Chapter 134: Difficulties
"Takagi-san, let's make our own Walkman too!"
Yusuke Mibe's words made Takagi stunned.
But soon, Gao Mu became excited again. Why should I listen to Sony in everything? Can't my godson overthrow me?
"President, I support you!" Takagi has been unhappy with Sony for a long time.
Relying on being a major shareholder, the board member sent by Sony to sit on Aiwa's board was bossy every day and caused a lot of trouble for Takagi.
"By the way, President, look what this is?" Takagi took out a stack of documents from his briefcase as if he was presenting a treasure.
"Huh?" Yusuke Mibe took the information and took a look at it, then his eyes widened immediately.
"This is... Flashman's circuit design drawing?!" Yusuke Mibe turned to look at Takagi in disbelief.
A company's technical drawings are the most confidential information and will never be leaked under normal circumstances.
Although it was just a design drawing of the circuit part, it still made it difficult for Yusuke Mibe to understand how Takagi could have such a thing.
Takagi laughed proudly twice, and then recounted in detail what he had seen and heard during the production in Oda.
Takagi was well aware that his president was obsessed with the Walkman day and night.
When he accidentally heard Oda Jun talking about the Walkman, he immediately became interested in it.
Unexpectedly, the process was simpler than I thought.
Originally, he just wanted to take a look at the circuit design of Shirakawa Electric, after all, he knew a little about this part of knowledge.
But the stack of bright drawings placed not far away was too eye-catching.
If you don't take what heaven gives you, you will suffer the consequences.
So Gao Mu took advantage of the fact that no one was around and carefully read the technical drawings of Shirakawa Electric, and copied the details of the key parts with the paper and pen he brought with him.
After listening to Takagi's description, Mibe Yusuke burst into laughter. This is really... God is helping me.
"Our Aihua's Walkman will be put into production soon." Yusuke Mibe patted the drawings in his hands and smiled meaningfully.
"President, what you mean is..." Takagi's eyes began to sparkle again.
"Hmph" Yusuke Mibe sneered, his meaning couldn't be more obvious.
He doesn't even care about the Sony Walkman license now, so why would he care about whether an unknown small company infringes on his rights?
"Just change the circuit diagram a little bit, and replace the electronic components. As long as it's not too obvious, it'll be fine."
"Ha!" Takagi understood immediately.
As a colleague, dealing with these couldn't be easier.
He also understands how to avoid the risk of plagiarism, and he knows all the tricks involved.
"By the way, in the future, we will exclude Oda Production and Kimura Production from being the OEMs for mid- to high-end products."
"Hmm?" Gao Mu was stunned for a moment, then immediately reacted. "I see."
Even the customer's technical information can be leaked so carelessly. There is no need to consider the possibility of cooperation with such a company in the future.
The reason why Yusuke Mibe planned to directly use the circuit design of Shirakawa Electric was because he didn't want to wait any longer.
He had already exhausted his patience with Sony, watching the Walkman making huge profits, which was more painful than his own Aiwa losing money.
If we need to redesign, we don’t know when it will take. It will take at least a few months, so it is wise to enter the market and make money as soon as possible.
He just didn't believe that Sony, who owned more than half of Aiwa's shares, would personally sue his godson?
It's an infringement, so what? The worst that can happen is that I can bow and apologize to Sony's board of directors.
After figuring this out, Yusuke Mibe suddenly felt a sense of relief as if his thoughts were clear.
As expected, if entrepreneurs want to make money, they should not care about their reputation.
…
Akihabara.
"The pink Flashman is out of stock again? Didn't you say last week that it would arrive today?"
Two girls were arm in arm, asking the clerk at a street electronics retail store.
Before the clerk could answer, the owner of the retail store came out.
He waved his hand and sighed helplessly, "There will be no Flashman here anymore, you can go somewhere else."
"Eh" The two girls looked at each other, not understanding what was going on.
The boss shook his head without further explanation. After all, no one would be happy if a product that was selling well suddenly couldn't be sold.
The two girls looked at each other and decided they had no choice but to try their luck at a large chain store.
However, the Flashman there is a little more expensive than those in other retail stores, and it does not come with a storage case.
But there is no way, the pink Flashman is really too cute. Whoever has it will be the most popular girl in the class.
…
Shirakawa Electric.
Another week passed, and this week was just as Baichuan Feng had guessed.
Small retailers have been calling to cancel orders one after another, and some medium-sized channels have also made similar requests in the past two days.
Flashman is still being shipped continuously in the market, and young people still like its small and fashionable design.
But careful people will find that the stores selling Flashman, which used to be everywhere, seem to be gradually decreasing.
No, to be precise, there are fewer and fewer stores that display Flashman in prominent positions.
Worse still, some electrical appliance retailers stopped restocking once they had sold out. When consumers inquired, they always replied that they were out of stock.
Therefore, people who wanted to buy Flashman could only gradually concentrate on large electrical appliance chain stores such as Yodobashi or Yamada Denki.
The undercurrent outside seems to have not yet affected Shirakawa Electric.
The workshop is still busy, but the previous three-shift operation day and night and the overloaded scene have disappeared.
Occasionally, the employees can stop and rest for a while, and Kazuo Yamaguchi no longer urges them to produce all the time.
At this moment in the president's office, Shirakawa Kaede is checking the number of orders for the latest week.
The sales volume of Flashman this week was only 7,000 units, which is a significant drop compared to the popularity during the New Year.
In addition to the decline in consumption enthusiasm after the New Year, the narrowing of sales channels is also a major reason.
In addition to the impact on sales, the backlog of orders during the New Year period has also been significantly reduced.
According to preliminary statistics, at least one-third of Shirakawa Electric's orders have disappeared.
This is just the beginning, it will be harder to say as time goes on.
Therefore, in order to reduce risks, the workshop's production capacity is no longer fully utilized, and the inventory in the warehouse is gradually reduced to a lower level.
Shirakawa Kaede couldn't tell when Hasegawa's move to sink into the market would take effect, so he could only delay it as much as possible.
In fact, many retailers outside are also waiting and watching. They want to see how Shirakawa Electric will respond.
After all, as channel dealers, they have witnessed the popularity of Flashman during the Chinese New Year.
If Shirakawa Electric can handle it properly, who would be willing to leave out a lot of money?
Besides, Sony only gave them a deadline, and it didn't stop the sales of Flashman immediately.
But if Shirakawa Electric fails to recover, they will turn to Sony without hesitation.
Once this trend takes shape, it is conceivable that Shirakawa Electric's shipping channels will collapse completely, and the consequence... the consequence will be its fate of being acquired by Sony.
So even though the workers in the workshop were unaware of anything, Baichuan Feng in the office already looked exhausted.
The pressure is on all the time, and he won't be able to sleep peacefully until the channel problem is solved.
Seeing his haggard appearance, Asuka Kobayashi bit her lip with a troubled look, not knowing what she was thinking.
"Ding-ling-ling"
The sound of the phone cheered Baichuan Feng up, and he quickly picked up the phone.
"Hai, ..., thank you for your care before. Shirakawa Electric will properly solve the problem. Please rest assured, Sato-san..."
After hanging up the phone, Baichuan Feng frowned even deeper.
"Shirakawa-kun, are you okay?" Asuka Kobayashi looked at him with concern.
Baichuan Feng shook his head, smiled and said, "It's okay . "
It's not a big deal, it's a serious matter.
The person who just called was from Yodobashi, and the other party hinted at him in both explicit and implicit ways.
Because of the pressure from Sony, if Shirakawa Electric can't come up with any solution.
Then they also have to consider Sony's face and may have to cancel the order.
Not only that, they are also persuading Shirakawa Kaede to try his best to coordinate the relationship with Sony. Cooperation is always better than the company going bankrupt.
Shirakawa Feng didn't know if Sony was passing on the message behind his back, but he knew that if Shirakawa Electric didn't come up with a feasible short-term solution, then would be in real danger.
Hasegawa has already led his men to open up channels , and the people from Bic Camera have followed suit just as Shirakawa Feng had guessed.
But the effect in the short term is almost invisible. It will take at least half a month to a month to see the initial effect, and by then it is estimated that the flower will be cold.
Baichuan Feng was even thinking about whether to continue to increase the retail store share to win them over.
However, this method of drinking poison to quench thirst is best not used unless it is absolutely necessary.
Once used, all future price negotiations for Shirakawa Electric's products will become passive.
"President, someone from Keio Group is here to visit." Assistant Komatsu reported breathlessly while standing at the door.
"Huh?" Baichuan Feng stood up in surprise.
