Because of Technology

Darte Port.

As the place where Homo sapiens Company got its start, it was also one of the regions most affected.

The Abundant Home, after its merger and integration, had opened an Abundant Supermarket, an Abundant Hotel, and Abundant Fast Food here. It also controlled the local agricultural market, docks, and passenger terminals.

The person in charge of this enterprise was Huang Keming, who had previously worked at Watsons in Hong Kong.

He was currently inspecting the work situation of various business units in Darte Port. After all, this was right under the Boss's nose. If something went wrong here, no matter how well he performed elsewhere, it would be useless.

After the comprehensive integration, Abundant Home controlled a vast amount of resources.

For example, the agricultural market, warehouses, transportation companies, hotels, supermarkets, and fast-food companies could actually form a connected industrial chain.

In addition, the various plantations and farms of the Fernando family were also strategic partners of Abundant Home.

Huang Keming, who had experience in supply chain management at Watsons, was very clear that if Abundant Home could connect these links, it would mean increased efficiency and decreased costs.

For instance, previously, the cost for a dozen eggs (12 eggs) purchased by the supermarket was around 70 Pesos, equivalent to 9 Hua Yuan, with a retail price of about 90 Pesos.

After the reorganization, the cost price of eggs had been compressed to around 31 Pesos.

The cost prices of various agricultural products had all decreased to varying degrees, which naturally represented profits and competitiveness.

It should be known that the average monthly salary of ordinary people in Luzon was around 4800-6500 Pesos, equivalent to 600-800 Hua Yuan per month.

With such low wages, yet a cost of living comparable to second or third-tier cities in China, one could imagine the living standards of the locals.

Abundant Home naturally respected the local wage levels, and the salaries it offered were not much different from those of local enterprises.

The reasons for not offering higher salaries were, on one hand, to avoid being targeted by local enterprises, and on the other hand, to prevent capital outflow.

Under low wages, employees' savings were reduced, and these employees would naturally not spend money on more expensive mobile phones, cars, and luxury goods.

While maintaining low wages, Abundant Home, or rather the entire Homo sapiens system, adopted another form of compensation: employee performance points.

Currently, the system operates on a basis where 1 point is equivalent to 1 Peso, allowing employees to use points for a 20% discount when shopping at their own stores.

For example, if an employee bought a dozen eggs at Abundant Supermarket for 90 Pesos, they would only need to pay 72 Pesos, with the remaining 18 Pesos offset by points.

Moreover, employee cards were generally allowed for use by employee relatives during private use.

The purpose of this was simple: on one hand, to stimulate employee consumption and draw employees' wages back into the company; on the other hand, to suppress competitors.

The last objective was to stabilize prices. Even if market prices suddenly surged, Homo sapiens Company could use performance points to regulate and control the price level within its area of influence, effectively gaining a form of monetary sovereignty.

Since performance points could only be used within Homo sapiens Company and their circulation was limited to the southern region of Luzon Island, they had not yet attracted the attention of Manila.

Currently, the performance points issued by the various subsidiaries under Homo sapiens Company to their employees accounted for about 20-30% of their income.

Faced with the predatory competition from Abundant Home, other supermarkets, shops, and fast-food outlets in Darte Port were already feeling the pressure.

Although other businesses could also offer discounts or coupons to customers.

The problem was that Abundant Home was backed by the entire Homo sapiens system, with a large number of employees in its subsidiaries. Coupled with their relatives, the purchasing power of the entire city was being siphoned off.

"Did you hear?" a middle-aged woman with buck teeth whispered.

Another woman carrying a basket of vegetables asked, "Hear what?"

The buck-toothed woman whispered, "Abundant Supermarket is having a 10% discount on everything tomorrow, and there are special promotional items. You have to be early to grab them."

"Really?"

"My neighbor's relative works at Abundant Supermarket, so this is inside information."

"Working at Abundant Supermarket? I'm so envious of them, getting discounts and internal perks."

These tidbits quickly spread through the whispers of some women among the ordinary people of Darte Port.

Meanwhile, the owners of other supermarkets and shops wore worried expressions, secretly cursing Abundant Home to go bankrupt soon.

But greed for small advantages was human nature.

Especially the common folk, they wouldn't give up the discounts from Abundant Supermarket just because a shop was a long-standing establishment.

Coupled with the fact that Abundant Supermarket's prices were already slightly lower than other supermarkets, its appeal was naturally even greater.

The next morning.

Even before Abundant Supermarket opened, a large crowd of women was already queuing outside.

When the supermarket manager and employees opened the doors, the crowd surged in like a tide, rushing into the supermarket amidst shouts and cheers to make large purchases.

Facing this scene, the other shops around the commercial street watched with heartache and a sense of powerlessness.

And not far from Abundant Supermarket, at a recruitment store belonging to Coral Construction Company, it was also packed with applicants.

Recently, Coral Construction Company had secured numerous construction projects, and its existing workforce was insufficient to meet the demands of construction. Therefore, it had begun a large-scale recruitment of construction workers.

Coral Construction's actions also served the purpose of providing employment relief.

The financially robust Homo sapiens Company had approved five employee housing complex projects at once, one of which was located in the suburbs of Darte Port.

These five employee housing projects were currently managed by Coral Construction. The project in Darte Port was planned for 1,000 households in its first phase.

Of course, these employee homes were not given to employees but rented to them. However, the rent was very low, planned at 1 Peso per square meter per month, with a portion also payable by points.

Many might think that a company's competitiveness will decrease when its wage level is higher than its regional peers.

This statement isn't entirely wrong.

However, there's a prerequisite: the company must not be a Mega-corporation.

Often, a company and a Mega-corporation are not entirely equivalent; rules applicable to companies may lose their effect on Mega-corporations.

So, what is a Mega-corporation?

It encompasses birth, aging, sickness, and death; food, clothing, housing, and transportation; healthcare and education; culture and entertainment; energy and mining; finance; the internet; military industry and warfare; scientific research; equipment development, and more.

A company that controls the entire industrial chain, from upstream to downstream, is called a "Mega-corporation."

It is difficult for any isolated, single-industry company to compete with a Mega-corporation.

Just like Abundant Home at this very moment, they are both supermarkets, yet Abundant Home's procurement costs are only about half of other companies'. How can other companies compete?

This kind of industrial chain dominance is sometimes unreasonable.

Although Homo sapiens Company has not yet evolved into a fully-fledged Mega-corporation, it already has the prototype of a Mega-corporation. Coupled with cooperation with the local Fernando family, crushing local businesses is more than enough.

The future will surely be the era of Mega-corporations.

Li Qingye had long seen through the essence of human society at this time, and naturally, he had precise deductions about humanity's future.

Why is he so certain?

Because of technology.

That's right, it's because of technology.

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