Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 332 Industrial Transfer
After visiting Jingcheng University, it was natural for me to accept the invitation from Shuimu University.

"Good afternoon everyone, I am Masato Takeshita of Xinghai Group, please take care of me."

After saying this, Masato Takeshita bowed slightly, and then began to talk about the topic of today's speech amid the applause of the students.

"I have already briefly talked about some promising computer Internet content at Beijing University, so I will not repeat it here."

"If you want to know, you can watch the relevant videotapes through school or friends. They have recorded it there."

In fact, not only Jingcheng University, but also Xinghai Group has recorded it. These contents are important historical materials of the founder of Xinghai Group and will be kept in the company archives.

“As for the topic of my speech today, the name is simple and easy to understand.”

“National Development and the Shift of Global Supply Chains.”

The young man paused for half a minute to give everyone enough time to think, and then began his formal speech.

"If you read the data on foreign economic development, you will find that there is such a common view."

"If a country wants to achieve economic development, it must give priority to the development of light industry. Then, through the primitive accumulation of capital, it can develop heavy industry."

"With the collapse of the Soviet Union, this view has become more deeply rooted in people's minds."

At this point, Masato Takeshita's expression became serious, and he quickly raised his voice.

"But I would say this is complete nonsense."

"If emerging countries want to achieve rapid economic development, they must give priority to the development of heavy industry. Germany, Japan, Russia, and even the rapidly rising South Korea are typical cases."

"A light industrial economy without the support of heavy industry is nothing but a castle in the air."

If a country does not have heavy industry, it cannot produce the various types of machines needed for light industry, and then foreign capitalists can set very high prices.

If you have heavy industry, even if the machines you produce are backward, foreign capital will not dare to exploit you too much.

If the price is too expensive, you can just use domestic products that are prone to breakage.

The development history of the four telecommunications equipment manufacturing companies in huge China has profoundly verified this point.

Before the rise of these four giants, telephone lines required switches, and each line cost as much as $300 to $500.

That’s why early telephone installation fees were so expensive, costing 6000 yuan.

After the rise of these four giants, the price of telephone switches in China plummeted, reaching less than US$50 a few years later.

As for the 21st century, the price will be even cheaper, so the installation fee will be reduced to a few hundred yuan.

After 08, as the pockets of several telecom companies grew fatter, telephone installation became free.

This is the cornerstone role of heavy industry. You can lag behind, but you cannot be without it.

Once you don't have it, you will be at the mercy of others.

As for the subsequent technological advances, it is not a problem at all.

Both Japan and China have proved that as long as you have the backward technology, it will become advanced sooner or later.

China's communications equipment manufacturing industry, shipbuilding industry, photovoltaic battery industry, electric vehicle industry...

They are deeply verifying all of this.

Because China's economy has just started, the huge communications equipment manufacturing industry is still a small and transparent country, so Masato Takeshita mainly uses Japan as an example.

"After World War II, Japan became a ruin. But the country still prioritized heavy industry in its development."

"Large heavy industry companies such as Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Nippon Steel were first restored, and after a preliminary heavy industry system was established, light industry, which is easier to make money and can accommodate more employment, was developed."

"The representative of this aspect is the textile industry, which can accommodate a huge number of employed people..."

The topic of national development is too broad, so Masato Takeshita only spoke briefly for more than ten minutes.

He spent more time on the second topic of the day.

"When it comes to the textile industry, we have to mention today's second theme - the global industrial chain transfer."

“When a country develops, those industries with meager profits will move to backward countries regardless of human will.”

"For example, in Japan in the 1940s and 1950s, wages were very low, less than one-tenth of those in the United States at the same time."

"So at this point in time, the Japanese textile industry was swallowing up the US market, causing the Americans to launch trade wars again and again."

After a backward country has established a preliminary heavy industrial foundation, the first industry it must develop is the textile industry.

The textile industry is a typical labor-intensive industry that can absorb a huge number of employed people. At the same time, the main expenditure of the textile industry is workers' wages, so the production cost in backward countries is very low.

People like to get a bargain. Under the premise of equal quality, people naturally prefer to buy cheap goods produced in backward countries.

At the same time, clothes are consumables, so as long as the textile factories’ products are cheap enough, they will have no trouble selling them.

In this way, backward countries can complete primitive accumulation by selling clothes.

"Once the country makes some money from the textile industry, it will naturally develop upwards, and then the country will upgrade its heavy industry again."

"For example, developing an automobile industry that has a higher technological content but can also accommodate a huge number of employed people."

“Or we can develop the electronics industry, accumulate experience through OEM, and try to make better products.”

Every country with a bit of ambition will develop the automobile industry and turn it into a national cornerstone industry.

The fact that Japan and Germany were able to become developed countries in later generations can definitely be said to be primarily due to the contribution of automobiles.

At the same time, in the United States, even though automobile companies are losing money every year, they are still supported by government subsidies.

There is no way, the automotive industry is too important.

It produces vehicles for daily use on weekdays, and can instantly become a production base for military vehicles and tanks during war.

As for the electronics industry, the situation is similar.

Early Japanese electronics companies all took the route of imitating and innovating at the same time.

Take Sony as an example, its earliest products were assembled from American parts.

In fact, the current Chrysanthemum Factory is in a similar situation. The switches it developed are just a copy and paste of foreign companies.

Even in the 21st century, the Juhua Factory was still doing OEM for telecommunications companies, producing dedicated telecommunications mobile phones.

But none of this matters. What matters is that you have an innovative heart.

The Juhua Factory copied foreign switches and invested all the money it earned into equipment research and development.

Eventually, the company became the world's strongest communications equipment manufacturer, submitting a large number of important patents every year.

The situation is similar with mobile phones. At first, they were manufactured for telecommunications companies, and eventually became the best representative of Chinese mobile phones.

Masato Takeshita talked a lot and even went a little off topic.

But soon, he brought the topic back.

"What I just said may be a bit confusing, so I will just briefly summarize it now."

Knowing that what was to come might be the main point, the audience pricked up their ears and listened carefully.

"We can clearly see the industrial transfer through the changes in GDP of countries around the world."

"Wages in Japan were low in the 1940s and 1950s, so the U.S. textile industry moved to Japan." "When Japan became an economic power in the 1960s and 1970s, the textile industry began to move to South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong."

"In the 1990s, the textile industry began to shift to Southeast Asia and China."

"If you are interested, you can do some clothing import and export business. As long as you adopt the model of collecting costs first and then collecting profits, it is easy to make money."

In the 1990s, import and export trade was not so intense, so there was no need for cash on delivery.

Later, as more people engaged in import and export business, everyone began to compete internally and started to take the cash on delivery route.

“However, it should be noted that countries in backward regions must collect not only costs but also profits before shipment.”

It is difficult to do business in developing countries. There are very few customers who operate in good faith, so you have to be extremely careful.

"In addition, manufacturing industries such as electronics are also major industries that have been transferred."

"For example, Japan has moved a large number of its manufacturing plants to Southeast Asia and China due to the rapid increase in costs."

Then Takeshita Masato said with a smile: "Our Xinghai Group is also doing this, moving a large number of manufacturing factories to Shanghai and Beijing."

"The manufacturing industry has slim profits and many competitors. If we don't move to low-wage countries, we simply can't sustain losses."

In later generations, China has formed a complete industrial chain. If you want to make something, you may not need to leave the city. This greatly reduces the cost of logistics.

But even so, as China's economy develops, many factories are moving abroad.

For example, Vietnam has taken on a considerable number of relocated factories from China.

However, Vietnam is too small to accommodate China's massive transfer projects. Therefore, many projects will still remain in China.

As for India, this country has no credit at all. Even if someone invests in building a factory, they will leave sooner or later.

It is extremely difficult for such a bad country to become the next step in the transfer of manufacturing industry.

This can be considered an advantage for China in later generations when facing competition from other countries.

After briefly sorting out the relevant matters of the industrial chain, the young man mentioned employment again.

"In the future, China's manufacturing industry, represented by electronics factories, will surely flourish. If you want to make a difference, it is definitely a good idea to work hard in electronics, automation and other fields."

Electronics and automation can be said to be evergreen disciplines in universities and have always had a bright future.

Unlike the civil engineering major, which only lasted less than 20 years.

Of course, the best majors are still computer-related majors, which are definitely high-paying fields all over the world.

Masato Takeshita talked about whatever came to his mind, and in the end he said a lot in a very eloquent way.

It's a lot of nonsense, but there's also a lot of useful knowledge. I just don't know how many people can recognize the gems.

Soon, it was time for everyone’s favorite live question-and-answer session.

"The handsome guy in the military coat in the third row on the left, do you have anything to ask?"

The boy in the military coat was a little surprised, but he quickly calmly asked what many people were concerned about.

“How can we do foreign trade if we don’t know foreigners?”

"It's very simple. You can search for foreign BBS forums and chat rooms on an Internet-connected computer and then place an advertisement there."

Advertising on forums and other places is a tried and tested trick. Even in the era of mobile Internet, some people still use it.

Then Masato Takeshita thought of what he had done at Keijo University and said it again very straightforwardly.

"I will give every Jingcheng University student 10 hours of Internet time at Xinghai Internet Cafe, and Shuimu's students will naturally be included. Every teacher and student will also have 10 hours of free Internet time."

Hearing the young man say this, Shuimu's audience also became excited this time.

"That's great, we have that too."

"Humph, those guys from the Old Summer Palace showed off in front of me yesterday, and today we have them at Wudaokou too, hehe."

"Me too, I must fight back today."

The students were happy, and Masato Takeshita was even happier.

It would be great if we could produce more college graduates as a result of this donation.

Xinghai Group's Chinese subsidiary does not have enough highly educated employees from mainland China.

He sincerely hopes that China can expand university enrollment as soon as possible. Currently, there are only a few hundred thousand graduates each year, which is really too few.

When the noise in the auditorium faded away, Masato Takeshita spoke again.

"10 hours is enough for you to find the right customers. If you can't find them, it just means you are not suitable."

"Also, the price of the goods must be cheap enough. If you sell clothes without pictures and it is a cross-border transaction, you can only find suitable users if the price is low enough."

There are thousands of Internet cafes in the United States today, and the Internet is no longer a toy for the rich.

The United States today is like China in the early 21st century, with Internet cafes playing a role in popularizing the Internet.

"Yes, thank you for the reminder, President Takeshita."

The boy was a little surprised. He didn't expect that the big shot on the stage would actually try to teach him how to do business.

He just didn't have anything to say, so he just asked casually. It was a little embarrassing. But as long as he didn't say it, no one would know the truth, so it didn't matter.

If the first person chosen is a boy, then according to convention the second person is a girl.

"First row, fifth from the right, girl in black, do you have anything to ask?"

"me?"

The girl stood up, pointed at herself, her eyes full of confusion.

"Yes, that's right."

"I, um, I want to know what you think about this year's exchange rate reform?"

Masato Takeshita was a little surprised. He didn't expect someone to ask this question.

But since someone asked, it doesn't hurt for him to express his opinion.

"This is a very good thing. China will become more attractive to foreign investment, and eventually there will be a Matthew effect in the manufacturing industry."

The depreciation of China's exchange rate has hurt Southeast Asia the most. They were already unable to compete in terms of industrial transfer, and now they are even worse off.

As for the United States and Japan, they are the happy ones.

The more the currency depreciates, the more money you can exchange for the same amount of money, and ultimately, more investments can be made at the same cost.

“But wouldn’t a huge devaluation at once lead to a currency collapse?”

“No, China’s currency is anchored by assets. Whether it is natural resources or industrial products produced by manufacturing companies, they are anchors for stable currencies.”

In the past few years, the main anchor items of China's currency were agricultural products and oil.

At present, agricultural products remain stable, but oil is gone.

By 1993, China had transformed from an oil exporter to an importer, and imports have grown rapidly over time.

(End of this chapter)