Siheyuan's Journey Through the Ages

Chapter 149 Threshold of the Electronics Industry

"It's not that serious. At worst we can just sell some of the shops of the real estate company." Ma Qing put forward his own reasonable suggestions.

"That won't work." Liang Haowen flatly refused.

"You are a Pixiu, you only come in but never leave." Ma Qing mocked Liang Haowen while walking out of the office, opened the door and shouted, "Old Huang, come in, shareholder Liang has agreed to increase the capital."

Huang Hongtu looked at the list of shop addresses handed over by Ma Qing. This was a list of shops owned by Rongheng Real Estate Company. It contained the addresses of twenty shops, and the expiration dates of the original shop leases were all clearly written.

"Old Huang, these 20 stores will be handed over to you one after another within three months. You just need to expand the stores according to the old rules. You should be familiar with this. I don't have much to say in this regard." Ma Qing chattered beside Huang Hongtu while he was reading the documents.

"Boss, I'm familiar with this matter. I guarantee it will be no problem. I've been training employees and I don't lack staff."

"If I remember correctly, we should have about 30 branches now."

"Including Mrs. Guan, there are thirty-one in total, boss," Huang Hongtu reminded.

"Ahem! Really? I remembered it wrong, haha. Since we already have so many stores, let's discuss the purchase price with the suppliers. It's not reasonable for us to have the same wholesale price as those small merchants for such a large shipment volume. Also, we can rent out an advertising space in front of our store."

Ma Qing proposed a series of cost-cutting and efficiency-enhancing measures, the main focus of which was to squeeze suppliers as much as possible and increase the profitability of the chain stores. Huang Hongtu was overjoyed when he heard this, and felt that his 10% dividend at the end of the year was going to increase.

After Huang Hongtu left, Liang Haowen was a little confused as to why Ma Qing would invest so much effort in this unprofitable supermarket chain. "Is it necessary to do this? If you were not interested and the investment was not much, I would not be interested in running this supermarket chain."

"Brother Liang, you must have never heard of the saying, the terminal is king."

“What’s the point of the terminal being king?”

"If you have one terminal, you can make a living; if you have ten terminals, you can support your family; if you have a hundred terminals, you can become a small fortune; if you have a thousand terminals, or even tens of thousands of terminals, then you will be the most popular business person in the eyes of all businessmen, and you will be a natural business leader. Everyone will be your second party, and you will sit back and relax, watching the world go by."

Ma Qing became excited. He had so many things he could do in his career, but he would never be a fat sheep in the eyes of those in power. He wanted to connect his business with as many people as possible and support more employees so that he could have a higher social status.

After saying that, Ma Qing stood up, walked to the door of the room, turned around and said to Liang Haowen, "Just a reminder, the supermarket will continue to expand in three months. I think your sister-in-law should have a lot of private money, so you should be nicer to her." After saying that, he ran away.

"..."

Hong Kong's electronics industry started in the 60s, even earlier than Taiwan's which started in the 70s.

In March 1958, Hu Xiaoqing established Xiangbin Electric Co., Ltd. and imported Japanese transistors to assemble transistor radios, becoming the first electronics company in Hong Kong. By 3, there were 1961 companies assembling radios in Hong Kong, of which Hu Xiaoqing's company was still the largest, and due to low labor and management costs, Hong Kong manufacturing was more competitive than Japanese manufacturing.

By 1962, Hong Kong's total radio production exceeded 100 million units, more than half of which were shipped to the U.S. In the same year, the Japanese government decided to ban the export of transistors to Hong Kong, and Hong Kong manufacturers quickly replaced them with British and American transistors.

在七八十年代，香江成为了半导体收音机甚至电子业制造中心。1970年有230间工厂，再暴增到1980年的1316间；而受雇人数也由1960年183人到1970年的3.8万人再增加到1980年的9.3万人。

It is now June 1968. Ma Qing is looking at the factory in front of him with great ambition. After selling his shares, Ma Qing personally received a check for 6 million.

He spent 20 yuan to buy the Tang Building, increased the capital of Rongfa Trade by 8 yuan, and increased the capital of Baixin Chain by 8 yuan, leaving 64 yuan in cash. As the saying goes, money makes a hero brave, Ma Qing planned to spend money to buy an electronics factory worth 40 yuan - Baiyan Radio Factory, a brand that Ma Qing had never heard of.

Accompanied by Wang Cheng and the owner of the radio factory, Ma Qing spent about an hour visiting the electronics factory in Sha Tin. He was greatly disappointed and had to ask on the way back.

"Is this what electronics factories in Hong Kong look like now? I saw that the Baiyan radio factory actually just made the shell and the speakers by themselves, but none of the other accessories were produced by themselves. The electronic content is too low, it's just an assembly workshop, why would I buy it?"

Wang Cheng was a little confused. Most of the radio factories in Hong Kong were like this. The important components in the radios were imported. "Boss Ma, the technical level of the radio factories in Hong Kong is already at this level. Especially for those that are going bankrupt, the level will definitely not be better. Last year, Boss Hu Xiaoqing's Atlas produced 25 radios per month. These small factories are having a hard time, so they are selling."

"You mean that the factories I can buy now are basically like this?"

"Who would sell a profitable factory? Even if they did, the price would be..."

Ma Qing figured out the connection and said, "How about this, let's buy it in Kwai Tsing. It should be about the same size as the original Gangchang Toy Factory. Of course, it can be bigger too. An electronics factory would be best, but it doesn't matter if it's not. The key is to have a sea view." At least he can make some money in the future if he switches from industrial to civilian use.

Since the general level of electronics factories in Hong Kong is like this, there is no need to have an electronics factory. You should just spend your own money to get the land and factory building first.

Nowadays, the most important component in the radio - the transistor, can only be bought from the UK or the US. The technological content of other components is really not high, so you can just buy the equipment yourself to modify them later.

Ma Qing has now figured it out. Although he has the ability to build all the advanced machines before 2026, this is an era of large-scale industrial cooperation. For example, a UV printing machine alone involves countless disciplines. It doesn't make sense that he suddenly owns such a machine.

According to the normal development route, Ma Qing can only carry out transformation on a single mechanical machine, starting from improving production efficiency. As for the technological content, he will have to work on it slowly.

"It would be best if we could buy it near the Gangchang Toy Factory, which is now Yaguang Zhisu." Ma Qing added, "Also, as usual, if there are second-hand machinery and equipment, I will buy them in large quantities, and you will get all the benefits."

(End of this chapter)