The Industrial Giant Reborn

After explaining about Costco, Chen Zhiwen and his team once again contracted the first-class cabin of an aircraft with the team, and returned to Hong Kong. After leaving for almost a month, it was already December when they returned.

After returning to Hong Kong, I first went home and reported on my safety so that my parents would not worry about me. Then I went to the twins, Shi Ya Shiqian. Recently, a bunch of zombie movies were released in Hong Kong. The twins were quite scared and needed Chen Zhiwen to comfort them. their fearful hearts.

The next day, after arriving at the company. Chen Zhiwen was the first to learn about the recent situation of each company, but because he was away for a relatively short time, and there were no new changes in the business during this period, he just continued to develop in the original direction, and mainly discussed some internal details of the company The problem, it took two hours and it was over.

After the meeting, Chen Zhiwen left Lei Shengli, the person in charge of Midea alone, and asked, "How is the TV business developing recently?"

"We already have our own assembly line, and our business is currently mainly in Southeast Asia, using the previous channel of Global Electronics, and has not yet entered the mainstream sales channel in Southeast Asia. It is estimated that in the first half of next year, the monthly sales will be several Thousands or so, unless we invest more money in advertising." Lei Shengli said without a pause, when he was reporting before, because the scale of the business was too small, and it was not the focus of the boss's attention, he did not report, which was unexpected. After the meeting, I was asked specifically.

"There is no special advantage, and publicity is useless. Korean and Wanwan TVs are no lower than ours in terms of quality and cost. Your publicity can only be effective in a short period of time. In the long run, it is useless. "Chen Zhiwen said lightly, in terms of labor costs, South Korea's Wanwan is now lower than Hong Kong's. In terms of technology, because of the larger population and more talents, plus their large area and the local picture tube industry, there is no way to compete.

"Then what should we do?" As a senior wage earner, it is inappropriate to ask the boss such a question, but the TV business is strongly demanded by the boss. If he is in charge, he will definitely not enter this field without any advantages.

"Let's leave it at that for now. We can properly spend some funds for publicity. We'll discuss this later." Chen Zhiwen said slowly. To make a TV, the main thing is to get familiar with the market first and make preparations. After that, it was the first to move the production line there. The country also has its own black and white picture tube production line, and with the addition of cheap labor, it is enough to compete with South Korea's Wanwan brand in the market. It even has enough funds to build its own picture tube production base or make color tubes.

"This is a product we need to produce in a while. It's called an arcade machine. The main market for this thing will be Europe and the United States. Take a look." Taking out a photo, Chen Zhiwen handed it to Lei Shengli.

"Arcade?" After receiving the photo, Lei Shengli glanced at it. It was a square metal box about the height of a person. There was a monitor on the top, but because the photo was black and white, no information such as color could be seen.

Chen Zhiwen went on to say: "This is a kind of electronic game machine. The structure inside is very simple. It is surrounded by an aluminum alloy frame and sheet metal. There is a color picture tube on the top. Inside is a large circuit board and wiring, and there is a cooling fan. Except for the circuit board, I have other arrangements for these things. For other things, you should find a suitable supplier first, and don’t rush to decide on the size, and wait until the colleagues in the United States have designed it before thinking about it.”

"These are the most basic things. There are many in Hong Kong. The size of the fan needs to be determined according to the heat inside, and there is also the problem of fan noise. For the picture tube, just go to RCA directly." Lei Shengli looked at the photo and estimated Said.

"Use the best motor. If we can't do it ourselves, we will buy the standard motor on the market. This is our main product in the future. Midea has lost money like it is now, so we have to rely on it to turn around." Chen Zhiwen said, the profit of the arcade It is so high that it is worth using the most advanced components.

"Then when will our colleagues in the United States be able to design it?" Lei Shengli asked.

"It shouldn't be long, maybe a month or two." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said, the most difficult part of the game is the content. What kind of game can make countless consumers like it is a difficult problem for all companies. Woz is best at reducing costs, Atari's Arkanoid, Woz can get it done in four days. With Woz's ability and Chen Zhiwen's future ideas, the design of the game will not take long.

Of course, after the game is designed, it needs a lot of testing, which is also very time-consuming.

"Okay, this is very easy, and we can do a lot of it ourselves." Lei Shengli nodded and said, although he was a little unbelievable that this thing would become Midea's main product, but it is true that the structure of this thing is very simple, the most complicated The control panel and display are outsourced, and other frames and the like are too simple.

"That's it. Let's get busy first. Midea's current products, except for fans and radios, are not selling very well. You don't need to be too anxious. Just rest assured that you can develop technology and don't worry about funding." Chen Zhiwen smiled. said with a smile.

Fans compete for the market because of the simplicity of the product and almost no profit-oriented purpose, radios because of the stable channels in the past, the two only have quantity and no profit, and the air conditioner refrigerator has been losing money, which is also impossible. According to According to the general business logic, a company should not engage in these two high-tech products when it has little money. It was Chen Zhiwen's intention.

Now is the time to develop arcade machines. As long as the development goes well, you can earn a lot of dollars in a year. At that time, the entire Midea will have enough funds to maintain research and development.

Develop the high-profit arcade machine industry with the creativity of future generations, and then use the profits from arcade machines to support the air-conditioning and refrigerator industry that requires a lot of funds for research and development. After a few years, there will be technology and funds. It is enough to open certain channels in Europe and the United States. When the mainland next door is reopened and factories are directly built, the most benign development plan can be formed.

"Okay, then I'll go first." Lei Shengli greeted and got up to leave.

After he left, Chen Zhiwen asked his assistant to call Zhou Jiayang, who was in charge of finance. This investment expert was recruited from Standard Chartered Bank. After joining Xinghe, he was in charge of some secret acquisitions of Chen Zhiwen, such as the acquisition of Wharf.

"How much stock has Wharf acquired?" Chen Zhiwen asked directly after the person arrived.

"Chen Sheng, we have acquired a total of 17.3% as of today." Zhou Jiayang replied.

"17.3, okay, buy slowly and guarantee the lowest cost." Chen Zhiwen nodded. They are all carried out slowly, and at such a speed, it is basically impossible to be discovered.

"Our current cost is about 120 million Hong Kong dollars. As long as the stock market does not fluctuate greatly, I estimate that we can acquire 30% of the shares by spending another 100 million Hong Kong dollars. But by then, we must be very careful in our actions. It's easy to expose." Zhou Jiayang reminded.

"I know this, let's buy first, this battle may be inevitable." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, although Jardine Land's shareholding ratio in Wharf is not high, maybe less than 20%, but apart from Jardine In addition, there are many long-term shareholders. When outsiders acquire 30%, the liquidity of the stocks in the secondary market will be greatly reduced, which is easy for people to find.

Chen Zhiwen went on to say: "The matter of Wharf is not in a hurry for the time being. I need to deal with another company now, and it must be done quickly."

"Which one?" Zhou Jiayang asked.

"Hutchison Group." Chen Zhiwen said with a light smile.