Chapter 436: One wave has not yet subsided, another wave has risen
Judging from these two contacts, the embassy should have great sincerity towards Shirakawa Kaede's visit.
Even if Baichuan Feng 's guess is correct, he might receive a formal invitation from the embassy in a while.
Of course, this is a later story, but the future business direction needs to be planned in advance.
"In short, within five years, except for the necessary domestic production capacity, all other factories in Neon will be gradually relocated.
It started with Walkman and headphones, and then slowly transitioned to CD players, electronic dictionaries, televisions and other products.”
The technical content gradually increases from low to high.
It’s not that Baichuan Feng looks down on the technological environment in his hometown and specifically chooses to transfer production capacity to products with low technological content.
Not to mention that this is the instinctive choice of capital, at this moment China does not have a supporting production system.
Take CD players for example, there are no suitable parts suppliers in China.
The laser head, motor, decoding chip, turntable structure, etc., almost all depend on Neon to provide.
The round-trip journey between the two places is long, and there is also an additional shipping cost.
Therefore, if it cannot solve the supply of more than 50% of the parts, Shirakawa Electric will not consider directly relocating the factory.
As for products like walkman and headphones, Baichuan Feng now doubts whether he can get them in his hometown.
After all, China has not yet established a qualified quality system, and the processing accuracy of parts remains to be tested.
However, considering the diligence of the labor force and the speed of improvement in personnel quality, Baichuan Feng is willing to spend more money and time to cultivate the development of the industrial system in China.
Of course, he is not such a selfless person. The huge future market in China is what Shirakawa Electric has been coveting for a long time.
The sooner we get involved, the deeper our cooperation will be, so that many things can be put on the table for discussion in the future.
After receiving Baichuan Feng's order, everyone knew that their boss had made up his mind.
In that case, let's prepare well and do our best.
Let’s not talk about anything else in our daily life, but when it comes to obeying orders, there is nothing to complain about.
“Starting next year, everyone here can consider going to Yizhou and Huaxia for field research.
In addition to studying the local industrial system configuration, understanding the local market situation is also one of our goals.”
Shirakawa Feng firmly believes that if one wants to integrate into the local market, one must fully understand their preferences or customs.
Simply treating China as a foundry is not his ultimate goal.
Don’t forget what he said before, cultivating the market is also one of the goals for the next few years.
"President, do you have any instructions regarding the market in Japan?"
The relocation of factories is to cope with the impact of the appreciation of the yen on exports, but the Japanese domestic market is also an area that needs attention.
After all, in the next few years, Neon will still be the largest source of profit for Shirakawa Electric besides the North American market.
"Regarding the local market..." Baichuan Feng paused, "In addition to continuing to innovate, we also need to spend more time on high-end products."
"Eh?" Hasegawa and the others looked at each other in surprise.
In the past, Shirakawa Feng often emphasized to them that taking root in the grassroots market is the business purpose of Shirakawa Electric.
Why did you suddenly change your temper now?
"Just because I said we should put more effort into high-end products doesn't mean we will give up on the low-end market."
As if he had guessed what they were thinking, Baichuan Feng added another sentence.
"You haven't noticed that this year, especially since the end of the year, there are more and more people in Ginza."
Shirakawa Kaede suddenly turned the topic to Ginza, and no one reacted for a moment.
"President, are you saying that more and more people are willing to spend money?" The clever Hasegawa asked tentatively.
"That's right," Baichuan Feng nodded, looking like a teachable boy, "Hasegawa-san has a very keen sense of the market."
"Ahem~" Hase Izu felt a little flattered after receiving the praise. President, I will always be your lackey.
Ignoring Hasegawa who looked like a bootlicker, Shirakawa Kaede began to analyze the market for everyone.
"The appreciation of the yen may not be good for you, me, or the Japanese government. But it is good for consumers, at least for now.
It is obvious that as the yen appreciates, its purchasing power internationally will also increase.
High-end goods originally imported from the United States can now be purchased at a 20% discount, so consumers are of course happy about it.
As time goes by, once consumption habits are formed, Neon’s high-end products will be driven invisibly.”
This is actually a cover-up. The real reason is the stock market and property market bubble, and people have endless money in their pockets.
At that time, no matter how high-end the product was, they would be bought out completely for you.
But Baichuan Feng couldn't tell the reason so directly. Some magical things will only be believed by others if they happen, otherwise they will just treat you as a fool.
“In short, if the group consuming high-end products expands, then high-end products will be our basic market.
Shirakawa Electric's business purpose is to stand on the side of the vast majority of consumer groups."
Under normal circumstances, the consumer group for low-end products is the largest, but the situation in Japan is likely to be reversed in the next few years.
So Baichuan Feng is also flexible and adaptable, which is to please the majority of people, and this will never change.
After this explanation, everyone felt as if they had suddenly realized something.
Because the number of people in Ginza increased, they saw it with their own eyes.
This alone makes it worthwhile for Shirakawa Electric to work hard on high-end products in the coming year.
After deciding on the basic policy for dealing with the appreciation of the yen, Shirakawa Kaede began to discuss with everyone the operating conditions of Shirakawa Electric this year.
By the end of 1985, Shirakawa Electric's product lineup had become increasingly large.
There are more than a dozen types in total, among which the most eye-catching one this year is the 14-inch LCD TV.
The performance of Shirakawa Electric's super-large LCD screen at the World Expo earlier this year is still vivid and well-known around the world.
In the second half of the year, the first generation of LCD TVs finally rolled off the production line at Shirakawa Electric's factory.
Since its launch, this ultra-thin high-definition LCD TV has caused a huge sensation in Japan.
After all, Japan became a household name thanks to its stunning debut at the World Expo.
But everyone also knows that it is a concept product, more like a trailer.
However, in just half a year, this thing called LCD TV has become a reality. How can this not be surprising?
Although it is only 14 inches in size now, it still can't stop people from being enthusiastic about it.
Even at an extremely high price of 340,000 yen, Shirakawa Electric still sold more than 500,000 LCD TVs in the second half of 1985.
Due to the high technical difficulty and high profits, LCD TVs have now become Shirakawa Electric's most profitable product .
This type of television will also be exported overseas next year.
I believe that with the previous advertising at the World Expo , its performance overseas will not disappoint.
However, with every increase comes a decrease. Affected by the appreciation of the yen, the share of other products such as Walkman in Shirakawa Electric's exports this year has dropped significantly.
Compared with last year, excluding LCD TVs, Shirakawa Electric's profit this year is only about US$1.7 billion, which is US$200 million less than last year.
This is the impact the Plaza Accord caused in just one quarter, and the future is even more uncertain.
If it weren't for the nearly $300 million in profits brought in by LCD TVs, Shirakawa Electric's profits this year might not be as much as last year.
This is also the reason why Baichuan Feng wants to move these Walkman factories to China. Reducing costs can ensure more profits.
Under the manufacturing sector, another industry that is most affected is SIC.
Not to mention the impact of the appreciation of the yen, the cyclical recession in the semiconductor industry alone has almost halved SIC's profits this year.
The price of a 256K DRAM chip has dropped drastically from US$31 last year to less than US$3 this year.
There is a gap of more than 10 times, and few semiconductor manufacturers can withstand it.
No wonder Intel directly announced its withdrawal from the DRAM chip field in October, and gradually closed seven domestic wafer fabs, focusing on processor chip business in the future.
Because of the cyclical depression, it is not just DRAM chips that are affected, but processor chips are also greatly affected.
For example, SIC's 16-bit chip SIC80281 was sold to Apple for US$90 per piece last year.
But this year the price has become US$60 per piece, and SIC took the initiative to request a price reduction.
It has to lower its prices. If SIC holds its ground, Apple will most likely turn around and throw itself back into the arms of Motorola.
So even though the contract had been signed, SIC still took the initiative to lower the price in exchange for Apple's promise to continue purchasing SIC chips in the coming year.
At this price, SIC actually has no profit, but in order to maintain its market share, it has to persevere even if it loses money.
Otherwise, if SIC loses Apple, it will be difficult for it to enter North America in the future.
Fortunately, the price of SIC80381, the latest 32-bit chip released by SIC this year, is still strong and remains at around US$350.
It was released almost at the same time as Intel's 80386, and its performance was roughly the same, with the former even slightly better.
This is the first time that SIC has caught up with Intel and their performance has remained at the same level.
Because of its powerful computing power, Apple has decided to use this chip in its next generation of high-end Mac models.
Although Steve Jobs is no longer with us, this does not affect the cooperation between Apple and SIC.
Even Baichuan Feng thought that without the paranoid boss Steve Jobs, Apple had become more approachable.
In short, affected by the semiconductor depression, SIC's profit this year was only US$100 million, a significant drop.
Compared with HAL, it is several times less.
Alas, the semiconductor winter is coming.
Especially for SIC, which is located in Japan, even though it is a fabless semiconductor company, its future may not be easy.
Because this year, the United States has become more stringent in its semiconductor investigations in Japan.
In August, Intel and Micron filed an anti-dumping lawsuit against manufacturers in Japan, following a two-month investigation in September and October.
In November, the International Trade Commission ruled that EPROM products imported from Japan damaged the U.S. industry.
In December, the U.S. government preliminarily ruled that 64K DRAM was sold at a price below fair value.
The final ruling on the lawsuits regarding the two products will be announced in the first half of next year.
Judging from the current trend, it is obvious that the situation in Neon is not good.
Storms come one after another.
