Because of Technology

Darte Port.

As the place where Homo sapiens Company had gotten its start, it was also one of the regions hit hardest by its expansion.

After the merger and consolidation, Abundant Home opened Abundant Supermarket, Abundant Hotel, and Abundant Fast Food here. It also took control of the local farmers' markets, docks, and bus terminal.

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

He was currently in Darte Port inspecting the work of the various divisions. After all, this place was right under the big boss's nose. If something went wrong here, doing well elsewhere would be pointless.

After the comprehensive integration, Abundant Home had gained control of a great many resources.

For instance, farmers' markets, warehouses, transportation companies, hotels, supermarkets, and fast-food businesses could all be linked into a single supply chain.

On top of that, the Fernando family's plantations and farms were all strategic partners of Abundant Home.

Huang Keming, who had worked in supply chain management at Watsons, understood very well that Abundant Home could connect all these links. That meant greater efficiency and lower costs.

For example, a dozen eggs (12 eggs) had previously cost the supermarket around 70 pesos, equivalent to 9 Hua Yuan, and retailed for about 90 pesos.

After the reorganization, the cost of eggs had been cut to around 31 pesos.

The costs of various agricultural products had all fallen by different amounts, which naturally meant higher profits and greater competitiveness.

It was worth remembering that the average monthly wage for ordinary people in Luzon was around 4,800 to 6,500 pesos, equivalent to 600 to 800 Hua Yuan.

Wages were so low, yet the cost of living was comparable to that of second- and third-tier cities in China. One could imagine what life was like for the locals.

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

There were two reasons it did not offer high wages. One was to avoid making local businesses hostile toward it; the other was to keep money from flowing out of the company.

With low wages, employees had less in savings, so they naturally wouldn't spend their money on more expensive phones, cars, or luxury goods.

At the same time, Abundant Home—or rather, the entire Homo sapiens system—used another form of compensation: employee performance points.

The current system treated one point as equivalent to one peso. Employees could use points to get 20% off purchases at the company's own stores.

If an employee bought a dozen eggs at Abundant Supermarket for 90 pesos, they only needed to pay 72 pesos. The remaining 18 pesos would be covered by points.

What's more, when an Employee Card was used privately, employees were generally allowed to let their relatives use it as well.

The purpose was simple. On the one hand, it encouraged employees to spend and funneled their wages back into the company. On the other, it put pressure on competing businesses.

The final goal was to stabilize prices. Even if market prices suddenly soared, Homo sapiens Company could use performance points to adjust and control prices in the areas under its control, giving it a degree of monetary sovereignty.

Since performance points could only be used within Homo sapiens Company, and circulated only in southern Luzon, they had yet to attract Manila's attention.

At present, performance points accounted for around 20 to 30% of the income paid to employees by Homo sapiens Company's subsidiaries.

Faced with Abundant Home's aggressive competition, other supermarkets, shops, and fast-food businesses in Darte Port were already feeling the pressure.

Other businesses could offer customers discounts or coupons, of course.

The problem was that Abundant Home was backed by the entire Homo sapiens system. Its subsidiaries had many employees, and along with their relatives, they were drawing consumer spending away from the rest of the city.

"Have you heard?" a middle-aged woman with buck teeth whispered.

Another woman was carrying a basket of vegetables. "Heard what?"

The woman with buck teeth lowered her voice. "Abundant Supermarket is offering 10% off everything tomorrow. They'll also have special deals, but you have to get there early if you want to grab them."

"Really?"

"My neighbor's relative works at Abundant Supermarket. It's an insider tip."

"She works at Abundant Supermarket? I'm so jealous. She gets special prices and employee discounts."

The news quickly spread through the mouths of women across Darte Port's ordinary neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, the owners of other supermarkets and shops wore grim expressions, secretly cursing Abundant Home and hoping it would go bankrupt soon.

But most people were naturally inclined to take advantage of a bargain.

Especially ordinary people in the neighborhood. They wouldn't give up Abundant Supermarket's coupons just because another store had been around for years.

Besides, Abundant Supermarket's prices were already slightly lower than those at other supermarkets, which made it all the more appealing.

The next morning.

Abundant Supermarket hadn't even opened yet, but a large crowd of women was already lined up outside.

When the supermarket manager opened the doors with the employees, the crowd surged forward like a wave. Shouting and calling out, they rushed inside and began snatching up goods.

The owners of the other shops around the commercial street watched, their hearts aching, yet feeling utterly powerless.

Not far from Abundant Supermarket, a recruitment office belonging to Coral Construction was also packed with job applicants.

Recently, Coral Construction had won a great many projects. Its existing workforce couldn't meet the demand, so the company had begun hiring a large number of construction workers.

Coral Construction's actions also served as a form of work relief.

The wealthy Homo sapiens Company had approved five employee housing projects in one go, one of which was in the suburbs of Darte Port.

Coral Construction was currently responsible for all five projects. The first phase of the housing development in Darte Port was planned to include 1,000 units.

Of course, these employee homes weren't given to employees. They were rented out to them, but at a very low rate: one peso per square meter per month. Points could also be used to cover part of the rent.

Many people might think that if a company's wages were higher than those of its local competitors, its competitiveness would suffer.

There was nothing wrong with that statement.

But it had to be understood in context: the company in question could not be a megacorporation.

In many cases, ordinary companies and megacorporations couldn't be treated as equals. Rules that applied to ordinary businesses might not work on megacorporations.

So what was a megacorporation?

One that covered every stage of life, from birth to death; food, clothing, housing, and transportation; healthcare and education; culture and entertainment; energy and minerals; finance; the internet; military industry and warfare; scientific research; and equipment R&D.

A company that controlled every industry, from the top of the supply chain to the bottom, was called a "megacorporation."

No isolated company focused on a single industry could easily stand up to one.

Take Abundant Home at that very moment. It was also a supermarket, yet its purchasing costs were only about half those of other businesses. How were its competitors supposed to compete?

The crushing advantage of an integrated supply chain was sometimes simply unreasonable.

Homo sapiens Company had yet to evolve into a fully developed megacorporation, but it was already beginning to take shape. Working in coordination with the local Fernando family, it could easily crush those local businesses.

The future would inevitably belong to megacorporations.

Li Qingye had long since seen through the true nature of human society, and naturally, he could make precise deductions about humanity's future.

Why was he so certain?

Because of technology.

That was right. It was because of technology.

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