Reborn, back to a small county town to become a wealthy family

Chapter 774 Target Candidate

An ecosystem refers to a closed-loop industrial chain or ecosystem formed by the interdependence and cooperation among different components in nature or socio-economic life.

For example, the Apple ecosystem that Luo Yang mentioned in Vic Cohen's office this morning.

That is a comprehensive product and service system created by Apple, which connects users' various devices through hardware, software, cloud services and other means to achieve seamless information transmission and a high degree of functional integration.

It may not be perfect yet, but in a few years, whether it's an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch, these devices will enable users to easily switch and share data through technologies such as iCloud, Handoff, and AirDrop.

For example, Xiaomi, founded by Lei Jun in 05, has formed a cooperative relationship with companies that have independent legal person status through investment and equity participation, thereby creating its own ecosystem.

In addition, Xiaomi embodies seven principles when selecting and managing its ecosystem companies, including large market size, high popularity, focus on pain points, and comprehensive innovation.

This model allows Xiaomi to quickly replicate and amplify its values, forming a Xiaomi ecosystem centered around the company.

It took Xiaomi more than a decade to grow its ecosystem of over 200 companies, achieve sales exceeding 300 billion yuan, and have four listed companies. It has become a model for others to learn from and emulate in the domestic business world.

"The prerequisite for building your own company's ecosystem is having a large number of registered users."

At this moment, Luo Yang couldn't help but exclaim, "The company with the most outstanding inherent advantage in China is Tencent. Just think about the number of registered users they have. I estimate they have at least two or three hundred million. In the internet age, with such a huge number of registered users, as long as the planning is done properly, they can make money no matter what they do."

Song Wan nodded in agreement, saying, "When Lianzhong developed its casual game hall, it was very popular for a time. However, Tencent later launched QQ Casual Game Hall, and with its hundreds of millions of users, it managed to surpass Lianzhong, not only pushing it to the sidelines but also further increasing user stickiness."

At this point, she paused.

After a moment, he looked at Luo Yang and asked, "Doesn't our group have any companies like this?"

As she asked this question, she counted on her fingers and said, "I remember that Luo Shengtang has two milk tea brands. They implemented a membership system, so they should have accumulated a considerable amount of user data, right? And Pinduoduo, which we acquired, even though it's not a large company, must have at least tens of millions of registered users, right?"

"Members of the two milk tea shops under Luoshengtang can be considered registered users, but there is a prerequisite: the existing PVC cards must be converted into electronic cards on smartphones, and valid information must be registered on the electronic cards."

Luo Yang shook his head and said, "Because we are considering that Lemon CC will be sold next year, we did not build our own APP platform, and there is no way to talk about electronic registered users. On the other hand, Pinduoduo has some registered users, but as of the end of July, it has not reached the level of tens of millions, less than eight million."

"Our bike-sharing project has its own app platform. Anyone who wants to use a bike-sharing service must first become a registered user."

Song Wan looked at Luo Yang with slight surprise and said, "You want to use this platform to build our company's ecosystem?"

"Relying solely on bike sharing is not enough; the registered users on the platform lack stickiness."

Luo Yang already had a preliminary plan in mind: "We can only say that the huge number of registered users of shared bikes is a basic data point. If we want to build an ecosystem that belongs to our company, we will need to integrate other companies."

"We will integrate Pinduoduo's e-commerce platform with our company's own milk tea, food, beverages, clothing, bicycles, drones, and film and entertainment products."

Song Wan's eyes lit up as she spoke: "This is totally feasible!"

What she just mentioned were all the properties that Luo Yang already owned, and of course, she knew about them.

"You haven't given us a complete picture."

Luo Yang smiled and said, "In addition, the main tool for integration is not Pinduoduo's e-commerce platform."

This immediately piqued the interest of Song Wan, Xiao Wei, and others.

Everyone turned to look at Luo Yang.

"Please enlighten us, Mr. Luo."

In the end, it was Song Wan who spoke up. Among the people present, she was the only one who could be so relaxed in front of Luo Yang.

"In the future, the companies under my name that will be integrated into the ecosystem will include tourism and resorts, hotels, electronic products such as mobile phone accessories, financial platforms, and new energy vehicles, among others."

Luo Yang didn't keep anyone waiting long. After Song Wan finished asking her question, he explained, "As for the most important tool for integration, it's a smartphone!"

If the second half of the sentence hadn't been included, many people, including Song Wan and Xiao Wei, would have been surprised and had questions.

Of the industries mentioned earlier, some were placed in Yang City by Luo Yang, such as Yangguang Cultural Tourism Group and Yangguang Electronics, while others had not yet been established or acquired, such as new energy vehicles and banks.

But after the second half of the sentence was spoken, their attention was completely drawn to the word "smartphone".

Wenwan reacted the fastest.

"Boss, are you planning to enter the smartphone industry?"

She asked in shock, "We have absolutely no foundation. Not to mention the technical difficulties, the investment alone is a huge amount. At this stage, the company needs to acquire the headquarters building and raise investment funds for the production and manufacturing of new energy vehicles. Where are we going to get so much cash flow?"

Although Wen Wan had accompanied Luo Yang to Gray Rhino Capital and knew that her boss had made some gains in the international futures market, that couldn't compensate for the large amount of money the company needed to spend in the past year or two.

Acquiring the headquarters building will cost over a billion yuan, not to mention the subsequent electromechanical installation, decoration and other projects, which will also cost another one or two hundred million yuan.

Not to mention the new energy vehicle sector, the initial investment alone is at least 50 billion yuan.

As the director of the group's board office and now also Luo Yang's assistant, Wen Wan is aware of other expenses, such as the costs of acquiring banks, the costs of An Ying's foray into the food industry, and the costs of expanding Guobao Film & Television.
Now, adding another smartphone manufacturer would require an initial investment of several billion yuan.

It's no wonder Wen Wan was shocked that her boss was thinking of making mobile phones, given that so much money would be needed in such a short time.

"I don't need you to worry about the financial matters."

Luo Yang waved his hand, partly because he didn't want to explain, and partly because this was a hotel near IDG's headquarters, and he had already mentioned the reasons why some things couldn't be said.

"Director Wen, actually, making smartphones doesn't necessarily require spending a lot of money."

After some thought, Song Wan explained after Wen Wan asked the question, "If President Luo's requirements are simpler, we can give it a try."

A smartphone requires several major technical components, among which eight are particularly important. The first is the processor (chip), which is also the most crucial component of a smartphone. Chips in a smartphone include radio frequency (RF) chips, RF power amplifier chips, processor chips, power management chips, etc.
Secondly, there's the storage. Functionally, it can be divided into RAM and non-RAM. RAM is like a computer's RAM, affecting the smoothness of the phone's programs; non-RAM is like a computer's hard drive, used to store software and files.
The third is input/output devices, including keyboards, displays, USB ports, headphone jacks, cameras, and other components.

The fourth component is the battery, an energy storage device that provides power to the mobile phone. It generally uses lithium batteries. Currently, Yuanfan Group has the capability to produce them, both in terms of technology and production capacity, which can meet Luo Yang's needs for producing smartphones.

The fifth component is the motherboard, which is the core of the phone and carries all its functions. It consists of the processor, memory, storage chip, radio frequency module, power management unit, and other components.

Of course, the processors used in smartphones are more advanced, requiring a high-performance system-on-a-chip (SoC) that integrates multiple processing units such as CPU and GPU to meet complex computing and graphics processing needs.

The sixth component is the screen, which is the most prominent part of a smartphone. Types include LCD screens, AMOLED screens, etc.

Currently, the main manufacturers in this area are still in South Korea and Japan. However, once domestic companies such as BOE achieve technological breakthroughs, it will be possible to source products domestically and avoid being held hostage by others.

The last two are the camera and the sound system, which are common components in smartphones. For example, the camera is currently a single camera, but in the next few years, most smartphones will use dual or multiple cameras. The sound system includes speakers and microphones.

Of course, in addition to these hardware components, there are some other important technologies.

For example, operating systems. Modern smartphones all have their own independent operating systems, such as Android and iOS, which allow users to install and uninstall third-party programs such as software and games.

For example, sensor technology, including various sensors such as touch screens, cameras, fingerprint recognition, and heart rate monitoring, directly affects the user experience and device functionality.

Does it look complicated?
However, according to Song Wan, there is no need to conduct research and development themselves; they can simply purchase the materials.

Even mobile phone manufacturing can be outsourced to contract manufacturers.

For Luo Yang's mobile phone company, all they need to do is integrate the software system, optimize the operating system for smooth operation, design the phone's appearance, and build a relatively good sales team. That should be about it.

Of course, if, during this process, camera and audio technologies can be optimized to a certain extent with limited technical support, giving them more prominent functions and features, it will also boost smartphone sales.

In this respect, OPPO and VIVO phones have done a better job.

"Mr. Song is right."

Luo Yang followed Song Wan's words and said, "We don't need to do as much technology research and development as Kunpeng Technology. We can adopt a 'take what we need' approach. In that case, we'll need tens of millions in the early stages, and then continue to invest one or two hundred million in the later stages."

He really didn't have much interest in research and development.

There's no bottom to this.

Especially when it comes to core technologies, you won't even see a ripple without spending tens of billions.

Why bother?
Luo Yang started making mobile phones partly to capitalize on the surge in smartphone users in recent years and reap the benefits. If he can seize this market opportunity, it could potentially generate tens or even hundreds of billions of yuan in revenue.

With such a large cash flow, what can't be convenient?

Another point is the ecosystem chain we just discussed.

Before each smartphone from his own company is sold, his own app is pre-installed during the factory setup. The app integrates his own industries and partner companies similar to those in Xiaomi's ecosystem.

Once the train of thought has wandered this far, it's unstoppable.

"Moreover, we can also explore the sports industry, which is directly related to bike sharing."

As Luo Yang spoke, he lit a cigarette and said with great interest, "The sunrise industries of the future will definitely include green, environmental protection, and health industries, especially the health industry. Related biomedical and sports product companies will have very broad market prospects."

"We still have time to acquire a bicycle manufacturing plant!"

Xiao Wei then began to express her opinion: "In the near future, our shared bicycle project will require tens of millions of bicycles. Having our own manufacturing plant will allow us to absorb a significant portion of that demand, which will also generate substantial profits. We can then use these profits to drive technological upgrades and product diversification. Taking advantage of this period of opportunity, we can transform a simple bicycle manufacturing company into a comprehensive large-scale factory integrating the design, production, and sales of bicycles of all price ranges. Moreover, the owner also owns a clothing company, which allows us to establish sports-related brands."

"That's true. I remember Mr. Luo also has a fairly large clothing company back in his hometown, right?"

Because of the restructuring of the entire group, two research teams conducted investigations in Yangshi and Shanghai for a week respectively, and compiled reports. Song Wan, as a director of the group, had seen these materials, as had Wen Wan, as the director of the board office.

"Xiao Wei's suggestion is good."

Luo Yang didn't want to talk too much about Zhengyang Group, because it originated from erotic lingerie.

He changed the subject, saying, "We could consider starting a bicycle-related brand, from shoes to clothing, from bicycles to all kinds of equipment. Assistant Wen, please make a note of this and remind me when you get back to China!"

Wen Wan nodded to indicate that she had remembered.

For the next half hour, the group talked about how shared bikes are developing in the European, American, and Southeast Asian markets.

The more they talked, the more uncertain Xiao Wei felt.

According to Luo Yang, Song Wan will resign from her position as CEO of Edifier Technology starting next year. Luo Yang also stated that he will only provide guidance on the company's strategic development, while the specific operational details will be handed over to Xiao Wei, who will succeed him as CEO.

If it were just the domestic market, she would be better off.

The problem is that starting next year, they will also expand into the US and European markets. How can she not be worried?
He hesitated several times, wanting to say something to Luo Yang.

However, because the legal counsel team came from New York, and everyone was preparing to go to IDG headquarters to sign the contract, they couldn't find an opportunity.

Luo Yang also noticed it.

"Don't worry, I'll help you find a suitable deputy."

As he left the room, he patted Xiao Wei on the shoulder: "You only need to take care of the domestic market; leave the overseas market to your deputy."

Luo Yang already had a target in mind.

(End of this chapter)