NationStates Jolt Archive

Official Announcement from S-Mart, Limited

Today, we are proud to report to the world that the S-Mart Corporation has reached a key level of one thousand branches throughout Allanea. Today, we wish to thank our shareholders for helping us arrive to this point. Now, we begin global expansion of our corporation.

Furthermore, as of now, we pledge that every year, at least 1% of our profits would be donated to charities. Further, an S-Mart fund will be made available, to the sum of at least one million Universal Standard Dollars to send prize-winning children of S-Mart customers into colleges and universities.

We would be happy to receive recommendations as to where new branches of S-Mart are to be opened, or market surveys from new places. In S-Mart, we will sell any goods that are legal for puchase in your nation – food, books, consumer electronics, anything.

Shop smart, shop S-Mart!

For more information, please call 1-800-1800-SMART.


OOC: Basically you post here if you want to have S-mart branches in your nation. If your nation is relatively free-market, just post about said branch/es being opened, as S-mart would probably expand to any nation it was allowed to expand to.

Her name is Hexen I Ne and she is specialized in difficult project, where others would say it is absolutely impossible. She is one of the consultants at M Veran Salan JSK. S-Mart asked for the services of the "big green M" to enter the rejistanian market successfully. Today was the day to present her results.

In Rejistania, it is very uncommon to use beamers to show some presentations, instead she had a report in English, but illustrated so well that it could be understood by skimming it. The S-Mart Rejistanian Division Executive did not seem to mind her uncommon way at all. Her explanation that rejistanian can be hardly condensed to the PowerPoint slang and she did not want to learn a new medium seemed to satisfy Queer'he. "As you see, the rejistanians prefer to shop in small stores, several projects, which appear much like your chain internationally failed quite miserably, namely Kiaela's hypermarché and the Na~ovi Midjit general stores."

"Midget?"

"Midjit means market in the jusavedan pidgin. The average rejistanian loves to shop in or near his or her kalesa."

"Kalesa?"

"You can understand it as district or village. There are however certain cultural aspects in the term, which can not easily be translated."

"I see"

"Rejistanis also like to shop via etju, you asked me about the average number of parking places for each supermarket and it is 5.4."

"5.4 what?"

"Single parking spaces. Please remember that we are dealing here with a foreign culture. Maybe we should start with what the average rejistanian expects: if you look at page 7, you can see a statistic: low distance to work and/or home is most important, followed by a good connection to the etju..."

"etju?"

"All means of private and municipal public transport. I assumed you knew at least a bit about rejistanian culture..."

"Only that they all are soccer freaks..."

"They are, yes." she shows her red bracelet with a text in rejistanian on it. Had Queer'he learned the writing system, he knew that the text on it means "Sen-La-Sa~o Relekhati", "but they do not like to be called freaks. Soccer is an important social element for rejistanis. Well, you can see here our competitors using mostly a strategy of coping with these needs by being at many places at the same time. To show you this strategy, I have marked all Kiaela'ny in this map of Jinhes kali by a red dot. You can see the strategy of being at the most important stops of the etju as well as at the Sejene, which is where many Jinhesi are employed. Similar schemes exist in other cities and for other competitors. Here it is for H~sene Midjit in Najajara kali. H~sene Midjit is a local nanti kansu competitor."

"I see the pattern, but what is nanti kansu?"

"Nanti means state, only that the nanti are not as independent as allanean states and there are only 3 of them: nanti simu up in the north, nanti lik~hat in the centre and nanti kansu in the south."

"The name nanti goes in front?"

"Of course, the terms simu, lik~hat and kansu are essential parts of rejistani culture, they were just used as names because there are no neutral location names. Names which do not come from the language of one particular people."

Queer'he nods.

"Now, the market in Rejistania is mostly a competition between Kiaela, Sinedane, KaLeRy and different 'gray stores' which means they belong to smaller local chains like H~sene Midjit." She nearly fell into the habit of rejistanians speaking english to use do to indicate the tenses, but was professional enough so he didn't notice. "I have assembled what it boils down to: market shares, image, real estate, number of branches, average size of each branch, specialization, as well as other figures, which might help you."

"I will check this later" he turns the page to see another table.

"This is more information on the gray stores. You asked me to be precise."

"I see. What would you recommend?"

"First I would recommend to create a name which does not conflict with rejistani legislation for the branches."

"Do the rejistanis have laws on how you can name your company? this is ridiculous!"

"It is not ridiculous, it makes sure every one can read and write the name in his or her local alphabet. As you might not know there are 15 languages in Rejistania, which are officially recognized, as well as about 40 which just exist. Certain conflicts are still below the surface, like between the Majuvedans and the Ehila~o, which are 2 peoples in nanti simu. It is like Ngmweni, at least partly."

"I still do not like it. The state should not interfere with this."

"You are a libertarian, I am belonging to the Jesejilan party... . I think discussing this question will not bring us further since the laws exist and will not be changed."

"Well, what are the laws? The name must be tranliteratable into every recognized rejistani alphabet. Since Seleken and Hito belong to this, it lowers our amount of possibilities. I have not assembled a list because I thought this law was known and there would already be a number of possibilities to check."

"Well, I have not yet seen such a weird law."

"After that issue is solved, there should be a decision on where to specialize on. Or whether to have several different specializations in different stores, a strength of the gray stores. You will not have the place for hypermarchés and the rejistani market does not want them. The difficulty will be to find good places and to find good products. Rejistanis prefer products which are captioned in their own language, which means seleken in Sijitalatirikimidateme kali and parts of Jinhes, majuvedian in parts of KaMaRi and nanti simu, Minokajetian in other parts, Ehila~o..."

"You mean it will be difficult?"

"It i..err.. will not be. One just needs some knowledge, some feeling and some efficiency."

"S-Mart Incorporated is very efficient."

"Well, not in the same way as required..."

...

When the Hexen I Ne eventually left, she had the feeling that he apparently heard it (even though his hearing seemed to be not the best), but she had no idea whether he would be able to decide correctly based on these informations.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of Trade
Ministry of the Interor, Department of Commerce

Dear S-Mart,

We will accept the starting of branches in our country. Please be aware that your corperation head quarters will be held responisble for all of the branches we set up. All stores will be kept in complaince with both doemstic and international law. If we feel your store is assosiating with any corperation that is dangerous, or threating to global security, the contract will be pulled.

Karou Kamiah-MOF

Jason Izen-Min. of the Interior

Official Response to Kanami


We will happily set up those branches. We will begin with a test run of 100 branches if you do not mind.

Otagia and Pale Rider Arms would welcome an S-Mart presence in both Otagian cities and the PRA corporate enclaves scattered about the country. After all, competition is the lifeblood for any successful company.

Yours,
Daniel Quetzal
CEO of Pale Rider Arms
Regent-Elect of Otagia

You can be in Swilatia. However if you choose to be in Swilatia expect competion from many Swilatian hypermarkets such as ShopSmart.

Official Status Report from the S-Mart Corporation

We have only started out recently, and already our numbers have grown. We have expander into three new nations, and have doubled our holdings in Allanea itself. As we are working on a franchise system, there's very little actual expenditure to make. And so, here are the numbers:

Allanea – 2,000 branches
Otagia – 1,000 branches
Kanami – 500 branches
Swilatia – 100 branches

Total – 3,600 branches

Elsewhere

The Allanean shrugged as he looked at the Rejistanian advisor. "Let's do it this way. As you know, Allanea has no labor protection laws. We do it your way – a few varied stores at first, complying with all the rules, and using your aid to secure… how should we say… "efficient conflict resolution" with the local officials. I am sure that the click of Allanean money will help increase the efficiency there."

He continued. "And in other matters, we will also try and follow as you say. You will be paid…" he named an outrageously high sum for a Rejistanian. "If we fail, however… you will be unemployed. Is that understood?"

TSRM will allow 3000 chains throughout the country to be authorized. It is your descretion where, as long as you can get the land and neccisary permits. Inspectors will be coming around randomly, unannounced as for all large buisnesses in TSRM. If there is any violation of City, County, Provence, or International laws, the government will close all the chains and auction off the buildings.

She made a clicking sound. This sounds like challenge. "Se-Midjit" was chosen as compliant name, despite her objections that se is seven in rejistanian. The other ideas would be too far away from the international name not to allow global marketing/sponsoring to work in Rejistania. The first Se-Midjit stores opened in Sike kali as test market. Sike kali was chosen because it was the capital and the public transport was partly restructured. I Ne'he used inside information to be at etju stops which were in planning. Foreigners would feel claustrophobic in the Se-Midjit stores, but Rejistanis had far less problems with it. The articles sold were partly the well known rejistanian articles but there also was a low number of foreign products, mostly for the exotic image. Of course the number of products as well as the store size was small, they were not playing the game allaneanly but rejistanianly. Slowly Se-Midjit became a nanti lik~hati "gray" chain, small if compared with Na~ovi Midjit or Kiaela, but constantly growing.

The Skibereenian Government will allow 1000 S-mart stores to be built in the Major cities across the nation as a test bed for the potential of further expansion.
This is however continigent upon an equal number of Skibereenian Retailers to be allowed within Allanea.

Allanean imports will be tarriffed equal to the tarriffs the Allanean government places on Skibereenian goods.

Should the Allanean Government place no tarriff on Skibereenian goods then no tarriff shall be placed on Allanean goods.

The construction and general hiring practices must be opened to both Skibereenian contractors and workers respectively.

We hope S-Mart finds Skibereen to be a profitable market, and that the people find your services rewarding.

A list of restricted or contraband substances will be forwarded(it is a short list).

The Abh Empire would be willing to allow a modest number of S-Mart branches to open within our realm. After considering how popular they are and whether they provide a valid service, we may allow more branches to open.

We will allow 50 branches at this time to be opened in our larger cities.

Official S-Mart Corporate Report

Slowly, slowly, our corporation grows beyond the limits and borders of Allanea. In Rejistania, in the Abh, in Skibereen – aided by Allanea's open-market philosophy – the S-Mart corporation grows on, and on, and on.

Thank you for the trust, shareholders.

[i]May God Bless Allanea.

Status Report

Allanea – 2,000 branches
Otagia – 1,000 branches
Skibereen – 1,000 branches
Humankind Abh – 1,000 branches
Kanami – 600 branches
Swilatia – 200 branches
Rejistania – 100 branches


Total – 4,900 branches

Basil Paparigas, Minister of Trade and Commerce, after making sure that Valerian economic investment went into Roanoke Island, decided to review some Allanean corporations himself and wanted to bring more investment into the Grand Empire. The only issue was that Magnus Valerius was not very open to free markets. The Grand Empire was pretty much a mercantilist society, trying to maximize the viability of homegrown businesses through protective acts and tarriffs against foreign corporations. Despite this act of limiting foreign aspects into the nation, the Valerian economy is a powerful and efficient machine, with much prosperity throughout the land and with large companies that have made themselves a regional force to be reckoned with.

Still, Basil was willing to make a few concessions to Allanea. He sent a letter of interest to S-Mart, a particular Allanean corporation, to offer them a foothold in Magnus Valerius.

To Corporate Headquarters of S-Mart, Allanea
From The Valerian Ministry of Trade and Commerce

Magnus Valerius is willing to allot some plots for S-Mart to expand in Magnus Valerius. We Valerians, however, take pride in our domestic economy, and I am skeptical as to fully open the doors to your business here in the Grand Empire. However, I will offer your corporation a foot-in-the-door, so to speak. I offer your corporation 50 branch locations in the various cities in Magnus Valerius. If all things go well, I will allow your corporation to expand further in the nation.

We will place strict tarriffs on your operations if we deem S-Mart to be harmful to the local economies your branches set up in. Your corporation will be considered detrimental if 1)The economy around S-Mart locations begins to suffer and local small, private businesses begin to tank and/or 2) Valerian companies and business owners complain of unfair competition. If we decide to investigate and find that their complaints are valid, we will act accordingly.

One last note: worker protection laws are rather lenient here in the nation, but we do request that you employ your workers full-time and offer them at least a living wage. A living wage in our nation is low, thanks to a cheap standard of living; the living wage here is 2.5 Valerian Crowns an hour, and that is equivalent to around NS$4.50.

Despite such strictness, I hope you will locate some business over to our empire. I assure you, though, that I will do everything in my power to make sure that such acts mentioned above do not occur.


Sincerely,
Basil Paparigas
Minister of Trade and Commerce of The Grand Empire of Magnus Valerius

Official Status Report from S-Mart

Well, Freemen, another day, another nation opening S-Mart branches. We believe this to be a good, good, good thing. We also believe that there'll be many more branches opened throughout the world soon, but we have nothing much of detail to report to you.

Good luck,

And May God Bless Allanea

Status Report

Allanea – 2,000 branches
Otagia – 1,000 branches
Skibereen – 1,000 branches
Humankind Abh – 1,000 branches
Kanami – 600 branches
Swilatia – 200 branches
Rejistania – 100 branches
Magnus Valerius – 50 branches

Total: 4,950 branches.

OOC: Parts of this were inspired by similar arrangements made here...

IC:

The Commissariat of Trade, seeking to increase foreign trade, will allow S-Mart to establish a New Dornalian branch--in particular you may establish 650 branches in New Dornalia's major cities. Our incorporation laws would require you to register as a Worker Managed Corporation (WMC), however, and comply with New Dornalian laws requiring management through a Worker's Council made up of experienced, educated employees, and other New Dornalian Labor laws. Besides this little policy, we have a free-market, so feel free to expand as you wish, invest, etc.

In exchange, we would also like you to allow reciprocal investment by New Dornalian retailers to market their wares in Allanea, complying with local laws. To perhaps lessen the costs of incorporation, we'd be willing to drop tariffs on Allenean merchants, goods and capital, if you'd be willing to do the same for us.

We do hope you will provide good business to New Dornalia. We'd really like to have you.

Official Response to the New Dormalian Government

No. Just No.

Official Response to the New Dormalian Government

No. Just No.

Official Reply to the S-Mart Corporation

Fine, fine, you can go in as a regular corporation. Happy?

Official Announcement of the S-Mart Corporation

We would like to thank the New Dornalian government for reaching a compromise with us.

May God Bless Allanea

Status Report

Allanea – 2,000 branches
Otagia – 1,000 branches
Skibereen – 1,000 branches
Humankind Abh – 1,000 branches
Juumanistra - 1,000 branches
Kanami – 600 branches
Swilatia – 200 branches
New Dornalia - 100 branches
Rejistania – 100 branches
Magnus Valerius – 50 branches

Total: 6,050 branches.