Chapter 369: Supporting Role
"That's right, the third type of CD player." Bai Chuanfeng looked at everyone and confirmed, "In addition to listening to music at home and outdoors, have you forgotten another important platform?"
"Eh" Everyone became more and more confused, looking at him like curious babies.
Baichuan Feng didn't keep the secret and said softly, "Car CD player."
Hiss~, everyone was startled and shuddered as if they had been enlightened.
How could I have forgotten this? Today's cars can play music with cassette players, so there's no reason why CD players can't.
Besides, portable CD players have come out, so how difficult is it to install a CD player in a car? Just make some minor changes.
"Regarding the in-car CD player, our goal is to produce a prototype in the first half of the year, and then we will take it to major automakers for promotion."
"I understand." Nakajima Heitaro and Yasuda nodded seriously. They knew that this would be another channel for mass shipments of CD players.
Think about the many cars that roll off the assembly line every year. If every car consumes a car CD player, there is no doubt that this market is extremely large.
As for the main marketing target of the car CD player, Baichuan Feng already had some ideas in mind.
Shirakawa Electric has no chance of even thinking about competing with Toyota, Japan's largest automaker.
Because Toyota belongs to the Mitsui Zaibatsu, and under the Mitsui Zaibatsu there are electronics manufacturers such as Sony and Toshiba.
So even if Toyota needs to consider a car CD player, Sony and Toshiba will be their first choice.
In addition, the Mitsui Zaibatsu also has Suzuki Motor and Daihatsu Motor, which have basically no connection with Shirakawa Electric.
By the same token, Mitsubishi Motors and Honda Motor, two automakers under Mitsubishi, another large conglomerate, do not need supplies from Shirakawa Electric.
Mitsubishi Electric has its own consumer electronics manufacturing department, so making a car CD player is not technically difficult for them at all.
Following this logic, the Fuji Group has Nissan Motor, but they also have Hitachi.
Consumer electronics are within Hitachi's business scope, so Shirakawa Electric still has little hope.
Then there is Mazda Motor, which is a member of the Sumitomo Group.
It also owns NEC, a strong brand in the consumer electronics field.
Looking at it all, Japan's mainstream car brands seem to have their ideal partners.
So does this mean that Shirakawa Electric's car CD player has no market at all?
That's not the case. Don't forget that Shirakawa Electric is also a member company of Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank.
There are also automobile manufacturers such as Isuzu within Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank.
It is the automobile manufacturer that Shirakawa Feng is most confident of taking over. After all, isn't it normal for everyone in the consortium to support each other?
Unfortunately, although Isuzu is a car manufacturer, their market is mainly in the truck and bus fields.
As for small cars, although they exist, their presence is slightly low.
The situation does not seem optimistic, but Shirakawa Electric is not completely without a way out. Subaru Automobile is the target that Shirakawa Feng wants to focus on.
Although the Nakajima Zaibatsu is behind him, it just so happens that this zaibatsu has made great achievements in the field of heavy industry, but has basically no involvement in consumer electronics.
You see, thanks to its early move, Shirakawa Electric's opportunity has come, right?
"In the CD player field, in addition to the three main products of portable CD players, desktop CD players, and car CD players, the production of optical drives must also be stepped up."
At a briefing in July last year, Shirakawa Electric had already produced a hand-scratch version of the optical drive, thus overcoming the hurdle of creating something from scratch.
The next task is to standardize the optical drive as soon as possible and establish its supporting production line.
Taro Shima and his colleagues have been working on these tasks, and some will soon be put into production.
"If all goes well, Shirakawa Electric's first optical drive will be ready to roll off the production line in two weeks."
“Very good, the subsequent production plan will still proceed according to the original route.
The supply to IBM is the internal version, while the supply to Japan is the external version. "
The computer market in North America is completely different from that in Japan. Computers there generally cost around two to three thousand dollars.
Such a high overall price, plus an optical drive that costs three or four hundred dollars, does not seem out of place.
But this is not the case in Japan, because the price of computers in Japan is generally around 100,000 yen, which is only about 600 to 700 US dollars.
If the optical drive is built in at this time, it will mean that the price will increase by 50%.
There is no doubt that consumers will strongly resist such a large price gap.
Therefore, the best approach at this time is to make the optical drive into an external version for the public to choose from.
The main reason why there is such a big price difference between computers in North America and Japan is that companies such as IBM have spread the research and development costs across every computer.
When new computers are first launched, IBM generally does not make any money, or even if it does, the profit is very low.
However, with the improvement of technology and the increase in shipment volume, production costs will gradually decrease.
As a result, the more computers are sold, the more money they will make, and in the later stages the profit margin will become very considerable.
But Neon is different. Its computers have almost no R&D costs.
If IBM on the other side of the ocean came up with some new technology, they would buy a computer and take it apart to see what was going on. Then they would make a Japanese version of the corresponding technology, and that was it.
If it involves a patent and it is really impossible to copy it, then talk about licensing.
In short, don't buy original products from Northern America. The worst that can happen is to get authorization and produce them yourself.
All of these aims were to save production costs. The Hitachi mainframe corporate espionage case took place against this backdrop of the times.
So don't expect Japan to have any innovative technology in computers.
It has been following the copycat route since its inception, and has always been lagging behind IBM and others. There is no chance of any major innovation.
At the same time, in order to protect the local computer market, the Japanese government imposed many restrictions on computer imports.
This has resulted in IBM and Apple computers having almost no presence in Japan, with ordinary Japanese people only knowing brands such as NEC, Fujitsu, and Sharp.
In order to ensure that its optical drives can achieve good sales in different markets, Shirakawa Electric has also formulated different strategic routes.
After going over this year's mission objectives with the R&D team of Baichuan Electric, Baichuan Feng finally felt a lot more relaxed.
After making a decision on the general direction, he basically no longer cares about the remaining details.
It is impossible to take care of everything personally. There are so many companies under Shirakawa Holdings, how can it be possible to take care of everything ?
His greatest contribution is to be a good helmsman and provide guidance for those behind him.
…
New year, new hope. After returning to Tokyo and being busy for a while, Shirakawa Kaede began to think about setting up some business for himself.
Logically speaking, he already has many properties in Tokyo, so he should not be short of places to live.
However, at an internal exchange meeting of the Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank Group, an idle property caught his interest.
This property is located in Setagaya Ward, west of the six central wards of Tokyo. It is not too far from the center of Tokyo, but of course not too close either.
Compared to Chiyoda Ward where he lives now, to be honest, the location is not as good as the latter.
But the reason why it attracted Shirakawa Feng was that it was big enough. The entire house covered an area of about 3,000 square meters, which was almost the same size as the headquarters building of Shirakawa Electric.
Such a place can no longer be called a residence; perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it a manor.
Its first owner was a landlord in the Meiji era. Later, with the reform and post-war restructuring, the estate passed into the hands of the Seibu Group.
Seibu Group has been involved in residential land development since the 1950s, with properties in almost every county south of Tokyo.
Unlike ordinary residential properties which are measured in tsubo, Seibu Group's land assets are measured in hectares.
The scale of the residential buildings it develops is generally around thousands of households, and the smallest ones have several hundred households.
This is the scale of Seibu Group's development in land and real estate. Given its strength, it is not surprising that it owns a manor of more than 3,000 square meters in Setagaya District.
Seibu Department Store, which is under the Seibu Group, is also one of the member companies of Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank.
This is why Baichuan Feng has access to this property, otherwise this kind of resource would generally not circulate on the market.
After Shirakawa Kaede expressed some interest, Seibu Group happily completed the transaction.
In 1994, the average land price in Setagaya Ward was about 400,000 yen per square meter.
More than 3,000 square meters of land is 1.2 billion yen, and including the property the total is 1.8 billion yen.
After inspecting the environment of the manor on site, Baichuan Feng paid the money without hesitation.
It’s simple, it’s just too luxurious.
It’s not that the house is so luxurious, but the configuration is really what Shirakawa Feng likes.
In addition to the Japanese-style building that serves as the main house, the exquisite courtyard adds a bit of charm to this place.
The courtyard is a circular path with green trees and shades. The spacious courtyard is equipped with small bridges, flowing water, rockeries and fish ponds.
In a busy city like Tokyo, it is really fascinating to have a low-key luxury house hidden in a park corner.
However, although Baichuan Feng bought this place, he did not move in immediately.
Due to their age, many facilities are already a bit old.
In order to make your life more comfortable, necessary modern transformation is also necessary.
Besides, I'm alone now and don't need such a big place.
But considering the future, Baichuan Feng still felt that it was the right thing to do to take over this place.
In a few years, you won’t be able to buy properties like this even if you want to, even if you have extraordinary resources.
Although he spent a huge sum of money, Baichuan Feng did not feel bad about it, because all the money can be earned back.
Time passed quietly, and in the blink of an eye it was already February.
This month, a new company, Shirakawa Interactive Entertainment, was officially established under Shirakawa Holdings.
As originally planned, HAL Research Institute, Guide Toys, Tokuma Shoten, Daiei, etc. will be gradually transferred to its subsidiaries in the future.
At the same time, in order to improve the layout in the entertainment industry, it is time to set up a record company.
Considering that there were no relevant people in the industry around him, Shirakawa Kaede had no choice but to bring in Seiko Matsuda to fill the gap.
Of course, part of the reason for establishing the record company was for her sake.
So it’s not surprising that she was sought for advice.
