Chapter 86 Planning the Rubik's Cube
Chapter 86 Planning the Rubik's Cube
"Southeast Asia?" Zhao Liming thought for a moment and said, "Brother Dong, speaking of Southeast Asia, I talked to Mr. Zhao, a trader in Southeast Asia, last time. After our mouse traps were shipped over there, some people there copied them.
But some of these countries don’t have patent laws yet, and even if some do, they are difficult to enforce. It’s not cost-effective for us to sue them.”
Yang Wendong smiled and said, "In developed countries like Europe and America, we have to use patents to protect our interests.
But in Southeast Asia, South America, Africa and other places, we can’t rely on patents. We need to rely on low cost and high effect. As long as we can industrialize and standardize production in large quantities, we can beat those small workshops by price. "
This is a basic rule of many business competitions. Patents may be invalid in many cases, especially in countries and regions that do not have patent laws or have patent laws but are difficult to enforce.
But the basic principle of business is cost-effectiveness. As long as the price is low, all competitors will be defeated.
As for the issue of tariffs, this kind of low-end industry will not be given as much attention by the government as automobiles and home appliances, and will generally not be specifically targeted, or it can be said that it does not deserve it!
Lin Haoyu said with a smile: "It seems that Brother Dong has already thought of a countermeasure. Liming, I said that Brother Dong must have a plan that is perfect."
"Yeah." Zhao Liming smiled.
Yang Wendong said: "Haoyu, you have learned Chinese well recently. You even know the word 'foreseeable plan'? That's amazing!"
Lin Haoyu smiled and said, "I learned some idioms on purpose, so that when I communicate with those people in the warehouses and office buildings, I can appear to be a little cultured. Otherwise, I always feel a little out of place."
“Yes, that’s right.” Yang Wendong nodded and said, “Even if it’s useless now, it will be useful to you in the future.
It’s almost the end of the year, so I’ll give you a hard task for next year: you must learn Chinese, be able to read most newspapers independently, and be able to write the most basic characters. You must also know at least a few hundred idioms.”
"Okay, don't worry, Brother Dong." Zhao Liming immediately promised.
As the factory business grew, the two of them began to come into contact with many people, and naturally they felt the importance of reading, writing and culture.
The company has only been established for half a year, but it has already grown to a considerable scale. If it continues to grow, they will definitely not be able to keep up with the progress.
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Well, learn Chinese well next year, continue the year after, and then add a little English."
He must be strict with his brothers, otherwise, they will really not be able to keep up with him in the future.
Besides, even if they become independent in the future, they still need to be educated. In Hong Kong or anywhere else, they may not have been to school, but they must always learn and improve.
Otherwise, even if you become a nouveau riche someday, it will be difficult to keep the money; there is a saying in later generations that a person is not worthy of owning wealth that exceeds his ability to understand for a long time...
……
In the following week, Yang Wendong could only wait for the equipment from Japan, while keeping an eye on the situation at Dongsheng Equipment Factory.
In the future, the global demand for sticky notes will definitely be at a very large level, and may become one of the daily office supplies like pens and paper. Of course, the order of magnitude cannot be compared.
One day, Su Yiyi came over with some sticky notes and asked, "Brother Dong, the demand for sticky notes in the Hong Kong market has started to pick up again recently."
After listening to this, Yang Wendong raised his head and said with a smile: "Oh, it seems that in the past two months, the first batch of companies purchased have almost been used up?"
"There are reasons for this, but not many." Su Yiyi sat down and took a sip of water: "Zhao Chengguang has also recently established connections with many government departments and hospitals and sold the sticky notes to them.
Also, some department stores have started to have sticky notes, and some small companies like ours have also started using them.”
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Zhao Chengguang has quite a strong connection. He is able to get through so many departments and department stores."
Su Yiyi said with a smile: "Strong relationships are one aspect, but it may also be because our sticky notes are very practical. People who have used them think they are good and can improve work efficiency. Both the boss and the employees are willing to use them.
The original mouse traps were never sold in department stores, so it’s probably useless even if they have connections.”
"That's right." Yang Wendong nodded: "The characteristics of a thing itself will also affect the convenience of resource channel relationships."
Naturally everyone wants good things, so as long as you have some connections, you can easily enter some big shopping malls. On the other hand, if the things cannot be sold, it will be difficult to control them no matter how strong the connections are. Even if you have such strong connections, you will not be stupid enough to use them on things that cannot be sold.
Su Yiyi added: "I have been doing some follow-up visits to the first batch of companies that bought sticky notes in the past few days, and many of them said they have used half of them.
And they are not really worn out. Many people's sticky notes are gone for unknown reasons, and they are used up very quickly. I guess those big companies will buy them back in a month or two."
Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Well, that's normal. The main reason for the loss of office supplies is loss, not actually using them up."
The iron rule of the office in the previous life: no ballpoint pen was ever truly out of ink; most of them were gone as soon as they were used.
This is true for smaller items. In the office, money left on the table may not be lost, but pens and snacks will most likely be lost.
Even in many workshops, huge wrenches and screwdrivers are often lost. These things are very large, but even if dozens of them are lost, the bodies are gone.
This reason contributes at least 70% to the global popularity of office supplies.
Su Yiyi asked again: "There is already 3M in the US market, so should we also adopt the practice of sending products for free to large companies to expand the market in other markets? Especially Japan."
“No need.” Yang Wendong shook his head and rejected the idea. “Our production capacity may not even be able to meet the needs of the US market for a long time to come, so we will not consider other markets for the time being.
If I hadn’t considered the financial pressure and quality control, I wouldn’t have bought 50 devices at a time.”
The US market is at least several hundred times larger than Hong Kong's. Although the population may not be a hundred times larger, the US is now the global economic center, with factories and office buildings everywhere.
The density of office workers is far higher than that of Hong Kong now. In addition, the economic conditions in the United States are good, and with the price of sticky notes, American customers will definitely be more casual in using them.
Therefore, for some time to come, I just need to focus on satisfying the American market.
Although sticky notes have a simple structure, it does not mean that there will be no quality problems. If there is too much or too little glue, it will cause user disgust.
"Oh, that's right." Su Yiyi nodded.
Yang Wendong added: "There is another advantage to keeping other markets now, which is that we can renegotiate cooperation conditions based on the feedback from the US market in the future."
After listening to this, Su Yiyi thought for a moment and asked, "Brother Dong means that if the US market sells well, then the dealers in other markets will have to give us a large profit."
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Yes, we were actually at a disadvantage when facing 3M before, because they are a large company and have channels.
If two other dealers hadn't contacted me and given me confidence, I would have been able to make a slight comeback. But overall, we were still not at an advantage.
Channels are king, this is the basic principle of modern business society. Only a popular and well-known product like Coca-Cola can pressure the channels. So with the help of 3M's powerful channels, the more popular the Post-it Notes are, the more confident we will be in negotiating the markets in Japan, Europe and other regions later."
"So that's how it is." Su Yiyi said with a smile.
"You will realize it when you have more experience in the future." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "I didn't give the mouse trap exclusive distribution rights at the beginning because I knew that our ability to find those two channels was not very strong;
If they also have the ability to cover a large market, I will give them the exclusive distribution rights to one of them."
"Should we find an exclusive distributor for the mouse trap now?" Su Yiyi asked again.
Yang Wendong shook his head and said: "Developed countries still need it. We must rely on strong distributors and give them profits to ensure the validity of our patents, otherwise we will not be able to keep our patents.
For ordinary countries, it depends on the situation, and it is hard to say now.
In the future, when doing business, whether it is small business in Hong Kong or large business internationally, you must cooperate with people who have resources, connections and abilities, grow together, and make money together, so that you can develop in the long run. "
Su Yiyi thought for a moment and said, "Well, it seems like you, Dong Ge, have been doing this since you made the mousetrap."
"Yes, if you don't benefit others, you won't be able to grow big." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Many times, even if I have resources, I still need to share the market with others. Even Coca-Cola can't eat alone.
Hong Kong's Swire Group is Coca-Cola's largest partner. Sugar production, beverage production, and distribution are all Swire's. Coca-Cola also needs to rely on Swire's influence in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia."
Hong Kong in the 50s was quite different from that in the s and s. At that time, Hong Kong was not yet an era of four giants dominated by Jardine Matheson, Swire, and Wheelock. However, Swire and Jardine have always been the leaders, while Wheelock and Hutchison were younger generations.
"Swire is a big trading company." Su Yiyi said with a smile.
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "One day, we can also become a company of this level."
Su Yiyi asked curiously, "Can our Chinese company become that big?"
"It's difficult, but not impossible." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "The Hong Kong government still needs to maintain fairness on the surface, but smart Chinese people won't be stupid enough to confront your British-owned foreign companies head-on when they are not strong enough.
Overseas markets are where the Chinese are most active, such as factory product exports and the shipping industry.”
During the 50s, 60s, and even the 70s, none of the top Chinese in Hong Kong were in real estate. One reason was that the real estate market had not yet taken off, and the other was that British capital was still monopolizing the market for all kinds of high-quality land. The main focus of Chinese capital was still on industry and shipping.
In another ten years, Hong Kong will have various Chinese business stars including industrial tycoons and shipping magnates, but not a single real estate tycoon.
Of course, it is also possible that it was precisely because Chinese capital flowed into the real estate market on a large scale in the 20s and s that the Hong Kong real estate market became so crazy years later.
It is a bit difficult to judge the cause and effect relationship here, who is the cause and who is the effect.
"Then Brother Dong will definitely be the best in Hong Kong." Su Yiyi said with a smile.
Yang Wendong smiled and said, "We can become wealthy by relying on sticky notes, but it is still far from enough to be number one. We also need help from others."
Post-it notes are a good thing, but their market is still limited. If you want to become a super businessman, you still have to choose some industries with large markets.
"What help?" Su Yiyi asked.
Yang Wendong said: "I will interview some people who do structural design in the next few days. I need these people to help me complete some designs.
Not everything is as simple as a sticky note or a mousetrap, and my brain is limited.”
"Oh oh..." Su Yiyi nodded.
……
In the following days, Yang Wendong personally interviewed several structural design engineers. Some of them were introduced by Mr. Wu from Dongsheng, and some were found from other channels.
During the interview, Yang Wendong also examined their drawing skills. In that era without computers, all kinds of designs had to be drawn with pen and paper, especially three-dimensional drawings, which required the designer's spatial imagination ability.
As for what he was going to design after coming in, Yang Wendong naturally wouldn't tell him.
Time quickly came to the end of December, and the three people who had been interviewed previously had gradually started working.
Apparently, there were no labor laws in Hong Kong at this time, and unless you were a high-level manager, all you had to do when leaving was hand over your work.
After a morning of getting acquainted, in the afternoon, Yang Wendong called Hong Xuefei, the leader of the three. Hong Xuefei was a man in his forties who had worked in a machinery factory for more than twenty years. He had also worked in a military factory during the Anti-Japanese War in the United States.
"Mr. Hong, please sit down." Yang Wendong said with a smile.
Hong Xuefei immediately said stiffly: "Boss, don't call me Sheng. Just call me Lao Hong. That's what everyone calls me."
"Yeah, that's fine." Yang Wendong smiled. This was more convenient. Then he asked, "Old Hong, what do you think of our factory?"
"The food is very good, better than the food in my previous factory," said Hong Xuefei with a smile.
"Yeah." Yang Wendong nodded and asked, "What about the product?"
"The mouse traps and sticky notes are very creative and look simple, but they have great market potential." Hong Xuefei said, "In fact, I bought a few mouse traps a few months ago and caught mice at home. I just threw them away after catching them. It is much more convenient than using mouse cages and rat poison.
I've never heard of sticky notes, but I used two this morning and they were quite convenient."
"Yes, these two products are both very good." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "However, I personally still hope that Changxing Industry can have other products, which is why I recruited designers like you.
I have some ideas, but they involve some structural problems and I can’t do it, so that’s your task later.”
When Hong Xuefei heard this, he immediately asked formally: "Boss, I wonder what kind of structure it is."
"Look at this." Yang Wendong took out a piece of paper from the drawer and said, "This is a large cube made up of 27 small cubes. I need you to design a structure that allows it to rotate freely in three different directions."
This thing is naturally the Rubik's Cube.
……
PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)