Chapter 261 Threats are ineffective
"Mr. Soul, please give me an explanation!"
"Have your colleagues from NEC come to you to complain about the food again?"
Bang! Oda angrily slammed a newspaper in front of Ron.
"Excuse me, what's going on?"
Ron glanced at the, uh, report about Sur TV.
"What's the problem?" He pretended to be ignorant.
"Televisions!" Oda pointed at the newspaper and said angrily, "You signed a cooperation agreement with NEC, but you're secretly producing televisions?"
"These are all junk." Ron spread his hands.
"What?" Oda was stunned.
"You forgot, when we first negotiated, you said NEC didn't have any junk like black and white TVs, so we had to find another way."
Yes, Oda did say this. At that time, he used an extremely arrogant tone to severely disdain the backward Tokyo University.
"But you can't. At least you shouldn't. In short, NEC transferred color TV technology to you, and you turned around and used your resources on black and white TVs. That's unreasonable."
"Why?"
"Because we have established a joint venture, black-and-white TVs will absorb potential color TV users, which is digging into the future market of the joint venture."
"The contract doesn't say that Soul Electric can't make its own black-and-white TVs."
"At least you should have informed the NEC first."
"NEC doesn't have it. You can't help us build a black and white TV production line."
"You" Oda said angrily.
This cunning Indian was deliberately making excuses. He pretended to be stupid and confused, as if he didn't know what the key to the problem was.
But Oda couldn't say that he had breached the contract because the two parties did not have any restrictive agreement in this regard.
Xiao Ri was careless after all, but the Koreans were very smart.
They are used to being thieves, so they are always on guard against others as if they were thieves themselves.
When LG first contacted Ron, it clearly required Sur Electric not to develop its own TV brand within three years.
When it comes to disgusting people, Koreans are good at it.
But life is not bad either. Oda came prepared today.
"Putting aside your unauthorized production of televisions, the color TV production line has now been commissioned. As agreed, where is NEC's remaining balance?"
"Whether the production line is qualified or not, this needs to be confirmed after inspection by our technical staff."
"What?" Oda looked at him in disbelief.
"Is there anything strange about this? Suer Electric is the customer. We need to sign and confirm whether the purchased production line meets the requirements."
"You know nothing." Xiaotian's face turned red, but he stopped himself.
He really wanted to say that Indians knew nothing about technology. If that was the case, why did they need NEC's technical assistance?
An Indian factory accepting Japanese TV technology? This is completely counterintuitive.
Oda is a Japanese after all, and for the sake of so-called etiquette, he cannot swear.
"Okay, then when can we have the inspection done?"
"I'll arrange it now." Ron casually called Ashish in.
"NEC's production line has been debugged and I'm going to find someone to inspect it."
"Boss, acceptance so soon?" Ashish quietly switched to Hindi. It hadn't even been a few days yet.
"Since they want to, let's just pretend."
"So you're deliberately looking for problems to delay the acceptance process?" Ashish was very understanding.
"Don't bother. Find an amateur to inspect it. Ideally, someone who is semi-literate."
"Huh?" Ashish was stunned. "How can an illiterate person inspect something?"
"That's their business. They should explain all the technical issues to the people we send over first. How can they sign if they don't understand? They have to take responsibility for this."
Well, I hope I won’t be driven crazy by all kinds of questions asked by outsiders.
Ashish secretly gave his boss a thumbs up, great!
After he left, Ron turned to look at Xiaotian. His meaning was obvious: Look, I've already arranged the people.
"Mr. Sur, there is absolutely no problem with NEC's technology. We can speed up the progress, such as entering the trial production stage." Oda encouraged.
"Trial production?"
"Please trust the professionalism of NEC employees. This production line can be put into operation immediately."
"Okay, what preparations do we need to make?"
Ron actually doesn't care much about NEC's trial production now. If it were in the past, he might have been very active.
But after the people from the University of Tokyo came, Ron had an idea.
Once the production line is built, it doesn’t really matter whether NEC gets involved in the future, because the University of Tokyo can handle it.
Ron has even sent an invitation to the other side, and after the color TV technicians there come to inspect, he will import color tubes directly from Dongda.
Not only is it cheap, but you can also get a whole new color TV production line, which is a net profit.
Ron felt a little regretful that he didn't go directly to Dongda to investigate the market. It was said that half of the color TV production capacity there was idle.
It doesn’t matter that the technology is not as good as Japanese products, as it is cheaper, and the Indian people don’t care about the subtle differences.
Xiaotian didn't know what Ron was thinking. He just felt proud at this moment. It was finally his turn.
"All conditions for trial production are in place. Now all we need are color tubes and circuit boards."
"How are we going to get these two parts?" Ron asked cooperatively.
"Currently, the world's best color tube and electronic technology are in Japan. We at NEC can provide these two parts to India."
“What about the procurement cost?”
Swish, Oda took out the agreement he had prepared long ago.
"The price of an 18-inch color tube is $400, and the circuit board is $100 per set."
"How much?" Ron thought he had misheard.
"If Soul Electric purchases in bulk, we can give you some discounts."
"It's not purchased by Sur Electric, it's purchased by the Sur-NEC joint venture." Ron reminded him.
"Yes, this is a win-win cooperation," Oda said proudly.
Do you really think he did nothing during his time in India? No! Oda carefully studied the Indian color TV market.
These imported goods from Japan and South Korea are sold at high prices due to tariffs and technical reasons.
The price usually ranges from 25,000 to 30,000 rupees, which is 800-1,000 US dollars, and belongs to the first tier.
Domestic branded goods are relatively cheap, ranging from 15,000 to 20,000 rupees, or a total of US$400-600.
Let’s not talk about other second-hand goods or black market goods, as they have no reference value.
Sur-NEC is a joint venture company, and its technology lies between that of domestic OEM and pure import.
The same is true for Oda's future product positioning for the joint venture, with prices targeting the $600-800 range.
As we all know, the two core parts of color TVs: color tubes and circuit boards account for 60% of the cost. Isn't it reasonable for NEC to make the most money?
The price of $500 is indeed not cheap, but considering the low labor costs in India, the joint venture company can still make some profit.
Ron looked at him like a fool. Was he really such a sucker?
"Mr. Oda, $500 is 16,000 rupees, which is more expensive than the price of local color TVs. If you take other costs into account, Sur's color TVs must be sold for at least 22,000 rupees to make a profit."
"With NEC's assistance, the joint venture's products are in no way inferior to similar imported products." Oda is full of confidence.
"You may have some misunderstandings about the Indian market," Ron frowned. "Color TVs are a luxury item in India, not a necessity. Luxury buyers don't care about a few thousand rupees cheaper; they can just buy genuine imported products."
"Mr. Soul, in the field of color TV market, NEC is the expert."
Wow, this little Japanese is still pulling himself up.
"For the future of the joint venture, I suggest you reconsider your offer for these two parts."
"This is already NEC's special preferential price for the Indian market." Oda refused to give in.
"That's it for now." Ron shrugged indifferently.
"Hmm?" Xiao Tian, who was pretending to be serious, almost couldn't hold it in. "Mr. Soul, what do you mean?"
"This price is unrealistic for the Indian market and there is no need to negotiate further."
"Please think twice, Mr. Soul! Without NEC's support, the newly built color TV workshop will be no different from scrap metal."
"Then just treat it as scrap metal." Ron started directly.
"You" Oda was shocked. This was a little different from what he thought.
Without the core components provided by NEC, the newly built production line cannot be put into production, and the previous investment of tens of millions of rupees will be wasted.
As the largest investor at this time, shouldn't Sur Electric be anxious?
They will definitely let it be manipulated by themselves and eventually have to accept the price in the agreement.
This method has been proven to be effective by countless Japanese colleagues.
It is enough for the joint venture to make a few tens of rupees, and the other 99% of the profits should belong to the Japanese side.
Whoever controls the technology controls the profits.
Oda couldn't understand how Ron could act so indifferent.
"I think we should wait until the production line passes inspection before discussing this issue." Ron didn't care.
"Then we'll talk again in two days. Mr. Soul, please consider this carefully."
Oda thinks Ron is playing hard to get and it's just a negotiation tactic.
Looking at his back, Ron smiled.
The idea of mastering technology and making profits doesn't work in India.
No matter what you do, don’t even think about taking a penny away.
Alas, I should have found a way to get rid of the previous $600,000 deposit, but I lost it!
Ron had no mood to play witty games with Oda. He was busy all September with the newly expanded black and white television factory.
Each of the new workshops in the park can accommodate two production lines. After the new factory building was completed, the production line shipped from Dongda was immediately moved in and installed.
The two countries are very close to each other and can be reached by sea in more than ten days.
After the first debugging experience, the second batch of production lines was put into production more quickly.
By early October, Sur's TV production capacity had doubled, which is simply an Indian miracle.
At the same time, in order to accommodate the remaining six production lines, the construction of the Sur Park is shifting towards new factory buildings.
It is expected that in another four months, that is, in February or March 1995, all ten production lines will be put into operation.
Under the leadership of Dongda, the efficiency of the workers at Suer Electric Appliances has been greatly improved.
In just one and a half months, Sur shipped 50,000 TV sets. If nothing unexpected happens, production capacity will reach 80,000 units by October.
The performance of Sur TV in the market has naturally attracted a lot of attention. For example, two local competitors, Onida and Videocon, wondered how they could just sit back and watch the rise of Sur TV.
(End of this chapter)
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