1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 545 Let’s talk about earnings manipulation

Located in Shinagawa District, Tokyo, next to an urban redevelopment block, is the Dahua Tokyo Office, which has been in use for nearly half a year.

Miss Mu put down the phone, her expression became a little serious but also a little excited.

Husband and wife are one, and helping each other is their natural duty.

But ever since they met, fell in love, and got married, she was always the one asking for things, while Yang Mo seldom asked for anything from her. This made her, who was proud and arrogant, feel quite uncomfortable - she had always looked down on those mediocre women who could only rely on their beauty to gain status, but she didn't expect that it would be her turn to be in a similar situation, which made it very difficult for her to accept emotionally.

So when Yang Mo encountered a difficult problem, the first thing he thought of was to ask her, which made her very happy... At least this showed that in Yang Mo's eyes, his wife was not a useless vase with nothing to recommend her except her face and figure.

But raising at least 1.2 million yuan within one and a half months and at least 3 million yuan within two months is a huge challenge.

Without it.

Don’t underestimate the booming brand overseas expansion plan led by Miss Mu. In just half a year, it has ignited dozens of niche brands and four or five mass brands, and the market scale it has leveraged is at the level of tens of billions of yen;
But you have to know that market size is market size, sales volume is sales volume, and profit is profit. These three cannot be equated at all.

Since the channel costs and marketing costs on the island country are ridiculously high, and the taxes on the island country are also not low, the monthly sales of these overseas brands are indeed very gratifying, but in fact, the net profit that finally flows into the account is not as amazing as outsiders think;
Don't forget that the housing prices in the island country have not yet begun to collapse, and the rent and operation and maintenance costs of the office are a huge expense. In addition, some overseas brands have adopted the joint venture + regional exclusive agency model, and the labor costs that Miss Mu needs to share are an astronomical figure every month... Although the economy of the island country is drastically declining, the basic salary of employees is still maintained at the previous level, which is definitely a sky-high price at the moment.

Of course, this is not the most important thing. After all, no matter how high the marketing and operation and maintenance costs are, most of these overseas brands are pharmaceuticals, beauty products, high-end tea, wine, cultural and creative mid-to-high-end foods with extremely high gross profit margins. Even if some products need to give up a large part of the commission to housewives who are responsible for circle distribution, the gross profit generated each month is still very impressive.

But the problem is...

Anyone with a little social common sense knows that during a period of macro-economic upturn and rapid inflation, if a company, after generating revenue, puts the excess money in the bank except for the necessary cash flow, it is absolutely a fool!

In fact, in view of the drastic fluctuations in the island nation's economy, the current instability of the Japanese yen's exchange rate, and the state-owned enterprise nature of Dahua, since the third month when the brand's overseas expansion plan began to take effect, Miss Mu convened a meeting of relevant domestic companies and set a "deficit management strategy" on the spot at the meeting.

Since the word "deficit" is included in it, it is obvious that Miss Mu has no intention of letting the money sit in the account and gather dust.

To put it simply, Miss Mu established new "broiler companies" in joint ventures with local companies on the island, and then used some means that cannot be brought to the table to get a considerable amount of operating loans. Together with the normal commercial loans of those project companies, she used them to cover the marketing and publicity expenses of some projects, and even the cash flow necessary for project operation and maintenance.

The actual profits created by those overseas brands rely on the newly established import and export trading companies under Dahua. A small part of them flows back to the country in the name of "importing Chinese goods" and is distributed to those domestic enterprises through secondary distribution for their normal operation and maintenance; but more of them are purchased in the island country in the form of various "second-hand equipment", patented technologies, and some core components, which are "exported" to China to force those companies to upgrade their technology and expand reproduction, as well as related investments in upstream industries.

This practice is very typical of state-owned enterprises. After all, Dahua Corporation does not regard making money as its top priority. Boosting the domestic economy, promoting industrial upgrading and creating jobs are their main tasks. Therefore, although many companies have complaints about this, they can only accept it with a pinch of their nose.

However, although the package of overseas brands presided over by Miss Mu has indeed leveraged the economies of many regions and revitalized hundreds of enterprises, including other tertiary industry units under the command (the number of tertiary industry units under the Donying Command is large, far more than the more than 300 allocated to Dahua Company), unless you immediately terminate the established deficit management strategy, the abundance of cash flow may not be comparable to that of an ordinary national import and export trading company.

Therefore, raising a minimum of 2 million yuan in funds within 3 months, and the secondment period is at least 2 years, is indeed a very challenging task for Miss Mu at the moment.

Of course, if it wasn't so difficult, Yang Mo wouldn't have asked her for help - in this day and age, 3 million yuan is an astronomical sum of money no matter which unit it is placed in.

After pondering for a long time in the office, Muliya picked up the phone on the desk and made a few calls. Then she stood up, opened the door of the office, and waited quietly for her friends to arrive.

………………

"Mr. Mu, this is the sales data of all products that have been assessed as having Grade A potential since the beginning of this spring... Well, based on the dynamic assessment scores from last week."

Bao Shuxian, who had been promoted to director of the marketing center, placed a stack of documents that were neither too thick nor too thin on the coffee table.

Although he and Mu Liya had a very good personal relationship due to Yang Mo, this was a formal occasion and there were other people in the room, so he naturally couldn't keep referring to her as sister-in-law.

Mu Liya looked at the document that looked thick but was actually just made up of five folders, and her eyebrows sank slightly.

However, she didn't want others to see her emotions, so she just smiled warmly and picked up the folder to read it.

"Well, it seems that our judgment two months ago was correct. With the deterioration of the island nation's economy, the lipstick economy has begun to reappear. More and more women's life plans have shifted from being working women to being housewives. Therefore, the sales of various beauty products and beauty and health products have increased instead of decreased... The sales of the [Aconite Warming Palace Spot Removing Patch] of the Mohua brand have jumped from zero to 2100 million yen per week in just two months, with an average month-on-month increase of 2700%. The performance is indeed impressive."

At this point, Mu Liya put down the folder and smiled at Bao Shuxian in a friendly manner, "Although it is a new product that has just been launched on the market, it is not surprising that the sales increase is as high as 2700%, but we can achieve sales of 2100 million yen per week without any consumer awareness. Director Bao really deserves credit."

The so-called "Aconite Warming Uterus and Removing Spots Patch" is actually a navel patch made by changing the shape of the domestic Aconite Lizhong Pills and adding some other fragrance-enhancing substances.

This thing is extremely cheap in China, a box of it costs a little over 1180 cents, and if you spread the cost out to the pill itself, it's just over two cents. Even if you change its form and upgrade it into a belly button patch, the actual cost of each patch is less than cent. However, this thing is sold to the island country under a different name, and the price is as high as yen a box. Each box only has seven patches, so you can imagine how exaggerated the gross profit is.

However, although the actual cost is pitifully low, the effect is extremely good. Sticking Fuzi Lizhong Pills (1/4~1/2 pill dosage) on the belly button can warm the uterus and activate blood circulation, improve qi and blood, and even turn the yellow skin from yellow to white. Therefore, relying on its real effect, this thing has become very popular after the initial strong promotion period... Especially for those who are preparing for pregnancy and planning to get married, it has become a must-have for everyone (the effect of Fuzi Lizhong Pills is real. Although it may not be suitable for everyone, it should be effective for most pre-menopausal women).

More importantly, the processing methods of a series of highly toxic Chinese medicinal raw materials, including aconite, have always been a secret of China. They have even been included in the export controlled technology since the 80s. Relevant Chinese practitioners are not even allowed to process them overseas. Therefore, even if the counterparts in the island countries are jealous and want to copy them, they lack the necessary basic conditions (mainly non-technical considerations). It is definitely a good product with natural technical barriers... In fact, this is a prerequisite for the Aconite Warming Uterus and Anti-Freckle Patch to be chosen as the main product promoted in the second round of brand going overseas.

It's just a pity that the Aconite Warming Uterus Spot-Removing Patch was only launched on the island market after the New Year. Even though the growth rate is astonishing, it is a product that was started from scratch after all. Therefore, although it has huge potential, the repayment funds that can be intercepted at present are far from what Miss Mu requires.

Thinking of this, Miss Mu picked up the second set of data and started looking at it.

The island nation is currently experiencing a period of rapid change in the social roles of women, so the second set of information is, unsurprisingly, sales data for pharmaceutical cosmetics.

However, unlike the "Aconite Warming Uterus Spot Removing Patch" which is a product that focuses on internal conditioning, this one is for external use and is called "Musk Eye Wrinkle Removing Cream" - just by looking at the name you can tell that it is used to remove crow's feet at the corners of the eyes.

However, just like the Aconite Warming Uterus Spot-Removing Patch, this thing is actually an old wine in a new bottle.

To put it bluntly, it is the same as the famous Mayinglong, both are hemorrhoid creams with similar formulas and similar effects;
It’s just that when people hear the word “hemorrhoid ointment”, they think that this thing can only be used to relieve anal pain, but in fact this thing has many functions, and removing wrinkles at the corners of the eyes is just one of its many “unprofessional” functions.

Well, just a quick note, Mayinglong started out as an eye cream manufacturer, so there is no need to worry about the effectiveness of products like musk hemorrhoid cream in removing eye wrinkles. Just endure the intense cool feeling for a while, and it will definitely work wonders after applying it.

In addition, many classic Chinese patent medicines in China have surprising "side effects", but they were not well known to the public due to the lack of application scenarios at the time, and they have never had a voice in public opinion. If the "side effects" of these Chinese patent medicines were really popularized, the cosmetics, beauty, and health care products markets would surely be hit hard.

………………

It only took Miss Mu fifteen minutes to roughly scan the five sales data in front of her, and then silently calculated in her mind. The combined weekly sales of these five items rated as A-level potential were only about 1.2 million yen, and the sales for one and a half months were 7.2 million yen;
This is far from enough!
You have to know that the 7.2 million yen is just the sales volume. After deducting taxes, commissions to those circle distributors, necessary publicity and public relations expenses, and necessary manufacturer returns, the money that can be retained is less than 200 million US dollars (at this time, the exchange rate between the yen and the US dollar has gradually recovered to a level of nearly 156:1).

Thinking of this, Miss Mu felt a little depressed.

Her original idea was that although the first batch of brands that went overseas had already established a firm foothold and started to make a lot of money in the island country, since they and the affiliated merchants behind them had already established a deficit management strategy, it naturally could not be easily changed;

Since it is not convenient to make a fuss about the first batch of brands going overseas, it is better to find a breakthrough from the second batch of brands going overseas. Anyway, the second batch of brands going overseas are still in an uncertain stage, and it is easy to intercept some funds through strategic adjustments.

However, the increasingly violent economic fluctuations and gradually emerging social transformation in the island country have brought invaluable opportunities for the Chinese brands she has selected, but the increasingly fragmented and segmented market demand has made it impossible for these products to become national brands through concentrated publicity methods in just a few months like they did a few years ago, and then gain a large wave of traffic and blindly following consumers in the general demand market.

and so……

Thinking of this, Miss Mu first wrote down a number in her notebook, then looked up at Song Wenxuan, who was invited by her over the phone: "Director Song, please give us a brief introduction to the situation at the China-Japan Economic Promotion Association."

In fact, on the phone, Miss Mu had already told Song Wenxuan the main topic of today. Therefore, although she only asked Song Wenxuan to introduce the situation of the China-Japan Economic Promotion Association, Song Wenxuan naturally knew what should be said and what could be omitted.

There was no way. Although Bao Shuxian was already the marketing director of Dahua Company's Tokyo office, his actual rank was still that of an ordinary clerk. Therefore, it was not that Miss Mu was partial to one over the other, but Bao Shuxian's rank, according to the principle of confidentiality, did not have the authority to know the real purpose of today's conversation.
On the other hand, although Song Wenxuan is not a member of the Tokyo office, as a section-level cadre and a member of the Dahua faction, he is qualified to know the real intention of Miss Mu asking him to come over for a while.

Hearing Miss Mu's question, Song Wenxuan hesitated for a moment, and glanced at Bao Shuxian intentionally or unintentionally: "Everything is going well at the China-Japan Economic Promotion Association;"

"First, so far, the Intermediate Economic Promotion Association's foreign exchange special studio has basically completed the first phase of cross-border investment and financing erosion of the tax base, and has dispersed a total of 11 million US dollars in overseas funds for 4 island member units and 2.73 Nanyang member units, and realized an additional income of 4100 million US dollars through exchange rate cashing."

"Second, according to the original agreement, under the coordination of all member units, especially Nanyang Lin Group, Fujisawa Pharmaceutical has successfully established a new joint venture in Hong Kong. The subsidiary with independent financial accounting rights in Malaysia has also been officially listed, and an offshore structure has been initially established to avoid the tax jurisdiction of the island country; and effectively reduce some of the risks brought by the large-scale acquisition of Fujisawa Pharmaceutical's secondary market stocks... However, due to the need to generate a large amount of book business during this period to assist Fujisawa Pharmaceutical in transferring some of its drug technology and production capacity to the newly established joint venture and subsidiary, the capital borrowing between the member units is extremely high, and has now reached 2200 million US dollars per week. Therefore, it is not realistic to add new capital borrowing projects without disrupting the original plan."

"Third, according to the original agreement, the member companies of the China-Japan Economic Promotion Association have been conducting [exchange business] among themselves since March, with Qilu as the end point, exporting intangible assets to overseas on a large scale free of charge, and using small and multiple investment forms to conduct joint ventures and share mergers and acquisitions in Qilu to erode the profits of companies in the island country... However, although the small and multiple investment method is adopted, overseas asset transfers are becoming increasingly popular among large companies in the island country. Therefore, under the encouragement of General Manager Yang, these member companies have participated in investment projects far exceeding the initial expectations. The total contract investment amount has now exceeded 430 billion yen. Almost every company has immediately found ways to invest in projects in America and China as soon as there is a surplus in its account this quarter."

"Fourth, according to the original agreement, at the end of last year, the company helped Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Fujisawa Pharmaceutical to coordinate and expand a 10-mu imitation wild poplar and mulberry lindera cultivation base in Dezhou, Lanling, Jining, Weifang and other places in Shandong Province, in order to create good news, stabilize and boost their stock prices... However, affected by the Gulf War, the island country's stock market quickly weakened under the sniping of European and American capital. Even with the good news of the 10-mu imitation wild poplar and mulberry lindera cultivation base, the stock prices of Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Fujisawa Pharmaceutical basically maintained their original positions and did not rebound; therefore, under huge investor pressure, the boards of directors of the two pharmaceutical companies have begun to consider whether to jointly announce the Sino-Japanese joint research results of chiral catalysts with Sankyo Co., Ltd. and other alliance companies in advance, and take the risk of putting the developed chiral catalysts into large-scale production in advance."

At this point, Song Wenxuan paused for a moment and said, "According to the predictions of Sankyo Co., Ltd. and other companies, although there are certain risks, once the chiral catalyst developed jointly is put into commercial use on a large scale, as long as the properties of the drug are stable, it can obtain a large number of purchase orders from countries around the world in a very short period of time through the superior drug quality. If we only count the 143 key drugs, the new purchase scale will exceed 43 billion US dollars within this year;"

"Only firstly, the chiral catalyst is a joint research of China and Japan. If it is to be put into commercial use, in addition to passing Huaxia's technical acceptance, it also needs the approval and authorization of Dahua. Secondly, if we do this, although we can push up the stock prices of a number of alliance companies such as Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Fujisawa Pharmaceutical, and Sankyo Co., Ltd. in a very short period of time, it is no problem to push up the stock prices quickly, but how to maintain the high level after pushing it up is a very challenging task... With the yen's exchange rate still fluctuating violently, some companies, including Sankyo Co., Ltd., are still skeptical about this stimulant-like stock price-pushing method, so no preliminary consensus has been reached so far."

No preliminary consensus reached yet?

Miss Mu nodded in understanding. No wonder she and Yang Mo hadn't received any news in this regard. Even internally they hadn't reached a unified opinion, so it was naturally impossible for her to formally negotiate with Yang Mo... The island country's companies were very united most of the time when dealing with the outside world; besides, in their eyes, their own men were very difficult to deal with.

only……

Chiral catalysts are now commercially available?
And are you confident that you can add $43 billion in revenue this year?

Is this thing so powerful?
But more importantly...

Are some companies such as Sankyo Co., Ltd. worried that it will be difficult to maintain their share prices after a rapid increase?

After hearing Song Wenxuan's first three reports, Miss Mu, who was already somewhat desperate, vaguely grasped something. She put her hands on her lower abdomen and began to fall into deep thought.

After five minutes, Mu Liya finally looked up and smiled: "Director Bao, Director Song, thank you both for today. You both have a lot of work to do, so go and get busy first... I'll digest it first. If there's anything we need to talk about in detail, I'll bother you to make another trip then."

No matter how stupid he was, Bao Shuxian knew that his sister-in-law asked him to come here today not just to show her concern for the progress of the second wave of overseas brand promotion. Without any hesitation, he nodded slightly, then stood up and said goodbye... He is definitely one of the busiest people in Dahua's Tokyo office now. Not to mention that after working in a central enterprise for more than three years, he already knew to stay out of things that he shouldn't know about. Even if he didn't have this awareness, he now has so much work on his hands that he wishes he could split one minute into ten minutes, and he can't wait to get back to his job.

However, Song Wenxuan's performance was worthy of much speculation. After seeing Bao Shuxian lead the way out of the office, he had to stand up. After staring at Mu Liya with a complicated expression for a long time, he wanted to say something but hesitated several times. In the end, he did not speak. He just said goodbye softly and left.

Miss Mu didn't pay attention to the changes in Song Wenxuan's expression. After concentrating on writing and drawing on her notebook for a long time, she finally picked up the phone. Ignoring the extremely expensive international fees, she dialed a landline number in China: "Hello, the administrative department of Momo Baitou? I'm Mu Liya. Can you please transfer me to the office of your Section Chief He?"

………………

After half an hour, Miss Mu finally hung up the phone, sorted out the advice from her half-master, and scribbled on her notebook for another twenty minutes before she put down her pen and picked up the phone again:

"Hello, Senior Managing Director Suzuki... No, I should call you Managing Director Suzuki now."

Miss Mu smiled and corrected the title of her "old friend". Then, amid the other party's modest and proud courtesy, she told him the purpose of her visit: "I heard that your Sankyo Co., Ltd. is having a headache because of the persistent requests from Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Fujisawa Pharmaceutical?"

"How about this, if you and your president have time, Mr. Suzuki, why don't you come over and sit for a while?"

Would you like to go over and sit for a while?
Suzuki Jiken was immediately shocked. What did this beautiful woman mean by suddenly inviting him and the president to sit over with her?
You know, Yang Mo is indeed a very difficult person to deal with. Most of the time, he would rather act like a grandson in front of the Tokyo governor than face those eyes that seem to be able to see through all the secrets of you; but his beautiful wife is also not an easy person to deal with.

He would never believe that this beautiful lady suddenly remembered her old friend and invited him to sit over.

Hearing Suzuki Jiken's slightly cautious inquiry on the phone, Miss Mu laughed: "Isn't your company worried about being embarrassed to refuse the requests of Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Fujisawa Pharmaceutical again and again? But you are also worried that once the chiral catalyst jointly developed by China and Japan is put into commercial use on a large scale, the stock price will rise rapidly but will not be able to continue;"

"So, my idea is, why don't you, General Manager Suzuki, come over with your company's president and talk about how to rationally manipulate the profits after the large-scale commercialization of chiral catalysts?"

Earnings manipulation!!!

Hearing this term, which has only appeared in the last two years but is limited to a small range of applications and is even rarely known to outsiders, Suzuki Jiken was suddenly shocked and his brain started working rapidly.

"Okay, please allow me to inform the president. If nothing unexpected happens... I will have to bother you, Minister Mu!"

After only three seconds of hesitation, Suzuki Jiken agreed.

He was able to be promoted from executive director to managing director basically all thanks to Dahua Company, or to be more precise, thanks to Yang Mo. So no matter what his beautiful wife was planning, as long as she didn't let him fall into a huge pit, he had to cooperate with her.

(End of this chapter)