The Grandmother in the Siheyuan

Chapter 371 The Establishment of a Belief
Honda Daimaru didn't sleep well all night, his mind kept replaying Liu Hua's words.

Liu Hua, however, slept soundly because he had the upper hand in this game. He planned to stop licensing the product after five years, leaving Honda and Yamaha to worry helplessly.

He wasn't afraid of Honda and Yamaha messing around. Liu Hua's words to Honda Daimaru were not without a threatening tone: "I know you have Honda's backing. If you mess around with me, I'll mess around with you too."

Liu Hua has nothing to lose, so you can only squeeze out one of my industries. But if I damage Honda's reputation, the stock price alone will drop to an astronomical figure.

The next morning, with panda eyes, Honda Daimaru called a close family member he knew: "Kogoro, you joined the board of directors ten years before me. Tell me, does our product contain any water?"

"Idiot, how can you say something like that over the phone?"

Honda Daimaru hung up the phone in disappointment, which was tantamount to an admission.

Honda Daimaru felt that a belief in his heart was slowly being shattered. From childhood to adulthood, his family had instilled in him the idea that Honda products were works of art, flawless and perfect.

Unexpectedly, he was found to have fabricated data. Fortunately, he received an elite education from a young age, and after the collapse of one belief, he immediately established another: the pursuit of profit.

Since their own products are not perfect, why accept outsourced products? They might as well just give up and do nothing.

The next day, Honda Daimaru couldn't find anyone from Yamaha at the hotel. He asked the hotel receptionist and learned that they had already checked out.

If it's just that he's not there, it's possible he went to see Liu Hua privately. But if it's about checking out, then this matter is worth investigating.

Honda Daimaru arrived at Liu Hua's engine factory, marking the end of his journey for the day, while Liu Hua happened to be there.

"Mr. Liu, may I visit your factory?"

There was nothing particularly secret about this thing, so Liu Hua had Ju Wei accompany him on a tour.

The newly expanded factory buildings, including the old ones, have all been completely renovated, and Liu Hua directly introduced the 5S management method.

Little East's management style is somewhat inhuman, but that's precisely its strength. Management requires strict adherence to rules, but we tend to be more inclined to let human feelings influence our decisions, which sometimes leads to oversights in our management.

Liu Hua's management style is primarily aimed at the management level. As for the workers below, you just need to tell them what they should and shouldn't do, and pay them their wages in full, and the workers won't misbehave.

However, sometimes management will favor or distance themselves from workers based on their own likes and dislikes. This results in some people working themselves to the bone without receiving praise, while others easily receive bonuses.

Therefore, Liu Hua's management style is characterized by strict enforcement of regulations; if a worker makes a mistake, it's because he hasn't managed the situation well.

If management wants to put pressure on workers, then it just shows that you, as a manager, have no management skills whatsoever, and you should probably leave that position.

Honda Daimaru observed everything at the factory and felt that it was even more disciplined than their own Honda family factory. Deep down, Honda Daimaru had accepted Liu Hua's suggestion that they could purchase engines from Taiyi Heavy Industry, but his opinion alone wasn't enough; he also needed to persuade the company's other shareholders.

When he checked out of the hotel, he suddenly realized why the Yamaha people had left early; it seemed they had been planning this for a while.

Honda Daimaru was in a real bind. How was he going to convince those old fogies on the board of directors? These people had been around for half a century, and their rigid thinking was unacceptable.

Before leaving, Ju Wei gave him a document that detailed the cost difference between the mainland and Japan.

At the board meeting, Honda Daimaru bowed and apologized to his seniors, saying that he had failed to complete the previous task, resulting in extra expenses, and had failed to complete this task as well, thus betraying the trust of the leadership.

Those old fogies in their fifties and sixties started verbally attacking Honda Daimaru, a younger generation, with utter contempt in their words.

Japan is inherently a repressive society, where seniors spare no effort in suppressing juniors, even if these juniors have climbed the ranks by gaining seniority or inheriting wealth to reach the board of directors. They still believe that these juniors are far inferior to them.

For a full half hour, Honda Daimaru endured these people's shameless insults. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, he slammed his fist on the table and stood up.

"Baka!" Honda Daimaru said angrily, "You know nothing about Taiyi Heavy Industries, yet you turn around and accuse me of messing things up twice. If you're so capable, why don't you do it yourselves?"

Faced with Honda Daimaru's counterattack, the old guys were naturally unhappy and wanted to say more, but Honda Daimaru didn't give them the chance.

“If you think you’re useful, then you go and do it. All the cards are in their hands; we’re asking for their help.” Honda Daimaru said bluntly, “Now I have a suggestion: abandon our motorcycle engine production and start sourcing from China.”

"You idiot, do you know what you're saying? We are Honda, proud Honda. Our products are all flawless. How could we possibly use engines made in China?"

Honda Daimaru pointed at the speaker and said, "I don't understand where your arrogance comes from. Isn't the engine we're using designed by the other side? And the data from your department is seriously falsified. How dare you say that what we produce is perfect?"

The chairman tapped the table: "Alright, let's stop the infighting. Da Wan, let me ask you something. China is currently in dire need of foreign investment. If we are willing to invest in China, can we use official power to force them to back down?"

Honda Daimaru shook his head: "It's probably impossible. Take our data fabrication, for example. It was the other party who told me about it. They have our weaknesses, and they haven't exposed them yet, but that doesn't mean they'll keep our secrets after things fall apart, unless we can afford the losses."

The dozens of directors remained silent, especially the older ones. They knew their company's products very well and knew that once this problem was exposed, there would be many people who wanted to destroy their capital.

Not to mention others, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the US military might take their lives.

Honda Daimaru said seriously, "I visited their factory this time, and I can say that in terms of management and production, they are in no way inferior to us. When their factory manager introduced it to me, he revealed a very, very important piece of information."

(End of this chapter)