"Common development?" Xu Zhi frowned and said: "Mr. Panasonic, our two companies don't seem to have much basis for cooperation, and in the field of household appliances, we are still competitors. ”

"Not necessarily. Konosuke Matsushita smiled: "I heard that Mr. Xu opened a large home appliance chain store in the United States?"

"Yes, what does Mr. Panasonic mean?" Xu Zhi nodded and asked, Best Buy's investment plan was finalized at the end of last year, and a large number of managers were specially recruited from Wal-Mart supermarkets and Sears department store chains.

In order to legally avoid taxes on Midea's huge profits in the United States, it announced at the end of last year that it would invest in large-scale electrical shopping malls in 17 cities in California, and the scale will become larger and larger.

This kind of investment has naturally attracted the attention of many electrical and electronic product peers, but even if they know that this is the United States company to expand their own sales channels, no one will be willing to follow up together, after all, hundreds of millions of dollars of investment every year, the entire United States can take out only a handful of electrical appliances.

For example, the recent general electric company has not been able to do it, because the profit of the entire electrical appliance business of General Electric is only 70 million US dollars a year, and it is impossible for the head office to invest such a huge amount of money into the terminal sales field for a sub-sector business.

"Mr. Xu is willing to spend so much money to enter the terminal retail, which is really beyond my expectations. Konosuke Matsushita said with a smile that Panasonic Group will also invest some funds every year to expand its own channels, but it is more about using other people's resources, rather than building its own terminal retail like Midea's company.

Any company has its own main business, Panasonic, Sony and even including General Electric and HP these electronic giants, they will focus on the innovation of electronic technology, and if the large investment in the field of physical terminals, it will seriously consume the company's funds, which will have a great impact on research and development.

"It's just the direction that different companies choose, the U.S. market will always be the largest market in the world, and right now, the retail industry has started to move in the direction of large shopping malls, and now is the best time to enter this industry. Xu Zhi explained with a smile that although crossing this golden finger cannot provide great help in terms of technology patents, it can guide the direction of the company's development.

As Xu Zhi knows,Now the most mainstream color TV picture tube will be gradually eliminated in the next 15 years,Although Midea has also invested in its own picture tube production base,But that is only to develop the TV market,But Midea will not use too much money to develop new picture tube display technology。

Competitors such as Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi, Samsung, Philips and others still spend tens of millions of dollars a year to develop a new generation of picture tubes.

It's just this piece, Midea has saved a lot of money in a year, and even if competitors have developed a new picture tube technology, the screen definition is much higher, but the current technologies have matured, so a little bit of high definition may not be able to distinguish the eyes in fact.

In the future, it is the LCD screen that beats the traditional display, but in fact, there are three technical specifications for the development direction of LCD in this era, namely TN, STN, and TFT LCD technology.

Some TV giants in Japan and the United States are actually not stupid,They also know that sooner or later the LCD screen will be able to replace the color picture tube,But they don't know the direction of the development of LCD technology,I don't know when the LCD can replace the picture tube,Not to mention that no one knows what a laptop is now,In this regard,Midea has focused on research and development TFT LCD technology from the beginning,Both cost and time have a sufficient advantage。

After knowing the appropriate direction of development, the company's R&D funds are naturally much more abundant than those of its counterparts blooming everywhere, and the idle funds that can be used are naturally more, and they are naturally willing to make huge investments in the development of terminal sales channels.

Konosuke Matsushita asked, "Then I don't know what model Mr. Xu's Best Buy company is going to develop, whether it will be all self-operated or will it accept franchises in the future?"

Xu Zhi said with a smile: "At present, the company is ready to be fully self-operated, but as long as it develops to a certain extent, it will accept to join."

Mr. Matsushita should also understand that if there is no certain fame in the chain store model, who would be willing to invest in joining, let alone such a large chain supermarket. ”

A modern supermarket chain, no matter how simple the investment can cost millions of dollars, when the "Best Buy" brand is not well-known enough, it is impossible to develop through franchise.

"Then I don't know if Best Buy accepts investment?" Konosuke Matsushita took a sip of sake and asked with a smile, he already understood Xu Zhi's layout, obviously wanting to vigorously enter the terminal retail field, if it is really successful, whether it is Panasonic, Sony or other Japanese brands in the future, they will have to rely on the people in front of them to a certain extent.

This is indeed the strength of the United States electronics company, the profit is high enough, but the technical foundation is weak, want to compete with European, American and Japanese enterprises, but because the local is a city, there is not enough talent reserve and is at a disadvantage, in this case, investing heavily into the terminal retail field, is indeed a very suitable move.

Panasonic Group's profits are not lower than that of Midea Company, but it is impossible to copy this trick, one is that the opponent has taken the lead, and the second is that this method requires a lot of money, and the direction of Panasonic Group's development is mainly scientific research and development and new product development, and it is difficult to turn around!

Xu Zhi shook his head and said: "Best Buy is currently in the stage of large-scale expansion and does not plan to accept external investment for the time being. ”

Konosuke Matsushita smiled: "I understand that with Mr. Xu's financial resources, he will naturally not worry about funds, but what we Panasonic can provide is not only funds, but also resources that have been operating in the United States for many years."

We are all outsiders, and our counterparts in the United States are also very unfriendly to us, the same is true of the electronics industry, and the same is true of electronic terminal retail. ”

Xu Zhi smiled and said: "I agree with Mr. Panasonic's statement, Best Buy will indeed encounter various problems in the future expansion, but this is not a big problem, I can introduce American capital, and even arrange for Best Buy to be listed in the United States, I think, in this matter, Panasonic may not be the best choice." ”

The expansion of a supermarket chain like Best Buy will bring its own set of problems, especially in a country like the United States, where votes are king. Even Wal-Mart, which opened supermarkets in many parts of the United States, encountered demonstrations by local grocery store owners, most of which were taken care of by Wal-Mart, but a small number of them lost.

Although Best Buy is different from Wal-Mart, it is very likely that it will also encounter the same problem, a non-American company, operating in the United States, will not go far without giving a little fat to the local snake.

Konosuke Matsushita nodded and said, "Of course, Mr. Xu can bring in American capital, but it is always a bad thing to have one more choice behind it, right?"

Xu Zhi thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Panasonic wants to invest in Best Buy, I can promise to sell a small number of shares, but I need Panasonic to sell a patent to me?"