Chapter Ninety-Three: The Toy Company 2
The Kingdom of Denmark, abbreviated as Denmark, one of the five Nordic countries, is a constitutional monarchy with two self-governing territories, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. It is bordered by Sweden and Norway to the north by the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, and together with them, it is known as the Scandinavian country, and to the south it is bordered by Germany, and the capital and largest city is Copenhagen.
After Bao Zixuan left Budapest, Hungary, he took Yamashita Hengyi and others to the village of Filsgow near Billund, Denmark. This small village with a population of only 400 people gave birth to a Fortune 500 company, which is still very weak.
That's right, Bao Zixuan's purpose in coming to this small village is to get the patent authorization of Lego, the intellectual building block toy giant in the future market, and he wants to promote Lego bricks in North America and Asia.
The inventor of the Lego bricks was Mr. Christissen, who was born in 1891 in the village of Filsgoff, near Billund, Denmark. He has a superb carpenter's skills, and when he was young, he was keen to make all kinds of small toys, and the small planes, cars, and animals from his hands are all realistic and vivid. Although he didn't know how to run a business and his toys were often unsalable, this did not make him give up his hobby. Later, the puzzle toy "Yoyo" he designed finally became popular. In 1934, he designed the "Lego" trademark for his building block toys.
Founder Christissen had held an in-house call for names for his small toy factory and the wooden toys it produced, and his proposal was chosen, but the trade name was not legally registered in Denmark until 1954.
The development of "LEGO" is accompanied by the continuous rise in the scale and popularity of the Lego company, and the "weapon" in the hand is a toy from Denmark - building blocks, through different combinations of different people, and even different ingenuity of the same person, Lego bricks can build different worlds. Simple objects not only build a wonderful world for children, so that every child who sees it can not resist such a huge temptation, so in European and American families, Lego toys have always enjoyed a high reputation, even in Asia, there are quite a lot of users, just because of the high price, slowing down its further expansion to the market.
In 1949, the first LEGO plastic bricks were introduced. Two years later, plastic building blocks based on the principle of cavity-column connection were put on the market. Soon after, the LEGO company launched a building block product specially designed for infants and toddlers between the ages of 3 months and 5 years. This building block is 8 times larger than ordinary building blocks, which can prevent the danger of infants and young children from eating it by mistake. Originally simple toys that inspire the intelligence of babies and toddlers, LEGO bricks have evolved into a series that appeal to boys, girls and children of all ages.
For this No. 1 toy company in the future, Bao Zixuan didn't want to buy him, it was a fantasy. But fortunately, Bao Zixuan also has his own killer feature, and when he thought of getting Lego bricks, he had already registered a patent for Lego's second important product "Lego Villain" in the market.
He knows that it is difficult for a family business like Lego to accept outside investment, and now Lego is only sold in some parts of Europe, and it has not been long since it came out of Denmark, and Bao Zixuan knows that it will be difficult to surpass him in building block toys after Lego has completely established itself in Europe, after all, the patent is in the hands of others.
Lego is just a toy product, and there is no monopoly problem. If the boss of the company doesn't sell it, you can't go to someone else to grab it!
Bao Zixuan met with KK Christissen, the general manager of the company, in the reception room of the Lego Company. A man who led Lego to the world in later generations. Looking at a company that is still very rudimentary, who would have thought that with a child's toy it could become a Fortune 500 company.
LEGO now employs fewer than 800 people, and almost all nearby villages work here.
KK-Christissen is the grandson of the founder, Mr. Christisen, whose father is now the chairman of the company. However, he was not in good health and had to stay in the hospital all the year round, and now all the decisions of the company have been handed over to KK Christissen.
The Black Cloud Group had already set a time for business talks with Lego before departure, after all, this was a negotiation between the two companies.
KK-Christissen replied to the other party as soon as he received the request for business negotiation in the black cloud, and he also wanted to see what the purpose of this company, which has been shining recently, came to Lego.
KK Christissen: "Welcome to Lego, Mr. Bag. It's envious of what you've accomplished at your age. ”
Bao Zixuan: "I'm just lucky, pigs can fly to the sky when I catch up with a good era, and now is a good era, what do you say!"
KK-Christissen: "Yes, it's a good time. However, I don't know what Mr. Bao's purpose is when he comes to Lego, or what he needs Lego to do. ”
Bao Zixuan: "I didn't expect Mr. Christissen to be a fast talker, so I'll be blunt, I know that Lego's current building block toys have not yet developed the American market and the Asian market, and I hope to buy the patent licensing in these two places." ”
KK Christissen: "I'm very sorry, but if you want to sell Lego products, we're more than welcome, but we won't sell them if you want to get a license in these two places. LEGO has its own marketing plan. ”
Bao Zixuan: "Don't you want to hear my conditions!"
KK-Christissen: "It's not a matter of principle that we can talk about conditions, we don't sell our own patent licenses. ”
Bao Zixuan: "I know what Mr. Christissen means, but I have a gadget for you." ”
After speaking, he took out the Lego villain from his previous life, and the current black cloud villain.
"It's a product that I designed based on my own ideas, and it can be combined with Lego bricks perfectly. And I've already applied for a patent. I think you can ask an engineer to evaluate the effect of the two combined, and tomorrow we can continue to negotiate!"
After Bao Zixuan left, he saw this villain. kk-Christissen is completely blinded, after all, this is a product that he wants to apply for, why was it produced by Heiyun without registering a patent!
And looking at the exquisite workmanship, it can be seen that Heiyun Group must be much stronger than itself in terms of production capacity.
KK-Christissen called the head designer of Lego, and when he saw the little man on the little boss's table, he couldn't believe his eyes. Isn't this a product that you have to modify repeatedly!
Watching these little people put together with Lego bricks is definitely something that kids love to do. After all, it's a bit monotonous just to play with building blocks for a long time.
"Boss, who designed this," the designer asked.
kk-Christissen: "It is a product taken by Xiangjiang Heiyun Group, which has been registered for a patent, and wants to come and seek cooperation with us." ”
Designer: "We can pay for it! ”
The Black Cloud Group is much richer than us, and people want to buy our Lego bricks in Asia and the Americas. They want to manufacture our products in these two regions.
After I didn't agree to them, the Blackfish Group took out these villains, which was a bit threatening. After all, without our Lego bricks, their villains would not be able to sell. But they could have given up on the project, and they would have lost a little bit of the patent registration fee. But we at LEGO are missing out on a great way to amplify consumer demand. KK-Christissen analyzed to the designer.
Designer: "If we had this villain, Lego brick sales could increase by 20~25%, which we calculated before we developed it. I can't give you advice on the company's decision-making, you can go to the old chairman and see what his opinion is. ”
KK-Christissen: "That's it, I'll go to the hospital and listen to his opinion!"
After saying that, he left the company, took the villain produced by the Black Cloud Group, and went to the hospital where the old Christison was.