Chapter 337 I want to blow up the school! Principal, we're here for you...
Fueled by media coverage across the country, state-owned enterprises and individual businesses facing technical or operational difficulties flocked to the "business school" as if they had seen a savior, hoping to learn some "golden touch" techniques.
More and more people are actively signing up. Before, people didn't know the benefits of business school and were even skeptical of it. Now they are seeing the professors' real transformation.
Those technical personnel who, like Zhu Chonggui and others, had been frustrated within the system, as well as other educated youth who had returned to the city and grassroots cadres, all volunteered to sign up for the training.
"I want to sign up!"
"I want to sign up too!"
...
From being deserted to attracting a huge influx, the mandatory enrollment quota that Qin Xiangxiang had once set has become a highly sought-after prize. The municipal government decides on the list of factories, each selecting one person to enroll, while the remaining young people from the community are recruited by the business school.
Originally planned to enroll only one hundred students, on October 8th, after a rigorous selection process, two hundred students were actually enrolled! That's more than double the number, yet even more people are still clamoring to be admitted.
On the day of the opening ceremony, Qin Xiangxiang gave a speech on stage.
She breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the preparatory work was finally completed, and now she could be a hands-off principal:
"I know you students didn't come here because of me, Principal Qin—"
"Principal, we came here because of you!"
The sudden, loud noises from below interrupted Qin Xiangxiang's words.
Qin Xiangxiang: "..."
These rebellious students!!!
Principal Qin was particularly stubborn. Standing on the stage, he pretended not to hear and continued to wear a cold, "deadbeat man's face," turning a deaf ear: "You didn't come here for me, the principal. You came here for Professor Zhu and Professor Jiang, who can turn stones into gold, as well as Aunt Shen and Sister Bai. They are the role models for you to study hard! If you have any difficulties in the future, go to them for advice."
Don't come near me!
"In our business school, there's only one rule: Don't be afraid of losing face! If you're afraid of losing face, you won't learn anything real, and you'll never become a millionaire! Don't be ashamed to ask questions, and learn humbly! Alright, the opening ceremony is over, meeting adjourned!"
The audience erupted in laughter and applause; this was probably the most unique opening ceremony and principal's speech they had ever seen.
These first students, two hundred of the business school's first generation, entered a classroom transformed from an old warehouse, filled with an "industrial style," to begin their new lives.
At the same time, the story of the Shanghai Business School officially began from this moment.
Qin Xiangxiang brewed herself a cup of tea and sat leisurely in her office, thinking to herself that the business school could finally be considered a success.
She's taken another step closer to a life of leisure.
For her, this business school was more like a magnet, its powerful magnetic force attracting scattered fragments of talent, making it easier for her to find usable individuals, and perhaps even bringing unexpected surprises.
but--
The start of the school year doesn't mean the end; it's the beginning of even bigger trouble.
Two hundred students were divided into four classes. The specific classes included "Market Practice Class" run by Sister Bai and Aunt Chen, "Technology Commercialization Class" run by Zhu Chonggui and Jiang Guohua, and "Foreign Trade Negotiation Simulation Class" run by Yin Pingping and others.
On the surface, it looks respectable, but in reality, it's just a makeshift, disorganized operation, unlike a proper business school focused on economics and management.
Following a visit and investigation by management professors from several major universities, criticisms of Qin Xiangxiang's management of the Shanghai Business School emerged within academic and educational circles.
"What a mess!"
"Misleading and corrupting the youth!"
"One word: chaos! Two words: utter chaos! Three words: extreme chaos!"
...
Principal Qin Xiangxiang didn't refute it, because even this lazy bum knew that the business school was too chaotic. First, the personnel were a mixed bag, including corporate executives and young people from outside the school. The teachers were also a mixed bag, including highly skilled professors as well as small business owners like Aunt Shen...
The textbooks were compiled by themselves, and the subjects were also compiled by themselves; the situation was far more than just "chaotic".
However... it was a bit chaotic, but they were quite capable. Zhu Chonggui, Jiang Guohua, and others, along with their students, directly established a "Golden Ideas Consulting Office" in the business school to solve business and technical problems for enterprises and individuals.
By guiding students to find solutions and solve problems in real-world scenarios, they quickly helped one enterprise, factory, and small workshop after another.
This "brilliant idea" office has earned a lot of "consulting fees" from outsiders.
"Principal, the school's current problem is how to manage it, and how to divide these consulting fees. Some of these methods were devised by students, and some of them were patents. Do they belong to the school, or to the professors and students...?"
These are all issues that business schools must address at the outset of their establishment, namely "profit distribution." It's quite bizarre that, like any other business school, students are essentially "paid employees."
Qin Xiangxiang was completely overwhelmed by these things.
When she got home, she sang:
"The sun shines brightly, the flowers smile at me, and the little bird says, 'Good morning, good morning, why are you carrying a bomb?'"
"I want to blow up the school!"
Li Jianzhi calmly sipped his goji berry water and commented, "Your principal has a lot of hostility."
Despite the chaotic situation, the business school achieved astonishing results in just two months after its opening in late 1985.
Jiang Guohua and Zhu Chonggui led a team of students known as the "Golden Ideas Team," which solved key technical problems for seventeen struggling businesses in different regions across the country. With an overall success rate of over 70%, they received banners and letters of thanks from various places.
During this semester, the school also figured out the rules for charging external fees, including "corporate consulting fees", "technology solution revenue sharing" and "external short-term training", which enabled the school to make a profit. Through technology solution revenue sharing, many teachers and students have earned a considerable share of the technology solution revenue.
Meanwhile, the business school incubated "Yanta Auto Parts Company". A large number of military orders enabled the company to recover all investment costs and make a profit within three months of its establishment. At the same time, it also won an export order for brake pads worth 200,000 US dollars.
Other notable figures include business school students, some of whom are notable examples of those who started their own businesses while studying at the business school.
One of the representative figures is Lu Pingchuan, a sent-down youth who returned to the city in the 1970s. He was assigned to work as a temporary worker in a street cardboard box factory and worked in the Heilongjiang Production and Construction Corps for eight years. He has strong hands-on skills and organizational and leadership abilities.
In the mid-1980s, under the impact of overseas products, the cardboard box factory's performance deteriorated and it was on the verge of bankruptcy. Lu Pingchuan had feelings for the cardboard box factory, but he was powerless to save it. He tried to lead the workers of the cardboard box factory to find a new path.
After coming to the business school, Lu Pingchuan had a new idea for starting a business. As a returned educated youth, all his peers were also educated youth. He found that housing in Shanghai was tight. Many people's homes, including those of various returned educated youth, were cramped. It was not only difficult to move their legs, but many homes also had bunk beds, and some even had "upper, middle, and lower" beds.
Leveraging the technology possessed by the cardboard box factory, Lu Pingchuan came up with the idea of "foldable cardboard furniture." He believed that such foldable furniture would definitely have broad business opportunities in the future.
He shared his ideas with Jiang Guohua, and Jiang Guohua and other technical professors helped optimize the folding structure design of the first set of furniture, and also introduced the concept of "modular" production.
Lu Pingchuan led the cardboard box factory workers to transform into a "foldable furniture factory," quickly reviving the street's cardboard box factory.
The second typical example is Liu Qiaomei, a sales clerk in a state-owned department store with her own independent ideas. She admires Yin Pingping's foreign trade negotiation skills and, in business school, musters up the courage to learn how to deal with foreign businessmen. She is not ashamed to ask questions and often simulates scenarios of dealing with Hong Kong and Guangdong businessmen with her classmates in class.
Furthermore, she learned to identify "foreign trade contract traps"—Qin Xiangxiang is particularly qualified to speak on this point because she almost got scammed when she first arrived in the special economic zone. She asked veterans like Wei Shanhe to help her compile a "Comprehensive Guide to Preventing Fraud in the Special Economic Zone".
It contains various typical cases of companies in special economic zones being defrauded, making it perfect for use as teaching material in business schools.
Liu Qiaomei and other naive domestic saleswomen only learned about the complexities of foreign business through business school classes!
At the same time, it was precisely because she knew these scams and how to deal with foreign businesses such as Hong Kong businessmen that Liu Qiaomei gained courage.
Liu Qiaomei decided to resign and start her own business. She discovered her own business opportunity. According to her observations in the department store, with the "going abroad craze" that began in the 1980s, citizens had a great demand for mid-to-high-end stationery, such as calculators and electronic dictionaries. However, the state-owned department store's procurement process was rigid and slow, and it could not meet the needs of customers.
Using the special economic zone policies and foreign trade information she learned at the business school, Liu Qiaomei imported a batch of mid-to-high-end stationery from some joint venture factories in Guangdong Province, and eventually made a fortune.
She has decided to open her own mid-to-high-end stationery boutique next year.
...
There were many business school students like Lu Pingchuan and Liu Qiaomei. In the 1980s, an era that seemed economically barbaric and full of business opportunities, it was actually absurd to study economics and management in school, because the market economy was developing rapidly and the market itself was the best teacher.
The first batch of students at the business school all achieved remarkable results and at least lived relatively affluent lives.
Business schools are more like platforms for mutual economic and technological assistance, somewhat similar to chambers of commerce. As more and more students achieve entrepreneurial success, it will influence and motivate other students.
Furthermore, students who succeed in starting their own businesses are willing to invest money to support other students with similar ideas, creating a positive cycle.
At least in this fledgling business school, as long as you have a good idea, you can get financial and technical support, especially access to economic policies and business information from special economic zones and Hong Kong and Macao, which already puts you ahead of most entrepreneurs in the era.
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