Author: quiet thoughts

The impact of the Plaza Accord goes beyond the storm in the financial market.

Because the five countries joined forces to lower the exchange rate of the US dollar, the speculative market concentrated on raising the yen.

This gives a signal to the outside world that the yen will continue to appreciate.

Based on this, the cost of imported neon products will also increase in the future.

Under this mentality, the export of neon manufacturing industry fell, which is also a normal feedback from the foreign trade market.

The Neon government originally expected that even if the yen appreciated by 20%, Neon's export manufacturing industry would still be quite competitive.

But that is looking at the problem from the perspective of long-term development. It is a normal phenomenon in the short term for the market to change based on the movements of the five countries.

Therefore, starting from the fourth quarter after September, neon export trade will be most affected.

According to the development pattern of previous years, the closer to the end of the year, the export industry will grow by 6% to 8% year-on-year, which is the normal value range.

But this year, not only did it not rise, but it fell by about 4%. Horizontal comparison is equivalent to a 10% to 12% drop in export trade volume.

After all, the current appreciation of the yen seems to be far from reaching its peak, so the export pressure on neon products will continue to increase.

But since it is not a salary cut, it is achieved through another means.

"But in the current international market, Shirakawa Electric has basically exhausted its development. It is impossible to find a large-scale new market in a short time. As for the Asian market..." Akagi shook his head.

Believe it or not, as long as Shirakawa Electric dares to cut wages, both old and new employees will be finished in minutes.

This is an unprecedented first time, so many neon companies are facing a huge enemy.

In the next few years, due to the expansion of the bubble economy, labor costs will increase significantly.

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone present widened their eyes in surprise.

The stock market and foreign exchange market are booming, and the seemingly neon economy is rising steadily.

Everyone has no opinion on this, but everyone has some doubts about the location for relocating the factory.

In addition to the Walkman, Shirakawa Electric will also produce radios and other products locally.

"Everyone, we have to admit that in a short period of time, the appreciation of the yen will become normal.

There are improvements to Qi Ye and Ba Ye, multi-purpose helicopter research and development, and even express delivery projects.

At the same time, some raw materials can be solved locally, which can further reduce production costs. Neon can just seize the core technology here.

"Starting next year, all capacity expansion here in Neon will be stopped."

"Eh?"

But it was under such circumstances that Panasonic established what would become its electric motor factory in Northeast China.

Shirakawa Electric just makes some electronic consumer products, and it's not a secret, so you don't have to worry about these things at all.

Thinking of this, everyone unanimously turned their attention to Bai Chuanfeng, who was at the top.

People's food and clothing problems have not yet been solved, so there is no spare time for recreation.

It is instinct for manufacturing companies to relocate to markets with lower labor costs.

This is unimaginable in the 21st century, but in the magical 1980s, it is happening.

We must consider the rising costs caused by the appreciation of the yen. Because this is not a short-term phenomenon, it is likely to be the norm in the next few years.

It is obvious that Shirakawa Electric is preparing to take the last road. Industrial industry is its basic base and must not be given up easily.

As for the objects of relocation..." Bai Chuanfeng paused, "Huaxia and Baodao are the first targets."

So the next year Konosuke Matsushita was invited to visit China. At that time, China did not even have an embassy in Neon.

As the head of the audio-visual business department, Hasegawa’s approach is very simple: either increase revenue or reduce expenditure.

No one can avoid the pressure of the appreciation of the yen. Some people are continuing to wait and see, while others are considering going to the stock market and foreign exchange market to fight against the wind.

Labor costs and raw material prices are low there now, which is very helpful for us to reduce production costs.

Of course, some of President Sang’s risqué operations are not ruled out, but it’s obvious that Shirakawa Kaede is not such a person.

If a company needs to reduce wages to achieve cost control, it means that its operating conditions have deteriorated considerably.

Some people are also actively seeking ways to break through the current situation of declining trade in order to maintain the continued growth of the manufacturing industry.

Many companies are expanding production capacity, but Shirakawa Kaede now plans to do the opposite.

If exports plummet, it will definitely have a catastrophic impact on many Neon companies.

Waving his hand, Bai Chuanfeng explained the reason for doing this.

The famous Peace Model Project covers a very wide range.

This will be more unfavorable for companies to reduce costs and ease the export pressure caused by the appreciation of the yen.

It is precisely because of this understanding that Shirakawa Kaede decided to take precautions and deploy overseas in advance.

Panasonic, Toshiba, and Hitachi entered China in the 1970s, and Shirakawa Electric was late enough."

But also in the fourth quarter, Neon's stock market was completely incomprehensible to them.

“If the yen continues to appreciate, Shirakawa Electric’s overseas market size will further shrink.

Hasegawa cautiously probed.

When the great man visited the Panasonic factory in Osaka, he saw rows of modern machines.

Therefore, in order to ensure profits, we must either open up new markets or find ways to reduce costs.”

“It is difficult to discover new markets in a short period of time, but we can cultivate the market in advance.

This...many corporate presidents who have had headaches due to the decline in exports have begun to feel subtle.

In addition to relocating existing factories, Shirakawa Kaede also decided to start producing "old antique" products such as radios in China.

Hearing that Bai Chuanfeng was not going to touch the employees' benefits, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The great man held Matsushita Konosuke's hand and sighed, "Mr. Matsushita, can you help China's modernization construction?"

In particular, the game console division that Akagi is responsible for has almost no outstanding performance in Asia.

So how should we respond to the increase in export costs and the decline in trade share?"

Salary cut? Just kidding, a battle to grab people is about to begin.

Therefore, rising labor costs are placing an increasing burden on the manufacturing industry.

Shirakawa Electric, which is also facing the same situation, is also discussing how to eliminate the impact of the appreciation of the yen.

"Shirakawa-san, what do you mean...?" Everyone seemed to understand.

“Starting next year, all Neon factories here will maintain their current scale while increasing overseas investment.

The former is used for export, and the latter is used for local sales. I believe that after a few years of development, China itself will grow into another big market for us."

The development of Asia is just in its infancy, with limited consumption capacity and limited market.

What's more, it's not that there are no precedents. Bai Chuanfeng can give a lot of examples casually.

With the advent of the golden age, as of this year the average salary of Neon people has reached 3 to 4 million yen per year.

Bai Chuanfeng smiled nonchalantly, "You can rest assured about this. Don't forget that China and the United States are both in the honeymoon period now."

Do you know what kind of factory Panasonic built in Northeast China? An electric motor factory!

"Overseas!" Bai Chuanfeng nodded calmly.

So how to reduce expenditure? Reduce the cost of raw materials? Or reduce the wages of members?

Although the yen has appreciated, Neon's economy is also doing well.

“Factories prioritized for relocation include Walkmans, game consoles, Gaode toys, and other low-tech electronic products.

Shirakawa Electric had completed its global market layout two years ago, so the open source aspect was basically eliminated.

In this case, if people have money in their hands, can they stimulate domestic demand and make up for the profit lost from exports?

Taking a step back, since the stock market and foreign exchange market are so profitable, can we who are engaged in industry also get some meat there?

The two parties are not only in the honeymoon period now, but have even carried out a lot of cooperative research and development in military technology.

A short-term appreciation of the yen may not threaten us, but the continued normalcy cannot be tolerated by any company."

These things were reported in the newspapers. When Bai Chuanfeng said this, everyone thought carefully that it was indeed true.

As we all know, Neon is an export-oriented country, and its domestic economic growth relies heavily on exports.

After that, Toshiba, Hitachi and other companies also entered China in the late 1970s to carry out cooperation.

"Shirakawa-san, it's okay to talk about Baodao. But Huaxia...isn't it a little too radical?"

In terms of sensitivity, this thing is much more sensitive than Shirakawa Electric's Walkman and game console.

It is precisely because of the existence of Asu, the other side of the Cold War, that China was able to coexist harmoniously with Asu in this special historical period.

So at this time, Shirakawa Electric decided to enter China, which was already a step later than the established companies.
To be continued...