Chapter 635 The Future Iron Lady

Chapter 635 The Future Iron Lady

Chapter 635 The Future Iron Lady
The improvement in Sino-American relations has had a huge impact on the world, just like a meteorite falling into the Pacific Ocean, both in terms of politics and economy.

Influenced by this, America's loyal little brother, Great Britain, also established diplomatic relations with China less than half a month later. As for Hong Kong, its economy naturally became better due to this. In previous years, everyone was very worried about whether the mainland and Britain would have disputes again over the Hong Kong issue.

But now that diplomatic relations have been established, and the mainland is clearly shifting towards the Western camp in terms of diplomacy, Hong Kong will not only have no major problems, but will even be further used as a bridge for communication between the East and the West;

Also this month, China Resources Group began to frequently cooperate with Hong Kong companies, especially in the import and export of materials. It also promised that the mainland would increase the supply of meat, eggs, grain, vegetables, etc. as soon as possible to ensure the prices of basic living materials in the Hong Kong market. Everything is moving in a better direction.

Changxing Group Headquarters:

Yang Wendong called together several heads of the manufacturing industry, and they chatted while drinking tea: "The Kangle Building has been completed, and now it is ready for decoration. You should each discuss and choose your own floor site, and then negotiate with Jinmen Construction on how to decorate it."

In 1970, Yang Wendong beat Hong Kong to win the land at 1 Kang Lok Street, and immediately issued a design tender. After the success, he immediately built the tallest building in Hong Kong: Kang Lok Building, at a speed of 24 hours a day.

The entire building has a total of 56 floors. The first four floors are parking spaces, and the 52 floors above are normal office areas except for a fire refuge floor (which is not absolutely useless, it can be used to store things that are not easily ignited). There are 10 floors for Yang Wendong and the headquarters office, finance department, human resources department, etc. The rest are for its many core subsidiaries.

Changxing Industry, Changxing Real Estate, Changxing Finance, Honor Electronics, Watsons, Changxing Shipping, Changxing Culture, etc. are the core industries, while TVB and media, etc., are not assigned headquarters, and at most have a few offices.
Of course, even for these first-tier subsidiaries, only core members will come to work at the headquarters in Kang Le Building in the future. This is also to facilitate Yang Wendong and the headquarters to quickly grasp the first-hand information of the companies under their control, instead of having people from various departments running around Hong Kong as before, wasting a lot of valuable time.

Wei Zetao smiled and said, "Okay, Mr. Yang, we will discuss how to distribute it internally, and we will show it to you after it is confirmed."

The boss has so many business companies under his control, so he naturally doesn't need to worry about such trivial matters. He and others can make the decision internally. It is conceivable that some prime locations in Kangle Building will inevitably be fought over by multiple subsidiaries.

"Well, OK." Yang Wendong no longer cared about this matter, and then asked: "Now that China and Britain have established diplomatic relations, this will be of great benefit to us. Have you decided on the investment projects in the UK?"

Wang Zhiqun of Honor Electronics replied: “Mr. Yang, we have already discussed it internally. Here is Honor Electronics’ investment plan. We plan to invest in a factory in the UK to produce different kitchen appliances, including microwave ovens, bread ovens, electric ovens, dishwashers, etc.

At the same time, we have also contacted some European supermarkets and distributors and reached preliminary cooperation agreements with them. In the first year, they will be able to absorb our investment plan in the UK.

What the future holds will depend on the cost-effectiveness and quality of our products.”

After listening to it, Yang Wendong also took the document, glanced at it and nodded, "Sure, kitchen appliances are relatively low-risk, and the demand in Europe is not small. As long as we have a good channel and the quality and price are acceptable, there will be a certain market."

Compared with large white appliances, kitchen appliances are much easier to invest in and market. The lower the price of the product, the easier it is to convince consumers to buy unfamiliar brands. This is the same everywhere.
For a radio, consumers may listen to the sound and if they think it’s okay, they may pay for it and won’t care much about the brand. However, if it is an air conditioner or even a more expensive car, consumers would not dare to buy an unbranded product no matter how cheap it is.

There is also the issue of after-sales channel construction. The cost of large household appliances in this regard is too high. On the contrary, for ordinary kitchen appliances, in European and American societies, if they are really broken, most of them will probably be thrown away directly.

Of course, if this is true, the brand will be completely ruined for this consumer and even his friends.

Wang Zhiqun continued, "Mr. Yang, I am also planning to produce some high-tech home appliance parts in the UK, such as advanced motors, air-conditioner and refrigerator compressors, etc. On the one hand, we want to become a supplier of European home appliance brands, and secondly, opening a factory there will also make use of the local industrial environment for further research and development and process improvement. Hong Kong is still not very good in this regard."

"This is a good idea. The R&D capabilities in Hong Kong are still too weak, especially in engineering." Yang Wendong agreed immediately.

It is not bad to open factories in Hong Kong to produce some things, even color televisions, which can be done under the guidance of overseas experts and engineers;

However, research and development and improvements in various technical processes are very difficult. Although there are many talents within the Changxing Group, this kind of thing actually depends on the overall talent strength of a place. Even though Hong Kong has absorbed many elites from the mainland, it is still far behind Europe and the United States in terms of population or historical education.

In the early years, the various products under Changxing Group relied on creativity, and it didn't matter if the technology was a little bit worse, but now that they have entered the black and white home appliance market, they have to rely on strong technical capabilities. Wei Zetao also said: "Yes, there is another problem in the field of engineering. In the early years, we finally persuaded the Hong Kong government to increase the investment in science subjects at the university level, but now a new problem has emerged. Some science students with good grades have gone to banks or real estate companies. In these industries, they can make more money. There are even many students who study engineering, and they go to study finance halfway through their studies."

"Poached by a financial company?" Yang Wendong shook his head and said with a smile, "There's really nothing we can do about it. The financial or real estate industries can naturally provide higher incomes, which our manufacturing industry can't compare to."

Except for a few technology companies, any other manufacturing, raw material or other industries cannot offer salaries comparable to those in the financial industry.

In the history of the United States, the financial hollowing out in the later period was also one of the important reasons. Capable people went to study medicine, lawyers, finance, etc. Even experts who specialized in mathematics would be invited by Wall Street to calculate stock fluctuations. After all, calculating stocks might earn an annual salary of one million US dollars, while calculating celestial mechanics might only earn one hundred thousand. Normal people would choose the former.

Wei Zetao added: "Yes, this is just like how many of us nowadays get rich from real estate instead of doing industry."

"Let them be. If the market no longer suits industrial interests one day, we can just move away." Yang Wendong said nonchalantly.

Anyway, it has only been 6 years since the reform and opening up in the mainland. Although the early stage of reform and opening up was not suitable for large-scale transfer, Hong Kong can still maintain production for a period of time. After all, the collapse of Hong Kong's industry in the previous life was also in the mid-80s.

However, unlike ordinary small businesses, Changxing Group, which is of such a large scale, must make early preparations for relocation. In addition to the mainland, Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia are all backup options. In order to consider the European and American markets, some companies can also produce nearby.

Liu Huayu continued, "Mr. Yang, this is a plan that Watsons can invest in the UK."

Yang Wendong quickly read Watsons' plan and said, "Okay, let's build a snack factory in the UK. Whether it can be expanded depends on whether the local factories have the ability to open up the market."

Many times, entering a place is for the market, but even for time travelers, only a few industries can guarantee success, and the rest depend on management. Including many Fortune 500 companies in the previous life, before entering the mainland, they actually had no idea how much profit they could make;

Today, Yang Wendong does not rely on the prophetic ability of a time traveler in many industries, but develops them with a normal capital model. This is the norm of doing business. Many things are uncertain, but knowing the direction of the future development of the world, there will basically be no major problems. At most, there will be some small aspects that cannot be controlled.

Wei Zetao also said: "Mr. Yang, this is from Changxing Industrial."

After reading it all, Yang Wendong nodded and said, "It looks okay. How about this? Let's go to the UK together at the end of the month. This time it's more formal, and we also need to meet with some senior British officials."

At this level today, it is normal to meet with the top leaders of a country. In the late 70s, when Pao Yu-kong became the world's shipping king, he also received this treatment.

Of course, it is usually the level of presidents of small countries or ministers of big countries. If you want to meet the president of the United States, you must have a really big reason and interest. But now that Hong Kong belongs to the Commonwealth, it is normal for a representative of a top consortium like me to meet the highest level of the United Kingdom.

"Okay." All three agreed.

On March 3, Yang Wendong and a number of senior executives of Changxing Group flew to the UK on a private plane.

After arriving in Great Britain, Yang Wendong did not rush to Buckingham Palace or the royal family to meet people, but first made an appointment to meet a future big shot.
"Hello, Ms. Thatcher."

At the Berkeley Hotel in London, England, Yang Wendong met the future Iron Lady Thatcher. This meeting was also one of the core purposes of Yang Wendong's visit to the UK.

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)