The Industrial Giant Reborn

"Welcome to Hong Kong, Mr. Knight." At the Galaxy Group headquarters, Chen Zhiwen said with a smile and shook hands with Phil Knight, who hadn't seen him for several months but had lost a lot of weight.

"Mr. Chen, hello, call me Phil." Phil Knight smiled professionally.

"Okay, Phil, please call me Eric." Chen Zhiwen nodded, and brought Phil Knight to the lounge beside him.

After a renovation some time ago, all the nearby offices were annexed. This office of more than 200 square meters has an office area, a meeting area, a rest area, a bathroom, a storage room, and a separate bedroom at the back. It feels a lot more atmospheric.

"Mr. Knight, what kind of coffee do you want? Cappuccino, latte, Campanile, espresso?" the assistant on the side, Angie, said with a smile, because Phil Knight can't speak Cantonese, and the three of them are also Speaking English, An Qi knew that her boss valued this person in front of her very much.

"Give me a latte, thank you." Fernet said to the beauty more politely.

An Qi took the order to leave. As for her own boss, she naturally knew his taste.

"Phil, is this your first time in Hong Kong?" Chen Zhiwen asked casually.

"Yes, it's the first time. I have been to Asia many times before, but I only went to Japan. I also went to Korea and Thailand once. I have never been to other regions." Phil Knight said with a smile.

"In Hong Kong, some places have good scenery, Phil, you can also look around these few days." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: "However, you can also try more of our Chinese food, which is actually more important than the scenery. attraction."

Hong Kong, a small city, has an embarrassing status in terms of tourism. The Hong Kong government has been trying to develop tourism since the 1950s, but what places can attract people?

On the scenery? Which country in Asia is not hundreds of times or thousands of times larger than yours, and there are naturally too many good natural scenery, in terms of consumption? Although the commercial street in Hong Kong is also very good, it is only a city after all, and its scale is far inferior to that of Japan. The only advantage is its low tax rate, which is similar to a tax-free paradise, so its appeal is limited.

But in terms of food, even if Hong Kong is not as good as the northern mainland, it is much better than many western countries. It is said that in the 21st century, many young people go to Europe and the United States to set up stalls selling candied haws, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

"I like Chinese food very much, it's very delicious." Phil Knight said with a smile: "It's just that I have been too busy in recent years, and I don't even have time to rest."

"In fact, I think Nike's problem is also a problem of many start-up companies." Chen Zhiwen said: "Although we need to control the industrial chain and reduce costs to a certain extent, this in itself is also a big risk. Doing things that we are not good at , especially asset-heavy projects, are the most prone to problems. Many companies that have grown well in the early stage have crises because of this, and Nike is the same.”

"That's right, but how do you know if it's suitable if you don't try it?" Phil Knight said with a low laugh: "Eric, your Red Bull business is also very hot. Before coming to Hong Kong, I also investigated it. You just acquired a very large company in Hong Kong, so why would you want to build a large shoe factory for Nike in Hong Kong, you have no experience in this field."

"Mr. Knight, your coffee." An Qi came over and put down Phil Knight's coffee gently, and Chen Zhiwen did the same, and then left politely.

"Thank you." Fernet said to An Qi.

Chen Zhiwen drank a cup of cappuccino and said with a smile: "Phil, Hong Kong's economic positioning is mainly based on manufacturing and OEM. Over the years, Hong Kong's exports have mainly been clothing, watches, electronic products, toys, etc. In fact, shoemaking also has a certain foundation. Although I have no relevant experience, I just need to recruit.

The labor cost in Hong Kong is very low. I think you know that it is less than one-twentieth of that in the United States. The shoe industry itself is an intensive manufacturing industry, even for high-end sports shoes like Nike, so this It is a high-risk heavy investment in the United States, but not in Hong Kong.

Furthermore, my capital capacity is far greater than that of Nike, and I can make large-scale investments in multiple fields at the same time. In addition to the beverages and real estate you just mentioned, I can invest in household appliances, auto parts industries, ports, trade, and retail. They all have investments, and the capital of any one of them far exceeds the scale of Nike. It is nothing to me to build a large shoe factory in Hong Kong. "

"I didn't expect Eric to have such high business achievements at such a young age!" Fernette was a little surprised. He had investigated Chen Zhiwen before he came, but after all, he traveled thousands of miles, and a lot of information was just a vague overview.

Chen Zhiwen went on to say: "As I said last time, Nike's correct business model is to abandon production, concentrate on investing all funds and resources in market development, expand at the fastest speed, and become a representative of sports brands. , the manufacturing of this piece should not be placed in Europe, America or Japan where labor costs are too high, Hong Kong is a good choice, not only can you not have to worry about production problems, but also can greatly reduce costs."

"I know the cost, but I'm not sure about the quality control in Hong Kong." Phil Knight said with some concern.

"That's not a problem. As long as we cooperate, you can send Nike engineers to Hong Kong permanently. If they don't want to, you can replace them with a few people. They will manage the production and quality of the Hong Kong factory. Their expenses will be borne by me." If it is not enough, we can also hire professional engineers from Adidas, and I can definitely invest heavily in quality." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"Eric, I actually have another question in my mind. Since you have the capital and are willing to spend such a large amount of money to invest in production plants, why don't you invest in terminal retail? We all know that the highest profit point in this industry is in the terminal." Phil Knight asked.

"Because I am not an American, if I were, I would naturally invest in terminals. In Asia, the Japanese market is relatively exclusive and already saturated. The economic foundation of other Asian countries is too weak to accommodate the high-end sports shoe industry." Chen Zhiwen explained road.

Naturally, he can’t say the essential reason. Chen Zhiwen never invests in industries he doesn’t understand and invests heavily in. He invested in Costco because of Pierce’s team. Otherwise, he would never go to the United States to set up a supermarket without relevant talents. , and thousands of miles away, that is death.

Red Bull is the first opportunity. Midea mainly relies on the arcade market. The home appliance industry is only for the development of experience. In the future, my goal is still domestic. Other investments are traditional real estate and stocks. These are under the golden finger of his prophet , Basically, you can make a profit without losing money.

Investing in Nike, in addition to gaining huge profits in the future like investing in Wal-Mart, can also rely on its own capital size and Hong Kong's labor advantages to obtain the development of the shoe-making industry chain from Nike's current weak period. This will not only control the employment scale of hundreds of thousands, but also develop its own footwear terminal industry in the future mainland, and even enter the clothing industry.

The premise of all this is that Nike can bring huge orders to the foundry during its rapid development period. Otherwise, it is impossible to cultivate successfully without market technology. This point is actually very similar to Xinghe Trade. factory investment.

"Okay, if that's the case, I'm relieved. However, in the future, until the factory in Hong Kong can't provide samples of sufficient quality, we will not transfer production here. Quality is the most important thing to me." Fernet said.

"That's natural. Without good quality, I closed the factory myself." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.