The world begins with Hong Kong movies

Chapter 608 That Year I Was Nineteen! (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
By the time Wu Aiguo returned to the capital, the weather had clearly warmed up.

He made two trips south in a short period of time, which shows that he was in excellent physical condition and did not feel much fatigue.

If it were someone else, they wouldn't recover without lying down for a whole day.

After returning, the Gulou Repair Shop had already begun constructing a bicycle branch.

"They're quite fast!"

At lunchtime in the cafeteria, Wu Aiguo and Wu Zhi huddled together, quietly exchanging recent news.

This time, Wu Aiguo has truly made a contribution.

Upon returning, I was specially summoned to the industrial departments in Beijing, where I received a lot of praise from the relevant leaders.

At the same time, his deputy division-level benefits were also reduced.

Ahem, he only enjoys the treatment of a deputy division chief, not a proper deputy division chief cadre.

After all, he was far too young.

Born in 1945, he is only nineteen years old now.

Even joining the organization is still a process!
This isn't wartime, and a nineteen-year-old deputy division-level cadre is really too outstanding.

Wu Aiguo didn't care much about this.

As long as his biological father, Wuzhi, remains the manager of the repair shop, he can still do many things even as a doorman.

"We have to act fast, the mountain bike factory is having a lot of complaints!"

Wu Zhi picked up a fried egg and put it in his mouth, his face full of disdain: "They think we shouldn't set up a bicycle branch factory, and that it's enough for them to take on the foreign exchange earnings task!"

"Heh, quite the boast!"

Wu Aiguo took a bite of the tender bamboo shoot and chuckled, "Back in Huacheng, I was treated like a grandson!"

"Given their situation, if we don't strictly enforce quality management, they'll make more mistakes in the future!"

"It's not that exaggerated, is it?"

Wu Zhi was somewhat skeptical, saying, "Having learned a lesson the hard way, one must change. Mr. Huo from Hong Kong isn't exactly a pushover either!"

"Dad, you'll understand once you imitate the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill!"

Wu Aiguo said leisurely, "Spurred by a momentary sense of honor, the workers may be able to maintain a high level of work for a while!"

"But over time, if the incentives aren't in place, people will inevitably become complacent. Anyway, whether they perform well or not, the factory will still pay their wages and benefits on time!"

"Only by assigning responsibility to specific individuals and linking it to their wages, benefits, and the selection of advanced workers and model workers will they maintain a certain standard of work, and that's where the results come from!"

"Of course, you should never hesitate to reward people when it's time to do so. It's that simple!"

"Isn't this similar to the rules in our factory?"

Wu Zhi asked with some suspicion, "Did you already think of that?"

"It's not that miraculous!"

Wu Aiguo said irritably, "I only know the workers. They have strengths and weaknesses. We can only try to maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses by following the factory's rules. If we can do even half of that, we'll be doing great!"

"Isn't it a bit cheap that the couple's series bicycles are only HK$1,000 each?"

Wu Zhi changed the subject, whispering, "Some people in the factory think it should be sold for a higher price!"

"What good thing are you thinking of?"

Wu Aiguo rolled his eyes and said irritably, "One thousand Hong Kong dollars a car is already a very sincere price from Mr. Huo!"

"After all, couple-themed bicycles haven't gained acceptance from European and American customers yet. In Asia, unless we can sell them to Xiao Rizi (a local brand), it will be difficult to get a high price!" He was too lazy to say more.

Even the high price of mountain bikes cannot be sustained indefinitely.

Unless they want to make Gulou brand mountain bikes a high-end bicycle brand, the price will definitely come down gradually.

Needless to say, even if the factory had such an idea, the higher-level industrial authorities would not agree to it.

In this era in China, even if the bicycle brand was named Hongqi (Red Flag), it would never become the exclusive vehicle for officials.

Whenever industrial capacity can be increased, quantity will be the first priority, and quality will be considered later.

The more bicycles you sell, the better.

Who could have imagined that a high-quality bicycle in later generations could sell for tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars?
However, bad news also came from Huo Daheng's side.

Bicycle manufacturers in Europe and America purchase the patent rights from him.

Even with Huo Daheng's influence, he couldn't protect this thing.

The European and American markets are too vast. They actually have transmission devices there too, but they're not as mature and stable as the ones tinkered with by the Gulou repair shop.

Given the nature of Western businessmen, if Huo Daheng doesn't open up patent licensing, he'll face all sorts of troubles in the future, and the lawsuits could drag on for twenty years. This is no joke.

Since the patent was held by the Gulou Repair Shop, Huo Daheng needed to find out the repair shop's attitude.

How could the Gulou Repair Shop possibly make a decision on this?
Even the leaders of the industrial departments in Beijing dared not make a conclusion easily.

This matter eventually reached the ears of a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Industry.

For this reason, Wu Aiguo and his son Wu Zhi participated in an internal seminar organized by the Ministry of Industry for the first time.

I was nineteen that year, sitting in the corner like a lackey!

Fortunately, Wu Aiguo, as the 'actual inventor' of bicycle gear shifting and the unsung hero who brought mountain bikes to Europe, had a chance to speak.

He didn't stand on ceremony and directly expressed his thoughts.

Trying to block European and American bicycle manufacturers with patents is an impossible task.

They have too many ways to circumvent it, after all, patent law was created by their country, and its main purpose is to restrict the development of developing countries.

The best approach is to charge patent licensing fees close to the psychological limits set by these European and American bicycle manufacturers.

It's a one-time fee per vehicle, not a one-time patent license!
Based on a 20-year patent protection period, a company cannot be considered successful without generating at least one billion dollars in patent licensing fees over 20 years.

Everyone present was stunned by Wu Aiguo's "bold words".

The big leader had the guts to directly contact the Hong Kong tycoon, Fok, to seek his opinion.

Unexpectedly, Huo Daheng strongly agreed with Wu Aiguo's opinion, believing that this was the best way to maximize profits, and that he could give it a try.

In the end, Huo Daheng actually managed to negotiate a good price!

European and American bicycle manufacturers have to pay a patent fee of 2.4 dollars to the patent licensing company for every bicycle equipped with the Gulou gear system they produce.

After this incident, Wu Aiguo's reputation soared!

It is said that even high-ranking leaders have heard of his name.

Meanwhile, Wu Aiguo was watching the commotion at the Gulou Subdistrict Office. The bad idea he had given his father, Wu Zhi, was finally coming to fruition.

The Gulou Repair Shop also managed the Gulou Street Orphanage. With the completion of the new factory area, the orphanage moved into the new factory area.

As for the original orphanage site, at Wu Aiguo's suggestion, a construction company was hired to build apartment-style dormitories.

(End of this chapter)