Rebirth of the Industrial Tycoon

Chapter 675: Grab an order

On the second day of the Thailand Agricultural Expo, all exhibitors were surprised by the huge order of 5 billion baht.

Five billion baht, which is equivalent to more than one billion yuan and 130 million US dollars according to the exchange rate at the time. Such an order in the international agricultural machinery market is enough to make all agricultural machinery giants break their heads.

However, Kubota quietly took the order without even hearing any news before.

Anyone with a discerning eye would know at a glance that Kubota had already reached an internal deal with Thailand, and the two parties did not announce the news until the negotiations were concluded.

Such a large order suddenly appeared, and many exhibitors immediately began to inquire about the details of the transaction.

After the day's exhibition ended, Yue Ping'an hurried to Li Weidong's room.

"Have you heard everything clearly?" Li Weidong said as he handed Yue Ping'an a bottle of mineral water.

Yue Pingan picked up the mineral water bottle, took a big sip, and then said, "I have already heard that the order of 5 billion baht is indeed true. This time it was jointly funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural Association and Rural Cooperatives of Thailand. The money is also considered a government procurement project.”

Li Weidong nodded: "Five billion baht is not a small sum. Considering the size of Thailand's economy, it is a huge investment to be willing to spend so much money."

"Yeah, I was wondering before. The government purchases agricultural machinery for farmers to use, which is equivalent to a huge subsidy. Thailand is not a rich country like the United States and Japan. How can it be willing to spend such a large amount of money to subsidize farmers? !”

Yue Anquan lowered his voice and continued: "Later, I inquired with friends who are familiar with Thailand and found out that Thailand will have a general election next year and we need to consolidate votes."

"So that's it! It makes sense to place this five billion baht order." Li Weidong showed an expression of sudden realization.

The last general election in Thailand was in 2001, and the term of a Thai government is four years. Now more than three years have passed. It is about to enter the new year, and the next general election is about to begin.

If the current government wants to be re-elected, of course it needs to do something to ensure its votes.

Now in power is the Thaksin government. Thaksin's policies have always been biased towards rural areas and farmers. When he ran for election, he positioned himself as a defender of the rural poor. After taking office, he also introduced many policies targeting farmers. preferential policies.

The more famous one, and one that has been widely publicized by domestic public figures, is the 30 baht policy for medical treatment, which allows Thai farmers to spend only 30 baht to go to public hospitals for treatment without paying other fees.

Thailand implemented free medical care for all in 2006. Of course, the prerequisite for enjoying free medical care is the need to pay for medical insurance. However, Thailand’s national health insurance is not expensive, and Thai citizens only need to pay two-thirds, and the other third is borne by the Thai royal family.

However, the vast majority of poor farmers in Thailand do not participate in universal medical insurance. Without medical insurance, they cannot enjoy universal medical care.

So the Thaksin government launched a 30 baht treatment plan. As long as you are a Thai citizen, even if you do not have medical insurance, you only need to pay 30 baht to get treatment at a public hospital.

Many Chinese people are envious whenever they hear the word "free". But in fact, Thailand's free medical care is really comparable to that of India. Let's not talk about whether you can get in the queue before you die. Even if you can Once you get the number, whether it can be cured or not depends on God's will.

Therefore, Thais who have some spare money will not go to public hospitals to queue up, but will choose private hospitals. Private hospitals in Thailand are not cheap. A CT scan or B-ultrasound costs more than 1,000 yuan.

Of course, the services in private hospitals are really good. For the sake of money, the doctors and nurses will greet the patients and be closer than relatives.

For things like free medical care, you first need to invest money. If the state doesn’t invest money, why is it free?

In addition to enough money, there also needs to be sufficient medical resources. The amount of medical resources will determine the waiting time for patients. There are enough medical resources. Patients can see a doctor immediately when they arrive at the hospital, and the doctor can chat with you for half an hour. Medical resources are insufficient. If you want to see a doctor, you have to wait in line for three months.

As for how many people a country can afford to see a doctor with its medical resources, this is not a public health issue, but a mathematical issue.

If the medical resources are only enough to treat 100 people every day, the 101st patient will have to come tomorrow. The thousand and first patient will have to wait ten days, and so on.

The medical capacity of a hospital, a city, a province, or even a country can be calculated using numbers, and these numbers cannot lie.

No matter how you use inferences, estimates, or other cases to argue, numbers are numbers. One plus one equals two. This cannot be changed by any external force.

Nowadays, no country in the world dares to say that it has sufficient medical care. So those who say that free medical care will not deplete medical resources are talking nonsense.

This is like a highway. It is normal to charge a toll during normal times, but once it is a holiday, the highway is toll-free, and everyone should be aware of the consequences of the congestion.

In countries where free medical care is implemented in the world, there are no people who don’t queue up for medical treatment. The only difference is that the waiting time is longer and the waiting time is longer.

Free medical care like that in developed European countries is pretty good. Although you have to wait several weeks to see a doctor and several months to get a checkup, the medical level is still there and you can at least treat the disease. good.

The worst thing about free medical care is that patients queue up, see the doctor, and undergo examinations, but the doctor has no ability to cure the patient's disease.

The disease that cannot be cured here does not mean the kind of difficult and complicated diseases that are really difficult to treat, but simply the low level of medical care.

A country's medical level can be roughly estimated by looking at the country's medical investment.

Medical treatment costs money. Equipment and medicines all cost money, not to mention the investment required to train a doctor. If you are unwilling to invest money, there will be no good equipment, no good medicine, and no good doctors.

If you invest one billion to build a hospital, you can at least have one or two buildings, equipped with MRI and CT, and the doctors all have doctorate degrees, and they can treat basic diseases.

And if I invest a thousand yuan to build a hospital, then I rent a garage, use a stethoscope for all examinations, and the doctor consults the "Barefoot Doctor Handbook" on the spot during the treatment. Even if I treat you for free, do you dare to go?

So when a country claims free medical care, it spends very little on medical care. The end result is that patients have been waiting in line for a year and a half. When they arrive at the hospital, the doctor tells you that my level is limited and I cannot cure your disease.

Public hospitals in Thailand are like this. Most of the doctors are young and have average skills and experience.

Because all qualified doctors go to private hospitals to make money. Doctors are also human beings. They also want to eat well, wear well, live in a luxury house and drive a good car. They have spent so much time and effort studying medicine, and have accumulated many years of experience in public hospitals. , why don’t you hurry up and go to a private hospital to make money! If there is no money, how will my son study medicine in the future?

If you can meet a senior doctor in a Thai public hospital, 80% of them are of poor quality and are not wanted by private hospitals.

The key is to go to a Thai public hospital to see a doctor and be patient and wait.

Thai people are inherently slow-moving and do not rush anything, and the work efficiency of hospitals is also very low.

If a Chinese doctor dares to use the sales volume of a Thai doctor to treat people, the patient will not need to beat you up. The hospital will have to fire the doctor first.

But it is really because Thai people have such a leisurely character, so patients also take their time. When you go to the hospital to see a doctor, you just take it easy. The doctor is not in a hurry, and the patient is not in a hurry. Don't blame anyone for being a tortoise or a turtle. Who runs slowly.

However, for poor farmers, the 30 baht policy for medical treatment is a real benefit. Anyway, without free medical care, they can't afford to see a doctor. Now that there is free medical care, they can spend more time waiting in line. At least they have a doctor who can treat their diseases. Chance.

The poor have always had no shortage of time, and their time is not valuable. Most of their time is wasted in the hospital.

In addition to the 30 baht policy for medical treatment, the Thaksin government has also given farmers a lot of subsidies, such as fertilizer subsidies, seed subsidies, agricultural machinery subsidies, pesticide subsidies, etc. When purchasing grain, they were worried that farmers would suffer losses, and also formulated a Relatively high grain purchase prices.

It is also because the Thaksin government's policies are biased towards poor farmers, so the farmers in Thailand are very supportive of Thaksin.

Thailand's rural population accounts for 70% of the total population, so as long as it has the votes of farmers, it can basically be elected. It is with the support of the majority of Thai farmers that Thaksin became the first Prime Minister of Thailand to serve a full four-year term. and a successfully re-elected Prime Minister.

The Shinawatra family of Thaksin also relied on the support of Thai farmers to produce three prime ministers.

However, it is precisely because the policies of the Thaksin government favored poor farmers that it touched many interest groups, especially the middle class in some cities, and created a sense of deprivation. Therefore, they were more opposed to Thaksin, which ultimately led to the future Red Cross The confrontation between the Yellow Shirt Army and the Yellow Shirt Army.

This is also easy to understand. For example, with regard to free medical care, people living in cities originally paid for medical insurance honestly and then enjoyed medical services in public hospitals.

Later, with the 30 baht policy for medical treatment, a large number of farmers who did not pay for medical insurance came to public hospitals, while those who originally paid for medical insurance had to wait in line longer and even spent more money to go to private hospitals. How could there be no complaints in this heart?

Why should I pay so much for medical insurance a year to those poor people who pay 30 baht for medical treatment?

There are many other policies that have harmed the middle class. So those whose interests were harmed formed the Yellow Shirt Army and united against Thaksin, while the farmers who supported Thaksin formed the Red Shirt Army, and the two sides eventually came to blows.

This is essentially a question of social resource allocation. It is necessary to take care of the poor and vulnerable groups, but the pie is only so big and there is simply not enough to divide it. There will naturally be opposition between those who get more and those who get less.

Therefore, if you want to help the poor and vulnerable groups, you must first develop the economy and make the pie bigger first. It must be enough for everyone to share. Only then can the pie be divided successfully.

This purchase of 5 billion baht is actually another case of dividing the pie, and this time the ones who get the pie are Thai rice farmers.

Westerners have two labels for Thailand, one is massage and the other is rice.

Rice is the backbone of Thailand's agriculture, and there are many people in Thailand engaged in rice cultivation. If you can get these rice farmers, you can get a large number of votes.

Five billion baht was also a huge sum of money for the Thai finance at that time. If it were not for votes, there might not be such powerful agricultural subsidies.

Li Weidong then asked: "This is a huge order of five billion baht. I didn't hear any news before, and it fell into the hands of Kubota so suddenly. There should be an exchange of interests between Kubota and Thailand, right?"

"It's because of the railway. Thailand has always wanted to build a high-speed railway to connect Bangkok and Chiang Mai in the north, but Thailand's technology and funds are not enough to build such a high-speed railway."

Yue Anping went on to introduce: "Japan's high-speed rail technology is unique in the world, and the Shinkansen has been successfully operated for so many years. So Kubota got this huge order of 5 billion baht on the condition of helping Thailand build high-speed railways."

Bangkok is the capital of Thailand, and Chiang Mai is the previous capital of Thailand. These are the two most important cities in Thailand. Building a high-speed rail between the two cities is of great significance.

In Li Weidong's memory, Thailand has always wanted to build a high-speed rail between Bangkok and Chiang Mai. In 2015, it even invited bids from all over the world. At that time, China, Japan, Germany and other countries that were capable of building high-speed rail also came. Participate in bidding.

China's quotation was originally the cheapest, but in the final stage Japan kept the price very low, and the cost per kilometer was almost the same as China's. However, in order to intercept this high-speed rail order, Japan also provided supporting services and finally won the high-speed rail project.

The railway between Bangkok and Chiang Mai is more than 680 kilometers long. The price quoted by China is almost 84.5 billion yuan, and one kilometer is 124 million yuan. The price is already very low.

And Japan has lowered prices, so there is naturally no profit. This is destined to be a loss-making business. So Japan can only reduce the configuration, saying that Thailand is not suitable for building high-speed rail with a speed of more than 300 kilometers per hour, and reducing the speed to 180 kilometers per hour.

If the speed was reduced by one-third for no reason, the Thais would definitely not do it, so the two sides began to argue with each other. The start date of construction has also been repeatedly postponed.

The latest news about the Thailand-Japan high-speed rail that can be found is that by 2019, after the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, Thailand’s economy was affected, and there was no relevant news. It is estimated that it will be settled.

Li Weidong recalled it carefully, and then said: "The cost of building high-speed railways is very expensive. Only developed countries in the world can afford to build such things.

With Thailand's financial resources, if it wants to build a high-speed rail, it will definitely need financial support. It seems that this is the role of Kubota. Kubota is also considered a large consortium in Japan. It also makes construction machinery and is influential in Japan's political and business circles.

It’s understandable that Thailand chose Kubota to build a high-speed railway, but why did Song Chengde’s Dayang Machinery Group get involved? Got the order yet? "

"I got angry when I said this!" Yue Ping'an continued: "Dayang Machinery is a southern enterprise. They are better at producing agricultural machinery for rice planting. Kubota chose to cooperate with Dayang Machinery because of this.

The agricultural machinery produced by Kubota in Japan is too expensive. For example, if you buy a rice rotary tiller with 5 billion baht, you can only buy more than 3,000 units made in Japan.

The rice rotary tiller produced by Dayang Machinery is much cheaper. If it were replaced by equipment from Dayang Machinery, I estimate that for 5 billion baht, I could buy 9,000 to 10,000 units.

Thailand's purchase this time also has requirements for the quantity of agricultural machinery. If all the agricultural machinery is produced and delivered in Japan, the quantity will not be enough to complete the contract.

So Kubota cooperated with Dayang Machinery. Kubota provided key components such as engines and gearboxes. Dayang Machinery was responsible for producing the products, then affixed Kubota's trademark and sold them to Thailand. "

"It's equivalent to doing OEM work!" Li Weidong said.

"It's OEM!" Yue An'an curled his lips with disdain: "How much money can you make from one OEM order? I guess Kubota must have made the majority of the profit, and Song Chengde just took a sip of soup. But look at him He looked like a villain and I wanted to beat him up!"

Li Weidong smiled and asked: "You just want to beat up Song Chengde, aren't you jealous when you see the five billion baht order?

"You must be jealous! If we get this 5 billion baht order, we can make money for several years! But it's useless to be greedy. This order is clearly assigned to Kubota by default, and it's not our turn..."

At this point, Yue An'an suddenly stopped talking, then looked at Li Weidong in surprise, and then said: "Chairman, do you want to grab an order of five billion baht? Do you already have an idea?"

"As long as we in the business have money to make, how can we hand it over to others! What's more, this is a large order of 5 billion baht!" Li Weidong then asked: "There is an ancient saying that without eunuchs, there will be inequality. You must have heard of it?"

"I know, it's what Confucius said in The Analects of Confucius." Yue Ping'an then asked, "Does this have anything to do with grabbing orders?"

"Of course it does matter. Don't underestimate the wisdom of our ancestors!" Li Weidong continued: "Next, you have to do a few things. First, find a way to publicize this 5 billion baht agricultural machinery order. Let every Thai know it.”

"I guess there is no need for me to do this kind of thing. Regarding next year's general election, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Agricultural Association of Thailand will publicize this matter as an important political achievement. They hope that every Thai person will know about it." Yue Ping An said. .

"Then we have to help fuel the flames!" Li Weidong continued: "The second thing is to spend money to find some Thai experts and ask them to write articles or appear on TV programs to discuss and analyze them carefully. Five billion baht How will the agricultural association distribute the purchased agricultural machinery?

The third thing is to find more reporters, take the discussion and analysis results of experts, and go around various villages to interview farmers' opinions. In addition, you can also find some survey agencies to go to rural areas to investigate the public opinion results.

The fourth thing is to find a way to contact the senior officials of the Thai Agricultural Association, give them more gifts, or invite them to take a bath and massage. In short, we should get familiar with the relationship first, which will also facilitate our next plan. "

Yue An'an rolled his eyes and quickly understood Li Weidong's intention. He couldn't help but extend his thumb: "Chairman, this move of yours is brilliant!"

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