Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 218: Lost in East and Made in West
The chat between the few people did not last long.

Soon, NTT President Matobuki Tsune, accompanied by the company's executive director Shunsuke Kishida, walked up to Masato Takeshita with smiles on their faces.

"Congratulations, President Takeshita! Today's press conference was really wonderful. We must learn from you in the future."

"No, you're welcome." The young man first said modestly, and then asked cheerfully: "Besides, isn't our success also NTT's success?"

"You're right. This is a joint success for both of our families."

At this moment, Madoka Tsuneshige did not have the demeanor of a president of a large company at all, and his expression was a little flattering.

Because he saw hope of escaping the predicament at the Xinghai mobile phone launch conference.

Although Mado Tsune is the president of NTT and has the power over the life and death of most employees in the company, there is a very powerful force within NTT that is against Mado.

And all of this started with Japan’s telecommunications reform.

In 1982, the Japanese government began to allow private companies to enter the telecommunications industry.

Soon, a large number of giant companies such as Kyocera, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi flocked into this market that seemed to have great prospects.

If you want to do communications business, you must first lay the lines, otherwise everything is just talk.

The best way to lay communication lines is along railways and roads.

Due to competition, each company tries to trip up each other.

The famous Kazuo Inamori was rejected many times by relevant companies.

Later, Kazuo Inamori established connections with high-level government officials.

As a result, the bureaucratic president, Madoka Tsune, who came from the government, wanted to gain the government's recognition.

Regardless of NTT's own interests, it insisted on selling out the interests of its own company to help the second telecommunications company that Kazuo Inamori had just established.

This kind of betrayal naturally caused dissatisfaction among NTT's leadership.

If NTT was not a state-owned enterprise, he would definitely have been dismissed long ago.

But even so, there are a lot of forces within the company that resist him.

In addition, those colleagues who did not want Kazuo Inamori to enter this industry were also offended by Madokazu.

You are noble and great.

By doing this, aren't you making it difficult for those of us who choose to refuse?

This is also the biggest reason why in his previous life, Tsune Madoka, as the president of NTT, Japan's largest company, ended up singing the song of tears behind bars.

Not only did it lose its base, but it also offended a lot of companies.

If you don’t sing Tears Behind Bars, who will?

There were many people implicated in the Likurut case, but very few were arrested.

As a result, although the amount of embezzlement was not large, Madoka Tsune became one of the minority.

I can only say that believing in the promises of politicians is completely brainless.

Of course, Madoka Tsune has now understood.

So he kept on campaigning, trying to find ways to get rid of the entanglement in the Likurut case.

The result was not very ideal and there was no chance of escape at all.

But this time, Madoka saw a real opportunity.

As long as he can open up an additional promising mobile communications business for the company in addition to fixed-line phones, he will be able to appease the dissatisfied forces within the company to the greatest extent.

Maybe, I can rely on the power of the company to avoid this disaster.

Masato Takeshita naturally didn't know what Mado Tsune was thinking, and was a little surprised at the NTT president's humble attitude.

But now that we have a good opportunity, we must seize it.

"Then I wonder if the contract we are discussing with your company can be signed as soon as possible."

If the mobile phone is sold at cost, the profit must be recovered from other sources.

Otherwise, wouldn’t it be a waste of time?
Young people are targeting the mobile phone calling market.

He wants to get a 10% commission from every mobile phone bill.

"Yes, I agree to your request on behalf of NTT."

Zhen Tsune agreed very readily, and then tactfully expressed his true thoughts.

"However, I hope your company can increase production to 100 million units."

"If your company can include this clause in the contract, then we can sign the contract at any time."

Kishida Shunsuke was just about to speak out his objection, he didn't want to become a public enemy within the company.

But after hearing his president's suggestion, he immediately shut his mouth again.

If we can achieve sales of 100 million, then we can give 10% of the revenue to Xinghai Semiconductor Company, which is an acceptable condition.

"no problem."

Masato Takeshita agreed without any hesitation.

Compared to 10% commission on phone bills.

The unsold hundreds of thousands of mobile phones, which is possible but not certain, is not a problem at all.

After the two parties reached a verbal cooperation,
The next morning, Masato Takeshita went to NTT headquarters with Ryo Asuka, the head of the legal department of Xinghai Group; Lou Gerstner, the president of Xinghai Semiconductor; and Tomoji Yokoko, the head of Xinghai Semiconductor's fourth development department, which is the mobile phone R&D department.

The contract was very simple, only two thin pages.

But even so, the legal staff on both sides were very cautious.

"The payment time here needs to be changed to within one month after the customer completes the phone bill recharge, instead of two months after the consumption."

"Also, the relevant item here is too vague. It needs to be changed to: NTT operation hall must place Xinghai mobile phones in the most conspicuous position in the counter hall, and the distribution area must not be less than one-third of the total counter area."

"It's not possible here either. The contract period is too short. It needs to be at least 10 years."

The lawyers on both sides argued at length over every clause in the contract.

The final payment method will be based on the opinion of Xinghai Semiconductor, that is, the time will be calculated the moment the recharge is received.

The settlement time is completed according to the NTT method, that is, the settlement time is postponed to 45 to 60 days after the mobile phone bill is received.

The same was true on the counter side, with both sides compromising and making concessions.

Xinghai Investment can only obtain one-third of the position in the most conspicuous place of the counter and one-fifth of the total number of counters.

At the same time, Masato Takeshita also added one.

That is, when users choose to buy a mobile phone, NTT employees must give priority to recommending mobile phones manufactured by Xinghai Semiconductor.

Now that mobile phones have just been released, Xinghai mobile phone is still in a dominant position.

A few years later, major Japanese companies launched mobile phones.

At that time, major telecommunications companies will become the bosses, and mobile phone manufacturers will gradually become mobile phone OEM factories for telecommunications companies.

If you don't sign a treaty that is beneficial to you now, you will never have the chance in the future.

NTT also had people who understood the situation, but considering the president's opinion and the idea that it was a give to anyone, they did not object to this clause.

As for the contract period for mobile phone bill sharing, NTT is very persistent.

In the end, the two sides reluctantly reached a five-year cooperation agreement.

NTT believes that it will take some time for the mobile phone market to explode.

After 5 years, if the sales of the mobile phone are hot, this clause will be automatically waived.

If the sales of the mobile phone are average, then there is no problem in extending the cooperation.

Masato Takeshita naturally wanted to sign a long-term contract, but considering the profit-sharing period of 5 years, he did not lose out at all.

Even if the contract cannot be renewed at that time, they will have already made a lot of money from it.

Because the two parties signed a sales sharing contract, not a profit margin sharing model that can be used as a means.

The lesson for Hollywood is all too obvious.

The Harry Potter film series raked in tens of billions of dollars worldwide, but was ultimately caused to suffer severe losses by Hollywood giant Time Warner.

The trick is so big that anyone with normal IQ can see it. I can only say that profit sharing is very unreliable.

Once the relationship between the two parties is no longer there, it is easy to be cheated.

After more than three hours of fighting, the two sides finally reached a consensus.

Masato Takeshita and Tsuneshima Mado couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and then hurriedly stamped various seals on it.

The atmosphere in the air was really tense.

As the top leaders of their respective countries, they also have to be cautious.

After signing the contract, there was no more tension between the two sides.

Mado Tsune looked at the contents of the contract and sighed with a slightly depressed mood.

"From today on, we will be the closest partners."

Masato Takeshita is just the opposite. His tone is full of passion and his whole person is full of heroic spirit.

"That's right, from now on we will be partners in life and death."

"Next, let's work together to bring mobile phones to the hands of every Japanese person."

"It's like NTT bringing telephones to every household in Japan, a grand event that opened up a new era."

Today, the hearts of the Japanese are filled with pride. They believe that individuals can achieve success through hard work and that the Japanese can do everything in the world.

Therefore, the crowd did not think that Masato Takeshita was exaggerating, but instead showed expressions of approval.

Because the history of the development of fixed-line telephones in Japan after the war has verified this process.

In the 50s, most Japanese families were still in poverty.

Not to mention making phone calls, even eating a full meal was something he had just managed to do.

But by the 70s, almost every Japanese household, which was once impoverished, had a telephone.

People really believed that the two companies could replicate the development of landline phones.

It may even be shorter.

Because the Japanese are much richer now than they were before.

The same is true for Mado Tsune.

He swept away the gloom just now and shouted excitedly: "That's right, let's promote mobile phones to everyone and create a great era together."

Things like chicken blood will never last long, and the atmosphere in the meeting room soon calmed down.

At this time, the host, Zhen Tsune, sincerely invited: "Would you like to have a meal together and celebrate briefly?"

Masato Takeshita thought about it and realized that it was difficult to refuse such a thing, so he responded with a smile in a relaxed tone.
"Okay, but we have to wait until we put the contract text away."

"No problem. Let's meet at Songtaoxuan at 6pm."

"Don't worry, we will arrive on time."

After immediately putting the contract into the company's heavily guarded safe, Masato Takeshita breathed a sigh of relief.

Because this contract is equivalent to declaring that Xinghai Mobile can remain invincible in the Japanese market in the era of feature phones.

At 6 o'clock in the evening, a group of people from Xinghai Group arrived at Songtaoxuan on time.

The young man looked at Zhen Tsune who was waiting at the door, and hurriedly stepped forward and said, "President Zhen Teng is too polite. There is no need to be so polite."

"No, it's nothing. We are the best partners."

Because there are so many people and everyone has different positions, they are naturally dispersed to different private rooms.

For example, the spring night where Takeshita Masato lived,

There are only four people: Mado Tsune, Kishida Shunsuke, Takeshita Masato, and Lou Gerstner.

This way, both parties will feel more comfortable when eating.

In addition, employees in different positions are scattered in different places.

There was no alcohol in the private room, which was another major feature of this dinner.

The fact that he doesn't drink is an open secret in high society.

After enjoying the dinner, the young man declined the invitation to sing karaoke.

He is a mysophobe and doesn't like the atmosphere there at all.

Just as Takeshita was about to leave in his car, Lou Gerstner suddenly walked up to him and asked, "President, can I go back with you in your car?"

Masato Takeshita said gently, "Okay, come up."

After the car started, Takeshita Masato smiled and asked knowingly, "Do you have a lot of doubts about the contract? Ask ahead."

"Yes, President. The negotiations went too smoothly. I always feel like something is not right?"

Lou Gerstner frowned with a serious expression.

He didn't understand why Zhen Tsune agreed so readily.

Generally speaking, when two large companies engage in important cooperation, even if the progress is very fast, it will take at least one or two weeks to discuss.

Unless you offer a huge price that others cannot refuse, or there is a huge gap in size between the two parties, it is possible to complete the signing work early.

However, Xinghai Group is smaller than NTT, and it did not pay much this time, but instead gained a lot of advantages.

Not reasonable at all.

He had wanted to ask during the day, but now he couldn't hold it in any longer.

Masato Takeshita closed his eyes and lay back in the chair to rest.

"Don't overthink it, the reason is very simple."

"Mado Tsune is involved in the Likuruto case and wants me to help him get some money."

"Think carefully about what happened when we were having dinner together."

"Does he often say, intentionally or unintentionally, that the cooperation between the two sides can be further developed, and talk about Waseda politicians?"

NTT President Mado Tsune is now like an ant on hot pot, constantly looking for ways to escape from the predicament.

As long as there is a possibility, he will try his best to move forward.

"It turns out that's the case, no wonder."

Gerstner understood instantly that it was the Likurut case that had caused a sensation in the city. Now he understood everything.

"Yes, that's the reason."

Masato Takeshita still had his eyes closed, and then continued speaking very naturally.

“As for Shunsuke Kishida, he wants to use us as foreign aid to climb higher in the NNT.”

"For example, the position of general manager, or even a higher position as vice president."

The senior NTT leaders in charge of the negotiations favored Xinghai Group, so things naturally went very smoothly.

Of course, the contract is only slightly biased towards Xinghai Group.

In the big picture, both sides are still at a win-win level.

Therefore, NTT's management and employees had no objections.

"I understand. Thank you, President, for clarifying my doubts."

"It's a small matter. If you don't ask me, I will tell you tomorrow."

Masato Takeshita naturally had to explain this kind of important information that could clarify the relationship between the two parties.

Maybe one day, Lou Gerstner will be able to use it.

After finding out about NTT's situation, the two used this topic to gossip about the series of disturbances caused by the Likulut case.

In the end, the two concluded that Japanese politicians' methods of corruption were really crude.

Unlike the United States, a wide range of legal means can be used.

(End of this chapter)