Chapter 55: The Enemy Can Go, So Can I

"Li Ge, what is New York like?!"

"Is America really like what the media advertises? Gold everywhere, and you can earn over ten thousand a month just by washing dishes?!"

"Li Ge, are American babes really like what's in the movies?"

Zhang Ao, Fan Xugang, and the others gathered around Li Dongling, asking him questions all at once. Unlike the media's focus on Dongling High-Tech's lawsuit with Microsoft, these people were concerned about Li Dongling's experiences in America, and some asked shyly if American women were as hot and uninhibited as in the movies.

In recent years, foreign media, news, music, movies, and TV shows had continuously poured into China. Watching those media reports, domestic people were like seeing the sensation caused by Marco Polo's travels in Europe back then. The East was depicted as a place full of gold, ivory, porcelain, etc., as if once you arrived, you could pick up things and get rich.

Now, America and Europe were also molded by some media into places like those in Marco Polo's travels—gold everywhere, where you could earn big money washing dishes and live in a villa, and get women of the level seen in Hollywood movies. This stimulated countless people's nerves, treating America as a heavenly place in their minds.

"If you love someone, send him to New York, because it's heaven. If you hate him, send him to New York, because it's hell. It's not necessarily a hell for the poor, but it's definitely a heaven for the rich!"

Li Dongling took a sip of alcohol and said to the curious group, "Movies and TV shows are different from reality. America is a Puritan country. Ordinary American families might be completely different from those in Hollywood movies...

I heard that Beijing TV will broadcast a TV series, *A Beijing Native in New York*, this year. If you are interested, you can go watch it!"

Listening to Li Dongling's words, Zhang Ao, Gao Peng, Fan Xugang, and the others' curiosity about America quickly dissipated. There was no picking up stacks of dollars by bowing your head, no hot babes rushing over at a wave of your hand. They wanted to go to heaven to enjoy themselves, not to be coolies, washing feet and being human sandbags for others...

"Did the Shangguan Town Component Factory stop production?!" Li Dongling asked Zhang Ao.

Hearing Li Dongling ask about this, Zhang Ao was full of bitterness. "Li Ge, when you were fighting the lawsuit in America, the satellite dish market completely collapsed. Now, the market price of a satellite dish is less than 200 yuan, almost no profit, and even then, there's a price war.

Especially companies in the south, they've almost driven the satellite dish level to below 180 yuan. The satellite dishes produced by the Component Factory simply can't be sold, and also..."

Zhang Ao looked at Li Dongling and said, "I heard that the authorities are going to issue regulations prohibiting individuals from installing ground satellite receivers!"

Li Dongling wasn't surprised at all hearing this. Satellite dishes were competing for food with cable television; being banned was only a matter of time.

This ban might still be unable to stop the spread of satellite dishes. Where there is demand, there is a market. It's just like the Prohibition era in America back then. As long as there is demand, there will be a gray area, continuously providing products.

The key isn't whether this satellite dish ban will affect TV users buying satellite dishes, but that a knife has appeared over the heads of companies producing satellite dishes. Small-scale business is one thing, but if they produce with great fanfare like the Component Factory did before, or even clamor about going public or something, then don't even think about it.

One day, who knows, this knife might fall, fining away all the money earned from satellite dishes over the years, and jail time isn't impossible.

"Satellite dishes in China no longer have a market!"

Li Dongling also sighed. This didn't mean satellite dishes couldn't be sold, just that there was no longer the kind of exorbitant profit as before. Selling one satellite dish could earn over a hundred yuan or more, but now, earning ten yuan for one machine is considered not bad, and you have to risk being fined.

However, this doesn't mean satellite dishes really have no market. Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, and even the Middle East, Europe, and other places all have satellite dish markets. It just takes time to develop the market, and they can still earn a lot of foreign exchange.

Like a certain brand known as the "King of Africa" phones, it couldn't compete domestically, so it ran to Africa to open up a new track, and its revenue exceeded 10 billion in three years.

Since the Shangguan Town Component Factory is no longer producing satellite dishes, according to the agreement signed initially, Li Dongling can take back the Guanying brand. Now, Guanying satellite dishes can be said to be all over the country.

Other manufacturers that imitated and pirated various satellite dishes didn't even bother to name them, directly copying Guanying. From the rooftops of buildings in big cities like Beijing to the forest ranger teams in deep mountains and old forests, all have its presence. But the actual Guanying satellite dishes produced by the Component Factory are less than one-thousandth!

Licensing fees and patent fees for the Guanying brand don't even need to be thought about, but this is the first brand Li Dongling established, so he must take the brand back.

"Since the Component Factory has stopped production, I hope you come to Dongling High-Tech to serve as the sales manager for Dongling High-Tech!"

Li Dongling looked at Zhang Ao. Dongling High-Tech's management will have clear authority in the future. Hu Zixian will be in charge of finance, Chen Tao will manage technology, and Li Dongshan and Gao Peng will manage logistics and procurement.

As for Yao Luoying, she will manage personnel and help Li Dongling handle Dongling High-Tech's daily affairs. Li Dongling wants Zhang Ao to be the sales manager.

Zhang Ao's performance in selling satellite dishes is obvious to all. In the future, whether selling electronic products, home appliances, furniture, or even health supplements, etc., they will all need sales channels and ground promotion. "He who gets the sales channels gets the world" is not an empty phrase.

"Thank you, Li Ge, I have absolutely no problem!"

Zhang Ao patted his chest and agreed directly. Zhang Ao knew that with Dongling High-Tech's current reputation, joining Dongling High-Tech, compared to staying at the Component Factory or entering other Pingyang units, would be much better in terms of both salary and future prospects.

Having had the experience at the Shangguan Town Component Factory, if Zhang Ao were asked to mix in other units for a few hundred yuan a month, he absolutely wouldn't be able to stay.

Clinking glasses with Zhang Ao, Li Dongling said, "The sales department needs to establish a sales and ground promotion team in major domestic cities, or even county towns. In the future, we might also need to enter the overseas market!"

Zhang Ao hissed. Establishing such a team, or even entering the overseas market, requires a significant amount of capital, and recruiting a large number of people. Raising a team is completely different from raising one person; the gap is like heaven and earth.

Li Dongling certainly knew that establishing such a sales team cost a lot, but the digital cordless phone must be promoted. In the future, other products developed by Dongling High-Tech will also need promotion. No matter how many advertisements you play, it's not as direct as establishing a sales team!

After finishing the barbecue and playing two games of pool, Li Dongling didn't stay any longer and returned to the courtyard where he lived.

After washing up, Li Dongling entered the study. Tomorrow he had to meet Luo Junwu. Whether to take over Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1, Li Dongling was still hesitant.

Thinking it over, Li Dongling still felt that acquiring Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1 carried too much risk—not just the acquisition money and debt problems, but also the impact of public opinion. If he really took over Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1 and saved it, who knows how many people would jump out to splash dirty water, accusing him of occupying a state-owned company, etc.

However, the technical workers of Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1, the "Flying Swallow" brand, and the radio production lines were still worth some money.

To solve the trouble that Pingyang municipal government and Luo Junwu were worried about, it didn't necessarily mean he had to acquire Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1!

If Dongling High-Tech could establish a production factory, poach the real technical personnel of Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1, and buy the "Flying Swallow" brand and radio production lines of Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1, this could solve part of Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1's debt problem and allow the people who really worked at Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1 to go to work and get paid, which could also solve the trouble.

The Flying Swallow brand, plus the radio production line, could be transformed into mini radios and car radios. For the next ten or twenty years, it would be a hen that lays golden eggs!

The premise is that these employees are no longer employees of a state-owned factory. In the future, they will all be managed by Dongling High-Tech, and Dongling High-Tech will have no connection with Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1.

The newly established production factory can produce mice, digital cordless phones, etc., for Dongling High-Tech.

However, Li Dongling felt that wanting to support the sudden increase of one or two thousand people, relying solely on a mouse project, was likely far from enough. He needed to find a project that could make a profit quickly. Before the digital cordless phone went on sale, he needed to support the production factory.

In the current electronic tech industry that can make money, televisions are definitely out of the question. The remaining ones are VCD and a few other projects. It's impossible to go sell health supplements to harvest leeks, right?!

But even if harvesting leeks, it requires a large amount of capital investment, playing massive advertisements on TV stations. Li Dongling couldn't take such a big risk unless he faced the risk of cash flow exhaustion, throwing all the money into advertising and ground promotion, and it would take at least half a year to see results.

Thinking about it, he knew it was impossible. Dongling High-Tech was Li Dongling's foundation, and projects like digital cordless phones also needed capital.

Thinking for a long time, Li Dongling felt a headache. He was prepared to decline Luo Junwu tomorrow and refuse the acquisition of Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1 when suddenly, an idea appeared in Li Dongling's mind.

To have a product like the satellite dish—low technical requirements, high profit, and capable of quickly sweeping the market—Li Dongling suddenly remembered a product that emerged from Japan in his previous life and swept dozens of countries in just one year: the electronic pet machine, also called pet machine, handheld electronic pet, pet egg, etc. Its name in Japan is "Tamagotchi"!

Standing up, Li Dongling paced back and forth in the study several times. He felt that this product was almost just in time for the newly established production factory. Poaching the technical personnel of Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1, plus some production lines, to pile up an electronic pet machine was not a difficult task at all.

If the sales of this product could meet expectations, it would not only solve all the troubles of the new production factory but could also bring a large amount of cash flow to Dongling High-Tech!

The users of this product would definitely be mainly in markets like Japan, Korea, Europe, and America. After all, users in these places had high incomes and high consumption levels, and spending a dozen dollars to buy an electronic pet machine was completely affordable.

Still the same saying: foreign leeks are more cost-effective to harvest. Why can Japanese products be sold in China to harvest leeks, but domestic products can't harvest Japanese leeks? The enemy can go, so can I!

Thinking of this, Li Dongling sat down and found drawing paper. Now there wasn't much industrial software to assist, so drawing could only rely on a human drawing machine.

The current electronic pet machine doesn't need too many complex functions. It hasn't experienced the baptism of smartphones. Electronic users around the world haven't seen any "fine bran" yet. Having something to play with is good enough; what are you being picky about?! ===== CHAPTER 56 =====