The Industrial Giant Reborn

Chapter 173 Extra Surprise

The technology in the computer field may be updated and iterated. The technology or product that was once popular may be subverted overnight. The portal website Yahoo, which once dominated the entire Internet traffic, was replaced by the Google search engine.

But there are also some that are difficult to replace, such as the data management system specifically for enterprise operations. This is not a high-tech and high-development project, but the accumulation of a large amount of data and experience, and then gradually optimize the software to provide customers with the most The most convenient and worry-free service.

The biggest advantage of competition in this industry is not high technology, but rich experience, and brand awareness, and the best point is that this kind of software generally will not be too much interfered by ZZ, as long as it does not involve national defense, military, financial and other special On occasions, normal supermarkets, warehouses, and factories are completely dominated by the market economy.

Chen Zhiwen is also very interested in this field. Although in this respect, his prophetic golden finger is not very useful, but if Midea wants to develop in the long run, it cannot always rely on his prophetic ability to develop in the technical field. It is the kingly way, and relatively speaking, the research and development of the database needs more funds.

Before the major giants have paid attention to this area, ordinary people with vision such as Larry Ellison are limited by funds. Even if they can get venture capital, how much can they have?

If Midea can first develop a management system that is suitable for ordinary enterprises, and then block other latecomers with patents, it will really be able to charge fees in this field.

"By the way, Woz, you should have had a lot of savings in the past two years, right? Why didn't you invest in Apple?" Chen Zhiwen suddenly thought of a question. Woz's annual income is generally close to 20 US dollars, although it is not enough for Apple's development. , but there is no problem at the earliest stage.

"The cash in my hand is only tens of thousands of dollars. I have already spent a lot of money to test the computer before. We bought a lot of tools, chips and various electronic products." Woz replied.

"It shouldn't cost that much, right?" Chen Zhiwen asked curiously, "You spent a lot on this house, right?"

"This house cost [-] U.S. dollars, and I have paid off my college tuition loan for the rest!" Woz said in a good mood, "I am still very happy to be able to pay off my college loan!"

"College loan, no wonder!" Chen Zhiwen nodded.

It is said that the domestic housing prices in later generations are the mountains of everyone's life, but the United States is actually the same, except that it is not housing, but medical care and college tuition.

Medical care in the United States is never free, but extremely expensive. An ambulance call costs several hundred dollars, and a hospital visit to a common disease costs thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. If you do not buy relevant insurance, a trip to the hospital can make a person Middle-class families are bankrupt.And insurance, in fact, belongs to the same interest group as medical care. If you don’t buy insurance, you will be finished if you get sick once, but if you buy insurance, you need to invest at least a dozen points of your monthly salary in it, unless the company’s benefits are high, which will cover a larger proportion. medical insurance.

The president of Ohei in later generations just wanted to break this monopoly of insurance and medical care for a century, but it was useless to toss for 8 years.

And college tuition is also a sharp sword that hangs over ordinary middle-class families in the United States. Many families start saving money when their children are born, and they need to save for more than ten years, but most families are unable, especially If the children of some ordinary families go to prestigious universities, the tuition fees are so high that it is not enough to sell the iron.

Therefore, the banks naturally launched student loans for these proud children. The high tuition fees and not low interest have led to many students of famous universities who are still repaying their loans more than ten or twenty years after graduation. The black president, who became a lawyer after graduation, is considered a high-income group, and he has also paid off his student loans for more than ten years.

Woz said with some embarrassment: "I didn't plan to buy a house and pay off my student loan in such a hurry, but my parents persuaded me, and I also felt that it was useless to have so much cash in my hand, so I did it. Later, Jobs found After I was preparing to make a computer, I realized that my funds were only so small. I planned to invest in it after I got the bonus in a few months, but now you, BOSS, have also invested in it, so there is no need for it.”

"So that's the case!" Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

In the original history, Jobs and Woz had no funds. Later, Jobs went to the boss of Atari. After being humiliated, he found a more successful senior from the same university and got the investment.

In this life, Chen Zhiwen was worried that he gave Woz a lot of salary, and that Apple might change in the early stage. Because of this, he had arranged for a private detective to watch Jobs, and then stepped forward to invest in Apple at the right time. , Otherwise, wait a few more months, Woz has money, if Apple Computer is built and gets a lot of orders, it may be nothing to him. It will be much worse.

Chen Zhiwen went on to say: "Then let's do this for today. After two days, after Jobs registers the company, I will arrange a lawyer to sign the contract."

"Okay, then Apple's management, why don't you invite someone from Midea?" Woz asked, because Jobs was here just now, so it was not convenient for him to say.

"No, Midea does not have IT management talents with a large number of connections in the United States. You can only rely on yourself in this area, and the most important thing for you now is to make products first. Only with suitable products can you be more attractive. High-end management talents." Chen Zhiwen said with a light smile.

Regarding the future development of Apple, he actually doesn't want to interfere too much, because what Apple is doing now has too much impact on the future. If it is because of his own interference, it will not be good if the impact is too much.

The best thing is to only be responsible for investment, guide the direction and provide various terminal sales channels, develop Apple as soon as possible, and then send it to NASDAQ.

"Suddenly I'm not used to it, the interior of Midea before. Basically, you, the boss, are in charge of everything. I only need to be in charge of technology. Now it seems that I have to rely on myself." Woz said with a frown.

"This is the real test. If you rely on yourself to master the market, even if you are a purely technical person, you have to consider whether users can accept it. However, Jobs is very capable in this area, so you can do technology with peace of mind." Chen Zhiwen He smiled and said, many civilian software and games are never tested on technology, but on user market research. In this regard, Jobs is naturally the dragon and phoenix among the people.

"Boss, are you so optimistic about Jobs?" Woz asked curiously, he had never seen anyone who made Chen Zhiwen so sure.

"You will know later." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

It is true that Jobs did not understand technology very well, but his sensitivity to the market was really terrifying. Even after a few years in the original history, he insisted on a mactonich computer that almost bankrupted Apple. The reason why there is no market is because Because many settings of this computer are too advanced.

……

Apple's investment was as expected. With the help of his lawyer Ron, Jobs quickly completed the registration of Apple. The three parties held 33.3% of the shares, and Chen Zhiwen quickly injected 50 US dollars.

The rest will be handed over to Jobs. With sufficient funds, even if history changes, it should not affect Apple's success, and there is a high probability that it will be earlier and more successful.

Chen Zhiwen is naturally very happy to have obtained a third of Apple's shares in the future. Although it will still be diluted before listing, no matter how diluted this order of magnitude is, the future income will be in units of billions of dollars. Besides, as a big capital, he As long as it does not affect the management rights of Jobs and others, it should not be a big problem.

……

Maybe it’s a good thing. Midea’s electrical appliance business unit in the United States has also received good news. After a year of testing last year, the two largest retail groups in the United States: Kmart Supermarket and Sears Department Store have approved Midea’s fans. quality, willing to bring in larger quantities next year.

Lei Shengli, who was far away in Hong Kong, took a flight to the United States immediately after hearing the news.

"Chen Sheng, I'm afraid we won't be able to do the Sears department store business." Lei Shengli said with a frown when he saw Sears' request on the document in his hand.

"Sears is a department store. It requires us to invest a lot of manpower and funds to open the store, and there is also a deposit and even rent. You should know that. Why did you arrange to try Sears?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"I didn't expect that it would be so easy to pass the inspection of Sears, and invite us to open so many of their branches at once." Lei Shengli said with some embarrassment.

"There is still a certain market in the department store market. Sears' coverage is no less than that of Kmart. It would be a pity to give up. Why don't you discuss with Sears Department Store and see if you can find a brand without fans. Consignment store." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

The department store market was once the most popular business model in the world, that is, the owners of the department store market provide sites, and then let various brands come to open their businesses. Some adopt the method of leasing, and some adopt the method of point commission. Ordinary brands and well-known brands in the industry generally adopt a commission model. In such a business model, the risks are not in the hands of the owner. The owner only needs to invest appropriately to stabilize the flow of people, and then they can make money lying down.

But for any business, risks are certain, and the demand for funds is also certain. When the owners of the department store market do not need to bear this risk, it is the merchant and the brand behind it that bear the risk.

In the follow-up, the emergence of supermarkets actually took the initiative to take various risks, first buying the goods, and then selling them by themselves. In this way, the merchants have no risks, and the supermarkets bear them, but because of the risks, the profits are naturally high. Coupled with the low-cost advantage of unified procurement and a more reasonable layout, it is naturally more attractive than the department store market.

This is also the reason why the department store market was finally eliminated. It is too unfriendly to merchants. Merchants of various commodities naturally choose supermarkets as their terminals with their eyes closed.

Of course, many supermarkets also squeeze suppliers when they grow bigger, but this is another matter.

Now, if you go to the Sears department store to open a large-scale store, you have to invest a huge amount of money. A few small fans may also need a small area of ​​rent and a labor. It has improved, but there is still too much to spend. The research and development of new technologies alone is a bottomless pit.

"That's fine, anyway, our goal is to open up the market." Lei Shengli nodded and said.

PS: Let me ask you a question, do you not like to spend too much time writing about the United States?If yes, then I will change it later.

The main reason is that I am not sure whether to write in detail or to write quickly, but today I suddenly feel that I have spent too much ink on the US side, which is not very good.

(End of this chapter)