America: My Time

Chapter 1158 John's Scheme

Chapter 1148 John's Scheme
Similarly, the development of 7-Eleven convenience stores was also targeted. With the Japanese bubble crisis, the development of 7-Eleven convenience stores also tempted those guys. After all, those guys in Japan are incredibly greedy, and John hadn't had any major conflicts with them before, which made them feel that they could continue to take the assets they wanted from John.

Fortunately, Phoenix Comics was unaffected, but TV Tokyo was hit hard. Some fools targeted TV Tokyo, accusing it of not having any news. It's unclear whether these people had ulterior motives or were unaware of the agreement between John and the Japanese government.

It was precisely because of this sudden change in Japan that Kikuchi Momoko and Lee Boo-jin were forced to leave the United States and return to deal with these matters. Lee Boo-jin had always been in charge of the 7-Eleven convenience store business, but now such a problem had arisen. Kikuchi Momoko also needed to step in to handle the Internet Cafe Alliance and the Tokyo TV matter.

With the betrayal by Japan, some people wanted to see John make a fool of himself, especially the Koreans. After all, John and Japan had only recently reached an agreement, and now Japan was facing such a big problem. No one would believe that the Japanese government was completely unaware of anything and that the Japanese conglomerates were not involved.

In fact, all of this was not caused by the machinations of the conglomerates, but by Sony's own transformation. Without the old guy Akio Morita, the new guy who took over was eager to reverse Sony's unfavorable situation, so he set his sights on companies like John. At the same time, the Japanese game companies also saw an opportunity and wanted to get involved, which led to the current situation. As for 7-Eleven, that was purely caused by the lure of profit.

“Sit down, don’t be nervous, and don’t worry too much. This is both expected and unexpected. I knew these guys weren’t trustworthy, but I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. It’s true what they say, people forget you when they’re gone. Morita-san has only been retired for a short time, and these guys at Sony can’t stand it anymore. That’s human nature, that’s human greed.” Seeing the tense expressions on Lee Boo-jin and Kikuchi Momoko’s faces, John didn’t seem to care. He calmly advised them to relax. It was just a small matter, not worth making a big fuss about. Besides, it was just a business confrontation, nothing serious.

Many people believe that all of this is the work of Japanese conglomerates, but John thinks that's not the case. The reason these guys react this way is because of their interests. This can be seen from the initial reconstruction after the Great Hanshin Earthquake, where the supply of materials was rejected by John because of their own interests.

“But if we do nothing, they will quickly take away our market share, and more convenience store franchisees will leave!” At this moment, Lee Boo-jin frowned. She knew that 7-Eleven was still within its means, and the problem could be solved by making timely adjustments. If left unchecked, it would cause considerable losses!
"You have to give up something to gain something. Since those guys think they'll be more profitable by following other convenience stores, do you think we can stop them? Right now, they're just testing the waters. We just need to keep things stable. Don't forget that real estate values ​​are continuing to fall. We can get their compensation to expand! The same goes for the internet cafe alliance. If they want to compete for the market, let them. It's not as simple as it seems on the surface!"

There are also people in the US challenging the internet cafe alliance's market share, and similar moves are occurring in Japan. It's impossible to say there's no connection, but the extent of that connection is hard to say. Besides, this is normal business practice, and John can't do anything out of line. Business matters should be resolved business-wise; you can't keep someone who wants to leave.

Since these guys want to engage in business competition, John will have a small showdown with them. Sony thinks they have no weaknesses, but they're overthinking it. They've forgotten a major issue: price. Sony's personal computers are much more expensive than ASUS's, and ASUS is no longer constrained by production limitations and can now operate more freely. These guys are currently accelerating their expansion in Europe with the Internet Cafe Alliance, but if they think they can catch John off guard and take back the Japanese market, they're just dreaming. Things aren't as simple as they think.

“If we do this, those people will think we are easy to bully, and it will affect the overall layout of 7-Eleven convenience stores. We haven’t reacted in Japan, but I’m afraid other countries will follow suit, and that would be a very serious problem!” Lee Boo-jin was not thinking about Japan’s own problems, but about the overall layout in Asia.

“You’re overthinking it. If they really want to do that, then let them have their way. If these guys think we’re easy to bully and want to monopolize the market, we can give up. As long as the markets in Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and the Middle East are fine, giving up the other markets is no big deal. If they really go that far, I’d be more than happy to see it.” John’s answer shocked Lee Boo-jin. It was completely different from what she had thought. This was the entire Southeast Asian market; giving it up would have a significant impact on their retail strategy!

"Are you really going to give up the Southeast Asian market? Isn't that crazy? This market share is something we've worked incredibly hard to achieve. Giving it up like this would mean all our efforts have been wasted!" Lee Boo-jin looked at John in disbelief, trying to see from his face that it was just a joke. Unfortunately, she was disappointed. John's face remained calm, showing no sign of joking.

“I know, but don’t you think this is another opportunity for us? We can take this opportunity to enter the European market, abandon the Southeast Asian market, and turn to the European market. It’s not difficult for us. Moreover, if these guys want to acquire all our assets, they will have to pay a considerable price. Most importantly, production is in our own hands!”

John's words startled Lee Boo-jin. She instantly understood his intention: by selling these assets at a high price, they could shift their focus to the European market. Once the European market stabilized, they could cut off the supply there. After all, 7-Eleven's dominance in the Asian market stemmed from their access to cheap goods.

In short, get those franchisees to leave. Once they leave, the deposits and penalties they paid will be a huge source of income. Moreover, John is more willing to see this happen at this time. After all, the Asian financial crisis is coming. If such a shock occurs in the Southeast Asian market, John will have enough reason to sell his real estate and withdraw, waiting for the Asian financial crisis to arrive so he can deliver a fatal blow to them!
Upon hearing John's words, Lee Boo-jin assumed that John wanted to collect breach of contract fees and security deposits in order to complete his strategic layout in the European market, temporarily abandoning the Southeast Asian market, since it was a huge source of revenue. However, John's thinking was not that simple; he saw even greater profits—the enormous profits brought about by the Asian financial crisis.

“Alright, don’t worry about the changes in other markets. Let it continue as it is. We control the Korean, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Middle Eastern markets, so there’s no need to worry about any problems. Now you just need to wait and see!” John said with a faint smile, showing no concern whatsoever.

"Peach, don't go back to Japan. Stay in China. I'm curious to see how those guys will change, and how many franchisees will still be willing to follow us after this. I also want to know what those guys at Sony are up to. I hope they don't regret it."

John didn't need Momoko Kikuchi to handle the matter of the Internet Cafe Alliance. When Momoko Kikuchi came to see him, John had already informed ASUS that he would no longer abide by the previous agreement, ASUS's personal computers would enter the Japanese market, and the Internet Cafe Alliance would no longer cooperate with Sony.

When it comes to price, those guys in Japan can't compete with ASUS. With no production pressure, everything is no longer a problem. John believes that Sony will soon pay the price for its stupidity. As for the Tokyo Electric Power Company incident, John also wants to see how the Japanese officials and the Japanese conglomerates behave.

Those guys at Sony thought they had everything under control, but what they didn't realize was that from the moment they became arrogant, they had already fallen into a more dangerous situation. They were incredibly foolish to view everything with their previous perspective. The current internet cafe alliance is not as simple as they thought, and whether their original customers would accept their games is another question entirely!
People were happily playing games from the internet cafe alliance, and the betrayal of these franchisees has rendered all their effort and money wasted. Who could accept that? John didn't think these guys would agree or be satisfied. So, unless those guys offer compensation sufficient to satisfy consumers, they'll be in big trouble. John doesn't care what kind of trouble these guys will face; he just wants to know if Sony and the Japanese game companies can stabilize the current situation and get consumers to accept their games. If not, this storm will escalate and cause Sony's reputation to plummet!
(End of this chapter)