The Leaders' Inspection

The EMBA program at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business aimed to cultivate business and political elites with a global vision, deep understanding of emerging markets, Chinese enterprise management practices, and profound cultural foundations.

The course was set for 2 years, with four days of intensive study each month. The curriculum included basic modules such as business law, managerial economics, strategic management, leadership arts, business English and communication, and other practical tools for business management analysis and decision-making. There were five major module courses: globalization, emerging markets and international comparison; culture, religion and humanistic management; Chinese economy and management; and expansion modules.

It was renowned in the business world for its forward-thinking management ideas, innovative courses developed for emerging markets, high-end international business investigation projects, lifelong alumni network, and superb team culture.

For Murong Feng, participating in the EMBA course could solidify his knowledge of business and economics from the ground up, and provide a comprehensive and systematic study of current domestic and international economics and deep cultural backgrounds.

Compared to another top program - the China Enterprise CEO course of the Executive Education (ExecEd) program aimed at cultivating leadership and the humanistic spirit of Chinese business leaders - the EMBA course was clearly more suited for his current needs.

After making his decision, Murong Feng filled out the application form online and sent it off. Unexpectedly, he received a call from the EMBA office of Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business that same day, stating that Murong Feng's preliminary review had passed, inviting him to attend an interview with the EMBA Admissions Committee next Thursday on the 3rd floor of Oriental Plaza, Tower 3, in Wangfujing.

Hanging up the phone, Murong Feng felt emotional.

In the past two years, his reputation had been growing, and he was now considered a figure of some renown in the business world. This was probably why the preliminary review was so easy to pass. If it had been the previous Murong Feng applying for EMBA, how could it have been so easy? No wonder people often say that money begets money. In fact, it's the same in other aspects - people who are successful in certain areas always get more opportunities, thus achieving greater success...

Fair? Unfair? This was reality, and also why everyone craved success and wanted to stand out.

Reflecting on himself, Murong Feng realized more deeply that since heaven had bestowed wealth upon him and changed his life, it probably didn't just want him to be a rich man, enjoying life for this generation. Perhaps heaven had just opened a window for him in this way, allowing him to transcend mediocrity and achieve something significant?

Murong Feng didn't realize that his mentality had already begun to change along with the elevation of his status and the development of his career, gradually differing from the calm and leisurely attitude he had when he first won the jackpot.

For the next two days, Murong Feng continued to work busily. He even enjoyed this kind of busyness, feeling a strong sense of value in his existence. A man focused on his career is extremely charismatic. He was radiant and energetic every day, dealing with Chang'an Capital, Federation of Industry and Commerce meetings, cocktail parties, and dinners. Everyone around him was somewhat surprised - he was beginning to look more and more like a successful person in the traditional sense.

On Tuesday morning, Murong Feng arrived early at the Harbor Technology park.

By now, Harbor Technology was no longer as rudimentary as when it was first established. There were beautiful office buildings, large areas of green lawns and a small artificial lake, sculptures and rockeries, flowers and trees. Murong Feng suddenly realized that the style of Harbor Technology's company park was very similar to Huaxia Group, and he mused to himself about how important Huaxia Group must be to Li Xiangnan. No wonder in recent years, when the industry talked about Harbor Technology, they always referred to it as "Little Huaxia".

After more than a year of development, benefiting from the experienced technical and market personnel Li Xiangnan brought from Huaxia Group, Harbor Technology quickly produced network equipment that met relatively high domestic standards.

They rapidly engaged in head-on competition with old rivals such as Huaxia and foreign communications equipment manufacturers in multiple product areas. Recently, Harbor even took the lead in China Telecom's procurement of the next-generation IP bearing network CN2 (China's Next Generation Carrier Network) and China Telecom Internet (ChinaNet), winning a contract worth 1.2 billion yuan1 for equipment supply and technical services.

At this time, Harbor was like a rising sun, radiating brilliance in all directions.

This research visit by the relevant leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology was precisely to investigate and discuss Harbor Technology's research and development achievements in some core technologies in the communication field and its rapid development model.

The level of the leaders from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology participating in this research visit was very high. Led by Vice Minister Liu Xuejiang, accompanied by Xie Guohua, Deputy Director of the Communication Development Department, Wang Jinsheng, Inspector of the Telecommunications Management Bureau, Deng Yuehong, Director of the Market Management Division, Tan Xin, Deputy Director of the Market Research Division of the Telecommunications Research Institute, and other supervisory leaders, they arrived at Harbor Technology accompanied by the director of the Zhongguancun 2Management Committee and others.

Seeing such a high-level delegation, Murong Feng couldn't help but give Li Xiangnan a thumbs up. It must be Li Xiangnan's technical genius and the huge reputation brought by his R&D achievements, as well as Harbor Technology's rapid development speed, that attracted such attention from high-level officials.

Because Li Xiangnan himself was a technical researcher, Harbor Technology's research institute and laboratories were absolutely among the top in the country. Li Xiangnan had spent at least 100 million yuan on purchasing the most cutting-edge research equipment from abroad. The leaders were full of praise during their inspection, believing that Harbor's emphasis on and large investment in technological R&D was something other high-tech enterprises should learn from. "Science and technology are the primary productive forces," Vice Minister Liu Xuejiang presented this quote from the old leader to Li Xiangnan, greatly encouraging him.

During the subsequent discussion, Murong Feng unexpectedly received focused attention from Liu Xuejiang. In addition to inquiring about Harbor Technology's financial status and development needs, he was very surprised by Murong Feng's personal investment of 200 million yuan.

He praised Murong Feng for his keen eye and great courage despite his youth. He also mentioned two other companies under Murong Feng - Ayu Games and Fengxing Wireless Entertainment. He said that online games and mobile games were emerging but high-potential directions in the Internet and wireless value-added industries.

He hoped Murong Feng would put more effort into product development, not solely focusing on entertainment but also being careful to avoid vulgar online content. For instance, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology was currently mandating the rectification of issues related to gambling, excessive violence, and pornography in online games. He advised Murong Feng to prioritize the quality of games and provide healthier and more beneficial services to users and the market.

Murong Feng was also deeply surprised that such a high-level leader would know about his two small companies. He quickly nodded and agreed, saying he would certainly earnestly implement the director's instructions, and urge the R&D department to design good products, and so on.

The potential impact of this inspection by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology leaders on Harbor Technology's subsequent development was enormous. It's worth noting that Liu Xuejiang was in charge of telecom operators and local communication management bureaus and other communication field authorities. His visit instantly raised Harbor Technology's reputation and status in the industry by a large margin. Coupled with Harbor's leading technology and Li Xiangnan's reputation, Harbor suddenly received many large orders from various local operators, entering another stage of leapfrog development!

That's a story for later. After seeing off Liu Xuejiang and his team that day, both Murong Feng and Li Xiangnan were puzzled. Usually, for such research inspections, companies would have strong backgrounds and make a lot of effort and preparation to prompt leaders to come down for a tour. Harbor hadn't done any work in this regard. How could such a windfall happen?

The two pondered for a long time but couldn't figure it out. In the end, they could only attribute it to the development of Harbor and the fame of Li Xiangnan and Murong Feng. Li Xiangnan joked, "I'm considered a technical genius, and you're a young tycoon with a recent rise in fame. It seems our popularity is not bad. Even if we weren't running a business, we wouldn't have to worry about finding food to eat."

Murong Feng was really at a loss for words at his dry humor.

...

Just when everything was developing on the right track, a sinister wind suddenly blew towards Murong Feng.

On online forums and bulletin boards, a plethora of negative news related to Murong Feng suddenly appeared. The content was bizarre and varied: "Hypocritical Tycoon, The True Face Of Murong Feng's Charity!", "The Dirty First Bucket Of Gold, The Secret History of Murong Feng's Fortune", "This Is The Real Truth! The Shameless Face Of A Tycoon!"...