The Industrial Giant Reborn

On December 18, 1978, a piece of news that shocked the world came from the north. The mainland officially announced that the entire country was about to implement a "reform and opening up" policy.

That is, internal reforms, improving the economic level of the people, external reforms, increasing external cooperation, attracting foreign investment, and so on.

"It's unbelievable that such a big news is suddenly released in China." In the Repulse Bay villa of the Chen family, Chen Tianfu couldn't believe it after hearing the news.

"Normal. In fact, in the past few years, the country has begun to continuously expand foreign cooperation." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "In the first half of this year, the mainland government sent four delegations to the United States, Japan, and Europe to visit local areas. The purpose of this large industrial company is to communicate in advance, and to discuss cooperation directly after the policy is clear. Even the chairman of General Motors of the United States has gone to China, and it is said that they all have the intention of cooperation. Denied."

"Why?" Chen Tianfu asked, but he had never heard of it.

"The chairman of GM is a smart man. He can see that the domestic market is huge, so he proposed a joint venture to produce cars in China. However, the board of directors in the United States dare not take risks and are unwilling to invest heavily in China. Their idea is to directly Build cars in the United States, and if the mainland wants them, they can export them from the United States." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"I think it's really beautiful. Do you really want to spend a lot of foreign exchange in the Mainland?" Chen Tianfu shook his head and said. Although he doesn't know the automobile industry, he still knows the domestic foreign exchange situation.

"Actually, it's normal. Who would dare to make a big decision to invest hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars when they don't know?" Chen Zhiwen said calmly.

The investment in the automobile industry, even a single automobile factory is extremely huge. It may not be enough to spend hundreds of millions of dollars, but this is not the most important thing. The most important thing is the lack of an automobile industry chain in China. It's useless, and if you want to bring the industrial chain into the mainland, not all of it, but half of it, that's a huge amount of investment, many of which are other companies, and there are too many things involved.

Even the later generations of Volkswagen have realized the local industrialization of some parts and components at a great cost.

"Then you are going to invest in China. The current domestic policy openly welcomes foreign companies to invest?" Chen Tianfu asked.

"Of course, but the policy hasn't been implemented yet, so there must be guidance on where to invest, right? Otherwise, with the mainland being so big, who should I turn to?" Chen Zhiwen shrugged.

In fact, there is no rush. Anyway, the Shekou Industrial Zone will be established next month, and it will only take a month. He can still wait for this time.

"That's true." Chen Tianfu nodded and said.

"The things in the mainland also have a lot to do with the Hong Kong real estate market. After all, this is a positive impact. On Hengyi's side, they can still get the land as they can. It is estimated that the housing prices will still rise sharply in the next few years." Chen Zhiwen added Said.

"Will the Mainland's reform and opening up affect Hong Kong's real estate market?" Chen Tianfu asked.

"Of course, the current high-level people in the Mainland, or those who are engaged in foreign trade and have contact with the outside world, may understand the Western economy. Conversely, there are also a small number of people in the West who understand the domestic situation. This number was enough before, but now it is different. The whole With the comprehensive reform of the country, the requirements for foreign contacts will be greatly increased, so it is necessary to find a suitable middleman. You said, apart from Hong Kong, who else meets this requirement?" Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"It makes sense, that is, a large amount of capital and business will be transferred through Hong Kong?" Chen Tianfu nodded and said.

"Yes, in the near future, there will definitely be a large number of overseas companies coming to Hong Kong to buy properties. They may not necessarily buy houses, but they will definitely rent houses, especially office buildings. If there are too many, it will definitely affect housing prices." Chen Zhiwen analyzed.

In fact, in 1979, Hong Kong's housing prices had already caught up with the peak in 1973, and theoretically it was almost at the limit, but it was precisely because of the opening of the mainland that Hong Kong became a place where a large number of overseas tourists and overseas businessmen lived. The preferred choice of Hong Kong, a large amount of capital entering Hong Kong, and the port's trade volume has also increased sharply, which has allowed Hong Kong's real estate market to continue for more than two years.

"Then I have to build some office buildings, son, what do you think?" Chen Tianfu asked with a smile.

"No, the current housing prices are already very high. If you wait for you to invest again, the cost performance of investment will be too low. It is better to make money first. Hong Kong's property market has a cycle for several years, and now it has passed half of the bull market. Go in and make money. But there's no need to hoard it, let's talk about it when the bear market hits." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said. Selling properties in a bull market and retrieving land in a bear market are the most basic principles of Hong Kong’s real estate industry. Everyone knows it, even those who can’t afford a house. No matter how confident you are, as long as your guess is accurate and you dare to gamble, it will be an absolute huge profit.

"Okay, I'll listen to you." Chen Tianfu nodded. Listening to his son over the years, he has earned hundreds of millions of dollars. Hengyi also developed more than 20 projects at the same time, gradually becoming a real estate company second only to the top five real estate companies. Tiger's real estate company.

The reform and opening up of the mainland is like a meteorite falling into the ocean, causing a huge tsunami. The whole of Hong Kong is discussing this matter. Most people, even some Chinese businessmen and government officials, do not know the impact of this matter on themselves.

Although Chen Zhiwen attaches great importance to this matter, the mainland has only issued a notice at present, and the specific policy needs to wait until we know it. Another matter, which makes Chen Zhiwen a little happy.

After four years of research and development by Midea Group, the first inverter air conditioner has succeeded.

After getting the exact news, Chen Zhiwen hurried to the test center base of Midea Industrial Park.

Midea's business has involved many fields, including home appliances and automotive electronic components. In order to ensure quality, Midea Group specially reserved an 11-storey industrial office building in the Midea Industrial Park and set up a large laboratory. Various precision instruments, test equipment, etc. have been imported from overseas to facilitate the testing of the Group's products.

Came to a special test room, here is a soundproof room, the outside sound can hardly be heard inside, and the temperature is also almost isolated.

The winter in Hong Kong is not very cold, but it is much colder here. The main reason is that there is a vertical air conditioner in the room, blowing cold air in a low voice.

"Chen Sheng, the temperature inside is relatively low, why don't we open the door?" An assistant beside him said.

"No need." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said, while walking to the side of the air conditioner, he felt that the sound was indeed much lower than that of ordinary air conditioners.

"Chen Sheng, according to your setting requirements, our air conditioner monitors the room temperature and then controls the speed of the compressor through the chip. Once the temperature drops, it will increase the cooling capacity, otherwise it will decrease. In the end, When the room temperature reaches the set value, it will output air-conditioning at a very slow speed to ensure that the room temperature change is within 1°C. In such an environment where the temperature difference does not change much, the human body feels the most comfortable, and the air conditioner The noise is very small, and there is no sound of frequent startup." He Guoyuan, head of Midea Group's household appliances department, explained.

"Has it been tested in all aspects? Can this control system continue to work?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

In the history of Hong Kong, the most elite figure in the electronics industry once appeared, that is, He Guoyuan. In the original history, He Guoyuan worked in Hong Kong for ten years. From a fresh graduate, he became the general manager of the largest electronics factory in Hong Kong. And the company is still growing in his hands, from dozens to thousands of people, and he himself has received a salary of 500,000 US dollars a year, which is no less than that of the Taipan of Hong Kong Ocean Bank.

In 1983, he immigrated to Canada and founded ATI in Canada. After more than 20 years, the company became the largest graphics card company in the world, worth billions of dollars. It was not until he retired that he sold his company because he had no heirs. Lose.

Chen Zhiwen naturally pays more attention to such elites. Last year, He Guoyuan became the director of the Hong Kong branch of Philips. This is the youngest and shortest person in the history of Philips to become a regional director. It is less than two years. .

Later, Chen Zhiwen directly spent a lot of money to recruit him, and then let him be in charge of Midea's home appliance business.

"All of them have been done. In addition to the accuracy test in the laboratory in Hong Kong, we also sent 500 sets of samples to the Middle East, where we conducted a life test for about half a year in a high-heat environment, and almost 17 of them had problems. But we all found the reason, and then updated the product according to the problem.” He Guoyuan replied: “In addition, all our staff dormitories have installed our air conditioners, and some staff’s homes have also been installed for free by us. , as a company benefit, there are almost 4,000 air conditioners here, and under the ambient temperature in Hong Kong, only two of them had problems, and they were all easily resolved.”

"One in two thousand? This probability is not very high, but it is not too low. We still need to find a way to reduce the failure rate. Otherwise, the after-sales cost in the United States is too high, so we can only rely on Costco. This is the market." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

Thanks to Chen Zhiwen's large investment in terminal resources, Midea's electric fans have basically got rid of the demand for Costco or Wal-Mart. In the past two years, the sales of fans have risen rapidly, because they are cheap and have a large air volume and low noise. It can be said that it is relatively popular. For the rest of the time, you only need to rely on Hong Kong to hold almost the entire industrial chain to defeat other opponents.

After the re-opening, the fan production is moved to the mainland, then the group destruction mode can definitely be activated.

But the air conditioner is different. The technical content of the air conditioner is very high. It is second only to the color TV in the household appliances. The average normal person will buy such a large item, as long as he is not particularly short of money, he will definitely choose a famous brand.

Fortunately, in the U.S. market, installing air conditioners is more expensive than buying air conditioners. Costco is different from ordinary supermarkets. It covers a larger area. In addition, Hong Kong sent Chinese to install air conditioners. Employees can greatly reduce the cost of air-conditioning installations for American customers, but what is funny is that the wages of Chinese employees sent there are far higher than those in Hong Kong, but the workload is not as good as in Hong Kong. It is really that the efficiency of air-conditioning installation workers in the United States is too low up.

Therefore, in Costco, the sales of Midea air conditioners are not bad, enough to support the factories in Hong Kong, but if you want to grow bigger, you will have no advantage in going to other supermarkets, even Wal-Mart, which has a good relationship, because there is no way to reduce after-sales costs. , sales are also very low.

Therefore, getting rid of the absolute dependence on Costco is the most urgent need of Midea's air-conditioning department. After all, even the refrigerator business has done well in Wal-Mart and several other supermarkets.

The higher the technical content, the harder it is to occupy the market, and the same is true for future color TV sets.

"So I plan to sell a large number of inverter air conditioners to the Middle East, taking advantage of half a year before summer in the United States, where we have sales channels, the local people are rich, and the environment is hot enough, so I will use it as a small batch test. .” He Guoyuan said.

"Okay, the cost price can be sold there. As long as the quality is not a problem, the US is the big market." Chen Zhiwen nodded in agreement.

At present, the largest single market in the world is the United States, and even Europe combined cannot compare.

"In terms of patents, have they been registered? Globally?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.

"It's all done. Hong Kong has joined the World Intellectual Property Organization. Registering a patent in Hong Kong is basically equivalent to registering in the global western market. I have also sent people to register in the remaining Asian countries and South American countries." He Guoyuan said .

"Okay, regarding patents, we were once stuck in the neck, and now we have to get stuck in other people's necks. Even if they can bypass it, it will take a little longer." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

In the process of developing inverter air conditioners, many temperature control technologies are involved. These have long been registered by some old companies. Zell, but there are still many technologies that have to be purchased from companies such as Siemens and Bosch in Germany.

Fortunately, it is not a very core patent of others, and you can buy it as long as you pay, otherwise, it will be troublesome.

Midea is the first company to develop an inverter air conditioner. Over the past few years, Hong Kong and the United States have spent tens of millions of dollars on research and development. Naturally, there are also many patents. Even if other companies bypass it, it will take a little effort. One or two years is also a very big advantage for the terminal market. Although the first-mover effect in traditional industries is far inferior to that in the Internet industry, it still exists.

Of course, it is impossible to trap others. In fact, Chen Zhiwen only proposed this idea first. On the technical level, this has been possible for a long time, but no one has proposed it.

If Apple launched the iPhone in 2007, at the hardware level, such a mobile phone could have been made as early as 5 years ago, but no one had such an idea. Jobs was the first to realize it. The same is true for electric cars. The existing 18650 battery was born as early as the 1990s, but Tesla founder Martin Eberhard was the first to think of tying thousands of batteries to the car chassis.

Midea's current inverter air conditioner is actually the same example. Midea just grabbed a first opportunity, and other players will enter the market later, just like other mobile phones and trams in later generations. In the original history, in 1980, Japan's Toshiba was about to invent its own. Inverter air conditioner.

"One more thing, this technology can also be used in the refrigerator, which can reduce the power consumption of the refrigerator, but the cost will increase a lot." He Guoyuan said.

"No, there is no shortage of electricity in the United States. We don't need to increase costs for users who don't care about electricity bills." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said.

Laomei's energy consumption is simply unbelievable. In summer, no one in the family turns off the air conditioner, and in winter, they also turn off the heating. After the oil crisis, they are a little more cautious in terms of car oil. The energy saving of refrigerators is estimated to be in the electricity bill. More expensive developing countries will pay more attention to it, and it will naturally improve in the future, but now it is not necessary for the US market, and it is better to ensure that the initial price is cheaper.

"Now at the factory, is there any problem with the area of ​​the factory and the demand for personnel?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.

"The factory area is not a problem for the time being, but in terms of personnel, the labor cost in Hong Kong is getting higher and higher, and most of our business can bear it, but the fan business is not doing well, and the cost of labor is getting higher and higher, and the cost performance is fast. It’s not as good as some companies in Wanwan, and our current advantage is that we have a good relationship with most retail supermarkets through Xinghe Trade, and our fans are better in terms of quietness.” He Guoyuan said.

"Okay, I understand. I will find a way to solve this matter." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, Midea's fans have always followed the route of selling more glass, which is to maintain extremely low profit margins and then compete for the market, similar to Strategies with Coca-Cola.

It's just that this industry is considered the lowest-end among household appliances, and it is also labor-intensive. Labor costs account for a large proportion. When Hong Kong's labor costs have increased by two or three times, compared with Wanwan, it is a bit disadvantageous.

But it doesn't matter, it will be re-opened and started. By January next year, the Shekou Industrial Zone will be established.