"According to incomplete statistics, the number of Korean-funded machine tool enterprises entering Chinese mainland has reached 285, and the products cover all machine tool categories. Many of our original customers are considering buying machine tools produced by Korean-funded enterprises, and pessimistic estimates that Korean-funded machine tools may steal our market by 30% this year. ”

In the conference room of the Linyi Machinery Factory, Han Weichang reported to all the factory leaders.

The order for the five grinding machines of Luping Machinery Factory finally fell into the hands of Dongyuan Company. When Han Weichang returned to the factory, he immediately arranged for the intelligence department to find out, and found that there were not one or two such incidents, and many salesmen had encountered the situation of "robbing Hu" by Korean-funded enterprises. Some customers have cooperated with Linyi Machine for many years, but they can't resist the temptation of Korean capital and hand over the order to Korean-funded enterprises.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea, South Korean capital has entered China in a big way, becoming the new favorite of local governments to attract investment. According to statistics, in 1992, there were 650 investment projects by South Korean enterprises in China, with a total value of $120 million, and by 1995, the number had increased to 1,975, with a total value of $1.042 billion.

Unlike Japan and the United States, where investment in China is mainly by large enterprises, most of the Korean-funded enterprises entering China are small in scale, with a registered capital of only a few hundred thousand US dollars. But it is precisely these small enterprises that operate very flexibly, almost in a seamless, and eclectic way of doing business, which poses a greater threat to local Chinese companies.

"Old Han, have you ever understood why our customers choose Korean machine tools?" asked Wu Weiqin, deputy factory director.

Han Weichang nodded and said, "I have understood, and there are several reasons for this. First, customers generally believe that the technical level and quality of Korean machine tools are better than domestic machine tools, and the price is not much higher than domestic machine tools. ”

"So, is it true that the technical level and quality of Korean machine tools are better than domestic machine tools?" Tang Zifeng interjected, but he said this to Qin Zhongnian, to evaluate the quality of machine tools, he believes in Qin Zhongnian's vision.

Qin Zhongnian said: "South Korea engaged in CNC machine tools earlier than us, and their technology was imported from Japan, the United States and Germany, which does have some advantages compared to us." However, compared with Japanese and German machine tools, Korean machine tools are not ranked again. South Korea is a small country, the industrial system is incomplete, the machine tool industry chain is heavily dependent on Japan and Germany, the variety of machine tools is incomplete, the independent research and development ability is limited, the theoretical accumulation is insufficient, we still have an advantage over them in this regard. ”

Tang Zifeng asked: "Does this mean that Korean machine tools are slightly stronger than us, but they are only as strong as possible?"

Qin Zhongnian thought for a few seconds, nodded with a smile and said, "It's okay for you to summarize like this, but the specific problems still need to be analyzed in detail." For example, in terms of grinding machines, in fact, the foundation of South Korea is very weak, and our grinding machines are better than theirs. ”

Tang Zifeng pointed at Han Weichang with his hand and said: "That's weird, Lao Han said that his old friend didn't sell Korean grinders, and he pried our market, how can this be explained?"

Han Weichang smiled bitterly and said, "Yes, I have also thought about this question. I also investigated the Dongyuan company and found that this company is not well-known in Korea, and I can't find its information at all. I haven't seen its grinding machines, but as far as I know, South Korea is basically blank in terms of grinding machines, and it itself has to import grinding machines in large quantities, yes, even from China. ”

"Does Luping Machinery Factory know about this situation?" asked Tang Zifeng.

Han Weichang said: "I don't know about this, Huang Shunlin, the deputy director in charge of technology at Luping Machinery Factory, has been hiding from me and refusing to see me, and I haven't had a chance to talk to him about this issue." ”

"Actually, it's not surprising. Zhang Shu, deputy director of the factory, said, "Now it is not fashionable to say anything about admiring foreign countries, but this incident that Lao Han encountered was actually because the leader of Luji admired foreign countries." South Korea is also a foreign country, in the eyes of some people, the foreign moon is rounder than China, and even the waning moon of foreign countries is the full moon of China. ”

Han Weichang said: "Director Zhang is right, we have also encountered this situation. Many customers buy machine tools, just staring at foreign brands, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, and the worst has to be South Korea. Originally, the price of machine tools in Germany and Japan was high, and some companies could not afford it, but now the Koreans are coming, the price of Korean machine tools is very low, everyone can afford it, of course, they will not buy ours. ”

"It's a funny thing. Tang Zifeng smiled slightly, and had some thoughts in his heart.

Han Weichang looked at Tang Zifeng and saw that he didn't say anything more, so he continued the previous topic and said: "Second, South Korea's machine tools do look better than our machine tools, and they sell better than ours." We build machine tools mainly for performance, not too much attention to the appearance, our machine tools and Korean machine tools put together, just look at the appearance is a head shorter. ”

"Is this a reason?" Qin Zhongnian said in surprise, "Buying a machine tool is not buying clothes, why do you care if it looks good or not?"

Tang Zifeng waved his hand and said: "Chief Engineer Qin, you don't know this, the machine is also about beauty, and industrial design is also a university question." I think this situation is very important, we only focused on the performance of the product in the past, and did not pay attention to the problem of human-computer interaction. In addition to whether the appearance is good-looking, whether the operation is convenient, whether it is labor-saving, and the noise level are all issues to be considered.

"In terms of appearance, it's not something that is difficult to do, we just didn't do it, it's not a problem of ability, but a problem of concept. In this regard, the Koreans have taught us a good lesson. ”

"This is very easy, what can it cost to make a shell and spray some paint?" Qin Zhongnian said disapprovingly. He also understands the industrial design problems that Tang Zifeng said, but he felt a little redundant in the past. Now that the sales department has brought it up, even if he doesn't understand it, he won't resist it.

Tang Zifeng said: "Chief Engineer Qin, this matter must be grasped quickly, and it cannot be too simplistic. Industrial design is definitely not enough to make a shell and spray some paint. What shape the shell is made of, whether it is square or round, what color is used, whether it is white or green, and what pattern is painted on it, we are all particular, I think we may have to invite experts from the Academy of Arts and Crafts to come and design for us. ”

"There's no need for this, right?" Qin Zhongnian was a little disapproving.

Zhou Heng said: "I support Xiao Tang in this matter. In fact, we have also had comrades in the past, saying that imported machine tools not only have good performance, but also beautiful appearance. In the past, our country was poor, and some of our limited resources had to be used to make more equipment. But now the situation is different, the whole industry is oversupplied, and under the condition of overcapacity, it is also necessary to allocate some resources to make superficial articles. ”

Hearing Zhou Heng's words, Qin Zhongnian was silent, and began to think about what unit experts should be invited to help, and what step he needed to take.

Han Weichang looked at everyone and hesitated to continue. Tang Zifeng smiled at him and said, "Old Han, you continue to say, everyone can discuss at any time and solve the problem in time." ”

Han Weichang then nodded and said, "There is a third point, which is also a troublesome problem. As far as we know, Korean companies will take some measures when selling, which is difficult for us to imitate. ”

"What means?" Wu Weiqin asked.

Han Weichang smiled secretly and said: "Actually, what everyone understands is to give customers some benefits." The practices of various companies are different, some are direct gifts, some are promised to help the customer's leaders buy foreign home appliances and cosmetics, and some contracts are relatively large, and customers will be invited to South Korea to participate in technical seminars, in fact, it is to travel for free. ”

"Isn't this just blatant bribery?" Ms. Ning said.

Zhang Jianyang, who has become an assistant to the factory director, said: "This kind of thing is not strange. Our domestic private enterprises will also engage in this set. In the past, Japanese companies, as well as those in Hong Kong and Taiwan, also liked to do this. Now that Koreans are coming in, it's strange that they don't do this. ”

"In other words, only our state-owned enterprises cannot engage in this set. Zhang Shu commented with a smile.

Zhang Jianyang said: "Actually, you can do it if you want to, but the procedures are a bit troublesome, and you need to change the name, otherwise it will be difficult to pass the customs with Mr. Ning." ”

"You can't pass the test under a different name either. Ning Suyun said with a dark face, "The sales department invites customers to eat and give some small gifts, which is already a marginal game of policy." If you want to directly benefit customers like private enterprises, what else can you arrange to go abroad to attend seminars, this is a serious violation of financial discipline, and this is absolutely not allowed. ”

Zhou Heng said: "I agree with Xiao Ning's opinion. These actions are illegal, and even if we can't change the social climate, at least we shouldn't go with the flow. ”

"yes, we can't do that kind of thing. Qin Zhongnian said.

Han Weichang cast a helpless look at Tang Zifeng, he really hoped that the factory leaders could support the sales department to engage in this kind of reputation. Nowadays, the social atmosphere is like this, almost all private enterprises will give kickbacks to customers, and the same is true for foreign capital, Hong Kong capital, and Taiwan capital.

In fact, Pro Yi Machine is not allowed to give customer rebates on the bright side, but it gives salesmen a 1% business commission, which also includes customer rebates. Some salesmen will take out a part of their commission and buy gifts to customers, which is something that the financial management of Linyi Machine cannot control. At the beginning, the factory set a 1% commission policy, which also took into account the factors of social atmosphere.

However, as the rebates in the society are becoming more and more common, the proportion of rebates has gradually risen, and the rebates from the 1% business commission of the salesman of the Linyi machine are a little difficult to enter the eyes of customers.

But now it seems that this wish is about to come to naught, and when Zhou Heng's words reach this level, there should be no more openings.