“Hello, this is Beijing Lenovo. How can I help you?”
Wow. How come this telephone operator’s voice sound so sweet? Must hire some telephone operators with sweet voices for Tai Hua Trading and the Machinery Company. This voice was enough to attract people to work with them!
“Hi, I would like to speak to Mr. Liu Chuanzhi.”
Liu Chuanzhi was now the CEO of Beijing Lenovo and also the Chairman of Hong Kong Lenovo.
“May I know who I am speaking to, and what’s the purpose of you looking for Mr. Liu?”
“I want to speak to him about collaboration. I can’t tell you the details. Just connect me to Mr. Liu.” Feng Yu was not interested in chatting with this operator even though she sounded lovely.
“Okay. Please hold on to the line.”
1 minute later, it was still the operator who spoke: “I am sorry sir. Mr. Liu is now in Hong Kong and cannot be contacted. Do you want to leave your contact details, and I will inform Mr. Liu when he returns?”
Feng Yu was disappointed. Liu Chuanzhi was a big boss, and he does not have a mobile phone! Feng Yu could only leave his pager number with the operator.
Feng Yu had not bought a mobile phone. It was because the mobile phones at this time could only last 30 minutes for a full charge.
It was only late last year when new mobile phones were launched. The new models just weight 250 grams. It was much lighter than those phones which weighs more than 800 grams. The signal was also better.
Feng Yu had decided to buy 2 for himself. It was more convenient than pagers. But the mobile phones could only last for 1 hour. Just charging the phone could drive him nuts.
It would be best if it were the GSM mobile phones, which was also known as 2G mobile phones. The signals would be crystal clear, and currently, Motorola, Ericsson, and Nokia were still developing their phones. It would only be later this year when Nokia would start to produce 1011. This model could only be considered a real mobile phone.
But in China, 2G network was only available in late 1995. That means the few years before 1995, people in China could only use Analog signal mobile phones!
Pagers were still the norm before mobile phones became common!
Feng Yu suddenly remembered that around this time in his previous life, China’s telecommunication equipment giant, Ningbo Bird, was set up.
Feng Yu immediately look through the contacts of Tai Hua Trading’s distributors and called the distributor in Jiangsu and Zhejiang region.
“Hello, who are you looking for?”
Huh? This voice was even sweeter! Tai Hua Trading must hire a telephone operator immediately!
“I am Tai Hua Trading’s General Manager Feng Yu. I want to speak to your Director Sun.” Feng Yu was not so courteous when he called his distributors.
“Please hold the line, Manager Feng. I will get Director Sun on the line.” Feng Yu could hear the sound of chairs dragging and someone running in high heels.
“Hello, Manager Feng. I am Xiao Sun.” Someone spoke over the phone.
This “Xiao Sun” was already over 30 years’ old. But in front of Feng Yu, he called himself Xiao Sun. He was not pleased when Feng Yu called him Old Sun.
“Director Sun, I need to trouble you with some matters.”
“Manager Feng’s matters are my matters. There is no trouble at all! I promise you that I will do my best!” All the distributors who had worked with Tai Hua Trading made tons of money. They knew that if it weren’t for Tai Hua Trading, they would not be so wealthy.
Just the Songjiang Motorcycles alone had helped them made lots of profits. This group of distributors was the top companies in their respective regions. This was all Tai Hua Trading’s credit!
Now Feng Yu was asking him for help, and this was an opportunity to build better relationships with Feng Yu. In the future, if there were excellent opportunities, Feng Yu would not forget him.
“Director Sun, are you familiar with Ningbo Fenghua District?”
“Of course. It is my hometown. My parents are still staying there.”
Feng Yu was overjoyed: “Then can trouble you to help me ask around if there is a company calls Ningbo Bird? It is a company that research on electronic products. I am interested in this company.”
“Rest assured manager Feng. Leave this to me. I will call you back later in the evenings. How about 8pm?”
“Okay. Thank you, Director Sun.”
In Feng Yu’s previous life, Ningbo Bird was set up this year by a few technicians and was funded by the government. The technicians used their expertise to get 49% of the shares.
Needless to say, the local government was being very generous. It gave these technicians 49% of shares to these technicians without them investing a single RMB. Although these technicians were not involved in the management of the company, the government also do not interfere with their research.
These technicians were also incredible. They used the government’s funds to set up a small research facility and successfully developed their own pagers. At about this time next year, Ningbo Bird would introduce their pagers to the market!
At that time, they realized that even after they had successfully come up with a product, they had no money to manufacture in big scale and had no money for marketing. The local government had not much confidence in their pagers. Just happened, that was the time when China was attracting foreign investors. Ningbo Bird was invested by foreigners and became a joint venture.
But because of the differences in management concepts, the foreign investors soon retracted their investment. It was because the foreigner investor wanted to shift the office to Guangdong because of the convenience in traffic and exportation. Furthermore, there were more workers there, and Guangdong’s industrial developments were faster. The policies there were also better.
But Fenghua’s government refused. If the factory was shifted, how would they collect the taxes? What would happen to their workers? Without the investor’s funds, the company’s growth was affected. In the later years, when the company went into the development of mobile phones, it became a joint venture again with foreign investors.
Regardless of pagers or mobile phones, Ningbo Bird was the leader in China’s telecommunications industry. The research team behind the company should be formed by now.
With this team, Feng Yu’s investment and his knowledge of the future trends, this company should be the industry leader earlier. It might even venture overseas earlier. In the future, the leader in the mobile phone market might not be Nokia, Motorola, Samsung or Apple. It will be Wind and Rain brand or Aiwa brand!
After Feng Yu’s investment, he will not let them use the brand Ningbo Bird. Wind and Rain or Aiwa brand would be more suitable. After all, these two brands were well known in the local and overseas market. It will also increase brand value.
But Feng Yu was not sure if things were the same as history. Were there any changes? Was he in time to make this investment? Or the local government will allow him to invest.
Feng Yu does not mind spending more money to get the decision-making rights of the company. They can have management rights. Feng Yu was too lazy to manage the company.
But the company’s direction and crucial decisions must follow his wishes. This way, Feng Yu could guarantee that this company would take over the local and overseas telecommunication industry!
