Chapter 1182 - Conspiracy theory resurfaced
Chapter 1182 – Conspiracy theory resurfaced
Within 10 days, Liu Chuanzhi represented Lenovo Group to sign a cooperation agreement with IBM. The terms of the agreement are not announced to the public, but they made it clear both parties will cooperate on their PC business.
Outsiders don’t know about the cooperation details. Still, they realized IBM had placed a new section in their North American retail stores selling Lenovo Kingsoft PC. Lenovo also started displaying IBM pcs in their stores in Chian.
IBM had agreed to let Lenovo handle their PC sales, they added many conditions. Although the conditions are harsh, it’s not unacceptable. Most importantly, Lenovo has gotten IBM’s sales distribution channels.
All these will increase Lenovo’s PC, especially their laptop sales. IBM’s sales in Asia and East Europe will also improve. Overall, Lenovo stands to benefit more from this cooperation.
Of course, Lenovo Group and IBM have other cooperation. For example, authorized the other party for their patents. IBM benefited more in this area as they have more valuable patents than Lenovo.
Feng Yu is very satisfied with Liu Chuanzhi’s performance in this negotiation. It’s only a matter of time when Lenovo Group acquires IBM’s PC business.
At the same time, Lenovo started advertising aggressively in North America. They hired young movie stars, singers, sportsmen, etc., to endorse their products. This gave Lenovo’s brand a young and energetic image, and it represented Lenovo’s target demographic.
Most importantly, <Business Weekly>, <Forbes> and other business magazines ranked Lenovo Group as the world’s top PC manufacturer and distributor. This title increased Lenovo’s brand value tremendously.
Gerstner also represented IBM to admit that Lenovo’s PC is better than IBM in certain areas.
Other companies had never expected IBM to acknowledge Lenovo is better.
Everyone felt IBM is inviting trouble for themselves. Lenovo had already taken over the Asian Markets for nearly five years and recently gained control of the East Europe market.
Only in America, especially North America, Lenovo is not doing well and seemed to have suffered losses in the last two years.
IBM is helping Lenovo entering the North American market, and they might take over the whole American continent. When that happens, Lenovo Group will be the biggest PC manufacturer in the world.
What IBM did is a mistake. They had allowed their enemies to enter their turf in exchange for the Asian markets!
But the outsiders do not know that IBM did not suffer any losses as their focuses are no longer on their PC business. They are more concerned with developing advanced technologies and planned to invest more than 2 billion USD annually for the next five years in this area.
This plan requires a large fund, and IBM doesn’t have enough money now. Their share prices had been falling, and issuing new shares is not the best option. Therefore, authorizing Lenovo some of its patented technologies and selling their PC business are possible solutions.
Lenovo is announcing to everyone. “North America, Here I come!”
Around the same time, <Fortune> and some other magazines started a new round of conspiracy theories.
Lenovo is threatening the US PC manufacturers, but other Chinese products are also threatening US companies.
“Chinese products are everywhere in our lives now. Automobiles to buttons are all manufactured in China. The clothes we wear are from China, and even many of the chefs in restaurants are Chinese. Many of the construction workers who built our houses are from China, and most of the parts in our cars are made in China. China brand cars are also selling in the US.”
“We had thought that China is not a threat to the US. All they have is cheap labor because of their high population and unemployment rate. That’s why Chinese products are all low-value-added products. But look carefully around us now. China Wind and Rain’s mobile phone is the most advanced globally and will be overtaking Motorola in sales to get the second position in the world. The DVD players in our households are also Wind and Rain brand, and they are made in China. Even the PC we use is Lenovo, which is also from China. China is catching up with the US in the electronics sector!”
…….
Feng Yu had read all these conspiracy theories, but he did not panic like the others. Instead, he laughed at them.
“Boss, are you not worried that Chinese products will be boycott after these conspiracy theories surface?” Kameda Masao asked curiously.
“Kameda, Americans are different from Japanese. They are not united and do not believe in nationalism. Their basic education had taught them to look after themselves first. So what if these media says that Chinese products are catching up and even overtaking the US?”
“Are they going to forbid us from selling our products? This is impossible. The Americans’ lives will be affected if the US cut ties with China, and they will be impacted more than the Chinese. After all, China still has a close trading partner in East Europe, and we can continue to open up new markets in West Europe.”
“If they don’t cut ties with China, then they can only get the Americans to boycott us. Boycotting is an even smaller problem for us. Chinese products’ prices are their advantage. With better quality and lower prices, which will you pick if you are the consumer? Our brand awareness might not be high in the past, but people know our brand after so many rounds of aggressive marketing. Are you still afraid that no one will buy?”
“They claimed we are a threat. Alright. This is also free marketing for us. Their own domestic products are not good enough and want to boycott other country’s product?! This is what weaklings will choose. Your country is much better in this area. Lenovo had entered many Asian countries’ markets except for Japan and South Korea. The Japanese consumer electronics corporations had joined forces. They offered discounts on their own products to stop Lenovo PC from entering the Japanese market. I had not expected Sony and the rest to do this.”
Kameda Masao felt proud to hear Feng Yu praising his country. But at the same time, he felt ashamed of what those Japanese firms did. They sold their PCs at losses to stop Lenovo from entering their market. This is what losers will do.
When did these Japanese consumer electronics giants become losers?
“Boss, should we take some measures?”
“Ok. Go ahead.”
Feng Yu stood up and looked out of the windows onto the streets of New York.
Chinese threat conspiracy theory? Electronics products threat? I will let you all know that these are not rumors and it’s real. Chinese electronic products can really put all your American companies out of business!