I'm a Master in India

Chapter 261: Threat Invalid

"Mr. Sur, please give me an explanation!"

"Did your colleagues from NEC complain about the food again?"

Bang! Mr. Tian angrily slammed a newspaper onto Ron's desk.

"Excuse me, what is the meaning of this?"

Ron glanced at it. Hmm, a report about Sur TV.

"Is there a problem?" He feigned ignorance.

"Television!" Mr. Tian pointed at the newspaper angrily. "Your company signed a cooperation agreement with NEC, yet you've been secretly producing televisions behind our backs?"

"These are just junk," Ron said, spreading his hands.

"What?" Mr. Tian was stunned.

"Did you forget? During our first negotiation, you said NEC didn't have junk like black and white televisions. So, we had to find another way."

That's right, Mr. Tian had indeed said that. At the time, he had contemptuously looked down on the backward East University with an extremely arrogant tone.

"But you can't... or at least you shouldn't... In short, NEC transferred color TV technology to your company, but you turned around and used resources on black and white televisions. This is unreasonable."

"Why?"

"Because we formed a joint venture. Black and white televisions will consume potential color TV users. This is undermining the future market of the joint venture."

"The contract doesn't say that Sur Electrical Appliances cannot make its own black and white televisions."

"At least you should have notified NEC first."

"NEC didn't. You can't help us build a black and white television production line."

"You..." Mr. Tian was furious.

This cunning Indian was deliberately shirking responsibility. He was acting foolish, as if he didn't know where the core issue lay.

Yet, Mr. Tian couldn't accuse him of breach of contract, because there were indeed no restrictive agreements regarding this matter between the two parties.

The Japanese were careless after all, unlike the Koreans who were very smart.

They were used to being thieves, so they guarded against others like guarding against thieves everywhere.

When LG first contacted Ron, they explicitly demanded that Sur Electrical Appliances not produce its own television brand for three years.

When it comes to being annoying, the Koreans are experts.

However, the Japanese weren't bad either. Today, Mr. Tian came prepared.

"Leaving aside the matter of your company producing televisions without authorization for now, the color TV production line has been debugged. According to the agreement, where is the remaining balance owed to NEC?"

"Whether the production line is qualified needs to be determined after our technical personnel accept it."

"Nani?" Mr. Tian looked at him in disbelief.

"Is there anything strange about that? Sur Electrical Appliances is the customer. Whether the purchased production line meets the requirements needs to be signed and confirmed by our side."

"What do you know..." Mr. Tian's face turned red with frustration, but he stopped himself just in time.

He really wanted to say that Indians didn't know anything about technology. If that were the case, why would they need technical assistance from NEC?

An Indian factory accepting Japanese television technology? This was completely upside down.

Mr. Tian was a Japanese person after all. For the sake of so-called etiquette, he couldn't curse.

"Okay, then when can the acceptance inspection be done?"

"I will arrange it now," Ron casually called Ashish in.

"The NEC production line debugging is complete. Find someone to do the acceptance inspection."

"Boss, acceptance inspection so soon?" Ashish quietly switched to hindi. It hadn't even been a few days yet.

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

"So, deliberately find some problems to delay the acceptance process?" Ashish was quick to understand.

"Don't bother with that. Find an amateur to do the acceptance, preferably someone semi-illiterate."

"Ah?" Ashish was stunned. "How can an illiterate person do acceptance inspection?"

"That's their problem. When they can explain all the technical issues clearly enough for the person we send to understand, then we'll talk. How can someone sign if they don't understand? This is about taking responsibility."

Hmm, hopefully the Japanese won't be driven crazy by an amateur asking all sorts of questions.

Ashish quietly gave his Boss a thumbs-up. Brilliant!

After he left, Ron turned to look at Mr. Tian. The meaning was clear: See, I've already arranged for someone.

"Mr. Sur, NEC's technology is absolutely fine. We can speed things up a bit, for example, entering the trial production stage," Mr. Tian suggested.

"Trial production?"

"Please trust the professionalism of NEC employees. This production line can be put into use immediately."

"Okay, what preparations need to be made?"

Ron wasn't actually very concerned about NEC's trial production now. If it were before, he might have appeared very enthusiastic.

But after the people from East University came, Ron knew what was what.

With the production line built, it doesn't really matter whether NEC participates in the future, because East University can handle it.

Ron has even extended an invitation to them. After their color TV technical personnel come for inspection, they will directly import color picture tubes from East University.

Not only is it cheaper, but they can also get out of a brand new color TV production line, a pure profit!

Ron somewhat regretted not going to East University to inspect the market directly earlier. It is said that half of the color TV production capacity there is idle.

It doesn't matter if the technology is not as good as Japanese goods, the advantage is that it's cheap, and the Indian people don't care about those subtle differences.

Mr. Tian didn't know what Ron was thinking. At this moment, he only felt elated, finally it was his turn.

"All conditions for trial production are ready. Now all that's missing are color picture tubes and circuit boards."

"How do we get these two parts?" Ron asked cooperatively.

"Currently, the best color picture tubes and electronic processes in the world are in Japan. We at NEC can provide these two parts to India."

"What about the procurement cost?"

Swish, Mr. Tian pulled out the agreement he had prepared long ago.

"18-inch color picture tube single unit price is 400 dollar, and the circuit board is 100 dollar per set."

"How much?" Ron thought he had misheard.

"If Sur Electrical Appliances purchases in large quantities, we can offer some more discounts."

"It's not Sur Electrical Appliances purchasing, it's the Sur-NEC joint venture purchasing," Ron reminded him.

"Right, this is a win-win cooperation," Mr. Tian said smugly.

Did he really think he had done nothing during his time in India? No! Mr. Tian had carefully studied the Indian color TV market.

Imported goods from Japan and Korea were expensive due to tariffs and technical reasons.

Prices usually ranged from 25,000 rupee to 30,000 rupee, which is 800-1000 dollar, belonging to the first tier.

Local OEM products were relatively cheaper, concentrated in the 15,000 rupee to 20,000 rupee range, totaling 400-600 dollar.

Other used goods or black market products are not discussed, as they have no reference value.

Sur-NEC is a joint venture, with technology in between local OEM and pure import.

Mr. Tian's future product positioning for the joint venture was also like this, targeting the 600-800 dollar price range.

As everyone knows, the two core components of color TVs: color picture tubes and circuit boards account for 60% of the cost. Isn't it reasonable for NEC to make the big profit?

The 500 dollar price is indeed not cheap, but considering the low labor costs in India, the joint venture can still make a profit.

Ron looked at him like he was an idiot. Did he really look that much like a pushover?

"Mr. Tian, 500 dollar is 16,000 rupee, which is more expensive than the price of local color TVs. If you consider other costs, Sur's color TVs would have to sell for at least 22,000 rupee or more to be profitable."

"With NEC's assistance, the joint venture's products are completely comparable to similar imported goods," Mr. Tian said confidently.

"You might have some misunderstanding about the Indian market," Ron frowned. "Color TVs are a luxury in India, not a necessity. Users who buy luxury goods won't care about the few thousand rupee difference. They can just buy original imported goods."

"Mr. Sur, in the field of the color TV market, NEC is the expert."

Oh, this little Japanese is getting arrogant now.

"For the future of the joint venture, I suggest you reconsider the quotation for these two parts."

"This is already NEC's special preferential price for the India market," Mr. Tian refused to budge.

"Then let's leave it at that for now," Ron shrugged indifferently.

"Huh?" Mr. Tian, who was putting on an act, almost lost his composure. "Mr. Sur, what do you mean?"

"This price is unrealistic for the India market. There's no need to discuss it further."

"Please think twice, Mr. Sur! Without NEC's support, the newly built color TV workshop is no different from scrap metal."

"Then let it be scrap metal," Ron said, giving up directly.

"You..." Mr. Tian was shocked. This was a bit different from what he expected.

If NEC didn't provide the core components, the newly completed production line couldn't be put into operation, and the investment of tens of millions of rupee would be wasted.

At this time, as the largest investor, shouldn't Sur Electrical Appliances be anxious?

They would definitely let him manipulate them and finally have to accept the price on the agreement.

This strategy had been proven by countless Japanese counterparts, always effective.

It was enough for the joint venture to earn a few dozen rupee; the other 99% of the profit should belong to the Japanese side.

Whoever controls the technology controls the profit.

Mr. Tian couldn't figure out how Ron could appear so unconcerned.

"I think it's better to discuss this issue after the production line passes the acceptance inspection," Ron said nonchalantly.

"Then we'll discuss it again in a couple of days. Mr. Sur, please consider it carefully."

Mr. Tian thought Ron was playing hard to get, that this was just a negotiation tactic.

Looking at his retreating back, Ron smiled.

What control over technology and profit? This strategy doesn't work in India.

No matter where you're from, don't even think about taking a single penny away.

Sigh, I should have found a way to get out of the sixty thousand dollar deposit earlier. What a loss!

Ron didn't have the time to play mind games with Mr. Tian. He spent the entire September busy with the newly expanded factory building for black and white televisions.

Each new workshop in the industrial park could accommodate two production lines. After the new factory building was completed, the production lines shipped from East University were immediately moved in for installation.

The two countries are very close, and it only takes over ten days by sea.

With one debugging experience, the second batch of production lines was put into operation even faster.

By early October, the production capacity of Sur TV had doubled, which was truly an Indian miracle.

Meanwhile, to accommodate the remaining six production lines, the construction of the Sur Industrial Park was focused on the new factory buildings.

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

Under the guidance of the East Indian people, the efficiency of Sur Electrical Appliances workers has also improved significantly.

In just a month and a half, Sur TV shipped fifty thousand units. If all goes well, the production capacity will reach eighty thousand units in October.

The outstanding performance of Sur TV in the market naturally attracted a lot of attention, such as from the two local competitors, Onida and Videocon. How could they just watch Sur TV rise?