The Industrial Giant Reborn

Japan, Sony Group.

"President, the news just came that Midea Group has acquired all of RCA's color TV business, including its global factories, sales channels, and technology research and development centers." After a 30-year-old man in formal clothes walked into the spacious office , Said to Shoo Morita who was sitting on a chair drinking tea.

"Okay, I see." Morita Shofu nodded, and the person who came here immediately bowed again, and then backed out.

"President, what's the matter with you?" Seeing Shoo Morita's expression was a bit strange, Ichiro Tanaka, the vice president of Sony who was sitting opposite, asked a little strangely.

"Maybe I was thinking too much. I was worried that Midea would become Sony's strongest competitor. This is what I have always felt. Now that they have acquired RCA's TV business, this may come true. "Shoo Morita said with some sadness.

"Miide? Their scale is indeed not small, but they only started from the video game market. In terms of technological research in the electronic field, ten Midea can't match our Sony. Is the president worrying too much?" Ichiro Tanaka Said.

"In terms of technology, it can't be compared, but Chen Zhiwen obviously has a strong pursuit of technology. Otherwise, why does he insist on spending so much energy and money on investing in home appliances when the game industry is so profitable? The industry, from factories to R\u0026D to terminals, clearly wants to make a living in this market.” Shoo Morita shook his head and said: “Even in the Japanese shopping malls for decades, I have never seen such rapid development, and such successful people."

"You mean he will threaten Sony? But RCA's technology is also inferior to ours. Even if Chen Zhiwen acquires RCA's TV business, it will not be possible to surpass our Sony in 20 years." Ichiro Tanaka said proudly.

In the past, RCA was the top three TV giants in the world, dominating the US and South American markets, and incidentally radiating to Asia and Europe. Until ten years ago, the new generation of color picture tube technology developed by Sony relied on higher pixel As well as the cost control ability of the Japanese factory, it has gradually defeated the European and American TV giants in the market, that is, the US market. Even though RCA has the local advantage, it has been defeated by Sony.

The research and development of technology is very difficult. Sony's color picture tube is almost at the limit of what the human eye can see. Subversive innovation, it is impossible to have a chance to surpass Sony.

"Don't be overconfident. It's called pride. We're easily defeated." Morita Shofu frowned and said, "It was the same for the Americans back then, but what about now?"

"Sorry, Mr. Morita, it was my fault." Ichiro Tanaka apologized immediately.

"Midea has acquired the RCA TV business. You have to keep an eye on what will happen in the future, especially if you plan to invest in large-scale research and development of new picture tube technology. You must tell me as soon as possible." Morita Shofu said.

"Okay, that's no problem. Over the years, Midea has poached many Chinese and even Japanese engineers from Japan. Although these people have no access to the top management, they can still know if there is any tendency in 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. In theory, it is very difficult to get the senior management of the other company to serve you, but the middle management is different. There are too many middle management in a large company. There will be loopholes. Although they have no 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 information. The deployment of manpower and material resources may not be able to find specific information, but there is still some general understanding.

"I hope I am worrying too much." Morita Shofu said with a frown. Although Midea has cooperated with Sony in many businesses in Japan, the nature of the two is a natural enemy.

Midea is trying to enter the home appliance business, one of Sony’s homepages, and Sony has been launching games non-stop. After all, no one is envious of Midea’s profits in the game field. Even IBM has tried, but it didn’t work, and it ended up being nothing. .

RCA's TV business has historically dominated the United States. Its status is equivalent to that of TCL around 2000. It has no 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 TV sets can be packaged in iron shoes very well, and can be safely sent to all parts of the world after being fixed. Before that, they had to be carefully fixed inside the sheet metal freighter, at most a little fixed Measures, after the emergence of containers, the cost of cross-sea transportation has dropped by more than ten times.

As a result, the home appliance industry has also ushered in the era of global trade. In the case of losing ocean protection, American TV brands collapsed after encountering their Japanese counterparts. Not only the technology is poor, but the labor cost is also poor. A lot of expensive American labor is not comparable to the most skilled Japanese workers in the 1970s.

The home appliance industry is not as important as the auto industry. The U.S. government refused to raise tariffs after being lobbied by American auto giants many times. At most, it forced Japanese car companies to come to the United States to build factories. How to play, die and pull down, what the White House cares most about is the "free trade" they themselves promote.

Moreover, one of the reasons for the outbreak of inflation in the United States is actually that its own labor costs are too high. Only by importing a large amount of goods from overseas and exchanging paper tickets for goods can domestic inflation be reduced.

In the end, the U.S. home appliance industry fell into a countdown to decline. Under this background, RCA moved the production of home appliance factories to Mexico, the Gulf of Gulf, and Eastern Europe 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 is another matter.

He Guoyuan, who is in charge of Midea's home appliance business, also officially took over all the business of RCA. After staying in the United States for half a month, he came to Chen Zhiwen's office immediately after returning to Hong Kong.

"Old He, come and sit." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile, and at the same time, handed over a bottle of "Master Kong Green Tea".

Master Kong, of course, is a brand name of Red Bull. When it was time to choose a name for the instant noodle business, Chen Zhiwen directly used a name that is more convenient for later generations.

"Master Kong's instant noodles are delicious." This sentence has been circulating in the mainland for a long time.

However, because the current mainland market is very small, Master Kong’s instant noodles are mediocre, and basically cannot be sold in Europe and the United States. There are too many domestic counterparts in Japan and South Korea, and it is difficult to squeeze in. It can only be sold in Hong Kong and some Southeast Asian regions.

Some time ago, Master Kong also launched a series of "tea beverages", which were well received by many Chinese. The ones sold in Hong Kong are much better than instant noodles. Chen Zhiwen also likes this taste very much, so he prepared some in the office.

Of course, this kind of drink is only suitable for your own people to drink casually. If you have guests, you still can't play like 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 with some high-level executives of the current RCA company in Hong Kong. What? This is not a few years ago, when acquiring a large American company, you had to go there in person no matter what.

In terms of technology, Chen Zhiwen didn't understand either, so he arranged for a team of dozens of people headed by He Guoyuan to go to the United States. The most basic principle of acquiring a large American company must be to maintain the previous operation. Let's see what technologies there are that can be used by Hong Kong, or whether the market can help Hong Kong.

"Chen Sheng, 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 a factory in Hong Kong, and the labor cost in Hong Kong is 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, almost all large supermarkets in the United States, and many small stores in small towns also have RCA TVs, and the after-sales outlets are also arranged. Very good. After we take over these, I don’t think it will take a year to serve all Midea’s home appliances. In this way, our products can be fully sold in the US market. In terms of after-sales, we only need to cultivate Just need more people, or transfer some people directly from Hong Kong.” He Guoyuan said.

"If Hong Kong transfers people, too many people won't work?" Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said, when he just started launching home appliances in the United States, he relied on Costco. At that time, there were not many Costcos. People used to be fine, but now that after-sales service covers the entire United States, we need too many people. Let alone whether there are so many technical professionals in Hong Kong, even the US 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 TV business, that the Reagan administration's control over this aspect is not too strict. As long as we apply in different states, each state will enter dozens of people, the number of It’s not big, and it’s no problem to enter at different times, but it still needs to be sorted out, but it’s much cheaper than directly recruiting inefficient white Americans or lazy blacks.” He Guoyuan said.

"That's fine, but we can't come forward, entrust a third party, let them bring people in, and we will hire them." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, the natives in the United States do have many problems, but this is the fate of developed regions. After getting up, no one wants to live a hard life, including the mainland decades later. Everyone says that industry and industry are important, but how many people are willing to enter the factory by themselves? Or your own children will enter the factory to drive screws in the future?

"That's no problem. I will let some people with some backgrounds participate in this matter, but there is another problem, that is, Hong Kong may not be able to find so many professionals." Recruitment, or domestic?"

"If you are in the mainland, forget it. If you are sent to the United States, you must at least speak good English. This kind of person is 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 the country I have a persistent desire to go overseas. Once I do go, there is no guarantee that some people will stay and become black households. It is said that similar things have happened to some university professors and international athletes. matter, but it will be troublesome.

"Well, anyway, there are enough people in Wanwan, and there should be many proficient in English." He Guoyuan nodded and said. He went to the university in Wanwan, so he naturally knows the situation of talents there.

"Well, let's take it one step at a time. The RCA TV business has already been acquired. We need to slowly absorb their resources and technologies. On the Wanwan factory side, although Henry Morgan has reached a memorandum of understanding with the Wanwan official before, the local People may still be a little troublesome, you need to focus on this matter, and try to make 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 earlier." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, although the home appliance business is absolutely impossible to compare with games and personal computers in terms of profit, but this market is too big, even if it becomes The sunset industry can also easily drive 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 arrived in April 1982.

Midea is gradually integrating the RCA TV business, and many problems in the color TV factory in Hong Kong have been solved by 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. It's not far off.

And Midea's several large home appliances have also started to use the RCA channel to see a surge in sales. This is just the beginning. The popularity of the handheld has already gained a lot of fame in the United States, which is also a boost to the popularity of the home appliance business.

In this way, the home appliance business will also embark on a rapid development route. The only thing to worry about may be the production capacity. However, Shekou and Yanjing are already ready, and there are enough workers, so there should be nothing to worry about. question.

"Dong dong dong." There was a knock on the door, and Chen Zhiwen looked up. It was Li Haonan, the current director of the group headquarters, and said, "Please come in."

Since the beginning of his business, Li Haonan has been the personnel beside Chen Zhiwen. He was responsible for the recruitment and introduction of many teams and talents such as Midea, Red Bull, and Galaxy Trading. Later, the company's scale became larger and larger, and the group's general affairs office was established. Responsible for coordinating various departments, Li Haonan became the person in charge of this department.

The General Affairs Office has no specific business, but is responsible for coordinating various departments, supervising the personnel, finance, factory safety, etc. of each subsidiary, and has great power. Over the years, Li Haonan has also done very well. There were also incidents of internal corruption or payment from suppliers, all of which were detected by the General Affairs Department and then sent to the ICAC.

What Chen Zhiwen is most concerned about is the safety of the employees of so many factories under the group. After all, the economic loss can be earned back after the loss is gone, but there is only one life. Li Haonan also put a lot of effort into this matter, and specially invited them from Japan Dozens of safety engineers were hired to visit and audit the safety issues of the factories of the group and some of the factories of major suppliers. It is said that the factories in the mainland were audited and there were complaints, but the effect was very good. There were 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 light industry itself, and the safety of light industry factories is naturally much higher. The only exception is the textile supplier of Xinghe Trade, where small security incidents always occur one after another.

"Chen Sheng, you are looking for me." Li Haonan sat down in front of Chen Zhiwen and said.

"Old Li, there is one thing I need you to do." Chen Zhiwen said: "Our group has grown to a large enough scale, but we still lack a core industry: banks, so I am going to choose to buy one in Hong Kong. "