The Industrial Giant Reborn - Chapter 638

c629 Battle against Japanese home appliances

The development of the automobile industry is a very slow process, especially oil cars. Compared with electric cars a few decades later, it is much slower. One is because the structure of oil cars is much more complex than that of electric cars; The market has matured. To launch a car that meets the market, it must reach the average level of other major manufacturers. However, in the era when electric cars just emerged, there was no such demand. All they had to do was beat gas cars. This is why the new forces of later generations were able to compete in 2018. They rose up around the year, but 5 years after their rise, others could not follow the same path.

If it were not for the mainland market, even if Chen Zhiwen acquired a certain automobile company, he would not dare to hope that one day he would be able to develop the company. This is completely different from home appliances. The home appliance industry is much simpler. However, it is also because of the low cost and the popularity of highly educated people in the mainland that Midea Electric Appliances has the opportunity to compete for the top position. .

Among the industrial landscape planned by Chen Zhiwen in the early stage, the one that was earlier, more ambitious and easier to achieve the set goals was actually the home appliance industry. Not to mention the international environment, professional factors, technological iterations, etc., which even Chen Zhiwen did not understand. The simplest factor is that 20 years later, that is, in the first decade of the 21st century, many local home appliance brands in China will achieve this goal. If they can achieve it, then Chen Zhiwen will have better conditions and earlier With time to prepare, the probability of success will naturally be much higher. On the contrary, the automobile industry is too difficult. If it is not to rely on trams to overtake in corners, then by 2035, will the traditional oil vehicles in the mainland be able to become a pole in the global automobile field? , are not sure.

In the mainland, Midea Group has a total of three large-scale production bases, located in Yanjing, Shanghai and Shenhai City. The first two are super cities in the mainland, and the latter is the initial location for redevelopment. The three places have the same characteristics. The characteristic is that there are a large number of highly educated talents. After Midea provides better treatment, it can absorb the elites on a large scale. After receiving appropriate training, it can have a large number of high-skilled workers who are not weaker than those in Europe, America and Japan. , and in terms of labor costs, it is really much lower. To exaggerate, it is dozens to one. On the cost side, this can bring unparalleled advantages.

The only disadvantage may be that the industrial chain cannot compare with mature developed countries such as Europe, the United States, and Japan. In fact, when labor costs in the mainland increase in the future, it is only by relying on a complete industrial chain that we can avoid the transfer of a large number of industries and ensure that Our products still have unparalleled cost performance internationally.

This point relies on Midea’s early heavy investment in China. On the one hand, it directly invested in some industries, and on the other hand, it encouraged Hong Kong suppliers to invest in China and jointly build related industrial parks. The third one was with automobiles. The industry is the same, cultivating local suppliers and adopting a three-pronged approach. After nearly 10 years, now, the three cities of Yanjing, Shanghai and Shenzhen have a relatively complete entire industrial chain.

After visiting AMC’s factory, Chen Zhiwen went to Midea’s factory, which is also located in Yanjing City. If factories in surrounding industries are included, the area of ​​this base is no less than that of AMC + Wuling. Even relatively speaking, it is It prefers light industry, which can directly create more jobs. And because it is basically domestically produced, the technical content is not as high as that of auto parts, and it can also promote the development of local industry.

“Sheng Chen, this is our compressor manufacturing factory. Today, it has become the largest compressor factory in Asia. In terms of production volume, it has surpassed Japan’s Suzuta compressor factory.” A man about 40 years old, The middle-aged man in formal attire introduced Chen Zhiwen.

“It exceeds in terms of quantity, so in other aspects, it does not exceed?” Chen Zhiwen instantly grasped the attributive in this sentence. This is like the understanding of car emperors in later generations who posted a bunch of car rankings. As long as there are enough prefixes , so what? Models from any car company can be at the top of the list, or at least in the top few.

“In terms of total sales, we still can’t compare to Suzuta. Their compressors are not only supplied to the home appliance field, but also to many industrial fields. Even in the home appliance field, their quality and popularity are still above ours. .” The middle-aged man said awkwardly.

“Well, that’s normal. There are still many ancient companies in Little Japan. It’s normal for generations of people to only study one kind of technology and become good at it.” Chen Zhiwen didn’t pay much attention and continued: “But in terms of learning ability, we The Chinese are no worse than the Japanese. In fact, many of the Japanese technologies were not independently developed by themselves. Instead, they followed Europe and the United States, obtained other people’s theories, and then used their own imitation capabilities and efficient production capabilities to seize the market. So next , what we need to do is the same thing, grab the Japanese market, especially in the field of home appliances. Our compressors are mainly supplied to our own home appliances. The reason why we can achieve such high results is entirely because our home appliances sell well. , and components such as compressors and motors are also owned by independent companies, so if you want to prove your capabilities, you need to compete with these companies in the international market.”

In the early days, my layout in the industrial field was completely different from that of most traditional entrepreneurs. The most basic logic was to use real estate finance, which is easier to make money, to first obtain the first pot of gold, and subsequent large amounts of wealth, and then when appropriate, Enter the retail industry at the right time, or establish good relationships with many future retail giants, thereby obtaining some high-quality resources in their early stages, and finally gain a great advantage in the market terminal.

Midea’s early fans were developed based on this logic. Once a certain market is established, the market’s economic returns and feedback on various quality and technical issues can be used to allow the factory department to implement iterations of technology research and development. , as well as the positioning of subsequent research and development directions, by the way, it can also slowly build up the brand, structure terminal after-sales, etc., and finally, slowly enter other home appliance markets.

Coupled with Chen Zhiwen’s prophetic golden finger, whether it is real estate financial investment or retail industry layout, he has received exponential returns after many years, not only the money itself, but also various resources, thus further consolidating himself. The advantages of its industrial companies in the terminal market.

This is the most cost-effective and fastest way for a time traveler to control the client side. As long as there are no major problems on the industrial side and the price is high, the market can be quickly filled, thus forming an absolutely virtuous cycle. Otherwise, , according to the development route of a normal enterprise such as Haier, it will take at least 20 years to succeed, and the scale will not be as large as it is today.

However, such rapid growth also has some shortcomings, that is, the technical aspects are not in place. It is not that there will be any problems, but it is not as good as the traditional giants. This is actually normal. Investing in technology requires a lot of money and time. The former is not beautiful. Yes, the game department has huge profits, but time cannot be completely avoided by spending money. Spending money can speed up research and development, but there is a limit.

In addition, there is the issue of market recognition. Parts made by Midea’s subsidiaries may be recognized by Midea, but not by other companies. If you want to truly make the technology bigger and stronger, you must separate these subsidiaries. Bring them out and let them compete in the international market. If they can also win some of the markets of other companies, then only then can they demonstrate their capabilities.

“Sheng Chen, we are also developing in this direction. In fact, some Japanese companies have begun to plan to invest domestically for the domestic market. However, they should only produce domestically in the early stage, and the relevant processes will not be brought in. Come in, and we have a complete industrial chain, so it may be more cost-effective for them to use ours first,” the middle-aged man said.

“This is not easy. Small Japanese companies like to be independent.” Chen Zhiwen said. This is a characteristic of small Japan. It has big terminal brands, such as automobiles, home appliances, mechanical equipment, medical equipment, etc., so these companies Most of our suppliers will be our own companies, and these companies are also dependent on these large companies. The advantage of this is that the whole family can eat alone. When it is strong, it will take all the profits, but the disadvantage is that once the terminal If a brand goes bankrupt, everything will be lost.

Chen Zhiwen needs each of his subsidiaries to have independent capabilities and not be absolutely dependent on his parent company. In fact, it is also to avoid this situation from happening. This is not just a matter of making more money, but If we all rely on large companies with terminals, it will only lead to the decline of internal competitiveness and lack of ambition.

“That’s true, but if Japanese brands really do this, their domestic costs will inevitably be lower than ours. So either we, Midea, will continue to control the terminal market, or they will need to rely on our supply chain.” Middle-aged The man said with a smile: “Nowadays, Midea’s various electrical appliances have a production capacity of millions a year. Coupled with our early investment, research and development, quality control, and even infrastructure investment, the cost has been reduced to the minimum. They are unlikely to The cost is lower than ours, and at this point, we can say that we have done a better job than AMC in the automotive industry.”

“Well, but they can also take a higher-end route.” Chen Zhiwen said.

“Yes, it is not ruled out that some people just like Japanese brands. However, brands that are too high-end will not have a big market after all. This is true both domestically and internationally. Even if Japan becomes the most high-end in the future, Europe, America and even There will always be domestic peers who are similar to us, otherwise we won’t be able to swallow up all this market.” said the middle-aged man.

“It’s right to think so. Our early investment has actually become our moat.” Chen Zhiwen nodded and said: “However, a moat is a moat, but the advantage of relying on early investment may be effective in the short term, but it will not be effective in the long term. Not necessarily. Once technology is updated and iterated, many existing technologies become obsolete and process production changes, this advantage will be damaged. Therefore, we cannot relax in the technical field and must invest heavily.”

“Understood.” The middle-aged man said.

“Now overseas, in Europe and the United States, Midea has also started a price war there. It is not very serious. It is mainly because they are worried about being subject to anti-dumping investigations. But this time it will last for a long time. It can be said that we are It’s a big battle with Japanese brands.” Chen Zhiwen added: “If it were other brands, it would be purely to grab the market, but the other party is Japanese, then we must persist and fight, as long as we win, How much Japanese brands lose is a trivial matter. The most important thing is that once we win, we will gain access to a huge market. Domestically, we will also be able to gain more orders and promote more employment. So, you On the other side, we must control quality, production capacity and speed, and balance all points to ensure that the headquarters’ plans have sufficient ammunition.”

As early as ten years ago, when Chen Zhiwen was preparing to invest heavily in the field of home appliances, he knew that as long as he succeeded, there would inevitably be a war with Japanese electrical appliances in the future, because this was a very good opportunity to complete a previous Old opportunity for a new generation.

In the U.S. market, traditional U.S. home appliance brands have been defeated by Japanese cars long before the automobile industry was defeated by Japanese cars. Therefore, when other brands compete with Japanese brands, at least there is still a certain chance. .

In the original history, this brand was South Korea’s Samsung, followed by several major mainland brands. But now, Chen Zhiwen asked Midea to buy it. Although he would suffer heavy losses in a price war, without this process, he would have lost a lot of money. It is impossible to become the new king of this industry.

It started in the early 1990s. Firstly, because of its many years of investment, it has matured in the mainland. Secondly, South Korea’s Samsung was preparing for a price war in the chip field at this time and did not have the energy and resources to manage the home appliance industry.

The third is that we have been operating in the United States for many years and have established good relationships with many local capital giants and even ZZ giants. For example, the current and next president of the United States, Chen Zhiwen, also tried it long before they became president, and even tried many years ago. To build a relationship, as long as the core interests of the United States are not involved, there should be no big problem. The home appliance industry is nothing at all. The lower the price of foreign brands, the better, because the lower the price, the higher the inflation in the United States. Low, for politicians, this is nothing but political achievements, not to mention that Chen Zhiwen will not monopolize all the profits like Japan. Midea still has many direct jobs in the United States.

“Understood, Mr. Chen, we will provide the best quality products whether domestic or foreign.” The middle-aged man replied steadily. (End of chapter)