Chapter 727 Thailand Charoen Pokphand Group
Chapter 727 Thailand Charoen Pokphand Group
The area near Hong Kong is Baoan County, the future Shenhai City, but now it is still a very ordinary piece of land with no special difference;
Zhang Guangdou said: "We have actually considered this, but Bao'an County doesn't have any facilities. If we build it from scratch, the investment will be too high and it will take too long, so it's not cost-effective."
"Yes, I understand. I am just suggesting it." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "If you feel that the investment is not suitable, then I can build some warehouses or storage bases in the New Territories. This will be more convenient."
Before the reform and opening up, Bao'an County was actually a mountainous area with flat land. There was no infrastructure and few local people around. Investing in such a place would be too risky.
You know, if you invest near Yuezhou City, even if there are some changes in Hong Kong in the future and the demand is not that high, Yuezhou City is connected to countless people in the surrounding area and has export ports, so it can absorb it. This is not the case in other places.
Moreover, for the mainland, even if it is internal funds and no foreign exchange is needed, various investments are also limited, after all, the quantity of materials is fixed.
Zhang Guangdou said: "Haha, that's good. If there are more warehouses in the New Territories, it will be a good thing for our trade."
"That's easy. I'll let Changxing Real Estate build it." Yang Wendong didn't care too much.
The New Territories of this era were really worthless, and large tracts of land were left unoccupied, with much wasteland;
It was not until the 80s that the value of some land in Hong Kong Island and Kowloon was too high, and the high commuting speed of the subway made some land in the New Territories valuable. This was only possible if the Hong Kong government announced the development of a certain area.
However, even after several decades, the New Territories will still not be able to develop. There are too many reasons for this.
After Zhang Guangdou left, Yang Wendong quickly called Liu Huayu and Zhou Haoran and told them what had happened.
Zhou Haoran said happily: "Mr. Yang, if the mainland invests heavily in agriculture in East Guangdong Province, it will be a great thing for our Watsons food business."
"Yes, that's right. So you should also seize the opportunity and negotiate with China Resources. What do you need them to do, what do we buy, and set a cycle. This will also reduce costs to the greatest extent." Yang Wendong nodded and said.
In addition to Red Bull and sugary drinks, Watsons' other main businesses, especially instant noodles, ham sausages, etc., the main costs of these are food and meat;
In the early years, they relied on creativity and high profit margins, and did not pay much attention to costs. However, competition became fierce later, and without leading technology, these foods had to rely on cost control to compete for the market.
Yang Wendong is actually very clear about this point, but not every business in this world can be "far ahead". There are many industries that develop and grow through normal competition.
Zhou Haoran agreed: "Yes, Mr. Yang."
Liu Huayu said: "As long as the cost of the food provided by the mainland is cheap enough, I will also arrange to replace it with Southeast Asian food. However, it may be difficult to buy goods from Southeast Asia in the mainland. No matter how much we control the cost in China, it is estimated that it can't be compared with Southeast Asia."
"Just follow the market economy. When it comes to purchasing industrial products, we can give more orders to the mainland." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Although I hope to cooperate more with the mainland, everything must be regulated. Only in this way can we promote normal foreign trade in China."
For some people who are suitable, deliberate help is actually an indirect way of forcing things to happen. Only support under normal mechanisms is the most reasonable.
Liu Huayu said: "Okay, I understand."
Yang Wendong asked again: "In recent years, Carrefour's expansion in Southeast Asia has tended to slow down. Are there many problems?"
Liu Huayu replied: “Yes, now Carrefour has established chain stores in more than a dozen countries in Southeast Asia and has also cooperated with some local businessmen, but even so, it often encounters many problems and consumes a lot of energy;
In terms of operations, except for a few places like Malaysia and Singapore, other places are in a loss-making state, and some are often troubled by different law enforcement agencies, which makes us very cautious in expanding. "
"It seems that these places are indeed not suitable for investing too confidently." Yang Wendong nodded;
He was not surprised, because he was not the only smart person in the world. Other big capitals also adopted joint ventures to enter other places, such as Walmart and Auchan in the past, but few of them succeeded in the end.
You know, in the past, the mainland was already very fair in attracting foreign investment, but not many foreign-funded retail supermarkets could survive to the end. Of course, there were also real estate reasons behind this.
Liu Huayu said: "Yes, in these places, many local governments dare not say that they can control some places well. The internal forces are intertwined and complicated. If we want to be safe, we can only give priority to large cities;
But the big cities are very sparsely populated. Other businesses, including hotels and cinemas, don’t matter, but supermarkets need to gather in a sufficient number in one area to reduce costs, which is very bad for our business model. "You are right. It seems that the investment in supermarkets in Southeast Asia should be stopped." Yang Wendong agreed.
Hotels or cinemas are responsible for themselves and do not need to associate with other peers. However, supermarkets are different. They can compete at the lowest cost by relying on density. If the density is large enough within a certain range, it can reduce transportation and procurement costs, thus reducing prices to the lowest, thereby gaining market share and then feeding back to the entire enterprise.
Liu Huayu added: “Mr. Yang, I have also conducted research on various countries in Southeast Asia. I think it is most appropriate for us to invest in Thailand first, and give priority to developing Carrefour in Thailand;
The first reason is that Thailand's economy and government are relatively good, the second is that the population density is high enough, and the third is that there are a lot of Chinese people there, and there are some wealthy Chinese families who can cooperate with us."
"Thailand? Is there a big Chinese family with the surname Xie?" Yang Wendong suddenly asked.
As for the top overseas Chinese families, he didn't know much in his previous life. In Thailand, one of them was naturally the Red Bull family, Xu Shubiao. But now that Red Bull was taken over by himself, he didn't know whether this family could make a comeback.
Another top Chinese family is the Xie family of Thailand's Charoen Pokphand Group, which is also the largest food group in Asia. The well-known "Charoen Pokphand Plaza" in Shanghai in the past was a major investment made by the family in the mainland in its early years.
Liu Huayu replied: "Yes, the Xie family of the CP Group also has some cooperation with us. Mr. Yang hopes that we can cooperate with them in Thailand?"
Yang Wendong said: “I won’t force this, but if possible, at least we can build a good relationship with them for the business in Thailand. If they are willing, we can invest in Carrefour supermarkets with them;
With their resources and our operating model, if we can succeed in Thailand, it may also be helpful to their family business.”
There are powerful people in every place, and no one knows who is strong and who is weak, but those who can eventually become the overlord of a place in the previous life are likely to be very successful in this era;
Just like Wang Yongqing, Guo Henian and even some European and American celebrities, if you cooperate with such people, you will most likely not lose money;
"Okay, then I will try to contact the Xie family." Liu Huayu agreed;
Although the boss was just talking, he couldn't take it lightly. Even if he couldn't cooperate in the end, he had to have tried it and at least have enough reasons.
After the affairs in the mainland were temporarily arranged, Yang Wendong did not pay much attention to it. Before the reform and opening up, the scope of his cooperation with the mainland was still very limited, and at most it was slightly reciprocal;
However, it has been 74 years now, and it is less than 4 and a half years since the reform and opening up. If I accumulate some capital, there will be a lot I can do next.
Time soon came to July, and the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index had been fluctuating around 7 points, up and down, with no trend of further decline, and it seemed that it had reached its limit;
Yang Wendong also occasionally pays attention to the Hang Seng Index. In fact, he is almost done bottoming out. Although he doesn't care much, he also hopes that Hong Kong's economy can recover sooner. Anyway, no matter when it recovers this time, problems will occur at a fixed time next time, so it is better to recover earlier.
"Mr. Yang~" Liu Huayu said after entering Yang Wendong's office, "In Thailand, the Xie family agreed to cooperate with us to jointly operate Carrefour in Thailand. However, the current head of the Xie family, Xie Guomin, wants to come to Hong Kong and visit you."
"Visit me? Did you say anything?" Yang Wendong asked back.
Many Chinese families in Southeast Asia are not like today's wealthy families in Hong Kong, but are the result of many generations. For example, the Lu family, who bought a large number of cinemas before, is an Indonesian mining family, and their ancestors have been doing business for generations;
The same is true for the Xie family. Its founder had already established businesses in Thailand in the 20s. After half a century of hard work, he became the overlord of Thailand. Now the second or third generation is in power.
In fact, there are such cases in Hong Kong as well, but Hong Kong is experiencing major social changes, with new people replacing old ones, causing the once wealthy families to decline.
Liu Huayu said: "He didn't say that, but he said that he would come to Hong Kong in a week to talk to you about business matters. I guess, maybe he wants to invest in Hong Kong?"
"Investment in Hong Kong?" Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay, then arrange a meeting. Even if it's a business in Thailand, we should still meet in person."
PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)