Rebirth of the Industrial Tycoon

Li Weidong was not surprised that Wentai Takakura wanted the patent for the egg steamer. With Takakura Wentai's eyesight, of course, it can be seen that the egg steamer has market value.

The core function of home appliances is to make human life more convenient and comfortable. From this point of view, the egg steamer is a qualified product.

Li Weidong knows Gao Cang Wentai. He has already guessed that Gao Cang Wentai should not give too high a patent fee, maybe only tens of thousands of dollars, and Li Weidong will be sent away.

Sure enough, Takakura Wentai said, "Mr. Li, if you want, we, Xizhi Electric, are willing to pay you $20,000 to buy the patent for the egg steamer."

"Mr. Takakura, 20,000 US dollars is not enough to apply for a PCT patent." Li Weidong replied with a smile.

"Well, that's $30,000, which I think is a pretty reasonable number."

Takakura Wentai paused, and then said: "This egg steamer of yours is just a little functional improvement based on the electric steamer. This is not a new invention. In other words. If so, many electrical companies can produce products similar to egg steamers with the existing technology, of course, including our Xizhi Electric."

The second half of Mrs. Gao Cangwen's sentence was already equivalent to a threat. If Li Weidong does not accept the patent fee of 30,000 US dollars, then Xizhi Electric will also directly produce products "similar to egg steamers". If it's a big deal, change the name, such as "egg warmer", "potato steamer", etc., but in essence Above are egg steamers.

"This Gao Cang Wentai is as I expected!" Li Weidong smiled very calmly. Based on Li Weidong's understanding of Gao Cang Wentai, he had already guessed that Gao Cang Wentai would do this.

So Li Weidong asked: "Mr. Takakura, you Xizhi Electric want to buy my patent, should it be for the production of egg steamer?"

"That's right." Takakura Wentai said bluntly: "In this situation, I can't directly purchase products from your country, so I can only buy patents for production in my country."

"Mr. Takakura, I have another cooperation model, you may be interested." Li Weidong pointed to the egg steamer in front of him and said, "I can manufacture this product for Xizhi Electric!"

"OEM?" Takakura Wentai frowned.

"About the OEM production model, I think Mr. Takakura must be familiar with it. More than 30 years ago, many Japanese companies started out with OEMs, and today, many companies in Japan have opened OEMs in South Korea and Southeast Asia." Li Weidong said slowly.

Gao Cang Wentai narrowed his eyes slightly, as if thinking about Li Weidong's suggestion.

Li Weidong went on to say: "The structure of this egg steamer is not complicated and the cost is not high, so the profit is not so big, at least compared with other household appliances produced by Xizhi Electric.

Compared with telecommunication equipment and digital products, the profit should be less and more.

If Xizhi Electric wants to produce its own egg steamer, the production line needs to be improved and workers need to be trained, which will increase the production cost of Xizhi Electric. For the same production line, producing TV sets or printers should be more expensive than producing steamers. Egg device, more money, right?

Therefore, for Xizhi Electric, it is not cost-effective to open a new production line to produce such small things as Xizhi Electric. It is better to directly adopt the OEM model, which can save a lot of costs. And my factory already has a complete production line of egg steamers. As long as Xizhi Electric is willing, we can do OEM for Xizhi Electric at any time!

In addition, there is another advantage of adopting the OEM production mode, because OEM is not a direct purchase. Strictly speaking, OEM is only the processing and production that you entrust us with, not the trade behavior of commodities, so Xizhi Electric does not need to worry about some limited by objective factors. "

Gao Cang Wentai nodded: "Mr. Li, you are right, if we Xizhi Electric set up a production line directly, the cost is indeed lower than finding an OEM. But once we successfully open a production line, we can produce steam for a long time. For egg containers, the cost of developing a production line will continue to be reduced as time accumulates. From a long-term perspective, setting up a production line is cost-effective.”

"Mr. Takakura Wentai, in addition to the cost of setting up a production line, the cost of components and labor costs are also considered by Xizhi Electric. The components produced in China are much cheaper than those in Japan. The labor force in China is also cheaper than that in Japan. Therefore, China's production of egg steamers must be much cheaper than Japan's." Li Weidong said,

Gao Cangwen shook his head: "If all Chinese parts are used, it is equivalent to purchasing directly in China, which violates the principle of OEM. This is fake OEM, and my superior will not approve it."

Li Weidong said immediately: "I already have a plan in this regard, Mr. Takakura, please see, this egg steamer has a stainless steel plate, and the water is heated through this stainless steel plate to turn into water vapor. This stainless steel plate It should be regarded as the core component of the egg steamer.

So I plan that this stainless steel plate is provided by Xizhi Electric. In this case, it is equivalent to the key core components provided by Japan, while our Chinese company only provides some non-critical components, so it does not violate the principle of OEM. Don't most of the OEM production models all over the world work like this? "

"Mr. Li, you are really a master at exploiting loopholes!" Gao Cangwen couldn't help but sigh.

"Mr. Takakura, I'm just proposing a more feasible plan, which happens to be beneficial to both of us! For Xizhi Electric, you get cheap products, while for me, the You can earn a little bit of hard work. This is a win-win!" Li Weidong said with a smile.

"Well, I admit that Mr. Li's plan is indeed a win-win plan, and I will report to the headquarters." Takakura Wentai said.

...

Li Weidong's plan B, the first step is door-to-door sales. If Gao Cangwen is too unwilling to buy an egg steamer, then Li Weidong can only take the second step, which is to strive for OEM, and sell the egg steamer in this way. go out.

Due to the shortage of stainless steel in China, Li Weidong simply took this opportunity to let Xizhi Electric provide stainless steel under the guise of providing core components. In this way, it can be shown that this is a real OEM, and secondly, it can also solve the problem of the shortage of stainless steel materials, so that the egg steamer can be produced smoothly.

This kind of OEM thing only appeared in the 1950s and 1960s. It was Japanese companies that started OEMs first, and then the Four Asian Tigers and the Four Asian Tigers all started with OEMs in the early days, while China OEM also occupies a large part of the manufacturing industry.

It is precisely because OEM is a new thing, and developed countries in the West have not experienced this stage of OEM for others, so in the 1980s, the cognition of OEM in international trade was still relatively vague, even after the WTO. In the framework of OEM, there is no clear provision for OEM.

As the model of OEM production grows stronger and even becomes a major production model in international trade, economists gradually define OEM as a commodity-based labor export.

That is to say, OEM is an export, but it is not trade in goods or services.

It is precisely because of the special nature of OEMs that OEMs can bypass many international agreements. Most unilateral or multilateral trade agreements have no constraints on OEM behavior.

In many trade agreements, anti-dumping investigations can be conducted on certain commodities, tariffs on certain commodities can be increased, and the import of certain commodities can even be prohibited through administrative orders, but these measures are all ineffective for foundries.

Because the core of the foundry is to manufacture this kind of behavior, and the core of the trade is the goods or services.

...

Two days later, Li Weidong received a call from Gao Cang Wentai and came to the office of Xizhi Electric in Hong Kong.

After the two exchanged a few words, Takakura Wentai said:

"Mr. Li, I have reported to the Japanese headquarters about the foundry. The headquarters agrees with this plan in principle, but the price must be within a reasonable range. So this time I invite you to discuss the price. matters.”

Li Weidong knew that Xizhi Electric must have evaluated the price of the egg steamer, so Li Weidong decided to make an offer first to take the initiative.

So Li Weidong said, "Mr. Takakura, our price for this egg steamer at the Canton Fair is US$25. It's about 3,000 yen!"

"Mr. Li, let's talk about the dollar directly!" Takakura Wentai said.

In 1989, Japan's per capita GDP exceeded 25,000 US dollars, and with the appreciation of the yen, this figure will continue to rise. In 1994, Japan's per capita GDP exceeded 40,000 US dollars, followed by 25 In 2020, Japan's per capita GDP is thousands of dollars less than in 1994.

Therefore, for the Japanese in 1989, it is more cost-effective to buy things in dollars.

Li Weidong nodded and continued: "Okay, let's pay in US dollars. If Xizhi Electric can provide stainless steel plates, then I can reduce the price of the egg steamer to $22."

"Mr. Li, this is too high. We have calculated the cost of raw materials. If you don't count the stainless steel plate, the cost of such an egg steamer will definitely not exceed 15 US dollars!" Takakura Wentai said.

"Mr. Takakura, what you calculated is the cost of raw materials. Don't forget that there is also the cost of the patent. I have an egg steamer, and I want you to pay $1 for the patent fee, isn't that too much?" Li Weidong said.

"That's only $16!" Takakura Wenta said.

"There are also labor costs! I need to pay the workers wages, and in addition, I also need some profit! In the home appliance industry, gross profit of more than 25% is very common, so the $22 I want is a very reasonable one. Price." Li Weidong said.

Gao Cang Wentai shook his head: "No, I'll give you a maximum of $18!"

"21 dollars!" Li Weidong said.

"$19!" Takakura Wenta immediately countered.

"One price, 20 dollars!" Li Weidong said immediately.

Takakura Wenta didn't answer immediately, but fell into thinking.

Li Weidong immediately added: "At the price of 20 US dollars, if Xizhi Electric orders more than 300,000 units at one time, I will give you an additional 5,000 units. Of course, you have to pay for the stainless steel plate."

300,000 units are given away to 5,000 units, which is equivalent to US$19.67 per unit, which is an acceptable figure for Xizhi Electric.

However, the number of 300,000 units is a bit large, but it exceeds the plan of Xizhi Electric. In the plan of Xizhi Electric, there is no plan to buy so many egg steamers at one time.

"300,000 units? That's too much. Mr. Li, you are very optimistic about the market for this product!" Takakura Wentai said.

Li Weidong shook his head: "I think it is Xizhi Electric who underestimated the market for egg steamers. The mere 300,000 egg steamers are put into the Japanese market, and they will be sold out soon. By then, you Xizhi Electric will probably need it. more orders."

"I'm not as optimistic as you are." Gao Cangwen shook his head.

"Mr. Takakura, you have been on Hong Kong Island for too long! You must know that Japan's consumption habits are different from Hong Kong Island." Li Weidong said with a smile.

But Takakura Wentai looked disapproving. He said, "Mr. Li, I'm Japanese, and I still know a lot about Japanese consumption habits."

"Oh? Then, Mr. Takakura, when was the last time you bought daily necessities in a Japanese mall?" Li Weidong still asked with a smile.

"Uh, well, because my workplace has always been on Hong Kong Island, I usually don't have the chance to visit Japanese shopping malls." Takakura Wenta continued, slightly embarrassed, "But that doesn't mean that I don't know Japanese people. consumption habits.”

"Then let me ask another way? Which part of the population is the main force in the Japanese consumer market?" Li Weidong asked.

"Of course they are middle-aged people, middle-aged office workers between the ages of forty and fifty. Their salaries are relatively high and the number of people is large enough. Of course, they are the main force in the consumer market." Takakura Wentai replied without hesitation.

"You are wrong, Mr. Takakura. The main force of the Japanese consumer market is housewives." Li Weidong continued: "I can guarantee that a thirty-five-year-old housewife has more spending power than a forty-five-year-old housewife. Male class heads are much taller."

Takakura Wentai instinctively wanted to refute, but after thinking about it carefully, it was really the case.

After the Japanese get married, many women will choose to be full-time wives. Before Japan's economic bubble burst, the income of the Japanese working class was generally higher, and women had more full-time wives after marriage than later generations.

In traditional Japanese families, it is the wife who manages the money, and the wife is also responsible for the daily expenses of the family. The husband has to receive pocket money from the wife.

Housewives in Japan are the role of managing both money and spending, and are naturally the main force in the consumer market.

And those office workers who work hard all day, wear suits and ties every day, look like dogs, but in fact have no money in their hands, so naturally they can't talk about consumption.

Li Weidong continued to say: "The main job of Japanese housewives is to take care of the family. They get up early every morning, prepare breakfast for the whole family, prepare dinner for the whole family every night, and prepare lunch boxes for their husbands and children. So they spend a long time in the kitchen every day.

As a household appliance used in the kitchen, the egg steamer can save time and energy for housewives. Of course, housewives will be excited about such a product. For housewives who hold family financial power, they should be very Happy to spend four or five thousand yen on a machine that will save them time and effort.

How many families and how many housewives there are in Japan, I think Mr. Takakura knows better than me. The mere 300,000 egg steamers are simply a drop in the bucket if they are put into the Japanese market. Those housewives will soon snatch up these 300,000 egg steamers. "

Wentai Gao Cang sighed lightly: "Okay, Mr. Li, you are a great salesman. You successfully persuaded me, and Xizhi Electric signed the contract according to the number of 300,000 units."

"Mr. Takakura, happy cooperation!" Li Weidong laughed.

...

With 300,000 egg steamers and a contract worth 6 million US dollars, Li Weidong got it.

After leaving the office of Xizhi Electric in Hong Kong, Zheng Jianan drove Li Weidong back to the hotel.

"Since Xizhi Electric has been discussed by you, should I contact you about other electrical appliance brands, such as Panasonic, Hitachi, Sanyo, etc.?" Zheng Jianan asked.

Li Weidong shook his head: "No, one Xizhi Electric is enough. If there are more, my production capacity will not be able to keep up. And I choose Xizhi Electric for my purpose."

"What purpose?" Zheng Jianan asked.

"Sishiba is the most unprofessional of the Japanese home appliance giant brands. During World War II, Xizhi was a military enterprise under Mitsui. Even now, Xizhi still produces weapons such as tanks, machine guns, and cannons.

Don't look at the fact that Xizhi Electric is booming in the household appliance industry, but their business focus has begun to expand to the fields of digital technology, mobile communication technology and network technology. The proportion of household appliances in Xizhi's business will only increase. less and less.

Xizhi's strategy is to become a pioneer in the IT industry. If it weren't for the "Japan-US Semiconductor Agreement", Xizhi would have already made the best semiconductors in the world. Although the "Japan-US Semiconductor Agreement" limits the development of Xizhi in semiconductors, Xizhi is still the world's top level in personal computers and storage devices.

Just imagine, a company that focuses on the high-tech industry, how can it care about my simple egg steamer? How did they spend their time on the egg steamer? Compared with other household appliance brands, Xizhi Electric is running too fast, and it is about to run out of the home appliance field, which is why I choose Xizhi Electric.

Xizhi's business focus is not household appliances, which means that Xizhi Electric needs more OEMs, which is an opportunity for me. In the future, Xizhi will continue to weaken its household appliance business, and I may also learn from Xizhi Electric. When I get more OEM orders, I will not only be a mere egg steamer, but I can also get OEM orders for other products from Xizhi Electric.

If you switch to other home appliance brands, such as Panasonic, Hitachi, and Sony, their business focus will always be on home appliances. Of course, in the future, they will also need OEM to reduce costs, but at least they will not shrink their home appliance business like Xizhi. "

Zheng Jianan nodded with a vague understanding. Although she is a lawyer, she doesn't quite understand the strategic layout of doing business.

...

In Li Weidong's original plan, he wanted to build his own brand. After all, when it comes to household appliances, brand is a very important factor. Even most consumers who buy appliances only look at the brand and nothing else.

However, the severe foreign trade situation made Li Weidong have to interrupt his brand plan, and his puppy brand can only be put on hold temporarily.

Since his own brand cannot be sold, the only way for Li Weidong to continue to make money in the international market is to do OEM for big international brands.

The profit of being an OEM is not high, and you can only earn a hard money, but for China in the late 1980s, it seems that there is no power to choose among others. After the money is made, let's talk about it!

Many foreigners are too lazy to do, disdain to do, and unwilling to do, the Chinese do not dislike it, and use them all, even if there is only a small profit, even if it will pay for health and the environment.

These are the price of development. Foreigners are not philanthropists. They will not hand over those relaxing, comfortable and healthy jobs to the Chinese. There are good errands to make money while lying down. Of course, they should keep them for themselves first.

However, being an OEM is not without its benefits.

For Li Weidong, in addition to accumulating capital, being an OEM can also accumulate technology.

The OEM process was actually a learning process, and it was a very valuable opportunity for China, which was still very backward at that time.

In the future, many well-known domestic brands will start out as OEMs.

At the beginning of assembling products for foreigners, and then gradually substituting domestic parts for parts, and finally realizing pure domestic products. At this time, the company has accumulated enough production experience, and they have the ability to launch their own products, relying on cabbage. The competitive advantage of price, and then drive the foreign brands out of the market.

Made in China, that's how it grew up step by step from pretending to be a grandson.

...

Li Weidong did not stay on Hong Kong Island for too long. He returned to Yangcheng with an order of six million US dollars from Xizhi Electric.

At this time, the Canton Fair is not over yet.

After getting off the boat, Li Weidong took a taxi to the Canton Fair site, and then went straight to Ma Dexing's office.

"Director Li? Are you back from Hong Kong Island? Sit on the sofa first." Ma Dexing saw that it was Li Weidong, but he didn't see any outsiders, and asked directly, "You took the initiative to attack, did you gain anything? Did you get the order?"

"I got the order." Li Weidong nodded.

Ma Dexing originally asked casually, he didn't have much hope for Li Weidong, until he heard that there was an order, Ma Dexing was instantly refreshed.

"Really signed the order? This is a good thing! Director Li, take a rest first, I'll pour tea for you!" Ma Dexing stood up, walked to the thermos, and began to make tea for Li Weidong.

"If there is no order, it is estimated that you can't even drink tea!" Li Weidong complained in his heart, and then said. "This time I went to Xizhi Electric's office on Hong Kong Island and got the order from there."

"Xizhi Electric's order!" Ma Dexing was surprised at first, then ran back to his desk and took out a box of beautifully packaged tea from the drawer.

I saw a smile on Ma Dexing's face: "Director Li, I just got a good box of tea leaves, which I'm going to use for next year's Asian Games. You have to try it!"

Li Weidong sighed silently, it seems that this Xizhi electric appliance is still very famous, and it is worth a cup of tea specially provided by the Asian Games!

Ma Dexing took the brewed tea, walked to Li Weidong, handed the teacup to Li Weidong, and then asked, "Director Li, how much is the contract amount?"

"Six million!" Li Weidong replied.

"Hong Kong dollar?" Ma Dexing asked subconsciously.

"Of course it's US dollars!" Li Weidong said, calmly picked up the teacup, and blew on the tea leaves floating on it.

Hearing that it was US dollars, Ma Dexing couldn't sit still.

"Director Li? Where's the contract? Let me see it!"