"Lao Lei, the second phase of the park in Shekou covers 5 square kilometers. Now the labor costs in Hong Kong are getting higher and higher. Except for some core components of household appliances and color TVs, everything else needs to be transferred to the mainland, and the technical requirements are low. Those with higher technical requirements will be transferred to Shekou, and those with higher technical requirements will be transferred to the future joint venture factory with Yanjing City, so that we can also prepare to enter the domestic market." Chen Zhiwen continued.
Hong Kong's housing prices have increased on average three to four times since the recovery in 1975 to the present in the 1980s. Although ordinary people have always complained that their wages have not increased as much as housing prices, the increase in housing prices has nothing to do with factories. It's related, and because of the increase in social living costs, workers' cost expenditures have also increased two or three times. If they don't increase, the service industry will rob people.
Regardless of whether it is a bubble or not, in the past few years, the surface value of countless people has increased several times, and they are naturally not stingy when it comes to consumption, which naturally also drives up the wages of waiters.
Many industries in Hong Kong only earn a piece of assembly money. In a few years, the cost of workers has increased from 300 to 400 a month to close to 1,000. Few low-end factories can afford it. This is why many factories will move to the mainland in the future. The reason is that the labor cost for one person in the mainland may be less than 100 Hong Kong dollars, and for Hong Kong factories, another major expense is rent. House prices have increased several times, and rents have naturally increased accordingly.
Many of Midea's products are huge profits, such as game-related hardware, but this is not the case with home appliances. Long-term production at a discount is unlikely. Moving to the mainland is also a trend. Besides, a handheld console will make Midea's production capacity insufficient. When home game consoles are released again, production capacity will definitely be tighter. Now it is also necessary to transfer low-end manufacturing and prepare new production lines for games and other electronic products.
Shekou is the best place to undertake the supply of fans, radios, etc., because it can be a sole proprietorship, the labor is low, and the products do not require high technical personnel. In addition, people can be transferred to Hong Kong, but air conditioners, color TVs, etc. For the time being, these can only be placed in relatively developed industrial places such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Even if it is a joint venture, quality must be guaranteed. Anyway, in 1986, after the policy relaxed the joint venture requirements, the equity can be recovered.
"Okay, I also have this idea. The workers in Shekou are very hardworking and the policies are very good. If all our fans are produced there, our global sales will definitely go up. But the joint venture factory in Yanjing City , the negotiation team that had gone there before had some contact with the Yanjing side. The Yanjing side obviously hopes that our products are mainly for export, and even if they can be sold domestically, they can only sell some products that cannot be produced domestically, including fans. They are also reluctant to let us sell it domestically," Lei Shengli said.
"The largest electrical appliance market in China is actually not air conditioners and refrigerators, but mainly fans. This area can be produced domestically. Naturally, they don't want us to sell it domestically. Do you have any suggestions from the domestic side?" Chen Zhiwen thought about it. wanted to ask.
Lei Shengli said: "They hope that we can sell at a high price, but the price has not yet been discussed. At least it will be much higher than the international price."
"Then let's continue talking. It's okay to go high-end. I want to establish the brand in China first." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
There are actually many rich people in the country, and there are also many people who can afford to install air conditioners and refrigerators. However, the first purpose of the country's reform is to earn foreign exchange, so no matter what policy, it must focus on this, even if Chen Zhiwen promises foreign exchange balance, But the domestic side definitely wants to export as much as possible. This is also human nature. Foreign investors investing in China also want to make as much domestic money as they can.
Moreover, domestic senior management also needs to consider the development of the local industrial chain. If major foreign appliance brands are allowed to enter the market, the mature industrial chain and higher technology will definitely destroy the local industrial chain. This is a plan that wants everything for itself. Doing this is unacceptable to the country.
I can’t say that for other appliances, but Midea’s electric fan technology is already at a high level in the world, especially with Chen Zhiwen’s long-term investment over the years. Midea Group has deep knowledge in motors, fan blade fluid dynamics, and electronic control. Research, many international patents, and cost control are among the best in the world.
If Midea fans are produced domestically and then dumped domestically at low prices, many domestic fan industries may suffer a devastating blow. The domestic government's solution to this situation is to require foreign parties to increase the selling price, and the increase is very large. Although Foreign investors may earn more from a single fan, but if the price is too high, it is destined not to sell too many, which also gives the local industry a certain amount of room for development.
In a few years, the first-generation Santana will be priced the highest in the world. In fact, there are also reasons for this.
Domestic people have the idea of saving foreign exchange and protecting their own industries, but Chen Zhiwen actually doesn't care. After all, although domestic consumption power was not low in the 1980s, the inherent protection was too serious, and the market was much worse than that of foreign countries. As long as we wait until the 1990s, There is no shortage of domestic foreign exchange, and the economy is improving. He only needs to promote the entire brand to the whole country in the 1980s, and then he will naturally get rich returns.
In the current 1980s, we mainly use domestic cheap labor and some high-quality talents to serve Midea.
"Okay, then I will inform the people in the country about this news." Lei Shengli nodded and said.
"Now that handheld consoles have begun to gain a foothold in the U.S. market, and sales are good, how is the development of Famicom consoles?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.
Famicom is the color of the casing that Chen Zhiwen set for his home game console. It is the same as the version that became popular all over the world in later generations. The appearance is very memorable and easy to call.
Compared with handheld consoles and arcade machines, home game consoles are much more difficult. Atari spent three years on research and development back then. Midea already knew some wrong ways from people poached by Atari, but It still takes a long time, which is also related to the lack of relevant talents in Hong Kong. The main research and development still relies on the United States for research and development and release.
"It has basically been completed. It is still in the final testing stage. It is estimated that it will be launched in June." Lei Shengli said.
"Okay, now that the research and development is almost complete, many R&D personnel have begun to become vacant, right?" Chen Zhiwen asked.
"Yes, testing no longer requires so many R&D personnel. In the past, a small number of people in the project could just follow the test." Lei Shengli said.
"Then we are going to develop the second generation Famicom. Based on the first generation, we will continue to optimize and integrate games such as "Tank Wars" and "Donkey Kong" into it. When the current "Tank Wars" arcade and "Donkey Kong" will be released when the arcade market is about the same," Chen Zhiwen continued.
Later generations of Atari ostensibly died with their own "ET", but in fact they were shoddy third-party games for a long time. "ET" was just the straw that broke the camel's back. After all, millions of game cartridges cost only tens of millions of dollars, and it was impossible to bring down Atari, which had a turnover of more than 1 billion U.S. dollars at the time.
Therefore, the first and second generations of our own red and white consoles will never be open to third parties. We will only make a few of our own popular games, such as "Snake", "Magic Cube" and "Space Invaders". , "Pac-Man" are four games that can only be recognized by the first generation of home game consoles. Each game card will carry an identification chip, and other game cards cannot be recognized by the Famicom at all.
The arcade machines of "Tank Wars" are currently sweeping the arcade market in the United States. Even though Atari's home game consoles have begun to appear in many American homes, the games carried by Atari game consoles are different from "Tank Wars". "It's too far behind. In countless bars, "Tank Wars" is even more popular than "Space Invaders" back then.
"Donkey Kong" is the next-generation game currently being developed by Midea. Although it may not be as good as "Tank Battle" in terms of playability, it is the first game that can scroll up and down. The development difficulty is very high, but If it succeeds, both arcade and home game consoles will enter the next era.
These two games can still make profits in the arcade market for at least more than a year. This period of time also allows the R&D team to develop the second-generation Famicom.
As for the future third and fourth generations, whether we will continue to only recognize our own games or introduce third parties, we will have to look at it in detail at that time. After all, when the chip computing power is strong, and history has changed a lot, no one can We know whether there will be batches of high-quality games. If we refuse to introduce them, it will be tantamount to giving up the market to others. Even if Atari collapses, Japanese game companies will probably be salivating.
"No problem, but this time, I want to develop it here in Hong Kong." Lei Shengli said.
"Are you sure?" Chen Zhiwen asked.
"In the last development of the Famicom, I sent hundreds of Hong Kong engineers to the United States to study, and they all participated in the development process. This time, if we just optimize and integrate into the new game, it will be easier than starting from scratch. I think we You can give it a try, otherwise the efficiency of doing things in the United States will be too low," Lei Shengli said.
"Okay, sooner or later we have to let Hong Kong try it. The United States should also recruit a lot of Chinese engineers. Find a way to get them to come to Hong Kong. In addition, we can also recruit people from the Bay Area. Chinese engineers in the United States and Japan can also be recruited. It can be dug, but in short, I need to improve the team's capabilities in Hong Kong to another level." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.
Regardless of whether Hong Kong will become a technological desert in the future, at least it is not yet the case. It should be enough to meet the needs of my own family with some talents from outside and poaching people from outside. As for the future, we will still have to rely on a large number of domestic talents. , select high-quality talents from tens of millions of young people across the country, and then pool resources for training. The best ones can be sent overseas or practice here in Hong Kong, or go to deep-sea cities to build R&D bases, etc.
"Okay." Lei Shengli nodded and said. Now that Midea is well-known in the global electronics market, it is necessary to carry out technology research and development.
"One more thing, I'm going to ask Midea to make a personal computer. Do you think Hong Kong can develop it when there are enough talents here?" Chen Zhiwen suddenly asked again.
(End of chapter)
