Reborn Tycoon Rise

Xu Zhi smiled and then said: "That's it for the factory. Lao He, IBM just released the personal computer 5150. What do you think of this? How much impact do you think it will have on our Honor computer?"

He Guoyuan said: "I have been paying attention to this matter some time ago. I haven't seen the 5150 computer yet, but just looking at various hardware data published in some American computer magazines, this computer is indeed very competitive. , and the software is also relatively sufficient, which is enough to have a great impact on our computer sales."

On August 12, 1981, IBM launched the IBM 5150, a personal computer designed for business, school and home, which provided many advanced features and a variety of optional software.

This computer still has a one-piece structure, but weighs only 11 kilograms. It is already considered a very light brand in this era. It is equipped with Microsoft's x86 system and IBM's own designed spreadsheet and text software.

“The 5150 computer is on the same level as the Honor computer in terms of configuration and price. Let’s not talk about which one is better and which one is worse. Just the brand effect of IBM can bring huge market effects. This is our weakness. ." Xu Zhi shook his head and smiled.

Before the 1970s, IBM was synonymous with high technology. Since the World War II era, IBM has created one technological product after another that can change human life. At its peak, in 1967, IBM's market value reached US$192.3 billion. At that time, the GDP of the entire United States was only US$830 billion, and IBM's market value reached 23% of GDP. This ratio even exceeded Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company.

By 1974, the number of computers produced by IBM was four times that of other computers in the world, and it became an absolute monopoly in the entire industry. In the 1970s, when the president of IBM went to European countries, the local president would personally receive him. It is not just because IBM has money, but because of the influence of high-tech technology. All countries that want to develop science and technology, whether it is medical research and development or aerospace technology, need IBM's large computers.

However, monthly profits come with losses. The U.S. government’s antitrust investigation completely suppressed IBM’s development in the late 1970s. The rise of Apple brought huge changes to the entire computer industry. After getting rid of the antitrust investigation, , IBM also began to officially enter the field of personal computers.

Not only He Guoyuan, but also Apple's Steve Jobs, and companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Texas Instruments that have entered the computer field are also worried about IBM's entry. It is like Coca-Cola suddenly entering the beer field, even if it has never produced it before. The brand effect that everyone knows is enough to put a lot of pressure on a bunch of beer companies.

He Guoyuan also understood this and said: "The company is already developing the second-generation computer, which has some new functions and games and should be released in September."

"This matter will be stressful in the long run, but actually it's not that serious for the time being." Xu Zhi waved his hands and said with a smile: "Although IBM is a big enemy, in fact it is not the time for a fight yet. The personal computer market is still In a state of explosive growth, it is more important for us to expand this market and promote our brand to more computer novices, rather than compete with other companies for customers who know personal computers."

"Xiao Bai?" He Guoyuan was stunned for a moment.

Xu Zhi said with a smile: "Xiaobai refers to the kind of novice, a person who doesn't know anything. This kind of person doesn't know the characteristics of a computer, nor does he know anything about processors, memory, hard drives, graphics cards, etc.

They only know the simplest uses, such as playing games, using electronic software or drawing and other basic functions. "

"But if you don't understand anything, it will be difficult to operate the computer." He Guoyuan asked with a frown.

Xu Zhi shook his head and said: "In fact, there is no need to worry about this. The current development direction of personal computers is to simplify processing, and if a person buys a computer and uses it for a period of time, he will naturally understand a lot. What we have to do now is to attract these people. People who don’t know anything come to buy our computers, and when they replace them in the future, they will rely on their strength to compete, but I estimate that in the past ten years, the main buyers of computers have been these novices.”

"What the chairman said does make sense." He Guoyuan nodded and said, "Then what should we rely on to attract these novices, games?"

"Games play a role, but the company cannot give up the entire computer game market just for the expansion of computer hardware." Xu Zhi shook his head and said that using games as a gimmick can indeed increase computer sales, but this approach is to sacrifice the good and the bad. One of the behaviors will damage the layout of the game industry itself, and the other will affect the correct development direction of its own computer itself.

He Guoyuan asked: "What does Xu Sheng mean?"

Xu Zhi said: "At present, Midea's annual profits are very considerable. Although a large amount of profits were used to invest in the stock market in the early stage, the profit rate of return is not bad, but this is just a financial investment. I think it is time to invest in the downstream of the electronics industry. It’s laid out.”

After hearing this, He Guoyuan also understood and asked, "What Xu Sheng means is that we want to enter the terminal sales field."

Xu Zhi nodded and said: "Yes, when entering the terminal sales field, we can not only sell personal computers, but also sell our own home appliances such as color TVs, radios, refrigerators, and air conditioners. Of course, our own stores will give priority to selling our own products." The brand makes it easier to introduce our computers to these novices."

"Our own brand?" He Guoyuan asked: "So, we don't have a large number of small stores? And we follow the route of large supermarkets?"

"Yes, the current retail market in Europe and the United States has begun to move closer to large supermarkets. Traditional small stores can no longer keep up with the trend, especially in the two fields of supermarket sales and electrical appliance sales." Xu Zhi nodded in agreement.

He Guoyuan said: "The large supermarkets in the United States are all in the suburbs, the land prices are not expensive, and the construction costs are not very high. However, it is not easy to contact all the world's well-known brands to enter our stores, because we ourselves are competitors. relation."

Xu Zhi said with a smile: "It doesn't matter, because I don't plan to open a supermarket for the time being, but an electronic department store market. Except for our own Midea brand, I don't plan to operate other brands myself, but all in the form of internal stores." Leasing to these companies, they are responsible for their own profits and losses.”

He Guoyuan thought for a while and said, "Are these large shopping malls similar to those in Xiangjiang?"

"Yes, a principle." Xu Zhi said with a smile. Behind the large shopping malls in Xiangjiang are real estate giants. For example, behind Harbor City is the Wharf Group, but the shops inside Harbor City are rented out, and Wharf is only responsible for unified Management and rent collection.

The same is true for Wanda in later generations. This principle is very normal in shopping malls, because it is impossible for a company behind a shopping mall to operate many industries such as clothing, cosmetics, luxury goods, clothing, and restaurants at the same time.

But this is not the case in electrical appliance shopping malls. In this era, many supermarkets buy the products themselves and then sell them, and the profit is the price difference.

If such a chain of electrical appliance supermarkets is established, even if the product range is far inferior to that of ordinary supermarkets, management, operations, and funds will be under great pressure. In this way, we can only expand step by step like Wal-Mart. This is still Successful examples.

With the full leasing model, you can truly travel with ease. As long as you contact many electrical appliance and kitchenware brands at the beginning and reach a cooperation agreement, the new company will be responsible for the site construction, and then sublease the store to various electrical appliance companies or their local distributors. For businesses, this model is the simplest. Although whether it can be profitable depends on the level of operation, in terms of funds, it is the best way to expand quickly.

He Guoyuan nodded and said: "If we adopt this model, we can indeed save a lot of management and operating costs."

"Yes, by adopting this model, we can travel lightly and quickly expand in the United States." Xu Zhi said with a smile: "As long as the scale is expanded, our first goal will be achieved, and more importantly, We can also set up our own after-sales channels in the United States, and unified costs will be reduced a lot."

Labor in the United States is extremely expensive, and cheap electrical appliances are basically thrown away if they break. This is why the United States is the largest electrical appliance market in the world.

But for computers that cost more than a thousand dollars, Americans will not be so wealthy as to replace them casually. They can only seek help from professionals.

At present, personal computers are still an emerging industry, but even a company like Apple, although its market value exceeds 2 billion US dollars after its listing, does not have the ability to set up its own after-sales channels. Most of the customers' computers are broken and they need to be mailed. , which requires a lot of time, usually about half a month.

Americans are now accustomed to this model, but Xu Zhi’s goal is to build his own electrical appliance shopping malls in cities of a certain size throughout the United States, and each shopping mall will be equipped with after-sales service personnel, although there will be similar ones in the future. Competitors, but at least for now, no one other than itself will make such an investment.

Neither does IBM. It is not short of money, but personal computers are only an insignificant part of IBM's huge business, and it is impossible to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to build such a large channel.

He Guoyuan asked: "There are so many cities in the United States, where should we start?"

"California, what do you think?" Xu Zhi said: "The west coast is close to us in Asia, and the headquarters of our Midea branch is also in Los Angeles. It will be easier to start from here."

"Okay, then I will immediately arrange for a headhunting company in the United States to form a team first." He Guoyuan asked again: "Then what is the name of our chain store?"

"Let's call it Best Buy, the English name is Best Buy." Xu Zhi said with a smile.