared that they will go on a full-scale strike if their demands are not accepted by the next negotiation.

This is the first wage and collective bargaining agreement since Han Chan-young took office as chairman. And it’s the same for the union leader as well. Both sides seem to be trying not to be pushed back in the power struggle.

The biggest issue in this wage and collective bargaining agreement is the issue of preferential hiring of union members’ children. The media also focused on that part.

Taek-gyu asked, puzzled.

“How on earth can they come up with the amazing idea of employment succession? How is this different from nobles passing down titles hereditarily?”

Is this why they are called a noble union?

It’s framing created by conservative media, but in this issue, it can be seen as appropriate.

The union argued that it was natural compensation for sacrificing for the company all this time.

It sounds plausible at first glance, but when you think about it, it doesn’t make sense.

If, according to this logic, the state preferentially hires the children of public officials who have worked for more than 15 years, which citizen would agree to that?

Youth unemployment in Korea is serious these days, and the competition rate for jobs at large companies often exceeds 100 to 1. Naturally, it is difficult for general applicants to surpass union members’ children in job competition.

In the end, this is an act of depriving other job seekers of opportunities.

Taek-gyu continued to grumble.

“If parents are employees of a large company, their children also work at a large company, and if parents are employees of a small and medium-sized company, their children also have to work at small and medium-sized companies for the rest of their lives. Is parental background also a skill?”

I sighed inwardly.

When did this country become like this?

But this is not just happening at Eunsung Motors.

There are more than a few large companies that have similar clauses due to union pressure. The Eunsung Motors union is also using that as an example and arguing that they should be treated the same.

Because of this, large companies are reluctant to build factories in Korea, and quality jobs are gradually disappearing. As it becomes harder for young people to get jobs, unions are clinging to employment succession even more.

“Eunsung Motors’ sales are plummeting right now, is it okay for them to strike like that?”

“Of course it’s not okay.”

“It’s a relief that the CarOS union isn’t that bad.”

In the past, the US auto union was also quite militant.

But due to the financial crisis, the Big Three collapsed, and large-scale restructuring followed. The US government demanded concessions from both companies and unions in exchange for providing public funds.

At this time, American workers realized the obvious fact that if the company collapsed, jobs would also disappear.

Since then, American autoworkers have started walking a different path. The American auto union holds wage and collective bargaining agreements once every four years and refrains from strikes as much as possible. It has been reborn as a union for co-prosperity, not a union for fighting. However, even during that time, the Korean auto union went even further down the path of militancy.

The reason was that they had a strong belief that the company would not go bankrupt even if they did this.

In the meantime, the average wage of permanent employees has soared to almost 100 million won. 100 million won sounds good, but if you add various welfare benefits to this, the company’s burden becomes even greater.

It is certainly a good thing for workers to receive high salaries.

However, unless it is a high value-added industry with a low proportion of labor costs, such as semiconductors, it is inevitable that general manufacturing will have difficulty maintaining this high-cost structure.

The problem is less severe when things are going well, but problems arise immediately when sales decline. Labor costs are easy to raise, but impossible to lower.

Thinking about it, it’s a ridiculous situation.

There are tons of people in Korea who are willing to work even for an annual salary of 40 million won, but companies are going overseas because of high labor costs. Also, in order to meet labor costs, they keep increasing only non-permanent workers instead of hiring permanent employees.

Because of this, jobs are not increasing in Korea, and the jobs that do exist are becoming polarized.

In the end, this problem must be solved, but neither companies, nor unions, nor the government… no one is able to touch it.

While eating, I was pondering deeply, and Taek-gyu stared at me intently.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re not going to help them by any chance, are you? Absolutely not.”

“…….”

We’re the ones who got screwed over, why are you making a fuss?

“Oracle told you to cooperate, right?”

“That’s the feeling I get.”

Taek-gyu continued to question me.

“If that’s the case, then it is, and if it’s not, then it’s not, what is ‘that’s the feeling’? What exactly did Oracle show you?”

“That is….”

Taek-gyu was startled when he heard my story.

“What? Is that really true?”

“Yeah.”

I recalled the Oracle I had seen.

-CarOS Group, acquires Eunsung Motors as an affiliate-

***

There are few fields where economies of scale work as greatly as in automobiles. Experts predicted that the automobile market would be reorganized into a few companies that survive the competition in the future.

Even if not according to experts’ words, mergers and alliances are actively taking place among companies even now.

GM has Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC, Buick, and GM Korea as affiliates, BMW Group has MINI and Rolls-Royce, and Volkswagen Group has Skoda, Audi, Porsche, Bentley, and Lamborghini as affiliates.

Just as GM acquired Daewoo Motors and Renault acquired Samsung Motors, there’s no law saying CarOS can’t acquire another automaker in the process of becoming a global company.

“Is one of them Eunsung Motors?”

“Probably.”

Oracle shows the future.

I know the result, but what process will lead to that?

“Then Eunsung Motors has to go bankrupt first, right?”

“Then China would be the first to reach out. What’s the point of acquiring a bankrupt company with technology that’s been taken away?”

Taek-gyu thought for a moment and then asked.

“What if the future changes if we help them for no reason? What if Eunsung Motors doesn’t go bankrupt and succeeds in making a comeback?”

“That’s the problem, though….”

Every time I see Oracle, I have the same dilemma.

Is the future predetermined, or can it be changed? Is the future I saw predicting my future actions as well, or not? What if I force myself to make Oracle wrong, even if it’s forced?

I need to think more deeply about this part, but anyway, Oracle has never been wrong so far. So, can’t I trust it this time too?

As Chairman Im Jin-yong said, it is also true that we need a production base in the Asian market. China is staking everything on developing future cars at the government level, and Japan, with traditional powerhouses such as Toyota and Honda, will not easily give up the market.

What is most important to consider at this point is whether it is profitable for us or not.

As long as the future doesn’t change, it would be better to acquire them in as good condition as possible.

Taek-gyu muttered, folding his arms.

“Hmm, so it’s going to be ours anyway?”

Honestly, I don’t really want to get involved with Eunsung Motors. But Oracle appeared, so I can’t just ignore it.

Still, I don’t really feel like reaching out to them first. Unless they ask for help first.

But a few days later, I received a call from Han Chan-young.

[Hello, CEO Kang Jin-hoo. This is Han Chan-young from Eunsung Motors.]

“Yes, it’s been a while.”

[If you have time, would it be possible for us to meet for a moment?]