Japan, Sony Group.
"President, the news just came that Midea Group has acquired all of RCA's color TV business, including its factories, sales channels and technology R&D centers around the world." A man in formal attire about 30 years old walked into the large office. , said to Morita Shaofu who was sitting on a chair drinking tea.
"Okay, I understand." Morita Shaofu nodded, and the visitor immediately bowed again and then withdrew.
"President, what's wrong with you?" Seeing Morita Shaofu's expression a little strange, Sony Vice President Tanaka Ichiro sitting opposite asked a little strangely.
"Maybe I think too much. I am worried that Midea will become Sony's strongest competitor. This is what I have always felt before. Now that they have acquired RCA's TV business, this may come true. "Shaofu Morita said sadly.
"Midea? Their scale is indeed not small, but they only started by relying on the video game market. In terms of technical research in the electronic field, ten Midea companies cannot match our Sony. Is the president worried too much?" Tanaka Ichiro said.
"In terms of technology, it can't be compared, but Chen Zhiwen obviously has a strong pursuit of technology. Otherwise, why would he insist on spending so much energy and money to invest in home appliances when the gaming industry is so profitable? Industry, from factories to R&D to terminals, it is clear that we want to make a breakthrough in this market." Morita Shaofu shook his head and said: "Even if I have been in Japanese shopping malls for decades, I have never seen such rapid development and such rapid development. Talent for success.”
"You mean he will threaten Sony? But RCA's technology is worse than ours. Even if Chen Zhiwen acquires RCA's TV business, he will not be able to surpass our Sony in less than 20 years." Ichiro Tanaka said proudly.
In the past, RCA was one of the top three TV giants in the world, dominating the markets in the United States and South America, and also radiating in Asia and Europe. Until ten years ago, the new generation of color picture tube technology developed by Sony relied on higher pixels. As well as the cost control capabilities of Japanese factories, they gradually defeated European and American TV giants in the market. Even in the US market, even if RCA had a local advantage, it was defeated by Sony.
The research and development of technology is very difficult. Sony's color picture tube technology is almost as fast as the limit of what the human eye can see. It is basically impossible to improve it any further. In addition, the brand awareness has already increased, so there is nothing. Disruptive innovation has no chance of surpassing Sony.
"Don't be overconfident. This is called pride. We can easily be defeated like this." Morita Shaofu frowned and said, "Americans were like this back then, and what about now?"
"Sorry, Mr. Morita, it's my fault." Tanaka Ichiro apologized immediately.
"After Midea acquired the RCA TV business, you have to keep an eye on what it will do next. Especially if you plan to invest heavily in the research and development of new picture tube technology, you must tell me as soon as possible." Morita Shaofu added.
"Okay, that's no problem. Over the years, Midea has poached many Chinese and even Japanese engineers from Japan. Although these people don't have access to the top management, they can still know if there are any tendencies from the top management. Several people are already willing to cooperate with us." Ichiro Tanaka said with a smile.
This is actually the case among large companies in the same industry. Theoretically speaking, it is very difficult to get the top management of the other company to serve you, but the middle level is different. There are too many middle levels in a large company. There will be loopholes. Although people like them do not have access to core secrets, they can still know many directions of the company. For example, if a company invests a lot of resources in a certain project in a certain industry, it is difficult to hide it. After all, it involves a lot of We may not be able to find specific information on the deployment of manpower and material resources, but we still have a general understanding.
"I hope I'm worrying too much." Morita Shaofu said with a frown. Although Midea cooperates with Sony in many businesses in Japan, the essence of the two is natural enemies.
Midea is trying to enter the home appliance business, one of Sony's main businesses, and Sony has been launching games non-stop. After all, who doesn't envy Midea's profits in the gaming field? Even IBM has tried it, but it didn't succeed, and in the end it just gave up. .
RCA's TV business has historically dominated the United States. Its status is equivalent to TCL around 2000. It does not have a monopoly, but it belongs to the first array.
However, the comfortable life was soon broken because of the invention of the container.
With containers, items such as televisions can be packed into iron shoes very well, and after being fixed, they can be safely sent to all parts of the world. Before, they had to be carefully packed inside the sheet metal freighter, and the fixing was a little small at most. After the advent of containers, the cost of cross-ocean transportation dropped more than ten times.
As a result, the home appliance industry has also ushered in the era of global trade. Without marine protection, American TV brands have collapsed like mountains after encountering their Japanese counterparts. Not only are their technologies inferior, but their labor costs are also inferior. A lot of expensive American labor can't compare to the most skilled Japanese workers in the 1970s.
The home appliance industry is not as important as the automobile industry. The U.S. government is unwilling to raise tariffs even after being repeatedly lobbied by U.S. auto giants. At most, it forces Japanese car companies to build factories in the United States. As for the home appliance industry, you can do whatever you like. No matter how you play, you will be defeated. What the White House cares about most is the "free trade" they promote.
Moreover, one of the reasons for the outbreak of inflation in the United States is actually that its labor costs are too high. Only by importing a large amount of goods from overseas and exchanging paper notes for goods can domestic inflation be reduced.
Eventually, the U.S. home appliance industry fell into a countdown to decline. Against this background, RCA moved the production of home appliance factories to Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico, Eastern Europe and other places in an attempt to reduce costs. It had some effect, but it was still not as good as Japanese brands.
Now, in the hands of Chen Zhiwen, it's a different story.
He Guoyuan, who was in charge of Midea's home appliance business, also began to officially take over all RCA's business. After staying in the United States for half a month, he came to Chen Zhiwen's office as soon as he returned to Hong Kong.
"Lao He, come and sit down." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile, and at the same time, handed over a bottle of "Master Kong Green Tea".
Master Kong is naturally a brand name owned by Red Bull. When it came time to name the instant noodles business, Chen Zhiwen directly used a name that would be more popular in later generations.
"Master Kong's instant noodles are as delicious as you can see." This saying has been circulating in the Mainland for a long time.
However, because the mainland market is currently very small, Master Kong's instant noodles have average performance and are basically unsold in Europe and the United States. There are too many peers in Japan and South Korea, and it is difficult to squeeze in. It can only be sold in Hong Kong and parts of Southeast Asia.
Some time ago, Master Kong also launched a "tea drink" series, which was well received by many Chinese. The products sold in Hong Kong are much better than instant noodles. Chen Zhiwen also liked the taste and prepared some in the office.
Of course, this kind of drink is only suitable for people to drink casually. If there are guests, you still can't do this.
"Thank you Chen Sheng." He Guoyuan said politely.
"How does it feel to go to the RCA headquarters in the United States?" Chen Zhiwen asked. Although he spent hundreds of millions of dollars, Chen Zhiwen only met some of the current senior executives of RCA in Hong Kong. After all, he is the big boss, so he went to the United States to meet them. What? This is not like a few years ago. At that time, when acquiring large American companies, you had to go there in person.
In terms of technology, Chen Zhiwen didn't know much about it, so he just arranged for a team of dozens of people headed by He Guoyuan to go to the United States. When acquiring large companies in the United States, the most basic principle must be to maintain the previous operations. The reason for sending people there was also to think about it. Let’s see what technologies there are that can be used by Hong Kong, or whether the market can help Hong Kong.
"Sheng Chen, in terms of technology, RCA's picture tube technology is still much better than our Midea factory in Hong Kong. However, there is already a large factory in Wanwan with a complete industrial chain and a large number of workers. There is no need to build another factory in Hong Kong, and the labor costs here are higher. I think unless our sales increase significantly, there is no need to increase the factory." He Guoyuan analyzed.
"What about the market?" Chen Zhiwen asked.
"The market is very complete. RCA has more than 10,000 retail outlets in the United States. It is present in almost all large American supermarkets. Many small stores in small towns also have RCA TVs and after-sales points. Very good. After we take over these, I think it won’t take a year to serve all Midea’s home appliances. In this way, our products will be fully available in the US market. In terms of after-sales, we only need to cultivate more Just have more people, or just transfer some people directly from Hong Kong." He Guoyuan said.
"It wouldn't work if we transferred too many people from Hong Kong, right?" Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said. When he first started selling home appliances in the United States, he relied on Costco. There were not many Costcos at that time, so he sent dozens of people from Hong Kong. Of course, there was no problem in the past, but now we have to cover the United States after sales, which requires too many people. Not to mention whether there are so many technical professionals in Hong Kong, even the U.S. government is unlikely to allow so many people to enter the country to rob. American jobs.
"I discussed with Sean Walker, the current head of RCA's television business, that the current Reagan administration's control over this aspect is not very strict. As long as we apply in different states, each state will enter dozens of people, and the number It’s not big, and it will be no problem if you enter at different times, but you still need to take care of it, but it will save a lot compared to directly recruiting white Americans or lazy black people who are inefficient at work." He Guoyuan said.
"That's okay, but we can't come forward and entrust a third party to bring people in, and we will hire them." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, the locals in the United States do have many problems, but this is the fate of developed areas. When economic development After the rise of the Communist Party of China, no one wants to live a hard life, including in the mainland a few decades later. Everyone says that industry and industry are important, but how many people are willing to work in factories themselves? Or will your children work in a factory to make screws in the future?
"That's no problem. I will let some people with some background participate in this matter, but there is another problem. It may not be possible to find so many professional talents in Hong Kong." He Guoyuan added: "So I want to start from Wanwan Recruitment, or domestic?”
"For the mainland, forget it. If you are sent to the United States, you must at least speak good English. Such people are rare in China. It is better to go directly to Wanwan." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said. In the past ten years, some people in China have He has a persistent desire to go overseas. Once he actually goes, there is no guarantee that someone will stay and become a gangster. It is said that similar things have happened to some university professors and international athletes. If this happens to the people brought by Midea, It's a problem, but it's troublesome.
"Well, there are enough people in Wanwan anyway, and there should be many people who are proficient in English." He Guoyuan nodded and said. He went to university in Wanwan, so he naturally knows the talent situation there.
"Well, let's take it step by step. The RCA TV business has been acquired. We need to slowly absorb their resources and technology. As for the Wanwan factory, although Henry Morgan has previously reached a memorandum of understanding with Wanwan officials, the local People may still be in a little trouble, you need to focus on this aspect and try to let this matter pass as soon as possible." Chen Zhiwen said again.
"Okay, in a few days, I will go to Wanwan again. After inspecting the factory, I will observe the local situation." He Guoyuan said.
"Okay, if you have any problems, report to me as soon as possible." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, although the home appliance business is absolutely impossible to compare with games and personal computers in terms of profit, the market is too big, even if it becomes a The sunset industry can easily create employment for millions of people upstream and downstream. Therefore, Chen Zhiwen is bound to win this, not only in the European and American markets, but also in the mainland in the future. Today's RCA is developing its own technology and winning the United States. The first step in the market.
Time soon came to April 1982.
Midea is smoothly and gradually integrating the RCA TV business. Many problems of the color TV factory in Hong Kong have been overcome with the guidance of technical engineers from the United States, which has greatly improved efficiency. However, the production capacity of the Hong Kong factory is lower than that of RCA. Not even close.
Several large home appliances owned by Midea have also begun to use RCA channels to see a surge in sales. This is just the beginning. After all, many channels are not willing to accept new things at will in the early days. However, in the past two years, Midea has used home game consoles and The best-selling handheld console has already gained a lot of fame in the United States, which has also promoted the popularity of the home appliance business.
As a result, the home appliance business will also embark on a rapid development path. The only thing that needs to be worried about may be production capacity. However, Shekou and Yanjing are already prepared, and there are enough workers, so there should be no problems. question.
"Dong dong dong." There was a knock on the door. Chen Zhiwen looked up and saw that it was Li Haonan, the current director of the group headquarters, and said: "Please come in."
Li Haonan has been Chen Zhiwen's personnel since he first started his business. He was responsible for recruiting and introducing many teams and talents such as Midea, Red Bull, Galaxy Trading, etc. Later, as the company grew larger and larger, a group general affairs office was established. Responsible for coordinating various departments, Li Haonan became the head of this department.
The General Affairs Office has no specific business. It is only responsible for coordinating various departments and supervising the personnel, finance, factory safety, etc. of each subsidiary. It also has great powers. Over the years, Li Haonan has also done a very good job. Several large subsidiaries, every year There were also incidents of internal corruption or payments from suppliers, which were discovered by the General Affairs Department and subsequently referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
What Chen Zhiwen is most concerned about is the safety of employees in so many factories under the group. After all, economic losses can be earned back after they are gone, but you only have one life. Li Haonan also made great efforts on this matter, specially inviting workers from Japan. We have hired dozens of safety engineers to visit and audit the safety matters of various factories under the group and some large supplier factories. It is said that there are complaints about the factories in the mainland being audited, but the effect is very good, with hundreds of thousands of people in the industry chain. , there are only a few security incidents a year.
Of course, it may also be related to the fact that it is a light industry. The safety of light industry factories is naturally much higher. The only exception is the textile supplier of Galaxy Trading, where minor security incidents always occur one after another.
"Chen Sheng, you are looking for me." Li Haonan came to Chen Zhiwen and sat down and said.
"Lao Li, there is one thing I need you to do." Chen Zhiwen said: "Our group has developed to this point and is large enough, but it still lacks a core industry: a bank. Therefore, I am planning to acquire one in Hong Kong. "
(End of chapter)
