Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 436 Whitewashing the Truth
Sega and Starsea Entertainment, one started earlier and the other had more power and influence.

One focuses on the current president, Makoto Yamashina, while the other is the founder, Naoharu Yamashina, who frequently visits.

The end result is that Bandai remains internally divided, hesitant about which side to lean towards.

It just goes to show that Sega is shrewd and experienced; they were able to turn things around even in this situation.

Both Takeshita Masato and the Xinghai Group underestimated Sega's leadership.

While they do have constant internal power struggles in game development, they can still act as a unified force externally.

Masato Takeshita didn't want to get bogged down in this. He fiddled with a simple oval electronic toy in his left hand, tapped the desk surface lightly with his right hand, and then asked directly.

"So, are you confident you can secure Bandai's deal this year?"

When asked by his chairman, Kalinsky shook his head slightly.

"The chances are slim. Although Bandai is inclined to cooperate with us, there is a lot of internal opposition."

"Then we'll use more resources to push it forward. We must achieve the acquisition target before the end of this year."

The little thing that Masato Takeshita is playing with is called a Tamagotchi, a new toy that Bandai has just launched on the market.

However, this little thing called a digital pet made Bandai a fortune in its previous life, ultimately leading to the bankruptcy of the partnership between Bandai and Sega.

It's worth noting that Bandai and Sega had already come up with a name for their merged company and held a press conference to announce it.

As a result, the collaboration between the two companies fell through because this thing was too profitable.

Masato Takeshita thought Tamagotchi would be released next year, but when he got home yesterday, he saw his daughter playing with it.

He didn't want his company to end up like his predecessor, Sega, where all his efforts were in vain.

Kalinsky did not agree directly, but instead looked at the toy in the young man's hand and asked.

Is it because of this toy?

Masato Takeshita nodded. "That's right. I saw my daughter playing with this little thing yesterday, and she said all the girls in her class are playing with it."

"Then this morning I sent people to investigate, and the results showed that this thing is already selling like hotcakes among students."

Tamagotchi is already showing signs of becoming a nationwide sensation in Japan. If Xinghai Entertainment doesn't hurry up and complete the acquisition, the cost next year will be even greater.

"Understood, I'll hurry."

"Well, we don't have that much time to argue with Bandai. If we can't finish this year, we'll put it on hold for a while. We'll make the acquisition again when the Tamagotchi craze has died down."

Tamagotchi is a product that experiences a short-term surge in popularity but quickly loses its luster.

It's somewhat similar to many trendy brands in later generations. They were incredibly popular when they first came out, but soon became a complete mess.

The same goes for Tamagotchi; it's expected to be incredibly popular in the next two years.

However, after this period of time, Bandai will experience a serious backlog of inventory, turning profits into losses.

After all, this thing is simply designed and has very little gameplay, so it gets boring very easily.

"Yes, President!"

As Kalinsky intensified his offensive, Bandai became increasingly inclined to merge with Starsea Entertainment.

Bandai's middle management, in particular, has set its sights on Starsea Entertainment.

Since there is little overlap between Xinghai Entertainment and Bandai, the merger of the two companies will likely not result in the transfer of management positions to less important roles.

Sega is different; the two companies have at least 30% overlap in their businesses. If the merger is successful, many of Bandai's managers will lose their positions.

After all, the merger was led by Sega.

Of course, the most important thing is that Xinghai Entertainment is a large and powerful company.

Bandai's mid-level managers firmly believe that even if they are reassigned, they will be given a better position.

Unlike Sega, the company doesn't have that much money or that many good positions, so if you lose one, you'll likely be benched for life.

However, these are things that Masato Takeshita is destined to be unable to understand in the short term.

Because 12 universities, including Renmin University of China, Jilin University, and Tongji University, were selected for this year's "Project 211" university list, he is going to China to discuss educational donations with his Chinese partner.

After all, he had already made a statement regarding the first batch of 15 universities, including Tsinghua and Peking University, selected for the 211 Project last year, so he naturally couldn't fail to deliver this year.

"I think we should increase our efforts in donation cooperation this year."

"In addition to gifting the 12 newly added 211 universities, we will also increase the donation amount for 211 universities to $1500 million."

The donation from Xinghai Group is not a one-time event, but rather a gradual donation through the establishment of a university charity foundation in China.

For example, last year, although donations were made to more than 100 Chinese universities, only a little over 2 million US dollars were spent.

The majority of the funding still goes to the 15 universities that received the 211 Project qualification, averaging 1200 million yuan per university.

Of course, this is only a direct donation in US dollars.

Xinghai Group University Charity Fund also has RMB donation projects.

This revenue mainly comes from Xinghai Group's China branch, amounting to approximately 3.5 million yuan annually.

Although it is significantly less than the company's dollar donation, it is still a considerable sum of money.

It should be noted that at that time, the total funding for China's 211 Project university program was only 3.5 million RMB.

Yes, while the name of a "Project 211" university sounds impressive, it doesn't actually bring in much money.

I can't help it, I'm poor.

As for the 985 universities, which are considered an even higher level, there is no sign of them yet. We will have to wait until all the 211 universities are established before we can select the best from among them.

“Great, this is a good opportunity to donate more computers to the school.”

As a Chinese person, Lin Qingqian was naturally happy to see her lover donate to her own university.

He would accept anything, not just 1500 million, but even more.

"Oh, by the way, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University should still be listed as separate levels."

"Of these, $3000 million went to Tsinghua and Peking Universities, and $2000 million went to the newly established diplomatic relations."

Tsinghua and Peking Universities are considered the crown jewels of Chinese universities and deserve the utmost respect.

As for Fudan and Jiaotong Universities, they are also at a different level than other universities in China.

Of course, this difference is not as large as the gap between Tsinghua and Peking University and other universities, so the donation amount only increased by $500 million.

"Well, don't worry."

Lin Qingqian smiled and nodded, then asked gently.

"So, are you here to attend the donation ceremonies for various universities?"

"No, you should donate on behalf of the company."

The current relationship between China and the United States is very delicate, and Masato Takeshita will need to remain discreet for the time being. It will be time for him to step forward during the George W. Bush era.

Because of Bush's needs in areas such as counterterrorism, the two countries would have a good honeymoon period at that time.

"Ok."

Lin Qingqian felt somewhat ashamed, as if she had taken credit for her lover's achievements.

"What are you doing? Smile."

Takeshita Masato reached out and placed his hand on the girl's chin, then lifted her forehead and said in an annoyed tone.

"What's yours is mine, what's the difference? Don't worry, they know perfectly well and will never forget my contribution."

Donations of hundreds of millions of dollars would have been a significant event even in the 2020s when China had developed, let alone in the 1990s.

It's worth noting that in the previous life, up until 06, the largest single donation a Chinese university had ever received was only $4000 million.

"Yes, I know. I just want you to stand in more prominent positions."

"I would be very grateful for that. I don't want to be under the spotlight every day." Although Masato Takeshita could follow in Steve Jobs' footsteps and become the spokesperson for the Xinghai Group, he prefers to stay behind the scenes now.

An overly glamorous life doesn't suit his personality.

Masato Takeshita can have his lover handle the fundraising for various universities, but he can't do that when it comes to company inspections.

He quickly flew to Lingnan and began visiting and inspecting his own company from south to north.

"What are the main methods of recruitment for our factory?"

"It mainly involves employee referrals, recruitment at job fairs, and contacting people through agencies."

Sun Jianjun, who is in charge of the electronics manufacturing plant at Xinghai Technology's Yangcheng branch, responded cautiously, afraid of offending the senior leaders of the head office if he did something wrong.

"What's the specific ratio?"

"It's roughly 1:4:5."

"The proportion of intermediaries is a bit too high, can it be reduced?"

Masato Takeshita hates factory intermediaries the most, as they not only frequently deduct workers' wages but also often use workers' wages to make factories take the blame.

He was unwilling to ruin his reputation by engaging in lazy governance just to save a little money.

"Yes, but it will require increased spending."

“There are some things we can’t skimp on; we need to build a reputable company. I’m giving you two years to handle this. From now on, all company employees will be directly hired, and the agency model will be abolished.”

"Yes, President!"

After issuing the decision, Masato Takeshita continued to delve deeper into this topic.

"When we pay our employees, do we pay them directly to each employee, or do we pay them through the agency?"

"Some were given to employees, and some were distributed through intermediaries."

Perhaps it's because the central government is far away, or perhaps it's because there are too many migrant workers, but factories in Guangzhou face many more problems compared to those in Beijing and Shanghai.

If Masato Takeshita hadn't been an ordinary worker in his previous life, he would never have imagined that some factories, for the sake of convenience, relied on intermediaries to pay wages for extended periods.

This kind of thing was a rare phenomenon in Beijing and Shanghai at that time.

After all, neither Shanghai nor Beijing was as wild, ruthless, or reckless in their actions during the initial stages of opening up to the outside world as Guangzhou and the Special Economic Zone.

They often put people to death over issues related to temporary residence.

"That won't do. Remember, from now on, we must personally distribute the company's workers' wages."

After explaining things to Sun Jianjun, he turned his head and looked seriously at Wang Aimin, the head of Xinghai Group's China region.

"Remember, from now on, all employees of Xinghai Group in China must have their salaries paid by ourselves."

"Understood, please rest assured, Chairman."

Wang Aimin also knew the importance of paying wages, and immediately made it his top priority.

As soon as the young man left, he prepared to start making changes.

Because no matter what, the person in charge of distributing money is always the most respected.

Besides the intermediary issues, the factory environments in Guangzhou and the Special Economic Zone are also the worst.

"The company has money, so don't be too stingy when it comes to accommodation and meals."

"We must hurry up and buy land to build more dormitories, and we must ensure that ordinary workers have four rooms, senior workers have two rooms, and junior management and university students have single rooms."

"The same goes for meals; every meal must include meat and vegetables to meet the workers' needs."

"I'm talking about chicken, pork, beef, or duck; fish doesn't count."

"Especially pork, there must be enough for one meal every day."

Guangzhou and the special economic zone are located by the sea, and these days, cheap seafood is as cheap as cabbage.

Masato Takeshita certainly didn't want his workers to eat fish for every meal. Fish was only suitable for times of good living standards; during times of poverty, chicken and pork were far better.

Pork, in particular, is absolutely the most suitable dish for factory workers.

"Please rest assured, Chairman, we will resolve the workers' food and accommodation issues as soon as possible."

"Well, that's good. I hope that when I come to inspect again next time, things won't be like this."

"Yes, Chairman, I understand."

The factories in Guangzhou have many problems, but the problems in the Special Economic Zone are even more severe.

Takeshita Masato's attitude remained unchanged, much like it had been in Guangzhou. But in his heart, he had already sentenced the head of the special economic zone to death.

Because the special economic zone has more abundant funds than Guangzhou, and the standards of food and accommodation are also higher.

As a result, both the environment and the food and lodging were extremely bad.

In a small room, a dozen or even twenty workers were crammed together.

However, a wise man does not stand under a crumbling wall, so the young man was not prepared to offer harsh criticism.

He casually remarked, "The food today was excellent. We'll strive to maintain that level and make it a model factory for our Xinghai Group."

"Yes, our factory in the special economic zone will definitely do better and better, and always be number one."

Looking at the shameless person in charge of the special economic zone, Masato Takeshita really wanted to give him a good scolding.

But in the end, I held back.

This kind of thing can't be handled by just one person in charge; it's like pulling up a radish and bringing up the mud along with it, one thing after another.

It’s better to be careful!

After leaving the special economic zone and returning to Shanghai, the youth group immediately convened a high-level meeting.

“Aimin, the problems in the Special Economic Zone are very serious. Those who should be persuaded to leave should be persuaded to leave, and those who should be reported to the police should be reported to the police.”

"Yes, Chairman, I have failed in my duty. I will deal with it as soon as possible."

Wang Aimin was also very frustrated, never expecting that the environment in the special economic zone's factories would be so bad.

Although the factory's upper management was well-groomed, and the workers' living conditions were small, there were no hygiene problems.

Furthermore, the lunch food in the cafeteria is excellent, with pork, fish, and large chicken legs available.

If they were dealing with a rich second-generation layman who was unfamiliar with the situation of ordinary people, the leaders of the Special Administrative Region could indeed get away with it.

But Wang Aimin and Takeshita Masato are not.

One of them had experienced the era of food rationing and not having enough to eat, while the other came from an ordinary background; both of them could easily spot something amiss.

First, there's the issue of living conditions. With a dozen or even twenty people living in a large dormitory, you can't maintain hygiene even if you want to.

The most typical example is student dormitories where multiple people live together. Many four-person dormitories have poor hygiene conditions, and eight-person dormitories are even worse.

Masato Takeshita had never seen a dormitory room with more than a dozen people, but he had heard of it.

The hygiene was appalling.

As for the cafeteria, it was obviously fake.

The worker's face was thin and lifeless, a stark contrast to those who regularly ate meat.

"Aimin, don't worry. The entire China region's affairs are on your shoulders, it's normal that you haven't paid attention to a few electronics contract manufacturers."

"The key is to deal with problems promptly when they are discovered."

Although Masato Takeshita held a higher position, he didn't actually have as many responsibilities as his subordinates.

Because he is the company president, he never has to worry about being replaced, so he naturally doesn't need to work too hard to show himself.

(End of this chapter)