President Enterprise's recent mainland investments have led Kao Ching-yuan into contact with many high-level Communist managers. He talks with relish not of any special treatment they might have given but of how he can change their views. For example, the former mayor of Shanghai, Chu Jung-chi, once told him, "Before our ideas were mistaken. When people came from outside to invest, we tried to find loss-making enterprises for them tO invest in, with the result that nobody else followed. After this, we sincerely want to find profitable businesses for outsiders to invest in." Little "accomplishments" like this one make Kao Ching-yuan much prouder than earning a lot of money. His passion for a greater China is revealed by his stress on the fact that "we are all Chinese."

It is interesting that when Kao Ching-yuan is asked, "Is it because you are president of President Foods that the Communists treat you so well?" he laugh-s it off with the reply, "They have not said so! But my fellow industrialists often joke with me in private about President going to the mainland to reunify China!"

Fighting by the Book: The ethos of Kao Ching-yuan and President Enterprises can be seen by a survey by Excellence magazine in which financial academics and media workers voted on the Taiwan businesses with the best reputations--President came out on top, beating larger-scale businesses with more media contact, such as Formosa Plastics and Acer.

President Enterprises led in three categories out often: workers' rights and benefits, consumers' rights and benefits, and enthusiastic public service. Those who know a little about President Enterprises could not avoid smiling to themselves about results that were so in accordance with the business rationale and image of its president.

There is much evidence to bear out the truth of Kao Ching-yuan's assertion that "No matter where we are or what we are doing, President always plays by the book". He informed his Kuomintang bodies before his first visit to the mainland last year, and later applied to the investment Commission of the Ministry of Economic Affairs to get the go-ahead for the mainland investments. Unlike many small-and medium-scale enterprises, which are engaging in a kind of "guerilla war" on the mainland, President has from start to finish encouraged itself to play the leading role as a large business fighting by the rules.

Rags to Riches: Long before the Labor Law was put into practice, President Enterprises had established an excellent promotion and retirement system; reinvestment of surplus profits in various areas ensures that there is easy access to channels of promotion for the workers. "Since I came to President, it seems that it has expanded at a rate of one factory a year. Since of all the new managers are selected from within the company, everyone has the hope for promotion, and of course morale is high," says Chung Ching-tsung, present director of President's Taipei management department who entered the company in 1974. Two years earlier, at just sixty years of age, Kao Ching-yuan voluntarily retired, wanting to give up the heavy burden of being general director and also practising what he preached in making way and giving new blood the opportunity to lead.

President's external image is even more one of caution and meticulous management. All of President's products have the number of a customer service and complaint line printed on them. Then there was the case several years ago when President immediately withdrew all its products from the market following a number of cases of food poisoning. Although this was a costly exercise, it ensured the good reputation of the company.

Apart from this, although Kao Ching-yuan, who eleven years ago commemorated his beloved mother by establishing a scholarly foundation and followed it with the President Social Welfare Fund, is now a well-known and accomplished entrepreneur, he could not continue his studies further than junior school. During his apprenticeship in a cloth shop he ew the attention of the great Tainan businessmen, the brothers Wu Hsiu-ch'i and Wu Tsun-pao, who realized his worth and cultivated him. It is this process which remains deep in his heart and which he feeds back into society.

Not a Criminal Entrepreneur: If Kao Ching-yuan is certainly public-minded, his entrepreneurial pursuit of profit must also be mentioned. He most respects the sentiments of the Japanese entrepreneur who said:"An entrepreneur who does not make money is a criminal! When entrepreneurs do not make money, then factories close, workers lose their jobs and shares tumble. Does not this create a big problem for society?"

Last year President made its first overseas investment with the acquisition of Wyndham Foods, a hug American biscuit manufacturer US$200, 000,000 in the red. At that time a number of people felt that this leap forward was too risky. Kao Ching-yuan was sufficiently self-confident in his knowledge that "If I buy something, it will definitely make money!" This year, with most of Wyndham's debts paid off by President, it has already begun to turn back to profitability, making it impossible not to respect Kao Ching-yuan's power of judgment.

Although the recent investments on the mainland are made more convenient by the advantages of working with the same language and race, there are still many risks to be faced, such as the erratic policies of the Communists, the expectations of people to be provided for and the correspondingly limited resources. Can the record of the evervictorious army be maintained? This is Kao Ching-yuan's new battle.

[Picture Caption]

Following an incident of food poisoning in October 1987, Kao Ching-yuan, president of President Enterprises, decided to immediately withdraw from the marke t and destroy all the company's products. (photo by VincentChang)