industrial overlord

Chapter 360 Market Exchange Technology

Regarding the political dynamics, it is not convenient for Lin Zhenhua to say more, so He Haifeng will not ask more.He is in such a sensitive department as the Economic Reform Commission, so he knows more about political matters than Lin Zhenhua.What he lacked was only Lin Zhenhua's foresight.

Lin Zhenhua's reminder is enough for He Haifeng, he knows how he should stand in the future.

"Xiao Lin, you came to Beijing this time to call for the bombing of the bridge, right?" He Haifeng brought the topic back to the beginning and asked in a half-joking tone.

Lin Zhenhua smiled and said, "Half of the purpose is this."

He Haifeng said: "I thought about what you said just now, and I think it is quite reasonable. The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge is a fait accompli. Now we don't have the ability to build a new bridge to replace it, so we can't move it yet. However, The new bridges built on the Yangtze River in the future should have foresight, and we should not make mistakes, so that when we want to correct this mistake, we have no way to start.

How about this, after you go back, ask the comrades in Xunyang City or Jiangnan Province to form a report on this issue and pass it to me, and I will submit it to the comrades in the Politburo to try to get instructions from the leaders.In this way, we have a basis, and we can negotiate with the Planning Commission, the Ministry of Communications and other departments to formulate a related management method. "

"Thank you, Lao He." Lin Zhenhua said.

"We still don't say thank you, and besides, this should actually be a matter for our macro management departments. It is our dereliction of duty to ask the comrades of your company to remind us." He Haifeng said, "That's right. , Kobayashi, you just said that this is only half of the purpose, so what is the other half?"

"The other half is a more troublesome matter." Lin Zhenhua said.

"No way, I can't think of anything more troublesome than blowing up the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge." He Haifeng said depressedly.He remembered that when he was having dinner with his friends a few days ago, someone joked that the Forbidden City was going to be demolished and built into a staff dormitory. This was probably even more incredible than blowing up the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge.However, Lin Zhenhua doesn't seem to have the intention of coming to Beijing to engage in real estate, does he?

"Jiangbei Petrochemical has a set of 30-ton ethylene equipment imported from Germany. Do you know this?" Lin Zhenhua asked.

"Of course I know." He Haifeng said.

China's first 30-ton ethylene plant was the Beijing Yanshan Petrochemical 1976-ton ethylene plant that was put into operation in 30.By 1978, under the guidance of the Yangyue import number of "ten Anshan Iron and steel, ten Daqing", the state introduced four sets of 30 tons of ethylene equipment. As a result, due to the adjustment of the national economy, these four sets of equipment have not been able to start construction after the introduction The cost of construction and maintenance alone amounts to millions of dollars every year.Since 1983, the state has successively raised funds to install these four sets of equipment. The 30 tons of ethylene produced by Jiangbei Petrochemical that Lin Zhenhua mentioned is one of the four sets of equipment.

The investment in large-scale ethylene projects is huge. The total construction cost of a 30-ton ethylene project can be as high as 70 billion yuan. In 1983, the country’s annual investment in fixed assets for the whole society was only 1400 billion yuan. It is equivalent to 1/20 of the fixed asset investment scale of the whole society. As a member of the central high-level think tank, how could He Haifeng not know about such a project.

"I got news that Jiangbei Petrochemical intends to upgrade this 30-ton ethylene plant to increase the production capacity from 30 tons to 45 tons. The Ministry of Petroleum and the State Planning Commission have approved this plan." Lin Zhenhua said.

He Haifeng asked: "Does this have anything to do with you?"

"Of course it has something to do with it." Lin Zhenhua said, "We at Hanhua Heavy Industry have already started research and development of large ethylene equipment a few years ago, and now we have achieved some results. I want to use this opportunity of Jiangbei Petrochemical's equipment upgrade to make Our technology has gone up a notch."

"You mean, Hanhua Heavy Industries wants to undertake this equipment upgrade project?" He Haifeng asked.He doesn't know much about specific technical issues in the petrochemical industry, and wonders whether Lin Zhenhua is capable of undertaking such a project.In his impression, China does not have the manufacturing technology for 30 tons of ethylene equipment. When Yanshan Petrochemical equipment was introduced, it is said that even a screw had to be imported from abroad.

Sure enough, Lin Zhenhua shook his head and said, "We don't have the strength yet. We, Hanhua Heavy Industries, are just an upstart. Although we have just swallowed up the original Jiangnan Provincial Petrochemical Machinery Factory, in terms of technical strength, we are the only ones in China. It can only be regarded as second-rate. Old petrochemical machinery factories like Daqing and Lanzhou can’t handle 30 tons of ethylene, let alone us.”

"Then what are you going to do?" He Haifeng didn't understand.

Lin Zhenhua said: "The key host in this project needs to be imported from abroad, and the total value will reach more than 2 million U.S. dollars. A project of 2 million U.S. dollars is a big piece of fat for any equipment manufacturer. We cannot Throwing it out casually like this, but with some conditions attached."

"What conditions?"

"Technology transfer." Lin Zhenhua said.

"What do you mean?" He Haifeng asked, he was always very interested in Lin Zhenhua's thoughts.

Lin Zhenhua said: "Old He, look, with the improvement of our country's economic strength, the scale of imports of various equipment has continued to expand, and we have become a very noteworthy buyer in the international market. We should make full use of this position , while introducing equipment, the equipment supplier is required to transfer the manufacturing technology of the equipment to us. That is to say, we not only need to buy fish, but also ask the other party to teach us how to catch fish.”

"Is this impossible?" He Haifeng said, "He is a fish seller. If he taught you to catch fish, wouldn't he starve to death?"

Lin Zhenhua said: "No, in many fields, our technology gap with foreign countries is not only one generation, but two or three generations. Of course, it is impossible for the other party to transfer the most advanced technology to us, but if all we want is to lag behind A generation of technology, the other party will not necessarily reject it.”

"Can you give me an example?" He Haifeng asked.

"Yes." Lin Zhenhua said, "For example, our country once organized a 11-ton ethylene project, but it failed in the end. At present, the State Planning Commission intends to carry out a 30-ton ethylene project, but funds, talents and other aspects are limited. There is a gap, and various companies lack enthusiasm, so we have not been able to master this technology. However, foreign countries already have the technology of 60 tons of ethylene, and we ask them to transfer the technology of 30 tons. For them, it is acceptable."

"However, even if we have obtained 30 tons of technology, aren't we still lagging behind foreigners?" Just express it.

Lin Zhenhua said: "It's better to have 30 tons of technology than nothing, right? We haven't even solved 11 tons. If we can have 30 tons of technology at once, then it will be even harder to catch up with 60 tons of technology." Easy."

He Haifeng worried: "Will this cause domestic enterprises to lose motivation to conduct research and just wait to import from abroad? Your idea seems to be a bit like buying a ship instead of building a ship."

The understanding at that time was that only by building a ship by oneself can one master the shipbuilding experience, and in this way it is possible to build a larger ship.Extended to the field of scientific research, some people think that all technologies must be studied by themselves in order to master their principles.If technology is introduced from abroad, research capabilities will be lost.

Lin Zhenhua smiled slightly and said, "Old He, you underestimate the awareness and level of our grassroots scientific research personnel. In fact, even in the age of criticizing shipbuilding as inferior to buying ships, we have always been learning foreign advanced technology. At that time We buy foreign equipment for dismantling and imitation testing. Isn’t this the same as borrowing other people’s technology? Now that we have such conditions, we can directly import technology from abroad to save us the time of exploration. What’s wrong? Even if You have to do it yourself to know, we should raise the starting point of doing it, right?"

He Haifeng said: "Well, let's just think that your idea is reasonable, then why do you believe that others are willing to transfer the technology of the backward generation to us? They can also think of this, we have mastered the technology of the backward generation. technology, the gap with their technology is narrowed, and they are not willing to cultivate competitors for themselves, right?"

Lin Zhenhua laughed and said: "This involves the wisdom of doing business. The same 30-ton ethylene equipment can be made by the Japanese, and so can the Germans. There are also similar technologies in Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States. You They are unwilling to transfer, and there are always others who are willing to transfer. Capitalists are profit-seeking, and I don’t believe they would be willing to give up a $2 million contract for these backward-generation technologies.”

"You mean, if they don't transfer the technology, we won't give them the contract?" He Haifeng understood what Lin Zhenhua meant.

"This is called changing the market for technology." Lin Zhenhua said with a smile, "So far, we have introduced 5 sets of 30-ton ethylene equipment, and if there is no accident, we will introduce another 5 sets, or even 10 sets in the future. We have already given up this market, if we don’t come back with some technology, wouldn’t it be a loss?”

The concept of market-for-technology was already proposed at that time, mainly derived from the case of China's introduction of German car technology.Regarding the gains and losses of market-for-technology, later generations have mixed opinions.But there is no doubt that at that time, no matter whether you were willing to change technology or not, China could not keep these markets at all.At that time, there were only two choices: first, give up the market and exchange for technology; second, give up the market without technology.

Any decision maker who is not in the water should choose the former item.

Critics often start from their own imagination and construct a beautiful story that as long as they retain the market, they can promote independent innovation.In fact, this story is just an illusion.Take the Jiefang trucks that people were very proud of back then as an example. From the first Jiefang truck rolled off the production line in 1956 to 1986, for 30 years, Jiefang trucks did occupy China's truck market, but it has Ever had a shred of innovation?If technology is not introduced, maybe its familiar old face will last for another 30 years.

Lin Zhenhua is very pragmatic. As a manager with a background in science and engineering, he knows that any empty slogans are meaningless.The technology gap between China and foreign countries is very large. If the gap can be narrowed by exchanging technology through the market, it will be easier to catch up.

"Have you communicated with the Ministry of Petroleum about your idea?" He Haifeng asked.

"We have communicated, but they are still hesitant." Lin Zhenhua said.

"Why hesitate?" He Haifeng asked.

Lin Zhenhua said: "If this technology transfer clause is not attached, then their negotiations with foreign companies will be very easy, because this is an order for others, and others are begging them. But if this technology transfer clause is added, the status of both parties will be greatly reduced. It has changed, and it has become that we need others. For officials in charge of negotiations, of course, they don’t want to add trouble to themselves.”

"It's really confusing!" He Haifeng reprimanded softly, "They don't even think about it. This negotiation may be a little troublesome, but if we can get some technology, the cards in future negotiations will be harder. Otherwise, your technology will never be When you fall behind others, when others try to take advantage of you, you have no room to fight back."

"Old He, your idea is quite novel." Lin Zhenhua said with a smile, "Why didn't I think of this level? If I knew it, I would tell the officials of the Ministry of Petroleum like this."

He Haifeng shook his head and said: "It's useless, even if they think about it, they won't do it. This time it's a few people negotiating, and next time it might be someone else. They don't need to think so far for others .”

"Uh..." Lin Zhenhua was speechless. He had to admit that He Haifeng's analysis was correct. It seemed that He Haifeng had 20 years more food than him, and it was not for nothing.Lin Zhenhua has been working in a company, and Hanhua Heavy Industry is a relatively rare company with a good atmosphere, so Lin Zhenhua lacks a deep understanding of the various practices of playing football and shirking responsibility in the officialdom.

"What are you going to do?" He Haifeng asked.

Lin Zhenhua said: "The current situation is not so pessimistic. Some officials from the Ministry of Petroleum still agree with my ideas. In addition, some officials from the State Planning Commission also support my views. What I have to do now is to do more. Mobilizing some people to speak out helped the Ministry of Petroleum to make up its mind that in this Jiangbei Petrochemical’s technical transformation project, it will be the first to open the market for technology and make it a practice.”

"So you came to see me?" He Haifeng said with a smile.

"That's right, I know Director He has always been far-sighted, and I will definitely support my idea. If Director He can speak for us, the weight will be very different." Lin Zhenhua said with a smile on his face.

(End of this chapter)