Chapter 517 Competition or Cooperation

In the Puppy Electrical Laboratory in Shanghai, Li Weidong took a razor, tried it on his chin, and then touched his chin again, and found that the shaved was quite clean.

This is a three-head shaver that uses the floating head technology developed by Puppy Electric.

In the process of developing the floating razor, Tang Hao found that the principle of double-headed and three-headed is not much different, and the effect of three-headed shaving is definitely better, so he simply made a three-headed razor.

Li Weidong nodded with satisfaction: Yes, the shaved is very clean. Our floating cutter head technology has been successfully developed! Has the patent been applied for?

In the process of applying, there is no similar patented technology in China, so if you apply for a patent, it should be relatively smooth. Tang Hao replied.

What about international patents? Our opponents are mainly Philips. They also have floating cutter head technology, and the HQ8 series shavers listed in Europe have already started to use floating cutter head technology. Li Weidong said.

I have also studied the Philips HQ8 cutter head. The floating cutter head technology we developed is still different from Philips' floating cutter head technology.

Tang Hao took a razor, removed the cutter head, and continued: Our floating cutter head technology is larger in volume and heavier in weight. We use more metal materials to realize the floating cutter head. Effect.

This is mainly because our materials are not as good as Philips. We are far behind in terms of metal elasticity, material ductility, etc., so I can only use a lot of stupid methods to add more metal parts.

Li Weidong nodded. In his memory, when the domestic shaver first launched the floating head, it was indeed larger and heavier than the Philips shaver.

The same three-headed shaver, the Philips one is very light in the hand, while the Feike shaver is very heavy in the hand.

The main reason for this is the problem of materials. The lightweight materials used by Philips cannot be developed in China, and can only be replaced by relatively backward materials. As a result, the shaver is large and heavy.

But as long as the razor is cheap, it doesn't matter if it's bigger or heavier. What's more, for many Chinese, the heavier the thing, the more material it feels.

Just like in the early 1990s, when rice cookers became popular, there were many small workshops in the south that began to produce miscellaneous brand rice cookers.

However, these miscellaneous brand rice cookers, the heavier the weight, the better the sales. If the rice cooker is made heavier, the common people will feel that it uses a lot of materials, and the inner pot of the rice cooker is thick, so the quality of the rice cooker must be very good.

However, the thicker the inner kettle, the longer the heating time and the more power the rice cooker consumes.

At that time, Japanese rice cookers were not easy to sell, because my Japanese rice cookers used a lot of new materials and the quality was lighter. The common people feel that Japanese rice cookers are so light, the ingredients are definitely not enough, and the price is so expensive, so they would rather buy heavy and miscellaneous brand rice cookers.

It was not until later that Japan applied more material coating technology to the rice cooker, which changed the thermal conductivity of the inner alchemy of the rice cooker, making the steamed rice taste more delicious, and this was a turnaround.

Puppy razors are currently only for the Chinese market. It doesn't matter if they are bulky, as long as they are cheap.

The next second, Li Weidong suddenly remembered that he had promised before that if Tang Hao made a floating knife head, he would be rewarded with a suite.

So Li Weidong said, Gong Tang, there are several properties under construction in Pudong, and some of them have a good environment. I'll give myself a holiday tomorrow and pick a set!

...

The Netherlands, Philips headquarters.

De Jong, the person in charge of the Quality Life Division, looked at the financial statement in his hand and frowned.

Philips' new HQ8 series of shavers did not sell as well as expected.

The HQ8 series of shavers is a relatively unsuccessful attempt by Philips.

HQ8 series shavers, the main color products, in addition to the traditional black HQ801, there are white HQ802, red HQ803, yellow HQ804, silver HQ851 and blue HQ852.

Philips launched this color series, perhaps to make the product more youthful and personalized, and attract young people to buy, but for the electric shaver, these fancy colors are not popular with consumers.

The colorful shaver is not as business-like as the traditional dark, gray or silver, plus the overly square design and the texture of the plastic shell make this razor look like a female epilator .

The color of the epilator is often brighter. The razor is still better.

Imagine a masculine adult man shaving with a yellow HQ804 razor, but his girlfriend mistakenly thinks he is using a new epilator, and he will lose face.

So even though this shaver uses Philips' revolutionary floating head technology, sales are still far below expectations. Consumers would rather buy older models with less innovative styles than sell shavers in the HQ8 series.

After the HQ8 series of shavers encountered Waterloo, Philips had to make changes, redesigned the appearance of the HQ8 series of shavers, and changed the color of the shell, which finally kept Philips' reputation.

After that, Philips simply gave up this square design, and later new styles all used a variety of cones, apparently intending to distinguish shavers from epilators.

Today's Philips has not realized the reason for the failure of the HQ8 series, at least the aged De Jong can't figure it out.

The HQ8 series obviously uses the most advanced floating cutter head technology, and the inclination angle of the cutter head is also more veneer. This should be a very good product, why can't it sell? De Jong read the report several times in a row. The doubts in my heart not only did not decrease, but became more and more intense.

European companies have always been superstitious about technology. They generally believe that as long as the technology is advanced, all kinds of advanced technologies can be stuffed into the products, even if the price is relatively high, they will not worry about the market.

Europeans at that time were typically not beaten by cheap goods.

Compared with the United States, the European market is much more closed. Even in the most prosperous era of Japanese manufacturing, there is no way to compete slightly lower in the European market, which is always owned by European companies.

It's also about geopolitics. Before the 1990s, Europe had to face the powerful Soviet Union. Because of the need to be vigilant against war, self-reliance was emphasized in all aspects, including manufacturing.

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Europe lost its greatest threat and instead created inertia. Europeans have gradually embarked on the road of high welfare. There are more and more holidays, but the manufacturing industry has begun to decline, and the dependence on imported goods has become higher and higher.

Just when De Jong was worried about the sales of HQ8 shavers, the secretary knocked on the door and walked in.

Mr. De Rong, this is a package sent by Mr. Ke Cilai. The secretary put a box in front of De Jong.

De Jong just remembered that a few days ago, Ke Cilei, the head of Philips Asia, called and told himself that there was also a shaver with floating heads in the Chinese market. More importantly, This shaver sells for less than $50.

Now Ketzley's package has been sent to the Netherlands, and it should contain a sample of that shaver.

De Jong immediately opened the package, revealing an ordinary box, opened the box, and inside was a razor wrapped in a foam bag.

Chinese packaging is really rudimentary! De Jong pouted with disdain.

Puppy's razor is mainly aimed at the domestic market in China, so the packaging is not in accordance with European and American standards, and it is a little rudimentary in front of De Jong.

It's still a three-headed razor! De Jong picked up the puppy's razor and flipped it twice in his hand, with a disdainful expression on his face again.

It's so heavy, this thing can not only be used to shave beards, but also to smash people! De Jong said to himself.

Then De Jong pressed the knife head with his hand, frowning sharply.

It's really a floating knife head! The Chinese have mastered the floating knife head technology! De Jong thought for a moment, picked up the phone, and said to his secretary, Professor Percy come to my office!

Professor Pesci is in charge of the scientific research of the Philips shaver project. After receiving the call from De Jong, he rushed over immediately.

Professor Percy, look at this! De Jong handed Percy the puppy razor.

This is not our razor! Professor Pesci took the razor, took a closer look, and also showed a surprised expression: This is the floating head technology! Besides us, someone else has developed this technology. already?

It's not necessarily research and development, maybe it's plagiarism! De Jong's eyes flashed fiercely, and he continued: If it's plagiarism, then the legal department of our group should be dispatched.

Then let me take a look! Professor Pesci immediately opened the head of the puppy razor and carefully confirmed the structure inside.

After a while, Professor Pesci sighed and said, Mr. Derong, the floating head of this shaver uses a primitive technology, similar to the floating boring tool used in machining.

This kind of floating cutter head adopts a plurality of metal inner blade floating plates and blade pressing springs, and then the knife net and the inner blade assembly are positioned on the blade pressing plate, so as to have the effect of floating the cutter head.

And our floating cutter head is a whole, we connect the whole floating cutter head with the cutter frame, which makes our transmission hook system more stable.

And we did not use so many floating plates and springs. Our floating cutter head has a simpler structure, better effect and stability, lighter weight, smaller volume, and more convenient cleaning.

You mean they don't use the same technology as us? De Jong asked.

Of course it's different. Our technology is more advanced! We disdain to use such a cumbersome and complicated old technology! Teacher Pesci said proudly.

That means they didn't infringe our patent rights? De Jong asked again.

Applying for a patent for this kind of design is an insult to innovation! Pesci was still arrogant.

There was a hint of helplessness in De Jong's eyes. Since there is no infringement of Puppy Electric, Philips cannot initiate an intellectual property lawsuit.

While puppy razors are bulky, a three-headed shaver costs less than $50 and comes with floating-head technology.

In comparison, the HQ8 series of shavers, which sell for as much as $150, will have no place in the Chinese market.

The market with a population of 1.2 billion is about to be lost!

Not only the Chinese market, but also consumers in other developing countries are very price sensitive. If the puppy razor enters other developing countries, it will definitely have an impact on the Philips razor.

Thinking of this, De Jong decided to immediately contact Ke Cilei, head of Philips Asia.

De Jong looked at his watch, it should not be time for dinner in Asia, so he quickly picked up the phone and made an international call.

After a while, the call was connected, and it was not Ke Cilei who spoke, but Ke Cilei's assistant.

Mr. Derong, Mr. Ke Cilei just went to Malaysia on a business trip this morning! the assistant replied.

What are you going to do in Malaysia? De Jong asked.

It is said that there are some problems with the power strip factory in Malaysia. The assistant replied.

What's wrong? Is the factory on strike? De Jong asked.

The assistant replied: In recent days, Malaysia's currency has depreciated sharply, and capital has also fled Malaysia, which has had a great impact on Malaysia's economy. Our raw material suppliers in Malaysia also ran away with money. Way to go, Mr. Ke Cilai is here to deal with this matter.

The supplier ran away with the money? So how much did we lose? De Jong asked immediately.

The specific losses are still under evaluation. However, I heard that the situation in Malaysia is not optimistic. The Malaysian government may also impose restrictions on the financial market, and may even adopt foreign exchange controls. The assistant replied.

...

Malaysia is the largest economy in Southeast Asia, and its per capita GDP is second only to Singapore, making it the richest country in Southeast Asia.

Moreover, Malaysia has relatively rich oil and gas and natural resources. You can make a lot of money just by selling palm oil and natural rubber. Therefore, the economic structure of Malaysia is much healthier than that of Thailand.

In recent years, Malaysia has maintained high economic growth rate, high savings rate, low inflation rate and low unemployment rate. Although there are some foreign debts, the bank capital is very sufficient.

In the first month of the Asian financial crisis, almost everyone believed that Malaysia was able to withstand the attacks of international financial speculators.

However, in just one month, Malaysia gave up its efforts to defend the ringgit, and then Malaysia suffered the same experience as Thailand, with currency devaluation, inflation, capital outflow, and economic collapse.

In the next few months, Malaysia will immediately depreciate by 50%, the Malaysian stock market will drop by 75%, and the economic growth rate will change from positive 7.3% to negative growth.

The surrender of Malaysia also affected Singapore. Fortunately, Singapore has a strong family background and reached a foreign exchange agreement of US$30 billion with the Federal Reserve, which finally stabilized the foreign exchange market.

The Netherlands was once the largest colonial country in Southeast Asia, so the Netherlands has a certain foundation in Southeast Asian countries. The Netherlands also colonized Malaysia back then, so when Malaysia's economy opened up, many Dutch companies also came to Malaysia to set up factories.

This of course includes the top company Philips in the Netherlands.

Now facing the Asian financial crisis, Philips' factories in Malaysia are also in trouble.

...

Two days later, Ke Cilei, head of Philips Asia, finally called De Jong back.

Mr. Derong, the economic situation in Malaysia is very bad. I estimate that our factories in Malaysia will be shut down in the next few months. The worst thing is the power strip factory. The suppliers run away, and we have suffered heavy losses. , now it is unsustainable, if you want to stop the loss in time, the only way is to close the factory! Ke Cilei said.

What about the production capacity of power strips? The whole of Europe needs our power strips! If we stop supplying, we will hand over the European market to others! De Jong said.

Mr. Derong, please rest assured, I have found a manufacturer that can help us manufacture power strips, which can fully make up for the production capacity in Malaysia. And I have asked about the price, and the FOB price is higher than our production in Malaysia. Cheap. Ke Cilai said immediately.

Oh? Where is the foundry? De Jong asked immediately.

Puppy electrical appliances in China. They have a large factory with tens of thousands of workers and hundreds of various production lines! Ke Cilei replied.

Puppy Electric? It sounds familiar... De Jong was old and had a bad memory after all.

Mr. Derong, the razor I sent you before was made by them, Ke Cilei said.

What? De Jong blinked, showing an incredible expression.

It was a competitor a few days ago, how can I become a partner after two days of hard work!

After all, as I get older, my mind can't turn around.