Rebirth 1990: I have three golden fingers

At around nine o'clock in the morning, Fang Bai and his team arrived at C-cube Company and met Sun Yan in the company lobby.

Sun Yan is not tall. She is wearing a suit this year and has a three-part hairstyle.

"Hello, Mr. Fang, welcome to Los Angeles." Sun Yansheng walked towards Fang Bai and others, with a faint smile on his face, and took the lead in extending his right hand. He spoke in Chinese, and the two parties communicated on the phone.

"Hello, Dr. Sun, I finally meet you!" Fang Bai also extended his hand to shake and introduced his two entourage.

At the same time as the introduction, Fang Bai checked Sun Yan and found that his favorability level for him was only 67, which was not yet friendly. This was normal, after all, they were just communicating on the phone.

Directly throw a favorability +50 to the other party. In an instant, the favorability reaches 85 and the level of trust is increased.

The moment they shook hands, the two looked into each other's eyes. Sun Yan suddenly felt that Fang Bai was so friendly. She had seen him growing up, ranking first in grade in every exam, number one in the country in the college entrance examination, and creating billions of wealth at a young age.

It can be said that Fang Bai crushed him in all aspects when he was young. Compared with Xinghai Group, there is a big difference in scale between Scoop Company and Xinghai Group.

Thinking of this, Sun Yan had a feeling of admiration for Fang Bai. This feeling was a bit inexplicable and a bit superior.

Fang Bai also felt that Sun Yansheng looked at him differently. He held his hand for a long time and refused to let go. If he didn't know that he had increased his favorability, he would have thought that Sun Yansheng was G.

"You've had a hard journey, come and sit in my office." Sun Yansheng smiled, maybe he noticed something strange about himself, and quickly let go.

He himself felt something was wrong. Why did he feel so friendly when he saw Fang Bai, just like when he saw his nephew.

"Okay, thank you Dr. Sun."

"You're welcome, we hit it off immediately and we need to have a nice chat."

Sun Yansheng was talking and laughing, and took Fang Bai to his office instead of the conference room.

There are not many guests, so it is normal to entertain guests in the office. This is understood by the subordinates. Logically speaking, it should be brought to the conference room, and both parties should go through it again according to business etiquette.

The staff brought a cup of hot coffee to Fang Bai and others. The sugar packets were placed on the butterfly plate. If you need more, you can add it yourself.

Sun Yan chatted with Fang Bai for more than ten minutes, and then took Fang Bai to visit their company and introduce the company's products.

The company is not big, so after walking around for a while, we returned to the conference room and started discussing business.

Apart from decoding chips, Fang Bai has no interest in Scoop.

It turns out that the CIF price of decoding chips is about US$15 each, but Fang Bai hopes to drop it to less than US$11, with the down payment reduced to 20%.

These two requests were extremely excessive. Under normal circumstances, Sun Yansheng would not have agreed.

Even Fang Bai's two followers felt that the boss's request was a bit too much, and the business staff of Scooby Company felt that the boss would not agree.

In fact, the cost of mass production of chips is not high, but the cost of research and development. The decoding chip is just a simple microcontroller chip, and the manufacturing cost is only a few dollars.

This is what Fang Bai learned from Sun Yan's information. After mass production of one million pieces, including scientific research costs, management costs, sales costs, etc., the comprehensive cost will not exceed 7 US dollars.

Chips are shipped by sea. In addition to the cost of the product itself, the international procurement cost also includes additional international shipping fees, tariffs, insurance, unloading fees, value-added tax, inspection fees for imported goods and other notary fees, customs declaration and delivery fees, etc., if any If you are an agent of a foreign trade company, of course there are agency import fees, and there are domestic transportation fees after leaving the dock.

Xinghai Group has an import and export trade license, which eliminates the agency fees. This fee is generally charged at 1%-5% of the value of the imported goods.

The chips are not heavy, and the freight costs and other miscellaneous charges amortized to each chip are extremely low. The main charges are customs duties and value-added tax.

In the 1990s, the value-added tax rate was relatively high, generally 17%.

Over time, the country gradually made multiple adjustments and lowered the VAT rate to promote economic development and reduce the burden on enterprises.

In 1997, the state reduced the value-added tax rate for most commodities to 13%, and then further reduced the tax rate for some commodities to 11% in 1999.

Value-added tax on imported goods is a tax levied by relevant departments during the import process.

The CIF price is US$15, including export tax, sea freight, insurance, etc., but does not handle port and import customs clearance procedures, import duties and 17% value-added tax.

Since there is currently no domestic capacity to produce chips, the import tariff is 0.

Port and import handling fees, in addition to value-added tax, also include inspection and quarantine fees, terminal fees, customs declaration fees, customs inspection fees and other fees, which are approximately close to 0.6% of the value of the goods, of which the inspection and quarantine fees are as high as 0.5% of the value of the goods - 0.3%.

In other words, the actual price of the decoding chip may be as high as 15 US dollars + 14.57 yuan, which is about 17.6 US dollars.

The U.S. export tariff on domestically exported low-end chips is 15%, which is on the high side.

When domestic research and development and production can be carried out independently, tariffs will be removed and dumping will be carried out.

The original comprehensive cost is US$7, the product price is US$13, and the FOB price plus export tariffs (including export tariffs) is US$14.95. After including freight, insurance and other expenses, the total is approximately US$15.2.

Fangbai now hopes that the price of the product will be US$9, and the CIF price will be less than US$11, which is about US$10.5.

In other words, Fangbai required Scoop's FOB price to drop from US$13 to US$9, a sudden drop of US$4.

Is it too much?

If you calculate it this way, it is indeed a bit excessive.

However, the price of decoding chips is already high, and Scoop has extremely high profit margins.

It's because the original price is high, not because the bargaining is ruthless.

As the purchase volume increases, the comprehensive cost of each decoding chip will decrease, estimated to be only US$6, with a profit margin of US$3, or 50% pre-tax profit margin.

Fang Bai thinks that the pre-tax profit margin of 50% is very good. If it is more ruthless, it can be reduced to 8 US dollars, which is about the same.

Of course, for high-tech companies like them, 50% pre-tax profit margin is not high.

"In principle, as long as the quantity is sufficient, the price is easy to negotiate." Sun Yansheng did the math and found that the profit margin was still acceptable.

If another person were to negotiate with him, it would be impossible to give him this price.

The two parties discussed some business details.

Fangbai needs five million chips, the total contract value is US$52.5 million, and the advance payment is US$10.5 million.

This amount cannot be supplied at once, so it will be divided into 10 batches, and each batch only requires an advance payment of US$1.05 million.

If one party breaks the contract, it needs to pay 30% of the contract break fee for the chips that have not yet been delivered.

For example, if not a single chip is delivered, Scobo needs to pay a breach of contract penalty of US$15.75 million to Xinghai Group.

If Xinghai Group does not want it, it will also need to pay a breach of contract penalty of US$15.75 million.

If the transaction cannot be made due to abnormal reasons, such as export restrictions, both parties do not need to pay a breach of contract penalty.

The penalty for breach of contract is set somewhat high to constrain the cooperation between both parties.

For Scoop, it can earn about US$15 million in pre-tax profits, while Xinghai Group can save about US$5.26 per chip, saving a total of US$26.3 million in procurement costs (including VAT), and guaranteeing supply. It's enough, don't worry about the neck of Scoboka Xinghai Group.

It was a win-win situation for both parties, but Fang Bai took more advantage and gained 2 network points.

In fact, for Fang Bai, the purchase cost savings is nothing. If he can sell 5 million VCD machines, he will earn more.

Sun Yan also asked Fang Bai where he would use so much of his purchases.

"A new type of CD player will be on the market in a few months!" Fang Bai replied with some concealment.

Sun Yan heard that Fang Bai was hiding something and stopped asking further. This was the secret of his company.

But he was a little worried. He had talked with Jiang Wanmeng about VCD. Wouldn't Xinghai Group also develop this product?

If true, would he still invest in the development of VCD?

For a moment, Sun Yan was undecided.

But he felt that there was a risk and he should not invest so much at once.

Jiang Wanmeng plans to come to Los Angeles next month and will discuss it in detail then.

After the two parties signed the agreement, Fang Baicai mentioned that during this trip to Chou Country, he wanted to visit some machinery companies and technology companies, and also wanted to purchase some equipment. He hoped that Sun Yan could recommend it.

"That's no problem. I think they will be very happy. Let's have lunch together first." Sun Yan happily agreed.

Fang Bai smiled and nodded.

At noon, Sun Yan took Fang Bai to Alexander's Steakhouse, a top-rated beef shop in the Bay Area. There are a variety of top-quality Wagyu beef imported from different cities in the island country, including A5-level meat.

Fang Bai has never tasted Wagyu beef. He heard that the island country's top-quality Wagyu beef is the best beef in the world. It is very difficult to eat in China. At least in this era, it cannot be found in Shanghai.

When eating beef hot pot at home, Fang Bai likes to eat beef belly the most. This kind of meat is very distinctive in appearance, that is, the red meat is covered with a network of fine fat. This type of beef is the most expensive in hot pot restaurants.

In Wanda Plaza hot pot restaurants of later generations, you generally can’t eat authentic raw-cut beef. The kind of beef that is so brightly colored that it breaks into pieces as soon as you pinch it. Fang Bai doesn’t even know what ingredients are in it. Some unscrupulous businessmen sell rat meat and dead pork. Sneak in.

Eating it will definitely not kill anyone, but people who are picky about meat will be particularly disgusted.

If you really want to eat beef hot pot, you must look carefully and ask if it is raw beef. It is best not to eat it in the food court in the mall. Not only is it expensive, but the ingredients are not good.

Now, Fang Bai has relatively high requirements for meat and hates non-original cuts of meat.

This is not about being arrogant or anything, but the price is just higher. If you can eat well, you must eat better, and ordinary people can afford it.

The development of food towards technology, especially meat, is really not a good thing.

A spoonful of Sanhua evaporated milk can turn ordinary soup into pure white, and make soup without adding bones. This is pure technology and hard work!

Fortunately, there are fewer in this era.

Fang Bai and Sun Yan talked and laughed, and occasionally talked about domestic food.

After waiting for about ten minutes, when the waiter brought the steak, Fang Bai's mouth was indeed watering when he saw the attractive-looking and fragrant grilled steak.

The surface shows golden grill marks, and the meat is plump and elastic. After cutting the steak, the interior is tender and juicy, with fine meat and clear texture. Every bite brings Fangbai's excellent chew and taste.

"The taste is great. I have to say that this wagyu is good, but it's a pity that there isn't much of it." Fang Bai praised. He is not a fan of foreigners. If the food is good, it is really good.

The steak he ate was not the kind of thawed meat. If it were thawed meat, it would be less tough and still cold inside.

Fang Bai had eaten a lot of steaks, and the most disgusting thing was the steak that was served. It was hot on the outside, but a little cold on the inside. It was very different when you tasted it in your mouth. It was quickly defrosted and grilled.

A smart and responsible chef will not bake and serve this kind of quick-thawing food at once.

"This is indeed a good store. Sometimes you may not find the goods in stock when you come here. We are lucky today." Sun Yan smiled and nodded. The customers were happy, and so was he.

Fang Bai didn't like other dishes, including sea urchin chawanmushi and French foie gras that melted in your mouth.

The more we understand the feeding of foie gras, it is really cruel, and some people may not have an appetite after knowing it.

In fact, Fang Bai was really not used to eating foie gras, and felt that it was not as fragrant as stir-fried pork liver.

Well, some foreigners don't eat pork, especially offal.

In the afternoon,

Sun Yan took Fang Bai to visit a friendly businessman.

Los Angeles is an important center for mechanical engineering and manufacturing in the United States, with many well-known machinery companies and manufacturers covering various fields, such as aerospace, automobiles, electronics, energy, etc. These companies include Boeing, General Electric, Emerson Electrical and other companies.

Famous machinery companies such as Germany and Japan also have branches in Los Angeles.

However, Sun Yan was not familiar with the senior executives of these companies and kept them secret, so it was very difficult for Fang Bai to visit.

In the afternoon, he visited two electronics companies. Fang Bai didn't gain much, but he got to know two business bosses and gave each other goodwill, which may be useful in the future.

the next day,

Fang Bai and his party went to look for machine tool equipment suppliers in Los Angeles, which was relatively easy to find.

Relying on Goldfinger's favorability and information detection functions, Fang Bai can know the base price of some machine tools through a two-pronged approach, and can also gain a good favorability from the seller, thereby obtaining preferential prices.

If another Chinese person went to purchase, he might be cheated of one million US dollars, but if Fang Bai went to purchase, he might be able to win two to three hundred thousand US dollars.

It can be said that Fang Bai can thrive in the business world just by relying on the golden finger function of his ring finger.

For Fang Bai, it is still relatively easy to buy some relatively high-end equipment, but there is a risk of being embargoed and unable to get out of customs.

Under normal circumstances, you can still return it to the original company, which means additional freight and other customs clearance fees will be added.

If the relationship with the customer is not good and the product cannot be shipped, it will be wasted money.

Fang Bai uses golden fingers and has a good relationship with the seller. He can still get money back when the goods are returned, so the purchasing risk is much lower.

After asking around for a long time, Fang Bai found a machine tool manufacturing company, Haas Automation, located in Orange County, Los Angeles. This company was founded in 1983 and mainly produces and sells various CNC machine tools, including milling machines, lathes, drilling machines, Cutting machine etc.

The machine tool equipment echelon that Fang Bai knows is divided into six types according to industry classification.

Machine tools from the first-tier brands such as Hammer, Julang, Yashida, and Baomei are expensive, with an average selling price of more than 1.5 million yuan. Some top-notch equipment is difficult to obtain even if Fangbai has money, and the price-performance ratio is extremely low.

In fact, the sales volume of this echelon of equipment is not large. After purchasing, you have to consider maintenance, and parts are not easy to buy.

If it is not necessary, Fangbai will not purchase this echelon of equipment.

The second echelon includes Okuma, Mazak, Makino, Mori Seiki, MAG and other brand machine tools. Fang Bai plans to buy some. If there are not a few of these brand machine tools, he will be embarrassed to say that his products are first-class.

Haas belongs to the third echelon. In fact, the machine tools of the third echelon are mainly used in large quantities. This is a rare occasion. Fangbai plans to purchase a large number of them, which are not available in China.

Some domestic machine tool brands cannot enter the top three echelons, and are mainly in the fifth echelon. The worst is the sixth echelon. Only machine tool brands from Taiwan Province enter the fourth echelon.

Fang Bai expressed his plan to purchase and finally met David L. Copeland, the president of Haas Company, a slightly bald middle-aged man in his forties.

This company later entered the Huaguo market in 1994, so it still attaches great importance to the East and does not particularly discriminate.

When the two parties met, David's favorability score for Fang Bai was only 55, but was directly cheated by Fang Bai and raised to 85, and his attitude immediately changed.

In addition to the president, Fang Bai also gave the two senior executives of Haas Company favorability points to prevent them from speaking ill of Xinghai Group.

After getting through the three senior executives, they complimented Fang Bai all the way and were so enthusiastic that they almost hugged Fang Bai's thigh.

Fang Bai proposed to visit the workshop, and the other party agreed without any hesitation. The translator and lawyer were a little confused as to why foreigners were so enthusiastic about his boss. The boss's charm was good, but it wasn't like this. It seemed like these foreigners Just like the boss's subordinate.

Of course, Fangbai's equipment purchase amount is also relatively large, reaching more than 8 million US dollars. The price is very favorable, and it can make a lot of money if it is resold domestically.

However, Fang Bai has no interest in being a second-hand equipment dealer.

Another day later, Fang Bai repeated his old tricks in other companies, purchasing equipment that could not be purchased domestically, and at the same time gained a lot of contacts.

I am busy with this business matter, just in time for the NBA All-Star Weekend at 9 pm on February 20 this year: Skills Challenge, Three-Point Contest and Slam Dunk Contest. There will also be an All-Star Game at 9 pm on February 21. at the Trinity Center Arena in Salt Lake City.

David invited Fang Bai to watch it together. He prepared VIP tickets for two nights very early. He likes to watch basketball games.

There were not many tickets, there was only one more ticket, and it was not easy to grab. David originally planned to give it to a customer when he bought it.

Fang Bai hesitated for a moment. He liked playing basketball and watching NBA games, so he thought he could go and take a look. He had never watched the NBA live, and it was the All-Star Game in which Jordan participated.