Chapter 539: Development of the Middle East Market

At the end of July, Changxing Film Company held a grand celebration ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel.

With such a high box office, the cost can be recovered and a lot of money can be made just by relying on the Hong Kong market. This is very rare in the history of Hong Kong films. In the future, the film will be released in Nanyang Cinemas, plus some overseas theaters. Such high returns should naturally be celebrated.

Many reporters from Hong Kong also came after hearing the news. Li Xiaolong has now become the most popular star in Hong Kong. Many reporters wanted to interview him, but they simply never had the chance.

Yang Wendong also came here. He was very happy that Li Xiaolong's initial plan in Hong Kong was successful, so he came by and had a meal with everyone.

After the banquet, Li Xiaolong came to Yang Wendong, handed him the information, and said, "Mr. Yang, this is the movie I am going to shoot next, called "Huo Yuanjia";
According to folklore, a famous martial arts master during the Republic of China period competed with many Japanese and even European and American martial artists in order to fight for the Chinese people and get rid of the slogan of "Sick Man of East Asia".

"Okay, this direction is very good. Although martial arts cannot free the Chinese nation from the century-long humiliation it has endured, it can at least boost morale a little." Yang Wendong agreed after glancing at the content.

In fact, he had considered shooting a war movie or TV series a long time ago, but the Hong Kong government did not allow it and there was no filming environment, so it eventually came to nothing.

Nowadays, the breakthrough point is the direction of "martial arts". Although it is not as good as hot weapons, it is much better than nothing.

Li Xiaolong smiled and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Mr. Yang."

"Even without my guidance, you might have thought of something similar." Yang Wendong shook his head and said.

There is no need for him to be greedy for this credit. In history, Li Xiaolong also filmed "Huo Yuanjia", but because of historical changes and the butterfly effect, the plot may be different from the original history. But this is not important. A similar plot + Li Xiaolong's martial arts are enough.

Li Xiaolong said: "Maybe. When I was in the United States, I thought about putting the process of fighting with martial arts masters from other countries in a movie."

"Okay, let's shoot it this way. Funding is not a problem." Yang Wendong added, "Besides, you are a celebrity now. I will arrange for someone to renegotiate with you regarding income. Your salary will be the same as in Hollywood, linked to the movie box office. The higher the box office, the higher your salary."

Popular Hollywood stars or directors can share profits from the films. The producer model recently introduced in Hong Kong is essentially the same.
This is also because under the impact of free television, the traditional way of making movies by paying wages is no longer feasible. Only by distributing dividends to core personnel can high-quality content be created. This is also the fundamental reason for the rise of Golden Harvest and the decline of Shaw Brothers in history. Because Shaw Brothers Film Company still uses the industrial assembly line model, it was beaten by various movies shot by Golden Harvest's producer film model.

Although Changxing Film Company controls all aspects of Hong Kong films, if it does not improve, it will only shrink the market. After all, the biggest competitor of movies has never been the movies themselves, but other entertainment modes.

However, it is not easy to obtain dividends from the shooting producer model. Only a few people have the possibility, and how much each person can get depends on previous achievements and abilities, etc.

Li Xiaolong agreed; "Okay, thank you Yang Sheng."

"This is what you deserve. When you shoot a few more movies in Hong Kong, I will try to find an opportunity to cooperate with Hollywood." Yang Wendong added: "With your acting skills, martial arts, and fame, combined with my capital, I will have the confidence to discuss cooperation with major Hollywood companies."

In fact, he was also worried that Li Xiaolong would go to the United States again after becoming famous in Hong Kong. This is also human nature. After all, the revenue of American movies far exceeds that of Hong Kong, and those who are ambitious will go there. The same was true for the two kung fu superstars Li and Cheng in their previous lives. Even other stars wanted to go to Hollywood after becoming famous in the mainland.

So let’s calm people down first and show the photos of future cakes.

Of course, this is also true. He will definitely push Li Xiaolong to enter Hollywood. Only when he becomes famous in Hollywood can he cooperate with many of his own plans. Compared with his own industrial industries, even the little profit from cooperation with Hollywood is nothing.

Red Bull alone is enough to outperform several Hollywood film companies.

The Big Boss soon entered the Southeast Asian market, first of all to Changxing Film Company’s own cinema chain, and naturally, it also achieved the same explosive results;

In less than half a month, Li Xiaolong became famous in many Chinese communities in Southeast Asia.

At the same time, many people from other ethnic groups in the local area also tried to take a look. After taking a look, they were immediately attracted by it. Then, word of mouth gradually spread among other ethnic groups.

Li Xiaolong's fame began to gradually rise in many Asian countries;

Yang Wendong was very happy when he learned about it. His plan was finally successful. He only needed to make a few more movies and he would be able to conquer many countries in Southeast Asia, even in Japan. There were many people who would like Li Xiaolong, even though the people who were beaten the most in "Huo Yuanjia" were their people.

But it's normal. After all, after being beaten by the "little boy" and the "fat man", they still like to follow the United States. They like whoever is stronger.
It will take some time to make several movies, so let Li Xiaolong use his expertise. Yang Wendong only needs to provide funds, resources, connections, etc., and also ensure that Li himself has high returns.

Time soon came to mid-August:

Yang Wendong came to the container factory in Cheung Kwai Chung. At this moment, there were two new factories under construction on both sides of the factory.

Wei Zetao introduced: "Mr. Yang, the factory on the east side is our new container factory, and the one on the west side is our future steel plant."

"Is there any problem in purchasing equipment for the steel plant?" Yang Wendong asked.

Wei Zetao replied: "No problem, I have been negotiating with a Japanese steel equipment manufacturing company for more than two months, but we haven't reached an agreement on the price.
Their quote was $370 million for a large plate line, plus a large heat-treating furnace at the back.”

"370 million US dollars? This heavy industry really costs money." Yang Wendong said with a smile.

“Heavy industry is like this.” Wei Zetao continued, “Our production line does not include the front-end steelmaking, but directly purchases crude steel ingots for processing;
The factory in Taiwan is a complete set that can process iron ore directly into various steel products. It is also much larger than ours, with a single production line costing billions of dollars.

Yang Wendong nodded: "Yes, ours can only be regarded as a very simple heavy industry."

Wei Zetao said: "But it is still cost-effective to smelt steel by ourselves in the early stage. As long as the time is long enough, it will definitely be more cost-effective than buying finished steel ingots like us."

"I know, but you are comparing bank interest, while I am comparing other investments." Yang Wendong replied, "The same $100 million, if invested in other industries in my hands, can potentially turn into 10 billion or even several billion dollars in ten years.

Therefore, it is not cost-effective for us to invest too much in heavy industry. This kind of thing can only be cost-effective if the government takes the lead, and Hong Kong is not suitable for this either.”

If you are not a company specializing in heavy industry, it is not cost-effective to invest too much in heavy industry. In many places, investment is basically from the government, because heavy industry is not just an investment of money for the government, but also the foundation of future industries and national defense security needs, etc.

It was no accident that the mainland's economy took off after the reform and opening up in the past. Otherwise, India, Mexico, and even the four Asian dragons and four Asian tigers would have come into contact with the West much earlier than the mainland and had greater advantages in distance and language. But in 2020, they are still thinking about taking over the industrial chain transferred from the mainland.

The reason why the mainland was able to reform and open up successfully was that it practiced internal skills in the first 40 years of seclusion, laying a solid foundation for agriculture, water conservancy irrigation, military defense, basic education, and various heavy industries, which led to the miracle of development in the next years. "That's true." Wei Zetao followed up and said, "Besides, Hong Kong lacks water, and steel pollution is also serious, so it is indeed not suitable."

"Let's talk about it later." Yang Wendong didn't think much about it;

Maybe in the future, when your own capital is really sufficient and it is difficult to expand exponentially, you may also participate in heavy industry investment;

However, the location selection will indeed be a big problem. Hong Kong and Singapore are not suitable, and he is not at ease with Malaysia and Taiwan. In the future, after the mainland's reform and opening up, there may be more restrictions on foreign-funded steel industry. We can only take it one step at a time. If it is really not suitable, then we will not invest.

"Okay, I will arrange someone to submit the machine information to the headquarters." Wei Zetao said again.

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay, I'll take a look at it, but if there's no big problem, it's fine. Containers will be a major industry for Changxing Industry in the future. Now is a good time to grab the market and customers. We can't fail to make them because of a lack of steel plates, otherwise we'll suffer a big loss."

A container industry can basically create a Fortune 2000 company. This is a market that is even bigger than that of Post-it Notes. Moreover, there are no patents in this industry, so all you have to do is reduce costs. Hong Kong has a great advantage in this regard, because in this era, the only people who make containers are either from Europe, the United States or Japan, and other places do not have this technology.

Wei Zetao smiled and said, "I understand. Now the container industry has become one of the pillars of Changxing Industry. Later, I will reduce costs through the industrial chain."

"Well, okay." Yang Wendong said with satisfaction.

In the afternoon, Yang Wendong came to Sha Tin Town, which is also located in the Kowloon Peninsula. Zhou Haoran naturally came to accompany him and took Yang Wendong for a walk in the Sha Tin Food Industrial Park.

"It looks like it's developing well." Yang Wendong asked, "How many people are there in the factory now?"

Zhou Haoran replied: "The total number has exceeded 10,000. The Asian economy has developed very rapidly in the past two years. Beverages, instant noodles, sausages, and various snacks are selling very well.
Especially for Pepsi's cola OEM, because our cost is lower than Japan, they gave us a lot of orders, and Pepsi was developing the polar bear market and shipped it in through various indirect methods. "

"So that's how it is. Pepsi is doing really well in this regard." Yang Wendong nodded.

There was a joke in history that Pepsi had the sixth largest fleet in the world in the 90s, not for civilian use, but for military use;

Because Pepsi was very successful in developing the Polar Bear market, after Polar Bear collapsed, in order to pay off debts and continue to drink Coke, it gave a large number of fleets to Pepsi;
I don’t want Pepsi either, but I don’t have anything else valuable.

Zhou Haoran smiled and said, "Yes, new markets are always amazing, and we also have our own new markets. Fanta Cola is also very popular in the Middle East now, and our goods are also shipped in large quantities to various ports in the Middle East by cargo ships."

"It seems that people in the Middle East also like to drink Coke." Yang Wendong said.

Zhou Haoran said: "Yes, the Middle East began to exclude the United States because of the war, especially Coca-Cola, which built a factory in Israel and was directly banned from sale by some countries;

Pepsi is better, but it is also excluded, while our Fanta Cola does not have this problem. Although the UK is also involved in the Middle East issue, it has nothing to do with Hong Kong, and the Middle Eastern countries do not care about this. "

"Britain has so many colonies, it's impossible for them to care about all of them." Yang Wendong thought for a while and said, "Since there is such a godsend opportunity in the Middle East, we must seize it. Not only for you, but also for other industries. So, I will gather everyone together tomorrow to discuss the Middle East."

"Yes, Mr. Yang." Zhou Haoran said.

The next day, Wei Zetao, Zhou Haoran, Wang Zhiqun, Liu Huayu and others came to Changxing Building together.

Yang Wendong first asked Wang Zhiqun: "Old Wang, how are Honor Electronics' sales outlets and after-sales arrangements in the Middle East going?"

Within Changxing Group, the first company to expand into the Middle East was Honor Electronics. This was also Yang Wendong's idea, because he knew that although the Middle East is very poor now, it will be a different story 73 years later.

Wang Zhiqun replied: “I have arranged for more than 300 Hong Kong people to go to 6 cities in 22 countries in the Middle East to first set up sales outlets and after-sales in these major cities;
However, due to cultural, legal and religious issues, their initial progress was not smooth, so they later decided to find local partners to run the business together. Currently, they have built a total of 71 stores, and each store also has some after-sales maintenance;
But because of transportation costs and the local economy, most of these stores are losing money and have been supported by Hong Kong at a loss.”

"It doesn't matter if we make a loss. Not many businesses with this kind of channel can make money in the first few years." Yang Wendong said: "We will continue to invest money and expand new stores. Hong Kong will continue to produce all kinds of new electrical appliances. As long as there are enough stores and the brand can be promoted, then it will be an opportunity."

There were still five years until the Middle East became rich in 1974, and this time was just right for expanding various stores and after-sales services, so that the first step could be to occupy the future super-rich market;
"Okay, Mr. Yang." Wang Zhiqun agreed.

Although he felt it was a bit of a waste to invest so many resources in a barren place like the Middle East, he still had to follow his boss's orders.

Yang Wendong added: "By the way, if you can buy your current stores and future stores, buy them, just like in Hong Kong, so that when our business becomes successful in the future, we will not end up working for the landlord."

The housing prices in the Middle East will inevitably soar in the future, but he is not prepared to participate. After all, he is not familiar with it. Moreover, if the scale is large, it will require certain political resources to maintain the interests.

If you have this energy, you might as well invest in Hong Kong, Japan or the mainland in the future. However, if it involves building your own industrial product channels, it is better to acquire the property.

Wang Zhiqun said: "No problem. Housing prices in the Middle East are very cheap right now. There is actually no water supply there, and there are not many people in the city."

"We won't be responsible for the water issue." Yang Wendong added, "I talked to Lao Zhou yesterday. Fanta Cola is also selling very well in the Middle East. In addition, the global economy is developing rapidly, and the demand for oil is increasing.

The military strength of the Middle East countries is getting stronger, so I think they will definitely find a way to get the oil benefits into their own hands. In this way, their economy will definitely get better, so I think our group can focus on developing the Middle East market. "

Wei Zetao asked: "Mr. Yang, are you planning to let our companies build sales channels in the Middle East?"

"We don't need to build it ourselves. We don't really understand the culture and religion there. We should just do the same as Honor and cooperate with them." Yang Wendong said, "We can find capable local distributors and try to cooperate with them. This way, it will be much faster than building a channel ourselves."

Although Southeast Asia may be risky at times, Yang Wendong still dares to invest, especially in places that were known as the Four Little Dragons and Four Little Tigers in his previous life. Basically, if they can develop well, they will not trap foreign investment.

But he doesn't dare to go to other places, such as the Middle East, South America, India, etc. At most, he will invest a little in channels. Compared with the possible gains, the profit is very small, so he can give it a try. If he fails, the loss will not be high.

"Okay." Several people agreed. The boss had revealed a long time ago that he wanted to develop the Middle East market.
At this time, Liu Huayu asked: "Mr. Yang, what about my Carrefour supermarket? Do I also need to go to the Middle East and find local rich people to build a supermarket in a joint venture?"

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(End of this chapter)

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