Rebirth of the Military Industrial Overlord

As one of the world’s largest manufacturers of office automation equipment, Canon immediately got the news that China had released the huge government purchase order, and of course, it held an internal emergency meeting in the first place. , Held a closed-door meeting to discuss countermeasures on several major issues facing the company.

The good days pass first. The first topic to be discussed is how to obtain the largest share of the company-related equipment in the order announced by China Xia.

After careful analysis and research, several senior leaders believe that Canon should not have a big problem in obtaining a shortlisted qualification. However, if it wants to get as much share as possible, it needs to make greater efforts.

Because in this industry, the strength of the competitors that Canon faces is very strong, it can be said that there is no weak.

Among them, competitors from the United States include the actual inventor of the digital copier, Xerox, and Hewlett-Packard, which has a huge brand influence and extremely comprehensive product line coverage. Although the products of these two companies are more expensive than Canon Slightly more expensive, but taking into account factors at the level of national relations, these two companies will inevitably get a large share.

Epson, Panasonic and even the "small business" Kyocera, which are also Japanese companies, are also not to be underestimated in the field of office automation equipment-especially Panasonic. Since 1978, Panasonic has started to expand its business in China early. So far, it has been working in this market for 8 years, and has established good relations with all levels of China’s government departments. I heard that they are already planning to establish a joint venture, multiple joint ventures and even wholly-owned factories in China. , These are the extra points in the competition for this big order.

And South Korea.

Due to many historical issues, although China has not established formal diplomatic relations with South Korea, with the successful bid of China Capital in 1983 to host the 11th Asian Games in 1990, the long-frozen diplomatic relationship between South Korea and China has also been frozen. There has been an obvious loosening, and unofficial economic and cultural exchanges have become more and more frequent. Among them, Samsung, the leading company in South Korea, has played a very important role-and Samsung is one of the most important companies in the electronics industry. Very awesome rising star.

Unlike Japanese companies that need to face competition and suppression from all aspects of the U.S., Samsung now enjoys the "favorable" treatment that U.S. Americans gave to U.S. companies 20 years ago. It has not only liberalized the country’s huge market and allowed them to enter without barriers. It also spares no effort in technology transfer and financial support.

All Japanese companies understand that Samsung, in fact, is an important piece of work that was fostered by the Americans and used the various advantageous resources of South Korea to check and balance the Japanese companies. This can be concluded from its shareholding structure-in the name of this company. More than 56% of the equity of South Korea's enterprises listed above are held by foreigners. Among the "preferred stocks" that can enjoy priority over their assets and profit distribution, the holdings of foreign capital even exceed 80%!

Therefore, it is more appropriate to say that Samsung is a South Korea company rather than a "Wall Street company" headquartered in South Korea.

And after nearly 20 years of development and accumulation, Samsung Electronics, the core company of Samsung, has the ability to fully compete with Japanese companies in the fields of semiconductors, household appliances, personal computers, digital optoelectronic products, and office automation products.

In other words, they will certainly not give up this opportunity.

If you want to get as much share and profit as possible in the competition with so many strong opponents, it is obviously impossible to sit at home and wait. All the senior Canon leaders in the meeting agreed that the company's heavyweights should be sent to take charge of this matter. , And conduct a face-to-face communication with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which is leading the implementation of the matter, as soon as possible, to find out the situation and formulate corresponding countermeasures.

The discussion on this matter has come to an end. The next thing is to discuss how to deal with the US "301" investigation and the threat of litigation from the "Matrix" laboratory. Both of these events occurred in the US, so they can be discussed together. .

First of all, of course, the person involved in these two events, Shio Mitarai, introduced the situation to everyone, and his opening remarks choked the more relaxed atmosphere in the venue just now: "Gentlemen, we are facing a very serious situation!"

Shio Mitarai is by no means alarmist.

In the communication with the "Matrix" laboratory, the other party showed a very strong stance, saying that it will not only file a claim for infringement of various patents held by the "Matrix" laboratory by Canon, but also apply to the court. The ban requires Canon to stop selling all products that use these patented technologies, and there is no room for compromise and negotiation.

This is already bad news, but even worse news is yet to come-Mitarai told everyone that after communicating with several public relations companies in the United States that he often cooperates with, it has become clear: President Reagan has heard it. The investigation report of the special working group also expressed a biased opinion. Mr. President will support the launching of the "301" penalty clause against the office automation equipment manufacturing, semiconductor, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment manufacturers of the country!

The bad news reported by Shio Mitarai made the faces of all participants in the meeting a little ugly, but they all knew that this incident was a targeted trade attack by the U.S. against the entire Japanese nation. It was not and should not be brought by a Canon company. Suffering the consequences, it is the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Finance, and the Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone that need to respond to this matter.

They turned their attention to the president, Hajime Mitarai.

The company will face a difficult period, and at this time, in any case, calming down the company's people is the first priority.

This is the first instinct of President Mitarai.

So, after a moment of silence, he opened his mouth and said: "Gentlemen, according to the information I have received, Your Excellency the Prime Minister has learned of this. The Minister of International Trade and Industry Kiichi Miyazawa and the Minister of Finance Takeshita will go to the country to negotiate with them in the near future. This is a competition between countries, and as an enterprise, we first need to ensure that we remain calm and do our own thing at this time."

After a pause, he looked around and said: "Given that trade with the United States is likely to be at a low point in the next period of time, it is necessary for us to strengthen trade in other countries to make up for our possible losses, and our neighbors China is clearly the market with the most potential in the future. Therefore, I decided that I will personally lead the team to participate in this communication with the China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology."

Mr. President made the decision to go out in person, and also let the Canon executives here understand how much he attaches to the China Government’s bidding. It seems that he is determined to treat China Market as the second one. The US market has come to treat it.

After looking around everyone in the house, Mr. President directly named: "Shifu Mitarai, I want you to be my deputy for this China trip."

"Me? Why?" Shio Mitarai was very surprised. He is the head of Canon in the United States and he is very strange to the China Market. Moreover, Canon has encountered so many troubles in the United States. It is precisely when he needs him to go back and sit in town. To accompany to China?

"But I'm not familiar with Huaxia Market at all?" He asked suspiciously.

A meaningful touch flashed across Mitarai's face: "Shifu, come to my office after the meeting, and I will tell you why."