Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 381 Thailand Can Also Be Highly Efficient

As the world entered the 21st century, China gradually demonstrated its population advantage in the field of electronic products.

Ultimately, the combined mobile phone sales in the European market (excluding the US, Japan, and Russia) are barely enough to match the sales of mobile phones in China.

While the computer market isn't quite as extreme, it's still the world's largest market, far surpassing the second-largest market, the United States.

It can be said that Xinghai Group, especially its subsidiary Xinghai Technology, desperately needs China, not the other way around.

Of course, they could also follow Samsung's development path from the smartphone era: abandon the Chinese market and focus all their efforts on competing for markets in other countries.

However, Samsung has the support of the South Korean government and major American conglomerates, a privilege that the Starsea Group cannot enjoy.

Therefore, the best approach remains to solidify the Japanese market, develop the Chinese market, and strive to capture markets in other countries.

In other words, Xinghai Technology needs two major foundations: Japan and the United States.

After giving everyone a little time to think, Masato Takeshita quickly presented a set of data.

"This shows the situation of fixed-line and mobile phone users in China from 1990 to 1994."

"Compared to 1990, fixed-line telephones increased more than threefold in 1994, while mobile phones increased nearly twentyfold."

"At the same time, based on the development history of Japan and South Korea across the sea, we know that China, with its rapid economic growth, is about to experience explosive growth in the sales of fixed-line and mobile phones."

"It is estimated that by 2000, both will have hundreds of millions of users."

“Our Xinghai Group cannot miss such a wonderful opportunity; we must implement the ideas of the Murayama Talk in our former company.”

China's demand in the telecommunications market exceeds everyone's imagination.

For a landline phone with an installation fee of several thousand yuan, people still have to pull strings and find connections to get it installed.

It can be said that the current growth rate of fixed-line telephone service in China is being limited by the number of postal and telecommunications workers.

If there are enough staff, it is estimated that the increase could be at least 1 percentage point.

The mobile phone market in China is also extremely hot. A batch of new "big brother" mobile phones were recently launched in Shanghai, and they were snapped up by customers who lined up quickly.

China Telecom's leadership has also recognized this problem and is continuously increasing its investment in telecommunications infrastructure.

Even so, it was still impossible to meet the people's growing communication needs.

After hearing Masato Takeshita's description of the scene, Scully became incredibly excited. He felt that China was his promised land for the future.

"President, I support you in doing this. Hatred solves nothing; profit is what the company needs most."

Following Scully's loud support, Hiroaki Kobayashi, Kenji Ono, and others also echoed his sentiments.

Everyone can see the light and a bright future in China's development.

In particular, Hiroaki Kobayashi's Starry Life, which has taken root in China and earned billions of dollars in profits, naturally supports peaceful development between the two countries and acknowledges that period of history.

"What everyone said is very true. People and companies alike need to be more honest. Companies with an arrogant attitude will eventually be squeezed out."

I don't know why, but whether it's South Korea or Japan, there are always those guys who make money off Chinese people and then act incredibly arrogant.

The most typical example is, of course, Samsung mobile phones.

Samsung was once the largest smartphone brand in China, but due to its arrogant attitude, it almost lost the entire Chinese market.

In contrast, American mobile phone manufacturers are particularly pragmatic.

Whether it's Motorola, which currently holds the top market share in China, or Apple, which will become the king in the future, their attitudes have been excellent.

Masato Takeshita didn't want to make such a brainless mistake, as if he were deliberately trying to jeopardize money.

After the meeting, the presidents of Xinghai Group's subsidiaries and sub-subsidiaries immediately convened employee meetings to convey the core ideas of their respective chairmen.

We acknowledge our mistakes and treat our Chinese customers and the Chinese people with sincerity.

If possible, it would be best to get the Chinese to consider Xinghai Group as part of their own family.

The cleaning company is Xinghai Group's ultimate development goal.

Without research, who would guess that toothpaste brands like Colgate and Zhonghua, and personal care brands like Rejoice and Head & Shoulders, all belong to Procter & Gamble, an American cleaning company?

This company truly embodies the principle of subtle and pervasive influence.

Inside the group's headquarters office, Masato Takeshita looked at today's newspaper headlines with surprise.

"Wow, I didn't expect so many companies to respond."

The campaign launched by Xinghai Group to remember the Murayama Talk quickly influenced companies with extensive business in China, such as Sanyo and Panasonic, as well as groups like Toyota and Nissan that were preparing to enter the Chinese market and get a share.

However, their activities are relatively small in scale and mostly take place only at their branch offices in China.

After all, capitalist forces generally tend to be conservative in their stance.

However, there are also entrepreneurs who provide strong support, such as Seiji Tsutsumi, one of the founders of MUJI, and Yasuyoshi Tokuma, the founder of Tokuma Bookstore.

Like Masato Takeshita, they all hope that Japan will shed its ostrich mentality and take the right path to regain normal national status.

"Yes, that's great. We should find an opportunity to get together with everyone."

Masato Takeshita wanted to unite all forces that could be united to reverse the increasingly serious conservative tendencies in the Japanese public.

Japan's future hope lies in China and Southeast Asia, not in the United States, which employs various methods of suppression against Japan.

The US imposes too many restrictions on Japan; it starts a trade war if Japan sells even a little more of its products.

Unlike in China, most electronic products can be sold freely.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that China's electronics market is much larger.

Once you reach a large scale, even if your sales volume is greater, your market share won't be as noticeable.

Taking Apple iPhones as an example, with annual sales of over 6000 million units in the United States, it can capture more than 50% of the market share.

China sells over 4000 million units annually, but only accounts for 15% of the market.

The former already constitutes a monopoly, while the latter doesn't even come close.

The same applies to the internet industry.

People say that China is closed off while the US is open, but that's not true at all.

When Yahoo, Google, and MSN entered China, the government did not take any action to suppress them.

Their withdrawal from the Chinese market was entirely due to their inability to compete with local giants.

The situation is different in the United States. After TikTok developed, it only thought about government suppression and had no confidence in winning through competition.

Of course, no one is perfect, and neither are nations.

China welcomes competition in emerging industries, but protects the tertiary sector, such as entertainment and finance, as well as mature industries like automobiles.

There's no way around it; the debts we owe are too many due to historical reasons, and we have to repay them little by little.

For example, in the automotive industry, the country gradually opened up in Masato Takeshita's previous life.

As businesses grow, they are no longer the ones being attacked on one side.

Thinking it over and acting on it, Masato Takeshita picked up the phone to the secretary's office again.

"Uchida-san, please help me compile a list of companies that have spoken out in support of the Murayama Statement."

"Yes, when do you need it?"

"Hmm, no rush, you can give it to me in a week."

This is just the beginning, and some companies may still be praising it. Completing all the statistics in a week would be the optimal time.

"Yes, President!"

While Takeshita Masato was busy talking with Murayama, Scully, president of Seikai Technology, and Kenji Ono, president of Seikai Communications, came to visit him.

After a brief greeting, Scully respectfully handed him the sales report for the PHS phones.

"President, this is the sales data for PHS phones in Pattaya, Thailand this week."

"Wow, that was fast?" Takeshita Masato was surprised that less than two months after signing the contract, the two parties had completed all the steps of establishing a joint venture, installing and debugging base station equipment, forming a transportation and sales team, and selling PHS phones.

Even though Pattaya doesn't have a large population, this is still incredibly fast.

"The main reason is that the Thai government gave it the green light all the way."

"I see. It seems that investing in less developed countries is more efficient."

For underdeveloped regions to achieve high efficiency, the key lies in finding the right path.

For example, Xinghai Group holds a 51% stake in the joint venture it established in Thailand.

However, this 51% belongs to two companies.

Xinghai Electronics, which is responsible for the research and development of PHS (Personal Handyphone System) mobile phones, holds a 26% stake; Xinghai Communications, which is responsible for base station projects and communication operations, holds a 25% stake.

The remaining Thai companies also have dispersed shareholdings.

15% belongs to the Thai royal family, 15% belongs to the Thai military, and the remaining 19% belongs to Thai state-owned enterprises.

With such a sensible shareholding ratio, Xinghai Group naturally had no one to dare to obstruct the two companies' joint venture on the PHS (Personal Handyphone System) communication project.

If it weren't for concerns about damaging its reputation, Xinghai Group could have done it even faster.

For example, some construction sites do things that disturb the peace in the middle of the night.

"Yes, their approval speed far exceeds that of the domestic government."

In developed countries, administrative processes are generally not very efficient, and many large companies simply wait for procedures to be completed.

Of course, in general, developed countries are better in terms of administration.

Because in many underdeveloped countries, high efficiency is only available to the privileged class, and ordinary people can wait forever if they don't pay.

"So much? Is this a week's sales?"

Masato Takeshita was surprised that Pattaya could sell 3.5 PHS phones in just one week.

This speed was somewhat beyond his expectations.

"That's right, it's because of our insufficient supply."

"If we are well prepared, we estimate that sales could reach 5 units."

Scully's tone was filled with regret as he concluded the sentence.

The difference between first-week sales of 3.5 units and first-week sales of 5 units naturally indicates that the latter generated a better advertising effect.

"The advertising effects are all about the same, so there's no need to worry too much about it."

Pattaya has a population of less than 100 million, and even with the addition of migrant workers, its population is unlikely to exceed 200 million.

In just one week, 3.5 PHS (Personal Handyphone System) phones were sold out, and the advertising effect was close to its maximum.

If sales can reach over 2 units in the second week, then it can be basically declared that PHS has achieved great success in the Thai market.

However, judging from the current situation, the problem shouldn't be too big.

"I understand, Chairman."

A week passed quickly, and when Sculley submitted the new sales figures again, he couldn't stop smiling.

In its second week, the sales of PHS (Personal Handyphone System) mobile phones continued to remain above 3 units.

Although there were promotional discounts, making it almost a sale or giveaway, it already shows the excellent potential of PHS phones in Thailand.

"Excellent, such a dazzling report card. They must be even more anxious than we are over there."

Xinghai Group has too many ways to make money, and the revenue from the Thai mobile phone market is completely insignificant.

Including Masato Takeshita, the main focus was on the publicity effect.

But for members of the royal family and certain bigwigs in the military who have shares in Xingtai United Communications Company, this is a rare opportunity to make a fortune.

Therefore, they were even more anxious than Takeshita Masato had imagined.

"Yes, they are in a hurry and want us to start building base stations in Bangkok immediately."

This time, it was Kenji Ono who responded to Masato Takeshita.

Because the division of labor between the two companies within Xinghai Group is very clear: Xinghai Communications handles all the communications work, while Xinghai Technology controls the entire process of the PHS (Personal Handyphone System) handsets.

"No problem, let's take over the Bangkok market as soon as possible and set an example for the world."

The young man was very happy because Xiaolingtong's business was basically settled.

Of course, for every person who laughs in this world, there is another who cries.

The rapid rise of PHS (Personal Handyphone System) has already created a crisis for Thailand's pager business.

However, it has only been a short time, and the pager business in Thailand is very fragmented, so few people have noticed this problem yet.

And even if they did discover it, they basically didn't take it seriously.

These people naively believe that the shrinking Pattaya market is due to promotional activities by PHS (Personal Handyphone System), and that users will eventually return.

However, it doesn't matter even if they discover and take action.

These people are too weak to influence the general trend of the times.

"Yes, Chairman, the company will be able to complete this promotional plan this year."

Kenji Ono was very confident because there would be a large number of employees building communication base stations in Bangkok.

Of course, in this busy and hectic process, substantial subsidies are a necessary component.

This is also a common practice adopted by Xinghai Group in its joint venture projects in developing countries, and it has proven to be very effective.

Construction projects that normally take three days to complete can now be finished perfectly in a day and a half at most.

It can only be said that when faced with money, even lazy people can increase their efficiency several times over.

"Yes, very good. However, we must ensure the safety and quality of the personnel involved in the project, and not blindly pursue speed."

"I don't want to hear any bad news about the company in this regard, not even rumors circulating among the public."

Newspapers and magazines can easily silence dissent, but public opinion is much harder to maintain.

With public opinion so powerful, even the best quality products from Xinghai Group are doomed.

"Understood, I will keep a close watch."

Kenji Ono is considered a veteran of the company, so naturally he wouldn't violate the company's principle of prioritizing quality.

"Is there anything else?"

Hearing their guild leader say this, the two looked at each other and shook their heads simultaneously.

"Nothing."

"Okay, then you two go ahead and get busy."

"Yes, President."

After the two left, Masato Takeshita looked at the sales report in front of him, but his heart was already in another country.

"I don't know if there will be a chance to enter the Chinese market this year."

"If that doesn't work, next year will be fine too."

Masato Takeshita was very anxious because the sooner the PHS phone entered the Chinese market, the less resistance it would face.

The reason why PHS (Personal Handyphone System) faced such difficulties in the Chinese market in its previous life was due to the obstruction from pager operators and mobile communication operators.

There was only so much food, and everyone wanted to eat as much as they could.

Therefore, we should enter the market when these operators are weak and establish a fait accompli.

(End of this chapter)