Chapter 449 — Planning the Company
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"Well... as long as it works, it'll sell." Guan Xuemin said, "Take the common cold medicine, for instance. If you could formulate a Chinese patent medicine with few side effects, it would sell just as well! But there are already established formulas and long-standing pharmaceutical companies for those. It wouldn't mean much for us to enter and fight for market share."
"The formulas for cold medicines are indeed fixed. Even if I improved them, there wouldn't be much of a gain. The best approach is to supplement with acupuncture or cupping, but that's impossible for medicine sales unless it's a clinic. You can't very well sell cold medicine and throw in silver needles and cupping jars, can you?" Wei Zhao nodded and laughed.
"Actually, I'm no expert in business either; I'm just offering my personal opinion," Guan Xuemin said. "You should still hire a management expert to run the company."
"That's true, but a professional manager isn't someone you can find just by wanting one." Wei Zhao knew Guan Xuemin was right. "First, whether the person can be trusted; second, whether he truly has the ability... After all, whether the pharmaceutical company can make a splash on its first try depends entirely on this professional manager's ability."
"On that point, I think you should ask Mr. Lai from just now. He's been in the business world so long, he should be more experienced. It shouldn't be hard to ask him to find a professional manager!" Guan Xuemin said. "At least it'll be easier than us finding one ourselves."
"You're right..." Wei Zhao nodded.
Fatty Lai had probably been gone about half an hour when he came rushing back in a fluster, several bags of Chinese herbal medicine in his hands, and burst into Guan Xuemin's study: "Divine Doctor Lin, I've bought them, I've bought them all!"
With that, Fatty Lai set the bags down on the tea table in front of Wei Zhao.
Wei Zhao looked at the pile of bags before him with some puzzlement. Why so many? Even if a catty of each herb he had written down had been bought, there shouldn't be this much!
Wei Zhao opened one bag and checked the amount of herbs inside. They were all portioned out at five taels each according to the prescription he had written. He couldn't help but find it strange: "Isn't this enough? What's in the other bags?"
"The other bags are the same, just bought from different stores!" Fatty Lai said, panting. "There are so many swindlers these days. I was afraid I'd get fake medicine from one shop, so I figured I'd buy from a few more and see—there's bound to be real stuff in there somewhere, right?"
"..." Wei Zhao was momentarily speechless at Fatty Lai's words. These herbs weren't cheap, yet Fatty Lai was willing to spend so freely! But then he thought: to curry favor with him, the man had given away a whole building for free; a little money on herbs was nothing.