Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 201 Computer Donation
Matsumoto Manufacturing ended its roadshow and entered a silent period, but major media outlets did not miss this financial hotspot.

Various news headlines have become more exaggerated than each other.

"Matsumoto Manufacturing, a global innovator in the luggage industry."

"Hermes, Matsumoto's next prey."

It can be said that in the mouths of the Japanese media, Matsumoto Manufacturing can already punch Hermes and kick the big boss of LV.

As for Chanel, this company that nearly went bankrupt not long ago is not valued by the Japanese at present.

"Hermes, Chanel?"

Although Masato Takeshita felt very embarrassed, he was indeed inspired by the reporters.

If Matsumoto Manufacturing wants to go further in the suitcase field, acquiring a luxury brand is indeed a very good choice.

The more troublesome thing is that

Chanel is a private company, so they may not sell it even at a premium.

Although Hermès is listed, the Hermès family is relatively united, making it even less likely to achieve the acquisition goal.

In the past, when the luxury giant LVMH wanted to acquire Hermès, it ran into a lot of trouble.

Matsumoto Manufacturing is a foreign company, making it even more difficult to achieve the goal.

"Gucci, this should have a chance."

The previous owner of the Gucci brand had conflicts and it was eventually acquired by the French Kering Group.

This should be a brand manufactured by Matsumoto, and there is a greater chance of acquisition.

"However, it shouldn't be possible now. We need to wait."

Japan is now buying all over the world, so most luxury goods companies have very good performance and profits.

If you live a fulfilling life, you will naturally not sell the company.

Even if it is sold, the premium will be exaggerated.

The best opportunity will come in 10 years.

The Asian financial crisis broke out that year, and sales of major luxury brands in Asia, the world's largest luxury goods trading market, including Japan, dropped sharply.

The world's luxury giants LVMH Group and Kering Group both took advantage of the Asian financial crisis to integrate their luxury brands and become global giants.

Matsumoto Manufacturing is preparing to take the imitation route.

I don’t expect to surpass LVMH Group and become the world’s largest luxury brand. I just hope to reach the height of Kering Group in its previous life and expand the financial path for Matsumoto Manufacturing.

In addition, after 1993, there was also a small opportunity.

Japanese purchases will continue to shrink, and the luxury goods industry will no longer thrive.

Noticing that his president kept scanning the headlines in the newspapers, Lin Qingqian had some guesses in his mind.

“Is the president planning to acquire Hermès?”

“There is this idea, but it is unlikely. The Hermès family is very united and will not sell the company.”

Masato Takeshita shook his head at first, then continued confidently, "But it doesn't matter. There are so many luxury brands, we can always pick the right prey."

There are countless luxury brands in Europe and there is no shortage of targets.

"Speaking of which, when are you planning on leaving?"

"I will probably join Shanghai Jiao Tong University at the end of August."

The girl frowned slightly, feeling very reluctant.

"That's it, thank you for your hard work."

“No, both universities are similar.”

Lin Qingqian shook her head, not wanting to add to the young man's psychological burden.

"Well, that's it. I plan to distribute all the profits of the Shencheng factory as dividends."

"Then all the dividends will be donated to 20 universities and colleges in China."

“The main target of the donation is schools with strong computer and electronics majors.”

Although the Shencheng factory does not earn as much as Matsumoto Manufacturing, it can still have a net profit of about 10%.

In more than half a year, you can save more than 4000 million RMB and more than 20 billion yen in foreign exchange.

Matsumoto Manufacturing can get half, which is more than 2000 million yuan + more than 10 billion yen.

This amount of money is rare in later generations, but in that era, it is a considerable sum for any university.

Because in 1988, China's annual education expenditure was just over 300 billion, which was not as much as Tsinghua University in later generations.

“All donations in cash?”

"No, RMB is donated in cash, and Japanese yen is used to purchase computers directly and then donated."

More than 10 billion yen can buy almost 1 computers.

If 20 colleges and universities are selected to donate funds, each school will receive 500 units.

Even if we need to support other departments of the school, computer-related majors can get at least 300 machines.

Now that the university has not yet expanded its enrollment, the 300 donated machines, plus the existing ones in the school, are basically enough for college students majoring in computer-related majors to use.

While promoting the development of computer majors in relevant Chinese colleges and universities, Xinghai Semiconductor can also achieve its goal of developing its own industry with the help of Chinese intellectual talents.

Thinking of this, Masato Takeshita couldn't help but give himself a thumbs up.

Fortunately, when we signed the five-year cooperation agreement, it was required that half of the profits must be in foreign exchange.

If there is no such agreement, all Japanese yen foreign exchange will be converted into RMB.

I estimate that all the profits would not be enough to buy 1 computers.

The main reason is that the official value of the RMB is a bit inflated.

Take IBM computers as an example. They are sold in China for more than 3 RMB.

According to official pricing, it's roughly equivalent to $1 per computer.

Even this is not easy to buy, you need connections.

Lenovo got its start by being an agent for IBM computers.

But if you convert it into US dollars, the price will only be two to three thousand US dollars.

So in a few years, the RMB will depreciate significantly, eventually reaching more than 1:8.

The sharp depreciation of the RMB is also a key to China's economic take-off.

From then on, industrial products produced in China finally reached the global price low.

China has also used this opportunity to attract numerous foreign investments and become the world's factory.

“Well, do you have any target schools?”

"of course."

In 1981, China opened a doctoral program in computer science.

There are six universities in the first batch of the list.

they are, respectively:
Shuimu, National University of Defense Technology, Jinling, Lingji, Northeastern University, and Harbin Institute of Technology.

Colleges and universities in Northeast China account for half of the country's total, which shows the strength of Northeast China's current economy.

Except these 6 institutions.

The most famous university in China today, Beijing University, as well as the two giants in Shanghai, Fudan University and Shanghai Jiaotong University, are naturally not to be left behind.

In fact, the university system in China in the 80s was somewhat similar to that in Japan.

Jingcheng University has more than 40 top-level disciplines, leading the others with a gap.

But the future world belongs to engineering.

Therefore, Shuimu, which currently has only more than 20 top disciplines, is gradually approaching Beijing University in terms of the number of top disciplines.

By the 21st century, it was difficult to distinguish the two.

However, Shuimu University has far more funding than Jingcheng University.

no way,
Keiseung University is strong in liberal arts and science, while Mizuki University is strong in engineering.

Engineering can make money, so naturally there will be more funding.

In addition to the above, USTC, Zhejiang University, Wuhan University, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Dalian University of Technology...

These well-known universities, either with strong comprehensive capabilities or strong in the field of electronic information, are Masato Takeshita's goals.

Seeing that the girl had already memorized it, the young man continued to make big promises, "These are just the first batch. If the cooperation goes well, it will be expanded to more universities in the future."

Masato Takeshita's goal is 50 to 60 colleges and universities.

In this way, almost all of China's top intellectual resources can be captured in one fell swoop.

In addition to leveraging the intellectual resources of major universities, donations also take into account personal connections.

Soon, top students from renowned domestic universities will step onto the highest stage of China's political arena.

And this trend will continue to strengthen over time.

Masato Takeshita also had this consideration in mind when donating to major domestic universities.

"Okay, I understand." After formulating the donation plan, Masato Takeshita immediately flew to Shanghai with the girl.

"President Kakuda, what does the Shencheng government say?"

“The leaders are very happy and very happy to see the company share the money.”

Although Shanghai is the richest city in China, it also faced serious economic difficulties in 1988.

Although more than 2000 million RMB + more than 10 billion yen is not a lot, it can provide some relief.

"Ah That's good."

Masato Takeshita breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to look at Lin Qingqian.

"In this way, the universities in Shanghai can donate more and upgrade to the same level as Peking University and Tsinghua University."

"clear."

The dividends from the Shencheng factory will naturally not be donated equally.

The two of them set a bottom line yesterday: better universities will give more points, and worse universities will give fewer points.

This time, Masato Takeshita did not meet with the main leaders of Shencheng.

After quickly completing the factory dividends, return directly to Japan.

In order to avoid the middleman making a profit from the price difference, Masato Takeshita directly contacted the head of NEC's computer department.

The price of the computer might be cut in half.

At this time, the profit margin for offline retail computers is very high, and over 60% is common.

It was precisely because third-party stores were expensive that Dell in the United States was able to quickly grow into a giant in the computer industry by relying on a direct sales model.

"Director Sakamoto, I'm Masato Takeshita. I wonder if you have time recently?"

"You're welcome. No need to be so reserved."

"Oh, I'm free these few days."

"How about we meet at Tingyuxuan at 7 o'clock tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay, bye!"

After hanging up the phone, Masato Takeshita leaned back and couldn't help shaking his head.

"Ah, as expected,"

Recalling the fearful tone of Takaki Sakamoto, head of NEC's computer department, during the phone call, the young man couldn't help but frown.

As his economic power increased, it became increasingly difficult for him to interact with ordinary people on an equal footing.

Now even the directors of large companies feel secretly delighted when they receive a call from him.

If it were last year, Takaki Sakamoto would never have done this.

"It can't be helped. Everyone would be like this."

Soon, Masato Takeshita let go of the pretentiousness in his heart and returned to his smart and capable self.

"Qingqian, come here."

"OK, just a second."

The girl who received the call walked quickly to the president's office and stood respectfully in front of the desk.

"Please help me formulate a similar donation plan. Japan must not be left behind."

If you only donate to Chinese institutions, you will easily be criticized as a traitor by the media.

It would be terrible if it caused dissatisfaction among domestic institutions.

China can only serve as an auxiliary, his foundation is still Japan.

"Okay, what's the budget?"

The girl looked calm and had the aura of an urban elite.

"Well, let's arrange it to be five times the size."

There is a huge economic gap between China and Japan.

100 million RMB is a good amount of money in China and can support several projects.

In Japan, the famous schools don't care at all.

Even if it's $100 million, it's just barely enough.

"By the way, in addition to donating money and computers, we also donated some suitcases."

“It’s the same in China.”

"Understood. Don't worry."

The donations and computers all belong to the school, so the teachers' emotions won't fluctuate too much.

It’s different with suitcases, they are basically distributed to the staff.

This is a real benefit and will easily be recognized by faculty and staff.

Therefore, when companies donate to government agencies, they prefer to donate daily necessities.

It doesn't cost much and it's easier to gain everyone's favor.

At 7 o'clock the next evening, Takaki Sakamoto arrived at the box on time.

After a few polite greetings, Takeshita said directly: "Your company's computers are of very high quality and I like them very much. So I plan to order a batch of computers from your company and donate them to my alma mater and other universities that are lacking in this area."

NEC computers were all the rage in Japan at that time and became synonymous with Japanese computers.

Only Toshiba, which has taken a different approach to developing its notebook computer business, can compete with NEC in the PC field.

China's Wubi and other input methods were developed on NEC computers.

It can be said that NEC computers have profoundly influenced the development of the computer industry in both China and Japan.

"Well, order a computer."

Takaki Sakamoto began to jump with excitement inside, but it didn't show on his face at all.

Because a big achievement is coming.

He asked cautiously, "I wonder how many units President Takeshita plans to order?"

"Well, let's start with 20000 units."

Masato Takeshita did not dare to order too many, 1 units each for universities in China and Japan.

"2 units."

This time, Takaki Sakamoto could no longer hold back his smile and a hint of a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

But he quickly readjusted himself.

"If you buy 2 units at once, the company can give you a 6% discount on the retail basis. Each unit costs 12 yen."

In order to retain this big customer, Takaki Sakamoto simply offered the lowest discount within his authority.

This is a big customer who places an order of tens of thousands at a time, so we must give him the best discount.

"okay."

The official suggested retail price of NEC computers is 20 yen, which is a bit expensive indeed.

But compared with their American counterparts, it’s nothing.

An IBM computer costs at least 3000 US dollars, or 40 yen.

It is no wonder that IBM, which dominated the global computer market, declined rapidly.

The price is too expensive and ordinary people can't afford it.

Apple computers have similar problems.

The end result is that their own computers have become niche products.

"How long do you think it will take to produce all of them?"

“It will take about a week.”

"OK, no problem."

NEC's annual sales volume was less than 50 units, so it would take at least one week to complete the production of 2 computers.

If it were in later times, it could be completed in one day or even half a day.

A week passed quickly, and the NEC computer appeared in front of Masato Takeshita on time.

For fear of offending Japanese universities, the young people simply donated money and supplies in Japan first.

Waseda University is my alma mater, so naturally I have gained the most.

Just for computers, he generously distributed 1000 of them.

500 machines will be allocated to computer-related majors, and the rest will be equally distributed among various departments.

The second place is naturally the University of Tokyo.

Slightly less than Waseda, but still a full 800 units.

The university with the least number is Northeastern University, with only 300 machines.

(End of this chapter)