Chapter 257 Battery
Faced with the generosity of the people from Kansai, not only was Yasuda stunned, but even Shirakawa Kaede felt a little uncomfortable.
In the past, when negotiating with other business people, everyone would exchange pleasantries for a while first.
Then they keep probing or hinting in roundabout ways, rarely expressing themselves directly.
This guy, on the other hand, not only made his intentions clear, but also said it so bluntly and as if it were a matter of course.
However, Baichuan Feng soon adapted to the other party's straightforward negotiation style.
"Kawaguchi-san means that Panasonic wants the technology license for the automatic tape-flipping function of Shirakawa Electric's Walkman?"
"That's right," Kawaguchi Nanyi nodded calmly, "Good technology also needs to be promoted to consumers on a larger scale before it can be recognized by the public and even the industry."
“Of course, Panasonic is a company that is happy to actively communicate with industry colleagues.
If your company has any ideas that require Panasonic's assistance, please feel free to bring them forward and we will seriously consider them."
Very good, it’s not a bad idea for everyone to talk about the topic openly.
So does Shirakawa Kaede agree to license the idea of automatic cassette flipping in the Walkman to Panasonic?
To be honest, he doesn't reject this.
First of all, this is just a practical idea and there is no R&D difficulty or technical barriers.
The fact that Panasonic came to discuss cooperation is already a sign of the generosity of a large company. If it were some smaller companies, they might just make some modifications and use it secretly.
And even if Panasonic gets the license, it will probably take until next year before it can actually be applied to products.
So Shirakawa Kaede didn't mind the so-called cooperation mentioned by Kawaguchi Nanyi.
At this moment, he had already started thinking about what he could get from Panasonic.
If you want something, it must be something you don't have.
Of course, you can't be too fanciful. If you want refrigerator and air-conditioning technology, it will be meaningless to Shirakawa Electric now.
Only those things that Shirakawa Electric may use in the future but does not have are the first choice.
In terms of audio, a complete set of sound effects technology has been packaged from Aiwa.
Digital technology, uh, this seems a bit difficult.
Everyone is keeping a tight grip on cutting-edge technologies that have not yet been released.
This is one of the strategic layouts for future products, how can it be shown to others so easily?
As for handheld game consoles, Panasonic did not mention it at all, which can be ignored.
So what else is there in Panasonic that is worth Shirakawa Kaede's attention?
He looked at Kawaguchi Nan'ichi who was waiting for his response, and then at Yasuda who was frowning.
Hmm, when he saw Yasuda, he remembered something.
"Kawaguchi-san," Shirakawa Kaede leaned closer, "Shirakawa Electric can reach an agreement with Panasonic regarding this authorization."
Kawaguchi Nanyi smiled slightly. Although Mr. Shirakawa was young, he was quite sensible.
"However, Shirakawa Electric also hopes to cooperate with Panasonic in the energy field."
Huh? Kawaguchi Nan was stunned.
We were clearly talking about audio equipment, why did you suddenly switch to the irrelevant topic of energy?
"Energy?" The turn was too big and Kawaguchi Nanyi was a little unable to react.
Not to mention him, even Yasuda, who was sitting with Shirakawa Kaede, was a little dazed.
"Please don't misunderstand me . The specific area that Shirakawa Electric wants to cooperate with Panasonic is batteries."
Seeing that the other party was still puzzled, Baichuan Feng explained again considerately.
Battery technology? Kawaguchi Kusuichi finally understood.
Panasonic has been involved in the battery field since 1923. After decades of development, it has now spread across all areas of battery technology.
It covers lead-acid batteries for cars, acid-alkaline batteries for home use, solar cells and hydrogen batteries in the new energy field, etc.
Some have already been put into commercial use on the market, while others are still under cutting-edge development.
However, none of them can be compared with the small automatic tape-flipping technology in front of us.
Kawaguchi Nanyi looked strange, "Excuse me, Shirakawa-san, but the value of battery technology and cassette player flipping technology are totally incomparable.
Is your request a bit too much to ask?"
He actually had a pretty good impression of Baichuan Feng, but did the other party really seriously consider such an impolite request?
"Mr. Kawaguchi, Shirakawa Electric does not intend to directly exchange technology with Panasonic with this authorization .
We will have differential compensation, and Shirakawa Electric wants to try only household battery technology.”
Baichuan Feng certainly knew the difference in value between the two, and he was not arrogant enough to want to exchange them with Panasonic on an equal basis.
He just wanted to solve the battery life problem for his own Walkman and try out the energy field.
"Household batteries?" After listening to Baichuan Feng's explanation, Kawaguchi Nan'ichi subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.
It seems that Mr. Shirakawa is self-aware and did not ask for an exorbitant amount just because Panasonic came to him.
The reason why Kawaguchi Nan'ichi was relieved was that household batteries had obvious limitations compared to other batteries.
The market seems vast, but in fact the profits are limited.
They are used in radios, remote controls, toys, etc., but a No. 5 or No. 7 battery only costs a few dozen yen.
The profit is very thin, and even if the total amount increases, the final income will be just average.
To put it bluntly, the added value is low and the gap is too large compared with functional electronic products.
Moreover, household batteries are not a monopoly industry. There are too many companies in Japan engaged in this business.
For example, Sanyo, whose business overlaps closely with Shirakawa Electric, also makes household batteries.
So when he heard that Shirakawa Kaede also wanted to enter this field, Kawaguchi Nan'ichi was not too surprised.
After all, Japanese companies are famous for their complicated business operations, and everyone is used to it.
What's more, the truly lucrative areas are other technical battery fields, such as lead-acid batteries for cars, which cost at least a few thousand yen each, and can cost hundreds of thousands of yen for those used in high-end cars.
Not to mention solar energy, hydrogen batteries and lithium batteries. Once they can be used commercially on a large scale, they will almost be giants in the energy field.
Panasonic does not see mature and severely involution-prone household batteries as the focus of its business.
"I understand what Mr. Shirakawa means, but home battery technology is not within the scope of Technics' business.
All I can do is report Mr. Shirakawa's ideas to the headquarters.
As for the final result, I cannot make any guarantees. "
After much consideration, Kawaguchi Nan finally gave a relatively conservative statement.
After all, he was just an employee under the audio division, and battery technology was not only cross-departmental but also cross-professional for him.
"Of course," Shirakawa Feng nodded, "Shirakawa Electric's battery technology only serves our company's electronic products.
In addition, regardless of whether Panasonic agrees or not, Shirakawa Electric will actively communicate with your company regarding cooperation in terms of authorization.”
"Okay." Seeing Shirakawa Kaede's sincerity, Kawaguchi Nanyi nodded with satisfaction, "I will definitely convey your company's expectations to the headquarters."
"In this case, I hope we can have a deeper cooperation next time we meet."
"With great pleasure."
Just when Kawaguchi Nanyi stood up and was about to leave, Baichuan Feng signaled him to be patient.
"It's a rare opportunity for Kawaguchi-san to come to Tokyo, so why not take a good look at the charm of this place?"
"Hmm?" Kawaguchi Nan's expression changed slightly.
"Later, I will arrange for a guide to accompany Mr. Kawaguchi to visit Rokubenben, which can be regarded as a small gesture of hospitality."
Shirakawa Feng smiled and signaled his assistant to inform Hasegawa that he was familiar with these places.
Roppongi, Kawaguchi Kusunoki swallowed.
"Well, in that case, I'll leave it to Mr. Shirakawa. Don't worry, I will definitely go to the headquarters in person."
"Then I'll leave it to you, Mr. Kawaguchi." Baichuan Feng then shook hands with the other party enthusiastically and said goodbye to each other.
After watching the other party leave, Baichuan Feng sat down again and carefully thought about his decision.
"President, are we really going to enter the home battery field?"
Until now, Yasuda is still surprised by Shirakawa Kaede's proposal.
"Aren't our Walkmans the most complained about for their battery life? Why are we backing off now that we have the opportunity to completely solve this problem?"
Baichuan Feng looked at him with some amusement. The battery life issue has almost become a concern for Yasuda.
He made several design adjustments, but to little avail.
There is not much room for hardware changes. If we want to solve the battery life problem, we can only find a solution from the root.
"But current household batteries cannot solve the problem of the battery life of portable players."
Yasuda was being tactful when he said that the mature batteries all performed mediocrely, not to mention the new entrant, Shirakawa Electric.
"Of course," Baichuan Feng nodded with a smile, "Since the current batteries cannot meet the demand, what about the future ones?"
"Huh?" Yasuda looked at Shirakawa Kaede in a daze, wondering why the president was so confident.
This is a battery. It looks simple, but it is not so easy to master it.
"Don't worry, just treat it as an experiment. Shirakawa Electric is not in a hurry to develop new batteries, so it's enough to get started now."
Baichuan Feng did not feel any urgency regarding the battery, he just treated it as a casual arrangement.
The reason why he wanted to discuss cooperation in this area with Panasonic was to avoid taking detours.
There are ready-made techniques and recipes for reference. Do you have to start from scratch?
It is possible, but progress is too slow.
Baichuan Feng is now used to solving problems with money. It is simple, crude and effective.
Even if the deal with Panasonic fails, he will find a way to buy technology from other battery manufacturers.
In short, Shirakawa Electric is determined to give it a try in the field of batteries.
Start with simple household batteries and accumulate technology for the future.
As for future new energy sources... it's too early now, so let's just develop slowly.
…
It is already October, and in just over two months it will be the New Year.
Although time flies, Shirakawa Electric has been very active in the past six months.
There is no need to say much about the Bank of Taipei at the beginning of the year, and the chip at SIC was initially finalized in the middle of the year.
From the second half of this year to now, both handheld game consoles and portable players have undergone certain innovations.
The North American factory has also been built. Oh, and by the way, the defeated Aiwa has been swept out of the market again.
At the beginning of October, Shirakawa Electric once again held a three-party meeting with Sony and Aiwa.
With Sony's mediation, Shirakawa Electric spent 1.6 billion yen to acquire 5.3% of Aiwa's shares.
At the same time, in private, Aiwa's sound technology was sold to Shirakawa Electric in a package at a very low price.
At this point, the two companies, which were originally competitors and even had some conflicts with each other, suddenly shook hands and made peace, shocking the outside media.
With the formal signing of the agreement, Shirakawa Electric has become a shareholder of Aiwa and is also a shareholder qualified to hold a board seat.
This... even the mentally perverted media finds it unbelievable.
In the past, the two families fought to the death. Was it because of love or hate?
Could it be an act? However, gossip is gossip, but the name of Shirakawa Electric is becoming more and more famous.
For the general public, being able to acquire shares in another well-known company is a symbol of strength.
Although Shirakawa Electric has not gone public, it now seems more mysterious.
And because of Baichuan Feng's operation, Aihua's shares, which had been falling continuously, showed signs of recovery.
Overall, the second half of the year was fruitful, but there were also some problems.
For example, there is the price increase of handheld game console display screens and the battery life issue of high-end portable players.
These two problems cannot be solved in the short term, and we can only take it one step at a time.
In addition, in late autumn, Shirakawa Kaede unexpectedly received an invitation.
