I am a master in India

Chapter 261 Threats Ineffective
"Mr. Suer, please give me an explanation!"

"Your colleagues at NEC have complained to you about the food again?"

*Smack!* Oda angrily slammed a newspaper down in front of Ron.

"What's going on?"

Ron glanced at it; hmm, a report about the Suer television.

"What's the problem?" He pretended not to know.

"Televisions!" Oda said angrily, pointing at the newspaper. "You signed a cooperation agreement with NEC, but you're secretly producing televisions behind the scenes?"

“These are all junk,” Ron said, shrugging.

"What?" Oda was stunned.

"You forgot? When we first negotiated, you said NEC didn't have any junk like black and white TVs, so we had to find another way."

Yes, Oda did say that. At the time, he spoke with extreme arrogance, harshly criticizing the backward University of Tokyo.

"But you can't, or at least you shouldn't. In short, NEC transferred color TV technology to you, but you turned around and used the resources on black and white TVs. That's unreasonable."

"why?"

"Because we established a joint venture, black and white TVs will absorb potential color TV users. This is tapping into the future market of the joint venture."

"The contract didn't say that Suer Electric couldn't make its own black and white TVs."

"At the very least, you should have notified NEC first."

“NEC doesn’t have one. You can’t help us set up a black and white television production line.”

"You!" Xiao Tian said angrily.

This cunning Indian was deliberately making excuses; he pretended to be stupid, as if he didn't know the key to the problem.

However, Oda cannot be accused of breaching the contract, because there was indeed no agreement between the two parties regarding such restrictions.

The little guy was careless in the end, while the Koreans were very clever.

They were used to being thieves, so they were wary of others as if they were thieves.

When LG first approached Ron, it made it clear that Suer Electronics was not allowed to develop its own television brand for three years.

When it comes to being disgusting, the Koreans are really good at it.

But life isn't bad either; Xiao Tian came prepared today.

"Leaving aside your unauthorized production of televisions, the color TV production line has now been fully commissioned. What about the remaining balance from NEC, as agreed?"

Whether the production line is up to standard can only be determined after our technical staff have inspected and approved it.

"What?!" Oda looked at him in disbelief.

"Is there anything strange about that? Suer Electric is the customer, and whether the production line they purchased meets the requirements needs our signature for confirmation."

"What do you know?" Xiao Tian's face turned red, but he stopped abruptly.

He wanted to say that Indians don't know anything about technology. If that's the case, why do they need NEC's technical assistance?

An Indian factory is inspecting Japanese television technology? That's completely upside down.

Oda was, after all, Japanese, and for the sake of so-called etiquette, he couldn't swear.

"Okay, when can we proceed with the acceptance?"

“I’ll arrange it right now,” Ron casually called Ashish in.

"NEC's production line has been debugged and is ready for acceptance testing."

"Boss, is it going to be inspected so soon?" Ashish quietly switched to Hindi, since it hadn't even been a few days yet.

"Since they want to, then we'll just go through the motions."

"So you're deliberately finding problems to delay the acceptance process?" Ashish was quite perceptive.

"Don't go through all that trouble. Find someone who's not an expert to do the inspection, preferably someone who's semi-illiterate."

"Huh?" Ashish was stunned. "How do you inspect someone who is illiterate?"

"That's their business. They should explain all the technical issues to our people before we talk. How can they sign something if they don't understand it? They have to take responsibility for that."

Well, I hope that my life won't be driven crazy by all sorts of questions from laymen.

Ashish secretly gave his boss a thumbs-up. Brilliant!

After he left, Ron turned to look at Oda. The meaning was clear: See, I've already made arrangements.

“Mr. Su, NEC’s technology is absolutely fine. We can speed things up a bit, for example, by moving into the trial production phase,” Oda urged.

"Trial production?"

"Trust in the professionalism of NEC employees; this production line can be put into operation immediately."

"Okay, what preparations need to be made?"

Ron isn't really concerned about NEC's trial production right now; if it were before, he might have been much more enthusiastic.

But after the people from Tokyo University came, Ron knew what was going on.

Once the production line is built, it doesn't really matter whether NEC is involved or not, because the University of Tokyo can handle it.

Ron has even extended an invitation to the other side, suggesting that once the color TV technicians there come to inspect the equipment, they can directly import color picture tubes from Dongda University.

Not only is it cheap, but it also allows them to avoid paying for a brand new color TV production line, making a clean profit.

Ron regretted not going directly to Dongda University to investigate the market, as he heard that half of the color TV production capacity there was idle.

It doesn't matter if the technology isn't as good as Japanese products; the advantage is that they're cheaper, and Indian people don't care about those minor differences.

Xiao Tian had no idea what Ron was thinking. At that moment, he just felt triumphant, thinking, "Finally, it's my turn."

"All the conditions for trial production are in place; now all that's missing are the color picture tubes and the circuit boards." "How are we going to get those two parts?" Ron asked cooperatively.

"Currently, the world's best color picture tube and electronic technology are all in Japan, and NEC can supply these two types of parts to India."

What about procurement costs?

With a swish, Xiaotian pulled out the agreement that he had prepared long ago.

"An 18-inch color picture tube costs $400, and a circuit board costs $100 per set."

"How much?" Ron thought he had misheard.

"If Suer Electric makes a large purchase, we can offer some further discounts."

“It’s not Suer Electric that’s making the purchase, it’s the Suer-NEC joint venture,” Ron reminded him.

“Yes, this is a win-win cooperation,” Oda said smugly.

Did you really think he did nothing during his time in India? No! Oda meticulously studied the Indian color TV market.

These imported goods from Japan and South Korea are expensive due to tariffs and technological reasons.

The price usually ranges from 25000 to 30000 rupees, which is about 800 to 1000 US dollars, placing it in the first tier.

Locally produced, private-label goods are relatively inexpensive, ranging from 1.5 to 2 rupees, totaling $400-$600.

We won't discuss other secondhand goods or the black market, as those are not relevant.

Suer-NEC is a joint venture, and its technology falls between domestic OEM and pure import.

Oda also envisioned the joint venture's future product positioning in the same way, targeting a price range of $600-$800.

As we all know, the two core components of a color TV, the picture tube and the circuit board, account for 60% of the cost. Isn't it reasonable for NEC to make the lion's share of the profit?
$500 is indeed not cheap, but given India's low labor costs, the joint venture can still make a profit.

Ron looked at him like he was an idiot. Did he look like such a sucker?

“Mr. Oda, $500 is 16000 rupees, which is more expensive than the price of a local color TV. If other costs are taken into account, the color TV in Suer would have to sell for at least 2.2 rupees to make a profit.”

"With NEC's assistance, the joint venture's products are in no way inferior to imported products of the same type," Oda said confidently.

“You may have some misconceptions about the Indian market,” Ron frowned. “Color TVs are a luxury item in India, not a necessity. Consumers who buy luxury items don’t care about saving a few thousand rupees; they can simply buy the original imports.”

"Mr. Suer, NEC is the expert in the color TV market."

Oh, this little devil is getting cocky.

"For the sake of the joint venture's future, I suggest you reconsider the quotes for these two parts."

“This is already a special price offered by NEC for the Indian market,” Oda insisted.

"Let's leave it at that for now." Ron shrugged indifferently.

"Huh?" Oda, who was pretending to be serious, almost couldn't hold back. "Mr. Su, what do you mean by this?"

"This price is unrealistic for the Indian market, there's no need to discuss it further."

"Please think twice before you act, Mr. Sue! Without NEC's support, the newly built color TV factory is no different from scrap metal."

"Then let's just treat it as scrap metal," Ron said, launching into a statement.

"You," Xiaotian was shocked; this was not what he had expected.

Without the core components provided by NEC, the newly completed production line cannot be put into operation, and the previous investment of tens of millions of rupees will be wasted.

At this point, shouldn't Suer Electric, as the largest investor, be in a hurry?

They will inevitably be at their mercy and will eventually have no choice but to accept the price in the agreement.

This method has been proven by countless Japanese counterparts to be infallible.

The joint venture only needs to earn a few dozen rupees; the other 99% of the profits should belong to the Japanese side.

Whoever controls the technology controls the profits.

Oda couldn't understand how Ron could act so indifferent.

“I think we should wait until the production line passes inspection before discussing this issue,” Ron said dismissively.

"Then let's talk again in a couple of days. Mr. Sull, please consider this carefully."

Oda believed that Ron was playing hard to get, and that this was just a negotiating tactic.

Ron smiled as he watched his retreating figure.

The idea of ​​mastering technology and profits doesn't work in India.

I don't care what you do here or there, you won't be able to take a single penny with you.

Sigh, I should have figured out how to cover up the $600,000 deposit. What a loss!

Ron had no interest in bantering with Oda; he spent the entire month of September busy with the newly expanded factory for black-and-white televisions.

Each of the new workshops in the park can accommodate two production lines. As soon as the new factory buildings were completed, the production lines transported from Dongda University were immediately moved in and installed.

The two countries are very close, and it only takes about ten days to reach each other by sea.

Having gained experience from the initial debugging phase, the second batch of production lines was able to go into operation much faster.

By early October, Suer's television production capacity had doubled, a true Indian miracle.

Meanwhile, in order to accommodate the remaining six production lines, the construction of the Suer Industrial Park is all geared towards new factory buildings.

It is expected that in another four months, that is, in February or March of 95, all ten production lines will be in place.

Under the leadership of Dongda University, the efficiency of Suer Electric's workers has improved significantly.

In just a month and a half, Suer shipped 50,000 television sets. If all goes well, production capacity will reach 80,000 units in October.

Suer TVs' impressive performance in the market has naturally attracted a lot of attention. For example, two local competitors, Onida and Videocon, are unlikely to just stand by and watch Suer TVs rise to prominence.

(End of this chapter)