In the early 80s, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines imitated the successful experience of the Asian tigers, adopted the policy of introducing foreign capital and vigorously developing labor-intensive industries, and gradually shifted the industrial structure from traditional agriculture to export-oriented processing industries. By the early 90s, the economies of Thailand, Malaysia, India and the Philippines had developed considerably, and they once won the reputation of the Asian Four Little Tigers.

Unfortunately, these four tigers were born at the wrong time, and at the time of their rise, an Asian dragon was also rising, and with an unstoppable momentum, it was devouring all the industrial opportunities transferred from the developed countries, squeezing the space of other emerging countries. In 1997, after an Asian financial crisis, the Four Little Tigers were tragically looted by international financial predators, and there was no hope for industrial upgrading.

When Lin Zhenhua and others arrived in Thailand, it was at the time of the Thai Milk Tiger Roaring Valley, and its prosperity was fascinating.

"Boss, why do I think Bangkok is more prosperous than Guangzhou." Chu Hongyang looked at the dazzling array of goods, colorful billboards, and motorcycles on the street, and said with heartfelt emotion.

Schumann also said obsessively: "Yes, the clothes worn by Bangkokians are so fashionable." ”

Lin Zhenhua walked on the streets of Bangkok, and there was a feeling of being separated from the world. He remembered that in his time, a prefecture-level city in Chinese mainland was almost like this, and even the goods on the street were more abundant than this. But nowadays, it is as if they have suddenly come to a big city from the countryside. Of course, Bangkok is a big city after all.

"Don't worry, it won't be many years before we surpass it." Lin Zhenhua comforted Chu Hongyang and Schumann and said, "It's too bullying to compare Guangzhou with it, at most 15 years, our Xunyang can be more prosperous than it." ”

"Boss, you're not bragging, are you?" Schumann asked incredulously.

Chu Hongyang said: "Xiao Man, since the boss said so, there must be hope." Think about it, when did the boss drop the chain? ”

Schumann nodded: "That's true, our boss is really a god." ”

It's no wonder that Schumann was impressed by Lin Zhenhua, from the first time she met Lin Zhenhua to the present, how much magic has Lin Zhenhua created? The year before last, the five-leaf fan exploded a big upset, and there was another patent battle at the Spring Fair last year, which provoked two senior officials of the central government to fly over in person to support him. In the autumn of last year, Lin Zhenhua launched a new waterfall washing machine at the Autumn Fair, signing a large export order of more than 80 million US dollars in one go, which once again caused a sensation in the Canton Fair.

How could Schumann not believe such a miraculous person, the prophecy he made?

The three of them chatted and walked down the street, and from time to time they walked into the store to look at the goods on the shelves and ask for prices. Bangkok is beginning to internationalize, and some of the shop owners can speak a few words of English, so Lin Zhenhua and his party can barely communicate with them. The English level of these three people is not bad now, and Chu Hongyang is now able to chat with people in English for half an hour under Schumann's teaching.

"Boss, the situation is not good." After walking through dozens of shops, Chu Hongyang said to Lin Zhenhua.

"It's not good." Lin Zhenhua also said so.

Schumann asked curiously, "What's wrong?" I think it's good. ”

Lin Zhenhua looked at Schumann and asked, "Tell me, why is it good?" ”

Schumann said: "You see, how prosperous this market is, the shelves are full of things, you can buy whatever you want." In Guangzhou, how can there be so many things on the shelves, and they have not been snapped up yet. ”

Lin Zhenhua turned his head to Chu Hongyang and said, "Hongyang, you are responsible for solving this problem for Schumann." ”

Chu Hongyang smiled bitterly and said, "Xiaoman, I see the same things as you, but my thoughts are different from yours." You're a customer, and of course you want as many things as possible. Xiaohua and I are both selling things, and people's shelves are full, what else do we sell? ”

Only then did Schumann realize that the two men around him were out-and-out businessmen. They came to Bangkok to sell their goods to Bangkok merchants, but with so many products on the streets of Bangkok, how could there be a market for them?

There's an old saying about it? The owner of the coffin shop is eager to die every day in the world. Lin Zhenhua and Chu Hongyang sell electric fans, and their ideal is that this place is as hot as a stove, but there is not a single electric fan on the market.

In this regard, Lin Zhenhua and Chu Hongyang have a tacit understanding. After a few years of training, Chu Hongyang has fully grown into a seasoned marketer, Lin Zhenhua took him and Schumann shopping, of course he knew that Lin Zhenhua was not to enjoy the street view of Bangkok, but to find his own business opportunities. After walking through the shops, he began to realize that things were not so rosy and that Bangkok was not their paradise.

"The structure of Thailand's economy is too similar to ours." Lin Zhenhua frowned and said, "We have just begun to develop labor-intensive industries, and Thailand has also taken this path, and it has gone a little earlier than us and absorbed more foreign investment." Now that Thailand is an exporter of light industrial products, we still want to open up its market, how easy is it. ”

Schumann said: "Boss, we are not just selling light industrial products, our five-blade fans and waterfall washing machines are all technical, and the European and American markets can enter, but can't enter a small Thai market?" ”

Lin Zhenhua said: "The bad of our products is that they have technical content. Europeans and Americans have money, as long as your product is distinctive, they don't care about spending a little more. However, Thailand's economy has just started, and the people are not wealthy, so they will not choose products with high prices. ”

Chu Hongyang also added: "That's right, just like our domestic market, everyone can spend 400 yuan to buy an ordinary washing machine, and they will not be willing to spend 800 yuan to buy our waterfall washing machine, so our biggest market is abroad." ”

Lin Zhenhua pointed to an electrical appliance store next to him and said: "You see, the single-cylinder washing machine sold in that store is cheaper than our domestic one, what is the competitiveness of our products?" ”

"Why are they cheap?" Schumann asked.

Lin Zhenhua thought for a while and said, "I think it should be that the price of their raw materials is lower." In terms of labor costs, it is estimated that they will not be lower than China. However, their raw materials are directly imported from abroad, and they are engaged in a large-scale import and large-export processing industry model, and the cost is relatively low. And our raw materials come from China, and in the current shortage of raw materials, the cost will naturally increase. ”

Schumann laughed and said, "Boss, Hongyang, I have an idea. Why don't we sell anything at all, how about we buy things from here instead? Let's buy a batch of electrical appliances from here and sell them back to China, won't we be able to make a lot of money? ”

Lin Zhenhua shook his head and said, "Schumann, your idea is not a new idea. Look at Fan Song, isn't that what they did? They save money at home, exchange it for foreign currency, and go abroad to buy electrical appliances. However, it doesn't matter if we do it one by one, if we do it on the scale of the company, how can there be so much foreign exchange? ”

Schumann said: "Don't you have foreign exchange in your hand?" You have authorized the patent of the waterfall washing machine to more than a dozen domestic companies, and they will definitely be able to sell a lot at the Spring Fair next year, and the patent fee you will get will be at least tens of millions. Hasn't the Ministry of Foreign Trade already approved that you can intercept half of it? ”

Lin Zhenhua said: "This money is earmarked, and can only be used for patent protection, and is used to fight technical wars with foreigners. Besides, even if I have foreign exchange, I can't use it to import these light industrial products. Schumann, our country's foreign exchange is exchanged for oil, coal, copper ore and other resources, and if we exchange the foreign exchange for these things to buy some worthless electrical appliances, future generations will scold us in the future. ”

Schumann sighed and said, "Alas, boss, I really obey you. How do you have so many great truths at all times? I've seen many of these things when I'm doing foreign affairs in Guangzhou, that is, you still stupidly want to compete with foreigners. Aren't others trying to find ways to get foreign exchange quotas, and then use these quotas to import all kinds of things to make domestic money? In these years, everyone pays attention to everything and looks at money. ”

Schumann is two years older than Lin Zhenhua and Chu Hongyang, and he is a girl, so he is somewhat pampered and arrogant in front of Lin Zhenhua, and he is blunt with Lin Zhenhua when he encounters anything, and Lin Zhenhua is not angry about this. He also knew that when Schumann said this, he was not really accusing him of pedantic, but feeling his principle. Everyone has been working together for several years, and their respective ambitions are very clear, and Schumann has always admired Lin Zhenhua's dream of a strong country.

"It seems that we really came for nothing this trip." Lin Zhenhua said, "Forget it, let's work for Zhang Zhifang in a down-to-earth manner." If you can sell him a frigate, you can also earn some pocket money. ”

Mr. Lim's judgment was confirmed two days later when he met with a director of Thailand's Ministry of Commerce.

This hall director's name is Su Cha, and Fang Jilei helped contact him. Hearing that the other party was just a foreign trade delegation from a Chinese province, Su Cha's first reaction was that he was unwilling to receive it, and in the end, he really couldn't save Fang Jilei's face, so he gave Lin Zhenhua and his party a chance to meet.

The meeting was arranged in the office building of the Ministry of Commerce, and although it was an errand, Sucha still arranged a conference room, and it looked a bit classy. After all, China and Thailand still have good-neighborly and friendly relations, and we should not be too inferior in terms of face.

Lin Zhenhua brought Fan Song, Chu Hongyang and Schumann to negotiate. Chang Qingbo was not interested in such a thing, his only purpose this trip was to sell warships, which had nothing to do with the Ministry of Commerce.

The talks started in a cordial and friendly atmosphere, but Lin Zhenhua had a hunch that this was a meeting that was destined to have no results, and Su Cha actually thought so.

(To be continued)