[DoCA] Your Guide to Business in eRep
Department of Citizen Affairs
Hello, this is a basic guide to the company management side of the eRepublik economy.
The first thing to know about company management in eRepublik is;
DON'T BUILD A COMPANY. THE CURRENT GAME MECHANICS DO NOT ALLOW FOR THE PROFITABLE OPERATION OF NEW COMPANIES.
This may seem silly at first, however, in eRepublik, as a result of various game mechanic changes from Admin (the people who run the game), the Return on Investment, or ROI, (the time it takes to recover the costs to create a company) is somewhere over a year for every type of industry in the game. After that year or so, you would still have only broken even and not profited anything. Additionally, the last few years have shown a relatively consistent trend of prices decreasing over time, and wages increasing which would only worsen your profit margins further.
However, if you’re insistent on dumping money into a company despite the terrible profit margins, there are a few things you should probably know.
First, you must pick an industry to build your company in. The one with the best ROI changes frequently, however, some quick math based upon the current market prices and wages would help you make the best decision, number-wise. It is also important to note that the airplane and housing companies (both finished and raw materials) both do not allow you to WAM (work as manager) which is a way for you, the company owner, to expend 10 health and work in that company. You’re allowed to WAM in all of your companies at once (or choose which ones you would like to do it in), there is no limit on the amount of companies you can WAM in per day (as long as you have the required health to do so).
Next, you must determine which region you want your company to be located in. You must have a holding company in the region you wish to place your company. In order to build a holding company, you must first move your citizen to that region, and then create the holding company. When picking a region, you should be mindful of the vulnerability of the region to foreign takeover (if the region your company is located in is occupied by a foreign country that is not your citizenship, your productivity is affected). You also need to check for pollution in that region. Pollution is a reflection of the amount of companies in each industry located in that region, regardless of when they are built in comparison to yours. It changes daily based upon what companies were worked the previous day, and the data can be found on the region’s page (for example, Alabama, USA is found here: https://www.erepublik.com/en/main/region/Alabama). Additionally, you need to be mindful of the region’s resource bonuses. Those are found on that same page and each industry can have varying bonuses in each region which all affect your company's productivity. Lastly, your citizen must be located in the region your company is in for your to be able to WAM. Therefore, if you intend to WAM for your company, ensure you are able to move there/be located there daily.
Employees may seem beneficial to have for your company. However, for the last year or so, when wages significantly increased, it has become extremely difficult to make any sort of profit while paying employees wages. To check for your chosen industry, you’ll need to calculate the profitability by figuring out how much “stuff” is created per work ticket (what an employee produces) accounting for pollution/resource bonuses/citizenship/etc., multiply it by the market’s selling price, account for taxes, and subtract the employee's’ wages. Keep in mind that employees are paid when they work, not when you use their productivity. If your companies become unprofitable, and you stop hitting the work button, but forget to update your employees’ salaries, they’ll continue to drain your coffers.
Selling your finished product is actually a very slow process. Many products have a stockpile problem where there can be hundreds of thousands of units sitting on the market at the same price point for weeks. Undercutting those offers typically results in you losing your entire profit margin (however slim it may have been to begin with). You’ll need to pay careful attention to your break-even price and ensure you’re not losing money in the process. Since it does take to long for products to sell, you should have a significantly sized cash reserve for wages in the meantime while you wait. You can also export your product to other countries around the world by purchasing a market license (found on your storage page). However, most countries have extremely high import taxes, preventing you from making a profit on their marketplaces.
If you manage to beat the odds and create a company that pulls a net profit, you can look to expand your company. You can create additional companies of the same type, enabling you to WAM or use work tickets more times in a day, or you can branch out, building companies of different qualities or product types. Ensure you keep a careful eye on your profitability in each market though, as there are a wide variety of problems that can arise and instantly erase your profit margin entirely, making all of your companies simultaneously unworkable.
You’ll also need to occasionally purchase more storage space for your inventory. As I mentioned before, products tend to move very slowly on the markets and don’t sell very quickly. When you have offers for products to be sold on the market, the product remains in your inventory until sold. You can run out of room very quickly, preventing you from working or buying raw materials (if necessary).
I hope this has answered many of your burning questions related to running a company in eRepublik. I would like to leave you with one lasting bit of advice;
DON'T BUILD A COMPANY. THE CURRENT GAME MECHANICS DO NOT ALLOW FOR THE PROFITABLE OPERATION OF NEW COMPANIES.
-Evry
25+ term Secretary of the Treasury
Director of the Congressional Budget Office
Member of the Economic Council
30+ term Congressman
Former PotUS
Comments
[DoCA] Your Guide to Business in eRep
https://www.erepublik.com/en/article/2625784/1/20
Sound advice.
what about level 40's mission?
Assign 10 employees in the production process in the same day.
9 multis and I or the 9 gold to complete, which makes more sense?
Valid question. I have missions I can never finish because of the stupid econ module.
If you have enough companies, get workers with high price. I'd rather choose deleting that damn mission popup than saving money. If you have no companies, just spend golds.
have Q1 food factory, 216 cc wages x 9 (or do I not count as an employee?) = 1944 cc vs. 9 gold = 3644ish cc
of course I have left out the community building experience's value, and the equations converting products produced into currency (prices are on the rise)
You could also save all of your work days from one employee.
Pretty basic and dystopian view of a fairly important part of the game. 😕
"Additionally, the last few years have shown a relatively consistent trend of prices decreasing over time, and wages increasing which would only worsen your profit margins further."
ah you have just discovered the law of diminishing returns of capitalism! this is the benefit of capitlism. workers and citizens benefit as the leaders profits go to zero!
you get 100% of the work you do! if you get a market job!
if you work in a commune you can get less work than you do. thus communes are the best for business owners and the worst for workers!
I love paying my employees 1 dollar a day. and priofting 200 dollars a day from each it is nice!
the only solution would be to have congress raise min wage. but that day will never come as the majorty of congress are busniess owners and profit heavily from the communes!
Americans became communists?
25% of our workers are making 1 dollar 🙂 we are huge commune leaders. you can look at the country page and see the average wage paid. and then look at mrket wages. to get a rough estimate of the number of people making below market wages. thus the number of commune workers!
I wonder are they real players or fakes? Who is willing to work for 1 dollar?
They may get free weapons and food, daily or weekly, or other kind of support programs, in return.
This should be mandatory reading for new citizens. I remember I wanted to be a business tycoon but the economics don't support it.
Much appreciated. Not like I was going to make companies anyways, but still.
Ask for donations from players. 60% of the time, it works every time.
I hope everyone follows this awesome guide to economical success in this uneconomic game.