The Industrial Giant Reborn.

Chapter 514 Brand Positioning
"Sheng Chen, for products sold in China, color TVs and black-and-white TVs can be discussed, but for game consoles, it may be difficult. I have discussed this with Mr. Lei a long time ago." Director Qi paused and said , obviously, Chen Zhiwen’s request did not surprise him.

"Yes." Lei Shengli nodded and said.

"What else needs to be discussed about color TVs and black-and-white TVs?" Chen Zhiwen asked. The game console may not be that easy to deal with, so let's decide on home appliances first. Relatively speaking, game consoles are the future, and they are not important at the moment. But home appliances are different.

"The main issue is price positioning. Midea's color TVs, black-and-white TVs or other white home appliances can be sold domestically as long as they can ensure a foreign exchange balance or promise not to remit foreign exchange. In terms of channels, we can relax some controls, but In terms of price positioning, the Midea brand must be high-end, which is actually in the interests of Hong Kong businesses, and from the perspective of domestic people, if the price of imported products is not high, it may not be easy to sell,” said Director Qi.

Although the products of every company that comes to invest in China are different, the purpose is almost the same: making money, which is the basis of business in modern society. If you can't make money, who will invest in you?

The only thing that can attract foreign investment is the domestic market, but because of the country’s foreign exchange reserves, it is impossible for them to convert the money they make into foreign exchange and leave, so there is a foreign exchange balancing policy, which almost rejects 9 There is nothing the mainland can do for investors who have reached over [-] million yuan, especially some large groups. Otherwise, if there is not enough foreign exchange, the entire economy will collapse.

Under the condition of agreeing to foreign exchange balance, there are only two companies that are still investing heavily in the country, one is Volkswagen, and the other is several companies owned by Chen Zhiwen.

During this period, their General Administration of Foreign Trade and the Fourth Ministry of Machinery were negotiating with Lei Shengli and others. The problem was not foreign exchange, but price positioning.

"Color TVs can be high-end, but this black and white TV is a bit inappropriate, isn't it? It is a low-end product in itself." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

In fact, he also understands that the domestic idea is to protect related domestic industries.

Many foreign brands, including him, want to invest in factories in China, mainly because the labor cost here is very low. But for industrial products, labor cost is only a part of it. It has a certain proportion. As for how much, it depends on different industries. .

The lower the industry, the higher the labor cost, such as the textile industry, electronic assembly industry, etc., which was also the most important economy in the mainland in the 90s. It will be the first batch of industries to move out of the mainland in the next few decades. Of course, these industries The front part is very advanced, but the demand for labor is not high.

In high-end industries, such as the Internet industry, aviation, automobiles, etc., the labor cost ratio is very low. Home appliances are in the middle. The lowest level fans have a high labor cost ratio. The white goods and kitchen appliances in the middle are better. Color TVs are the most advanced. Currently, only a few countries in the world can produce high-definition picture tubes. Even LCD screens in a few decades will also belong to the ultra-high-end industry.

Therefore, there are many factors that determine product prices or competitiveness. Domestic low-cost labor is only part of it. The higher-end products are less affected by labor costs. In other words, if there are no tariffs, many foreign products will The price is lower than that of domestic goods. Tariffs exist to protect domestic industries, even food.

But if Midea's home appliances are produced domestically and can be sold without control, it will definitely have an impact on domestic counterparts. This is a situation that the central government is not willing to see, because such a result may, in the short term, The common people benefit more and can buy high-quality goods at low cost. But if this industry disappears, then it will be at the mercy of others.

Unlike other countries, domestic high-level officials do not agree that many industries are completely dependent on foreign capital. This does not mean that foreign capital is not allowed to do domestic business, but that there must be domestic substitutes. Otherwise, over time, foreign capital will inevitably capture the entire market at high prices. This is the instinctive behavior of capital. For example, in history, Lelai monopolized beverage products, and even domestic capital would be the same if it were dominated by one company. Antitrust law exists for this purpose.

It is precisely because of this spirit and belief that we must rely entirely on our own independence that, decades later, the country will be able to break through the middle-class trap and capture various high-tech Western technologies after its economy has developed to a certain level. In Chen Zhiwen's time travel, Before Hong Kong, the domestic automobile industry began to rise, the chip industry was basically able to achieve self-sufficiency in the demand for non-high-end mobile phones, and the domestic medical industry was also making breakthroughs. Of course, there were also deficiencies, such as the pharmaceutical industry, but if we could really do everything on our own If we do, then the entire Chinese nation, while becoming a developed country, can also pull down the entire Western developed countries.

It is almost impossible for a population of 14 billion to reach the level of developed countries without major technological breakthroughs. However, the gap with developed countries can be achieved in both directions.

The achievements of the country in the future are actually the result of the various development plans set by the current leaders. This generation has formulated the correct plans, and the next generation will work harder to improve them, ultimately making the mainland an almost irreplaceable world factory.

"As for black and white TVs, they should be developed to be more advanced, right? The black and white TVs we import are still a little different from those in China." Director Qi said with a smile.

"Okay, we can do better in terms of clarity, or in terms of size." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. In fact, there is no need to be too entangled in this issue at the moment, because black and white TVs themselves will promote domestic employment in the future, and there are Let more people use Midea's products first, so that they can recognize the brand first.

The most important thing about the whole project is the color TV. This is a weapon he plans to use to attack Japanese and Korean home appliances in the future, especially Samsung. If he can suppress it, it is better to suppress it first. Even if he cannot make high-end chips in the future, it will cost Samsung. It would also be good to give TSMC a little more time. "That's good. If it's just a home appliance project, we can agree to your sole proprietorship requirement and the liberalization of domestic sales channels." Director Qi said with a smile.

"The game console aspect is very difficult?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

Director Qi nodded and said: "Yes, from Mr. Chen, if you produce game consoles domestically, it is no problem for export. If the foreign exchange generated is used to offset the foreign exchange balance of other industries, it is also OK. But game consoles are produced domestically." Sales, I’m afraid, won’t be very good, especially the education department, which is very opposed to this.”

Things like game consoles are basically banned in China. Although there are people in eastern Guangdong who secretly transport them, it won't be a problem.

Chen Zhiwen's request is also taken very seriously in China. Chinese officials abroad were also asked to check the situation of the game market in the United States and Japan. The feedback they received was that a large number of students and adults were addicted to games. This was naturally opposed by many people. .

You know, China is still very strict about this area. A Hong Kong singer was banned because she sang a song "I'm a Bad Girl", not to mention that it will affect thousands of students and adults. Electronic games, and this thing consumes power, does not produce any actual value, and also affects the work and study of a large number of people.

Even at the beginning, some people opposed the car project because cars are not a means of production, but cars can still move people efficiently and improve work efficiency, while game consoles are really useless.

"At the price of a Midea game console, ordinary students cannot afford it," Chen Zhiwen said.This is also true. If you are not from a wealthy family, how can you afford Midea's game console? The cheapest handheld console costs tens of dollars more, which is equivalent to the annual income of an ordinary worker.As for workers, they already have an upper-middle income in the country.

However, in any place, no matter how poor it is, there are still rich people. In recent years, many cars, color TVs, air conditioners, etc. have been imported into the country. They are not imported for nothing, but they are currently installing telephones, even if they are produced domestically by Midea. switch, but the telephone installation cost is still more than 1000 yuan, but the number of newly installed telephones in the country per month exceeds 30. Although there are official ones, there are also civilian ones.

"That's the truth, but if Midea's game consoles can be sold freely, then the same goes for other brands. I think Mr. Chen should also know that there are still many pirated copies in the country." Director Qi said with a hidden meaning.

"It is precisely because of piracy that the price is lower and it is easier to affect a large number of ordinary people. Wouldn't it be better to introduce genuine copies and cooperate with the official force to suppress piracy?" Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: " In fact, there is another truth. Some things cannot be suppressed. Ten years ago, when electronic games first came out, some Western countries did not allow students to play them, but in the end they still couldn't control them. When electronic products developed to At a certain level, games will inevitably be born, and unless the country is no longer prepared to engage in the electronics industry, it is impossible to completely ban them."

The domestic electronics industry has now begun to learn from the West. The first step is of course piracy. Even the "Patent Law" that Volkswagen has fought so hard for is of little use in this field. For example, the problem of software maintenance systems in later generations. Anyone who knows the reason will understand.

Chen Zhiwen does not expect that the country will fully cooperate with him in combating piracy, but he must at least give himself, the original owner, a chance to enter the market, especially in many mainland places, which are now directly copying several Midea game products.

You must know that the biggest difficulty of a game lies in creativity, and the biggest cost lies in development and the losses caused by the failure of other games need to be equally divided into successful games, and the cost itself is not large. This is different from 5 years ago. It's different. Many of today's chips are not very expensive, and pirated games don't pursue high resolution. Chips with lower quality are the same, but the experience of gamers is just a little worse.

Regarding these pirated copies, Chen Zhiwen was too lazy to tell the country, because it was useless to talk, as long as they did not flow abroad.

"Of course the electronics industry needs to be developed in China, but it would be better if games could be delayed a few years." Director Qi nodded awkwardly and said: "Before the domestic game console industry was officially authorized, the problem Chen Sheng mentioned was actually not true. What kind of climate will it be like?”

"In this case, that's the only way it can be." Chen Zhiwen didn't force it anymore, and said: "Hong Kong is already preparing to gradually relocate the electronic industry, including all game-related industries and computer-related industries. The mainland side If we don’t accept it, then we will have no choice but to choose Wanwan.”

"Transfer them all?" Director Qi asked in shock.

(End of this chapter)