BXBX NOVEL Chapter 290: Sony targeted as a dog
Roland\'s eyes were focused on the TV in the living room. In the CNN live broadcast room, two experts leaned on the host and stood on the left. They were wearing white shirts and were analyzing the current international situation. In order to hear their words clearly, Roland turned on the loudspeaker. volume.
"Today, we are honored to invite Professor Robert from Johns Hopkins University and Professor Raphael from MIT to discuss with us the impact of the Grand Commander\'s trip to Japan and South Korea." Simple towards the camera After introducing the subject of the live broadcast, the host turned his head to look at the old man on the left, and asked, "So, Professor Robert, before discussing the impact of the trip to Japan and South Korea, can you briefly introduce to us the reason for the visit by the commander-in-chief?" ?”
"Okay."
"This visit is the third head-on collision between us and Japan after the passage of the "Comprehensive Trade Act". The result of the collision will determine the future direction of US-Japan relations." The guy nodded, turned sideways to the camera, and talked, "If we want to introduce the origin of the collision, we have to start from 40 years ago."
"After World War II, in order to promote post-war economic recovery and prosperity, we began to establish a multilateral trading system. After the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944, the IMF, the World Bank, and the GATT were established one after another. At that time, Japan, which was undergoing post-war reconstruction, In 2045, we established the path of "establishing the nation through business and industry", and proposed the strategy of "establishing the nation through trade" in the 1950s."
"In 2053, the rapid development brought about by the blind recovery of the economy caused overcapacity, unsalable products, and stockpiling of goods in Japan\'s textile field. Therefore, after joining the GATT in 2055, Japan sold us crazily. The trade volume of low-priced textile products due to the accumulation of goods reached 11.1 billion yen that year.”
"This kind of excessive and disorderly export has seriously threatened our local light industry. Japan, which also understands this reason, imposed independent restrictions on the export of such products in January 1956. In order to avoid Japan\'s The crazy development brought losses to our business, and we signed the "U.S.-Japan Cotton Fabric Agreement" with Japan in 1957."
"But even so, in 1965, Japan still had a trade surplus with us."
Because they came prepared, during Professor Robert\'s narration, graphs also appeared on the big screen in the studio. The blue and red lines represent the amount of Japan\'s exports to the United States and the amount of imports to the United States. , although the specific data of each time point is not accurately marked, the trend of the two curves can be distinguished at a glance.
From 1950 to 1960, the two lines could still overlap, and from 1965 onwards, the curve representing exports soared like a rocket. By 1995, just looking at the Y-axis On a large scale, it can be seen that the gap is more than 20 billion.
“And in the 1970s, there was a serious confrontation between Japan and our synthetic fiber industry.”
"If we hadn\'t reached a fiber trade agreement with Japan in 1972 and strictly controlled their exports to us, maybe we would wear all MadeinJapan clothes, use all MadeinJapan tableware, and play with MadeinJapan toys Yes... I think Professor Raphael knows this better than me."
When the old man wearing glasses looked at the middle-aged man opposite, the scholar from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology nodded seriously and agreed: "That\'s right, when I was young, the most common one at home was MadeinJapan\'s." utensils."
"As Professor Robert said, the trade friction between us and Japan began in the 1950s, and after the fiber trade agreement was reached in January 1972, An Ning actually only lasted for one year and nine months. "
"In October 1973, the Fourth Middle East War broke out. Because Japan\'s oil dependence on overseas markets was as high as 99.7%, many light industries were unable to operate. Since then, their fiber textile industry quickly declined."
"And our fiber textile suppliers won\'t win without a fight."
"However, in order to allow the economy to continue to develop and accelerate the transformation of the industrial structure, they have focused their development on knowledge-intensive industries. Therefore, our contradiction has changed from light industry to heavy industry."
"That is, industries such as automobiles, steel, numerical control machinery, household appliances, and integrated circuits?" the host asked.
"Yes." Professor Rafael nodded in agreement, and said, "Although Toyota was not a company born at that time, they also transformed from a cotton textile factory into the automotive field, and the opportunity for their rapid development was the Middle East in 1973." war."
“Because of the oil crisis, they are eating up our auto market like crazy.”
"Honda is the same. They were established in 1948 and they also developed in the field of fibers and textiles. After 7 or 3 years, they sold cars to our country." Professor Robert added.
"Panasonic Electric entered the market at that time, and they also introduced the VHS standard..."
"There is also Sony, they have become a global consumer electronic imaging manufacturer in 2075..."
As the two continued to replenish, one after another data sheet was typed on the monitor in the studio.
What interests Roland the most is the blue bar belonging to Sony.
Before 1973, Sony had a place in America\'s import list by virtue of its invention of semiconductor radios, semiconductor TVs, home video recorders, and color TVs. After 1973, because of the war in the Middle East And the appearance of Walkman, it even accounted for four percent of America\'s total import trade with Japan!
The market share of color TV has soared from 1% in 1965 to 7% in 1970!
Although this number seems small, Japan\'s share of the color TV market in America in 1970 was only 16!
At its peak, Japan accounted for more than 30% of the American color TV market.
Of which, almost half belong to Sony.
"Hold the grass, is it so awesome?"
Roland, who was leaning on the sofa, made a sound of emotion, "This Japanese player who lives a good life still has two brushes! Perhaps it is because Sony has invaded America a long time ago, so Sony Pictures can survive until the end ?”
Roland admitted that as a loyal fan who wanted to buy a PS5 with an optical drive, he did have a certain understanding of Sony, but that was after the millennium. As for how Sony made a fortune, what happened in the process? Which outlets he has reached, as a pig on the outlets, how does he ensure that he will not die after the outlets disappear...
He didn\'t know any of this.
All his digging and calculations stemmed from his confidence in the long-arm jurisdiction of America!
After all, since America implemented long-arm jurisdiction, it has always been a hammer to knock others down!
No one can survive the second round!
America can call Canada first, then Britain, and then block the purchase of chips—
It can never be Japan!
Since no one was invincible before this, Roland didn\'t have to worry about how Sony got rich.
Because it doesn\'t make sense!
This guy is destined to be unbearable!
Of course, this belongs to the self-confidence before, but now...
Roland really wanted to know, is there any way to make Sony ignore his pigeon.
Isn’t it just googoo!
The first time you beep, but the hundredth time, you are justified!
While Roland stared at the chart and sighed, the discussion continued in the CNN studio.
"As far as I know, the second trade friction in 1973 was very intense?" the host asked.
"Yes, in 1977, Japan\'s steel exports to my country were severely restricted in terms of price, and their color TVs were restricted by the "Market Order Maintenance Agreement" signed between us and Japan."
Professor Robert approved and said: "If there is no limit of 1.75 million TVs in three years, I think in the cognition of Professor Raphael\'s generation, TV may be equal to Sony..."
"But now the Walkman that people talk about is also Sony..." Professor Raphael shook his head helplessly, as if expressing dissatisfaction with this kind of encroachment, but more like expressing helplessness at the fact that there is no counterproduct in the country.
"After restricting the two commodities of steel and color TV, from 1981 to 1994, in order to protect the automobile market, our ITC (Trade Commission) also voluntarily restricted this one of their commodities."
"In 1987, Japan\'s semiconductor products occupied 95% of the domestic market in Japan, and swallowed up more than 25% of our market share, so we signed the "U.S. Japan Semiconductor Agreement "..."
"Of course, in order to fight back, they also restricted our agricultural products such as beef and oranges."
Under the professor\'s narration, in order to dominate the multilateral trading system, the "1974 Trade Act" appeared in front of the public, and in order to solve the sharp increase in America\'s foreign trade deficit and wipe the **** of the collapsed Bretton Woods system , The Plaza Accord is also on the table.
However, after the Plaza Accord, the sharp appreciation of the yen against the U.S. dollar did not effectively improve the problems existing in Japan-U.S. trade, but instead escalated trade frictions in a single industry into compound frictions at the exchange rate and institutional levels. Therefore, in 1988, America has strengthened the "Section 301" in the "Trade Act of 1974" and launched the "Super Section 301" for Japan\'s steel, automobile, and semiconductor industries. Not only that, but America also requires Japan to structure its domestic industries gender reform.
The economy and system must be adjusted to reduce the resistance of American products to Japan.
Although the two professors on the TV repeatedly stated that this is the protection of domestic enterprises and a serious consideration of the stability of national life, Roland knows in his heart that this is nothing more than relying on his own fists to hit anyone he wants. Just hit anyone.
I feel that Japan\'s economic structure and political system have affected me, so I asked the other party to change it.
Isn\'t this just treating someone like a grandson?
Japan really couldn\'t beat him, so the two sides established the "US-Japan Structural Agreement" in 1989.
And reached the "U.S.-Japan Agreement on Structural Issues."
In order to avoid friction, Japan began large-scale overseas investment, and the slogan "Buy America" appeared.
“At that time, more than 96 percent of overseas investment in Hawaii came from Japan.”
“In five years, they completed eighteen mergers and acquisitions exceeding one billion dollars.”
"Nearly 10% of the real estate in our country has been bought by Japanese companies. Sanleng, Panasonic, Itochu, Toshiba, and Sony are the main forces of this purchase, but this still hasn\'t stopped the growth of the trade deficit."
"This year, our trade deficit with Japan has risen to 63 billion, accounting for 40% of the annual foreign trade deficit, setting a record high, so continuing to restrict it has become an obvious thing."
"Japan dumped 83,300 tons of hot-rolled steel plates to us last year, and it became the target of restrictions."
Under the explanations of Professor Robert and Professor Raphael in turn, the trade friction that broke out this time was clearly explained. Not only that, they also called this friction the largest in history, because in addition to hot-rolled steel plates and rice In addition to conflicts, the confrontation between dumping and anti-dumping in other fields will also be highlighted one by one.
"As far as we know, the ITC determined that the export of Japanese mainframe computers to my country has led to a drop in the price of large-scale computers in my country and caused harm to the manufacturers. Therefore, they have to submit an application to request the Ministry of Commerce to curb Japan\'s behavior. Professor Robert, what do you think of the business? How likely is it to pass?" The host glanced at the manuscript.
"This one will definitely pass."
Professor Robert said: "Japan sells large-scale computers to my country at low prices, which has damaged my country\'s electronic computer market. Since 1993, IBM\'s sales revenue has declined, and at the same time, their research and development funds have not decreased. If If Japan is allowed to dump large computers to us, companies in the same industry will have to reduce R&D costs due to reduced income, and once R&D costs go down, it is equivalent to giving up this market to others.”
"Is that aimed at companies like Fujitsu and Hitachi?" the host asked.
"Yes." Professor Robert nodded.
"Other than that?" The host turned to look at Professor Raphael, "What other industries does the professor think will cause friction?"
“Actually, I think all industries can generate friction, because Japan likes to use roundabout tactics the most.”
Professor Rafael said: "For example, we restricted Japan\'s steel, and then they stopped selling steel, and instead sold processed products such as hot-rolled plates. For example, we once restricted their color TVs, and then they stopped selling them. Selling color TVs in large quantities turned to dumping Walkmans to us, and for example, we restricted their cars, and then they stopped exporting cars in large quantities, and instead dismantled cars and sold auto parts to us..."
"In this case, the restriction of a single industry is useless."
"What\'s more, after Japan found out that as long as it exported too much of a single product to us, we would restrict their industry, they began to change their thinking and seek the right to speak in the industry."
"The most typical example is Japan Victory Company!"
"They developed the VHS system in 1976, and then VHS videotapes went global."
"Afterwards, Victory joined forces with Sony and Panasonic to launch the VCD standard."
"And now the whole market is dominated by VCDs!"
"Followed by Sony and Toshiba launched the DVD."
"Last year, the world\'s first DVD rewritable recording specification DVD-RAM was born!"
"One standard after another is the solution that Japan came up with when dealing with trade frictions!"
"Just imagine, every time we produce a DVD disc, we have to pay Sony and Toshiba. This kind of licensing fee is much more exaggerated than dumping a single product! The right to speak in the industry that Japanese companies seek is what we need to be most vigilant about." thing!"
Snapped!
Professor Raphael patted the table, and the dull sound won the approval of Professor Robert.
"That\'s right, the best way to break through friction is to have the right to speak in an industry. When the industry is only my say, then any restrictions will have no effect, and Japan is doing these things now."
"Since Professor Rafael mentioned Sony many times, we can also say a few more words."
"Although I don\'t think Sony will become the focus of this trade friction, Sony has been formulating industry rules."
"In 1975, they launched Betamax. Although they lost to VHS, they did not give up."
"They are tinkering with game consoles, but they just want to promote the CD-ROM that they cooperated with Philips. Last year they released the VAIO notebook computer, and they just want to consolidate their position in film and television entertainment."
"As long as they control the right to speak, their image receiving chips can monopolize the global market."
"Then, they are still creating non-MP3 audio encoding methods. If they succeed, then their WalkMan can dominate the world in the digital age, and they are not afraid of restrictions from any country at all."
"Because the products of companies in various countries adopt Sony\'s standards, the country wants to restrict, but the manufacturers still don\'t do it!"
"So, I agree with Professor Raphael\'s point of view. While solving the trade deficit problem through various restrictions, we also have to find ways to curb these companies that attempt to set industry standards, even if..."
"The products produced by these companies are not strategic materials."
"But their success will give hope to those manufacturers of strategic materials."
"What does the professor mean, if possible, I hope the relevant departments can target Sony?"
The host asked, "But this seems to be an unrealistic thing. As you said, as a manufacturer of non-strategic materials, we can\'t find any reason to deal with a company like Sony that sets an example for Japanese companies. ..."
"This is the problem." Professor Rafael shrugged: "Sony is taking the road of consumer electronics, and their current core product game consoles, we have no company that can target them, and their portable digital music products, we have no A company can target, as for other industries, they have no intention of setting standards for the time being, so..."
"If we just want to show our determination to maintain various industries, dealing with it will do more harm than good."
"In this case, we can only focus on the trade friction that has already broken out." The host said with emotion.
Everyone knows that the so-called harm outweighs the benefit, but because there are no companies crying and clamoring for development in Congress.
It\'s like Raytheon shouted and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was beaten to give up the market...
The benefits everyone talks about are just the interests of capitalists.
If capitalists feel that it is unprofitable to enter this industry, then no one will waste their efforts in fields that even capital is too lazy to invade. In this case, Sony can certainly live well.
While these guys continued to analyze, Roland, who was sitting in front of the TV, laughed.
Because he figured out one thing—
"It turns out that Apple went the way of monopoly but was not investigated because these guys wanted to deal with Sony!"
"Sony has repeatedly complained about malicious competition from Microsoft, and because of the will of America, it disappeared..."
iPod has grown with the joint support of various music companies.
XBox\'s low-price strategy has been complained by Sony countless times, but no one cares about it.
Roland in his previous life only knew these facts, but now...
It is not unreasonable for Sony to sell the building at a loss!
Thanks to Sony Mobile Communications for not researching 5G, otherwise, they would have been dismantled long ago.
"But...even if I know the general environment Sony is facing now, so what?"
"This general environment can only guarantee unconditional support from various industries when attacking Sony, but..."
"The key to stabbing Sony to death, I still can\'t find a chance to strike!"
That\'s right!
Roland felt that even if he understood the general situation, it was useless!
Because of this general trend, he couldn\'t borrow it at all.
Is it possible, Roland went to tell Sony that I can try to get the Ministry of Commerce to suspend the restrictions on your commodity industry, all you need is for you to make a statement and invest in "Black Hawk Down".
Not to mention whether Roland has this ability, just this kind of transaction looks very stupid.
Only when those military-industrial complexes stomp their feet, the Ministry of Commerce will break its legs, and if Roland has this ability...
Still need to dig a fart hole!
Isn\'t this superfluous!
It is precisely because I just passed, so I thought about the trick, and if I just passed, wouldn’t it be over if I just passed A?
Of course, Roland didn\'t think the show was wasted.
At least…
Give him a make-up lesson for this guy who hasn\'t read a book for many years.
After Roland put the US-Japan trade war aside, life continued.
In his spare time from filming, he occasionally attends parties held by those old guys from Carl Icahn.
Although no one intends to chat about business, the \'peers\' still know a lot.
What surprised Roland the most was that Charlie Munger, who lived in New York, took one day a week to play golf.
Even if Roland didn\'t play well, he didn\'t feel ashamed to lose to these old men.
Under the alternating relaxation of work and rest, Roland, who was still anxious, gradually calmed down.
After calming down, the days passed quickly.
"StarCraft: Brood War" will be released on November 30th, while "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" is announcing that it will meet with the public at Christmas, although neither of these two products has Roland\'s involvement However, when the popularity has risen, the advertisements related to it still fill the public\'s field of vision.
And from December 17th to 20th, on Christmas Eve, the United States and Britain launched four rounds of air strikes on Iraq, code-named \'Desert Fox\'. It lasted 70 hours and carried out a total of more than 90 targets in Iraq. 650 air strikes and more than 500 cruise missiles were fired, killing 1,400 people.
Although the war was very cruel, for the people of America and Britain, the flames of war were still far away.
Not to mention, this kind of war is still a crushing situation.
Under such circumstances, Christmas in 1998 was still a carnival for merchants. People were dazzled by the dazzling array of products, and the rampant sales promotion activities even raped people\'s attention. People who went home...
Not to mention empty-handed.
James Olsen is the same.
Going out to study for a year and not returning, he appeared in front of his family with big bags and small bags, and after he distributed the prepared gifts to his sister\'s parents, the extra two were extremely dazzling.
"Huh? Where\'s Roland?" The former little chubby asked in bewilderment.
"Ah? Are you not in touch?" Elizabeth, who was unwrapping presents, asked without raising her head. Although she was full of doubts, she immediately answered her brother\'s question, "He has gone to England and will spend this year at Kate\'s house. ..."
Note: ①The data in this chapter come from a series of reports on “Research on International Economic Cooperation Affairs and Policy” by Professor Yu Yongda, Deputy Director of the China Public Leadership Center of the School of Public Administration, Tsinghua University, and the FT900 documents of the US Department of Commerce. The data of the two are discrepant. For example, the trade deficit in 1998 accounted for 40% of the U.S. foreign trade deficit. This is the number on FT900, but in Professor Yongda\'s "Japan-U.S. Trade Friction and Their Respective Countermeasures", this data is 27.2% . This is a problem with the algorithms of both parties, so there is no need to worry about it. ②When the Japan-US trade frictions started in 1998, Sony was indeed the one targeted. I wrote that Jobs used monopoly means to kill Sony portable audio devices and Sony music because of the acquiescence, because Sony was making rules , to deal with anti-dumping restrictions. And Sony also launched \'WEGA\' in 1997. The sudden death of this product was also due to the trade war, because Sony wanted to implement its own standards. Not only that, the video CPU was still produced by them, and the rise of Sharp and Samsung at that time, All used are American LCDs. Then Sony TVs were restricted from importing, and the United States aggressively purchased Sharp and Samsung products. It is no exaggeration to say that Sony\'s three major businesses were all cut off due to the trade war, and the transformation of entertainment is a last resort.
(end of this chapter)