Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 344 Seeking Opinions from All Parties
Such a significant decision as Xinghai Group's entry into the medical industry could not be made simply by Takeshita Masato in a few words.

This is indeed more efficient, but it is not conducive to the healthy growth of the group.

He didn't want the group to become too dependent on him and lose its ability to think independently.

Although it may not be of much use for the time being, the moment he lets go will determine how fast or slow the company will develop in the future.

The two quickly drafted a plan and then immediately had their secretary notify the company's president and vice president that the highest-level president meeting at Xinghai headquarters would be held the following afternoon.

"Yes!"

"Hi!"

"Hi!"

"Okay, bye-bye, see you tomorrow."

After hanging up the phone, Zensuke Suzuki looked excited.

"A sudden meeting. Great, looks like the company is about to launch another major operation."

As the company grows, his power as president of Xinghai Group will increase, leading to greater profits.

For example, wearing more medals on one's chest.

Yes, right now, Zensuke Suzuki's biggest pursuit is honor.

In terms of operations, he, as the president of the group headquarters, was just a figurehead; the real power of the company was in the hands of the chairman and the presidents of the various subsidiaries.

In terms of scientific research, he himself has no resources in this area, nor does he know how to conduct research, and he is also unable to get involved.

Therefore, after Zensuke Suzuki took office as the president of the group headquarters, he took the initiative to take over the group's external relations and communication business.

Every day, I'm either having dinner and drinks with executives from various companies or deepening my relationships with media friends.

Of course, politics is also an essential element.

He frequently represented the Star Sea Group in delivering legitimate political donations to members of parliament and various political families.

In addition, he also oversaw the charitable work of Xinghai Group's small and medium-sized enterprises.

With so many natural disasters in countries around the world, especially in Japan, it would be impossible for Masato Takeshita to handle everything.

Zensuke Suzuki was able to realize this, and naturally, intelligent people like Chambers would have thought of it immediately as well.

"The notification was so urgent. I wonder if the company is adding new business or if there has been a breakthrough in an existing business."

Chambers stood at the office window, looking down at everything in the distance.

He hopes it's the former; if it's the latter, it might reduce Xinghai Technology's influence within the group.

Time flew by, and soon it was time for the meeting.

Hiroaki Kobayashi strode up to Zensuke Suzuki, smiling warmly and saying, "Good afternoon, President Suzuki. It's been a while since we had lunch together, hasn't it? How about we go out for a drink sometime?"

Their relationship has become increasingly strained ever since they began vying for control of life in Xinghai.

This was especially true after Hiroaki Kobayashi achieved a great victory and wiped out the pro-Suzuki faction within Seikai Life.

However, as time went on, Zensuke Suzuki focused more on external communication and did better at it. As a result, the relationship between the two men improved after being persuaded by a middleman.

After all, they come from the same place, so they can better stick together and support each other within the Xinghai Group.

Of course, it's only superficial harmony.

Once a crack has formed, it's impossible to pretend nothing happened.

"Alright, then let's do it today, how about tonight?"

Zensuke Suzuki's expression was very friendly; anyone who didn't know better would think the two were still very close.

The biggest reason he finally compromised was that he couldn't let go of his concern for Matsumoto Manufacturing.

As people get older, they tend to miss the place where they grew up even more.

Zensuke Suzuki was no exception.

He hopes that Xinghai Life will grow and prosper, and that Matsumoto Manufacturing will get better and better.

However, after a while, Matsumoto Manufacturing will be renamed Matsumoto Honke, and he will have fewer and fewer memories.

I wonder if their relationship will take a turn for the worse by then.

Probably not.

Both of them were from Matsumoto Productions, and only by joining forces could they secure more benefits.

Of course, Suzuki Zensuke's relatively kind and honest nature also played a part. Honest people simply can't outmaneuver a master of Machiavellian tactics like Kobayashi Hiroaki.

Yes, after a series of discussions, Xinghai Group finally decided to change the company name to the more unassuming Matsumoto-ya.

Names like "Matsumoto Fashion" and "Matsumoto Luxury" are too straightforward and not conducive to the company's development in the luxury goods industry.

While Zensuke Suzuki and Hiroaki Kobayashi were exchanging ideas, the other vice presidents also gathered in small groups.

"Mr. Tarui, do you think the mobile phone microprocessor division should conduct independent research and development, or acquire ARM?"

ARM's chip processing architecture features high performance and low power consumption, making it a perfect fit for the emerging mobile phone industry.

Fujio Masuoka wants to develop his own technology, but he also wants to stand on the shoulders of giants. He is very hesitant and doesn't know which option to choose.

Yasuo Tarui, a technical expert who had helped the Xinghai Group several times and reluctantly agreed to serve as vice president after being repeatedly invited by Masato Takeshita, did not give a direct response.

"What do you think the president would choose?"

"Hmm, I guess it will be done together."

Currently, the world's attention is still focused on PCs in the processor chip industry. In this field, Intel, and Intel-like semiconductor companies, are the undisputed leaders.

As for ARM's reduced instruction set, only a few companies like Apple care about it.

Therefore, its market value is very low and it does not consume much of Xinghai Group's resources.

If it were Takeshita Masato, he would naturally choose the "I want it all" route, since it wouldn't cost much anyway.

“That’s right, be bolder, we are Xinghai Group, a globally renowned large enterprise.”

Since the company has money, it shouldn't focus too much on investing in scientific research. It should pursue acquisitions of external companies while also conducting internal R&D.

In any case, as long as one of them succeeds in the end, Xinghai Group can recoup all its investments and make a big profit.

"Understood. I will report the matter to the chairman after the meeting today."

“Very good, that’s how it should be done.”

Yasuo Tarui nodded in agreement, then asked curiously, "Why did you suddenly decide to focus your efforts on the mobile phone chip field?"

The mobile phone chip industry, especially the memory chip industry, is still in its infancy.

Most people are still focusing their efforts on the core functions of mobile phones, such as call time, call quality, and call signal strength.

In particular, call duration and call quality are the focus of everyone's attention.

Because these two places are the most obvious and intuitive, consumers can tell the difference at a glance.

At the same price, the phone with longer talk time will definitely win.

In this regard, the company needs to invest heavily in the field of mobile phone batteries.

Besides the phone battery, another important factor is the phone signal strength.

After all, in the era of feature phones, the most important function of a mobile phone was making calls. Phones with poor call quality were unlikely to be popular with consumers.

Of course, nothing is absolute.

If the price is low enough, a slightly weaker signal is perfectly acceptable.

You don't mind that I'm poor, and I don't mind that your call quality is bad.

"Investing early is crucial to avoid the mobile phone market entering an era where there's a battle over memory, where our technological capabilities are insufficient."

Fujio Masuoka suddenly decided to focus on the mobile phone memory field, mainly because he was impressed by the games on the Starry Sky mobile phone.

He keenly sensed that in the future, mobile phones might have numerous entertainment functions, just like computers. If Xinghai Group didn't possess the relevant technology at that time, it might run into trouble.

"That makes sense. Do you know which company ARM belongs to now?"

"This is a new company jointly established by Apple, ICON Computer, and Philips Semiconductor."

Fujio Masuoka already knew ARM by heart and quickly gave a brief overview of the company's basic information.

"The major shareholder is Apple, so we should have a good chance."

Apple is still in a period of operational chaos. Not to mention the insignificant ARM, Apple is considering selling off even the more important divisions.

Apart from its core computer business, Apple has nothing that it cannot sell.

Of course, you could buy the computer division if you wanted, but the price would be to acquire the entire Apple company.

Indeed, Apple sought to sell itself throughout the 1990s and even the early 2000s, approaching numerous investors and tech giants, including Sony.

However, it was never sold, which allowed it to rise again under Jobs' leadership and create even greater glory.

"Yes, there's a lot of chaos inside Apple right now, but there won't be any problems."

In the early stages of ARM's development, Apple held a 43% stake.

However, after ARM went public, Apple chose to gradually sell off its stock.

However, a few years later Apple regretted its decision and wanted to buy it back. ARM, considering its own business interests, decisively chose to refuse.

Of course, Apple didn't lose money either.

The $300 million investment eventually turned into hundreds of millions of dollars in profit, providing ample funding for Apple's technological research and development.

"That's good. Since you've set your sights on a target, act quickly to avoid regrets later."

"Yes, I know."

Time passed by little by little, and soon it was 3 o'clock.

Masato Takeshita opened the conference room door and calmly sat down in his seat.

"Is no one absent?"

"No, all eight presidents and vice presidents of the company are present."

President Zensuke Suzuki, who was in charge of counting the number of attendees at each meeting, responded respectfully.

"Okay, that's good. I'll get straight to today's topic."

Then, Masato Takeshita began to explain the reason for the sudden meeting today.

Not to be missed.

Doing it a day earlier means you can eat more meat.

After listening to his chairman's explanation, Zensuke Suzuki asked in a trembling voice, "Sigh, does the chairman think the domestic medical system will collapse?"

Several other company presidents then echoed this sentiment with concern.

"No way, really?"

"Is our healthcare industry really on the verge of collapse?"

"It's already this bad, and it'll get even worse in two years?"

The presidents were well aware of the magnitude of the medical insurance reform and also felt that something was amiss.

But none of them had ever imagined that the hole would be so big. Japan's entire healthcare system was at risk of collapse.

A sense of desolation, as if the sky had fallen, washed over everyone. Was Japan's prized medical industry destined to decline like this?
"There's no way around it; such a cruel policy wouldn't work in any industry."

If Japan also adopts a tiered price reduction strategy in the semiconductor industry, or a strategy of replacing products with imitations.

Japan's semiconductor industry will then decline rapidly. Only a few well-established international companies will be able to maintain their position, such as Sony and Starsea Group.

The remaining companies all face the risk of being eliminated, including even global giants like Sharp.

"Yes, the policy is too one-size-fits-all. It would be better to give us more investment money and make up for the pension gap through capital gains."

Kaben Takamasa was somewhat annoyed.

He was both annoyed with himself for not discovering it sooner and for persuading the health insurance department to invest in its own fund to reduce the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's overall persecution of the medical industry.

They were also annoyed that the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, in order to save a little money, treated one of the country's major pillar industries as nothing.

Their vision is too short-sighted; they can't see the future at all.

Masato Takeshita shook his head. "When people have a way out, they usually don't want to take a gamble. With ample room for maneuver in medical insurance funds, people naturally choose to play it safe."

Compared to the medical insurance fund, Japan's pension fund is more aggressive, directly investing heavily in Xinghai Capital.

In addition to the $20 billion from hedge funds, they also invested $50 billion in Galaxy Capital.

It can be said that they have already chosen to work themselves to the bone.

Of course, the different choices made by medical insurance funds and pension funds are also closely related to the situations they face.

The medical insurance fund can be exploited by pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and other industries, so naturally it doesn't want to work hard.

Pension funds, already facing the risk of exploding, are naturally more daring.

If it succeeds, then everything will be fine. If it fails, it's just that day will come sooner.

Choosing to trust Xinghai Group offers a chance of turning things around. Choosing other paths will inevitably lead to the collapse of the pension fund.

With this comparison, Xinghai Group is the only option.

"Yes, people are indeed prone to backing down in the face of difficulties."

"Oh well, what a pity!"

"There's nothing to regret. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is incompetent, so it's perfect for our Xinghai Group to take over."

"Indeed, our opportunity has come again."

The company's top management still very much hopes that the company will enter the medical industry.

In case of illness and hospitalization, people feel more at ease knowing their own property is owned.

At least you won't encounter situations where you are given inferior medicine due to the doctor's negligence, or where the doctor makes a mistake during surgery due to overwork.

Compared to their counterparts in Europe and America, doctors in both China and Japan have a very tough time.

Not only do they earn little, but they also work extremely long hours.

In later generations, it was very common for Japanese doctors to work more than 15 hours a day, and some even worked 20 hours a day for several consecutive days.

Doctors dying from overwork has become a common occurrence in Japan.

The later strained doctor-patient relationship in Japan was also significantly influenced by the long working hours of doctors.

When people work for too long, they become distracted, which naturally increases the probability of surgical failure.

These medical malpractice incidents will further aggravate the public's sensitivity and lead to a continuous deterioration of the doctor-patient relationship.

Substandard medicines have already caused widespread resentment, and now a medical accident has occurred.

Is that okay?

Switching to Xinghai Group makes all the difference; not only is the equipment more advanced, but doctors can also get ample rest.

Medical accidents will still occur, but the number will be significantly reduced.

The only downside is that it's a little pricey.

If a poor person suffers from a serious illness, they simply cannot afford to see a doctor.

Xinghai Group is in it to make money.

(End of this chapter)