Extraordinary Genius

“Who told you to do this? The prototype is not even ready, and you are setting the sales team. This was a waste of manpower. What can your team do not? Contact the dealers? You think your cost is too low? You don’t need to pay their salaries?”

“Dad, this is what Feng Yu wanted. He wants to introduce this product to the market once it is ready. He wants to capture the market fast.” Fu Guangzheng explained.

“What does Feng Yu know? The product does not even exist now. What’s the hurry? You think selling a new product is so simple? Disband your team now and stop the hiring!”

“Dad, I am this sales company’s main shareholder and representative!” Fu Guangzheng retorted.

Fu Rongjing was furious: “What did you say? Who do you think you are speaking to? I dare you to repeat it!”

If Fu Rongjing did not transfer his shares to Fu Guangzheng, how can Fu Guangzheng become the main shareholder? If it wasn’t for Fu Rongjing persuading his eldest brother, how can Fu Guangzheng become this company’s representative?

Now, this useless son does not even listen to him. He only talks about Feng Yu day in day out. Does he really want to venture out on his own?

“Dad, calm down. Wind and Rain Electronics is paying for this sales team. We do not need to pay them their salaries. These people are still working for our company. We can just let them familiarise with the operations or do some market research. They are being groomed by us.” Fu Guangzheng explained.

“Huh? Wind and Rain Electronics is paying them? Good. You have done well. But do you need so many people to do market research? And why are you contacting those music and movies companies? What are you up to? You still want to sell videotapes and cassettes?”

When Fu Rongjing heard that they were not the ones paying the salaries, he felt better. This son of mine is really like me. He knows how to make use of other people’s resources as his own.

When Fu Rongjing knew that Fu Guangzheng had invested in this Wind and Rain Electronics, he was angry. China’s electronics industry was not worth investing. If it were AIWA, Fu Rongjing would support his son to invest. But what is this VCD they are developing? He had never heard of such things before!

Fu Rongjing was furious because Fu Guangzheng does not know what VCD was and he invested 5 million USD for only 10% shares.

Fu Guangzheng had been making lots of money nowadays. But 5 million USD was still not a small amount. There were better investments around. Even if this 5 million were invested in the Forex market like Fu Rongqi, there would be high returns.

Fu Rongjing also knew that Feng Yu had a Midas touch. All his investments made money. But they knew about all the products Feng Yu sold. This VCD was something very new to them. They do not know anything about it. What product of the future? This slogan might sound nice, but it was not even developed. Even the humidifiers and bladeless fans cannot be considered products of the future. Can this VCD be more profitable than the humidifiers?

You want to invest in this VCD, okay. It was at least considered a type of home appliances. But why are you buying the movie and music rights? The Chinese market was still very conservative. How many Hong Kong movies and songs were permitted to enter China?

“Dad, the product we are producing is called VCD. It is a compact disc which can store movies and audios. Now, in the market, there are two types of videos. One is the traditional Video Cassette tapes, and the other is the LaserDisc. Videotapes are cheap, but LD cost at least 100 USD a piece! There are also two types of music. Cassette Tapes and CD.”

“We now own a new technology that can compress pictures and audio. We are able to store a 100-minute movie into two small CD! The cost is not even one-tenth of an LD. This was still an estimation from our R&D department. Once we start to mass produce, the cost will be even lower than that. Don’t you think there is a huge potential for this product?”

Fu Rongjing immediately guessed: “So, this is the reason why you are buying the rights to the movies and music. You are preparing to produce these CDs?”

“Yes. We will produce the VCD players, and we must let our consumers have the CDs to play on the players. That’s why we need to have movies and music VCDs for sales. The profits for these VCDs will not be low too.”

“you are just looking at the profits. But even if your VCD is only one-tenth of the cost of an LD, but it is still more expensive than a videotape. I have a video cassette player and videotapes, why should I buy your product?”

Feng Yu, Jiang Wanmeng and Fu Guangzheng had discussed this question too. However, Feng Yu only asked one question back, and they got the answer. “Many families have electric fans that cost less than 10 USD, but why are they still spending a few hundred USD to buy our bladeless fans?”

Fu Guangzheng’s reply at that time was: “Bladeless fans is an innovative hi-tech product, and it is well designed, quiet and easy to clean. Although it is expensive compared to the Air conditioner, it was still much cheaper. Different products suit different market segments.”

Feng Yu told him: “This VCD is also the same. It is more expensive than the Video Cassette players but much cheaper than the LD players. The VCD is also much cheaper than the LDs. LD was able to enter the market was because of its high-quality pictures. Those Japanese companies had made lots of money from this LD. The VCD also have better picture quality than the videotapes and was almost as good as the LD. Furthermore, we will not only sell movie VCDs. We must also sell music VCDs. This will be a revolutionary product for the Karaoke industry!”

Karaoke was invented by the Japanese, and it was popular throughout the world. But the Karaoke now only had music. There were no pictures nor lyrics. This was a test of the singing skills.

In the future, after the launched of the VCD, many of it were bought by the Karaoke lounges. These music VCDs allows the consumers to sing to their heart’s content without the need to memorize the song’s lyrics.

Feng Yu had successfully convinced Fu Guangzheng. He had made Fu Guangzheng believes that once this VCD player is out in the market, and there were sufficient variety of movies and music VCDs, it will be a hit! This product can quickly change the world!

After hearing Fu Guangzheng’s explanation, Fu Rongjing was lost in his thoughts. He felt that what Feng Yu said made sense. If they were able to market this product well, there would be no problem with this VCD sales. The profits might even be higher than the humidifiers and bladeless fans.

“Guangzheng, you have done well. Work hard and don’t disappoint me. What I just said to you is to encourage you.” Fu Rongjing patted on Fu Guangzheng’s shoulders and smile.

Fu Guangzheng: “……” You nearly gave me a beating just now, and you are telling me that it was to encourage me?