I really didn’t want to be a warm man when I was reborn

Starting this year, the smartphone market has begun to grow explosively. Domestic mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, Coolpad, LeTV, Meizu, Oppo, vivo, and Xiaomi have entered the smartphone market one after another.

This year alone, smartphone shipments reached more than 70 million units.

The growth rate will be faster in the next three to four years. It will not be until smartphone shipments reach its peak in 2015 or 2016 and the market is saturated that the growth rate will slow down.

Whoever between Quchao and WeChat can seize enough users in the recent years when the smartphone market explodes will be the ultimate winner and dominate the mobile instant messaging market.

On February 18, Quliao took the lead in starting a price war, raising the new recruit reward from 5 yuan to 6 yuan. WeChat followed closely, and then the two companies started a publicity war again, on TV, online, and offline. Promotional ads from both sides can be seen everywhere.

Both Quchao and WeChat maintain an offline promotion team of thousands of people.

For a promotion team of thousands of people, the personnel expenses and daily activities expenses alone are nearly 10 million per month. If promotion expenses are included, it will be even more.

On the one hand, there is a big promotion war with WeChat, but on the other hand, Quchao has begun to quietly drain the profits from the bottom of the cauldron.

Li Zhe has been paying attention to the progress of Xiaomi mobile phones. Xiaomi has played an important role in promoting the explosion of the domestic mobile phone market.

It was the release of Xiaomi mobile phones that took the lead in lowering the price of low-end smartphones, ushering in the era of thousand-yuan phones, allowing more ordinary people to afford smartphones.

With Li Zhe's intervention in this life, Xiaomi Mi 1 was launched three or four months earlier and is expected to be launched in June or July.

The price of the mobile phone will be less than 2,000 yuan. Compared with the smartphone market, which generally costs more than 3,000 yuan at this time, this price is definitely a plunge.

More importantly, the quality of the mobile phone is guaranteed. The price is less than 2,000 yuan, and the configuration is 3,000-4,000 yuan. It directly sweeps the domestic copycat smartphones into the garbage, allowing the domestic smartphones to enter the era of brand phones.

Li Zhe and Rebus have negotiated that Xiaomi 1 will be pre-installed with QuChat, and Qudong Group will subsidize each phone with 10 yuan.

In other words, customers can get a mobile phone priced at 1,999 yuan for only 1,989 yuan.

Not only Xiaomi, Qudong Group will also talk to other major mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei, ZTE, Coolpad, and Lenovo.

Giving pre-installed subsidies to mobile phone manufacturers is undoubtedly a bad start. When Penguin follows suit, vicious competition will form. Both parties will continue to burn money on a large scale until one party is brought down.

But the shopping mall is like a battlefield. You gain strength by striking first, but suffer disaster by striking later.

In the previous life, WeChat had no competitors. There was only one MiLiao and it was quickly killed. It was simply a win, so there was no need to use any tricks.

But now there is competition between Quchao and WeChat, and vicious competition is inevitable.

Whoever strikes early and who strikes hard enough will be the final winner.

Just like a certain taxi-hailing software giant, it relied on malicious competition and unscrupulous means to destroy all competitors, and then monopolized the market.

As long as Quchao’s real-name users can take the lead in exceeding 100 million and gain an absolute advantage, capital can enter the market and continue to burn money through continuous financing until it completely monopolizes the market.

…

By early March, Li Zhe began to frequently inspect film and television and game peripheral production factories.

Thanks to the surge in global smartphone shipments, the revenue of small games such as "Angry Birds", "Fruit Slicing", and "Plants vs. Zombies" owned by Quwan Technology has also surged in Europe and the United States, especially Peripheral products sell extremely well.

Young people in Europe and the United States have the habit of buying peripheral products.

The small game "Angry Birds" alone can bring hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue to Qudong Group in a year. As the popularity of the game increases, the revenue will increase significantly in the next two years.

However, this kind of small game becomes popular very quickly, and the profit-making period is only two to three years.

Among them, 47% of the revenue of "Angry Birds" comes from derivative toys, books and other authorized products. It can be said that peripheral revenue accounts for half.

Last year, Quku Entertainment launched the "Angry Birds" movie project, just to make more money during the huge profit period.

The past five or six years have been the fastest growing period in the country. When there are more and more frictions with the United States, it will be difficult to earn foreign exchange.

Qudong Group’s peripheral product factories are mainly located in Zhejiang Province.

Currently, there are five or six factories for clothing, toys, accessories, etc., with scales ranging from a few hundred to thousands of employees. The total number of employees is between 5,000 and 6,000, and this year and next year it will expand to tens of thousands.

Li Zhe did not inform the factory about the inspection, and only Liu Kaiyue knew about the company. He drove over directly with his secretary and bodyguard, just to see the real situation at the factory.

Personal secretaries Zhang Wenjun and Yu Xiangzi, administrative secretary Bai Wei, and five bodyguards Shen Baoshan, Zhou Chao, and Shu Mei, a total of nine people in the group.

Li Zhe, Zhang Wenjun, Yu Xiangzi and Bai Wei were riding in the newly arrived bulletproof Maybach, with bodyguard Shu Mei driving the car.

Four bodyguards, Shen Baoshan and Zhou Chao, drove two BMW SUVs to see each other off.

The bulletproof Maybach was a four-seater, so it was a bit crowded for five people to sit in it. However, Li Zhe, the boss, was quite generous and didn't mind squeezing with Zhang Wenjun and Yu Xiangzi.

Li Zhe and his party first went to a toy factory in Yiwu. It was the largest among several factories, with 1,500 to 600 redundant workers.

It takes three or four hours to drive from Shanghai to Yiwu. Li Zhe and the others set out in the morning, but it was almost noon when they arrived in Yiwu.

"Mr. Li, why are you here all of a sudden?" The person in charge of the toy factory, female manager Jiang Hongshan, who was in her mid-thirties, came out with her supervisors and was a little caught off guard by Li Zhe's arrival.

"Manager Jiang, please take me to the workshop first!" Li Zhe and Jiang Hongshan said directly after greetings.

The toy factory has a large workshop with semi-automated assembly line production. The workers all wear uniform work clothes and wear hoods to process toys. Most of the employees are young girls, accounting for 70 to 80%. Occasionally, you can see a few good-looking ones. .

It was also during this period that there were still relatively many female workers in factories. Ten years later, even in factories such as clothing factories and toy factories where there are more female workers, there will be very few young girls. Many positions will be filled by male workers, and most female workers will not be employed. They are all married women in their thirties and forties.

When they saw manager Jiang Hongshan leading people to visit, they just looked at it curiously and then continued the decoration work. Their work attitude and enthusiasm were very good.

The production level of this toy factory and the quality of its employees are definitely top-notch in the country at this time.

However, the quality of employees is so good mainly because the factory has good welfare benefits.

Now in factories in Zhejiang Province, wages are generally only about 2,000 yuan a month, which is earned by working 12 hours a day, only having one day off a week, and working overtime.

Not counting overtime, the base salary is only 800-1,000 yuan.

At this time, the average salary in the province was only 2,900 yuan.

In the surrounding factories of Qudong Group, you only need to work 10 hours a day and take a day and a half off on weekends. You can get about 2,800 yuan a month, and you will be paid social security after becoming a full-time employee after three months of employment.

The monthly salary of 2,800 yuan is no worse than that of ordinary white-collar workers. In addition, the work, accommodation and food are also first-class, which makes people who want to work in Qudongji's factories flock to it.

It's just that the factory's recruitment standards are also very high, so those with better conditions won't be able to get in at all.

Qudong Group's factories offer such high wages to their employees, which undoubtedly breaks the rules of the entire industry. Not only will they be squeezed out by their peers, it will also increase production costs and competitive pressure.

Fortunately, the products are all film and television game peripherals sold in Europe and the United States. The cost is low and the profit is high. If the cost is increased, it is completely within the acceptable range.

Of course, Qudong Group can implement the same wage standards as other domestic companies and enjoy the demographic dividend with peace of mind. This will not only lead to higher profits but also avoid trouble.

But industry rejuvenates the country, and industry is the foundation of a country.

Li Zhe knew what would happen ten years later. After experiencing the glory of the world's factory, a labor shortage began to appear in the country.

What's more important is the change in concept. At this time, high-income workers with some skills in the factory are still more respected.

But ten years later, as long as you work in a factory, even skilled workers will not be respected very much, and they will still be working in a bad job.

No young people want to work in factories, they just want to be celebrities or Internet celebrities.

This change in concepts and attitudes is a huge problem.

But no big country has risen by relying on the entertainment industry.

Li Zhe does not seek to change the entire environment, but only wants to do something on a small scale.

He now somewhat understands Richard Liu's thoughts. There are many people from lower-class backgrounds who will exploit others even more when they become rich and powerful.

Just like the owner of a small entertainment company who was an artist, he was exploited by his agency when he was an artist. After he became the boss, he intensified his exploitation of his artists.

But there are also many successful people who come from lower-class backgrounds. They are sentimental, understand the hardships of people at the lower classes, and want to do something.

However, this kind of sentiment will be hit and worn away by reality, and Li Zhe doesn't know when the last bit of sentiment in him will disappear.

Jiang Hongshan led Li Zhe to visit the workshop while giving an explanation. She also wanted the employees to stop first and introduce Li Zhe's identity to them.

But Li Zhe didn't let her do this.

He came to the factory to inspect and understand the situation, not to show off his identity or interfere with production.

After visiting several workshops, it was already noon, and the workers got off work one after another and went to the canteen to eat.

A supervisor following Jiang Hongshan said: "Mr. Li, it's almost time. Why don't we eat first? The hotel has been arranged."

Li Zhe glanced at him and said, "There's no need to go to the restaurant. Let's go to the cafeteria to eat. I'll also try some work meals."

The staff restaurant is large, the environment is neat and clean, and the dishes are quite rich. It feels no worse than ordinary foreign-funded enterprises.

During lunch time, the restaurant was full of workers coming to eat, and there was a long queue at the food window.

The arrival of Li Zhe and the others attracted the attention of the workers, who all looked towards them.

In such a short time, the news that the big boss of the group came to inspect has spread throughout the factory.

Many female employees were watching, talking and joking in low voices, and seemed very curious and interested in the big boss Li Zhe.

Li Zhe didn't use his privileges and queued up for meals with Jiang Hongshan and others.

In front of Li Zhe was a very young girl. She looked like she was not yet an adult. She was very delicate. If she had put on more makeup, she would have been a pretty girl.

The girl frequently turned her head to look at Li Zhe, glanced at him and quickly turned her head away, as if she was peeking.

"What's your name?" Li Zhe asked warmly with a smile.

"Ah! My...my name is Yao Xiaoyan." The girl was stunned for a moment, then nervously said after she realized what she was doing.

"How old are you and how long have you been employed?"

"I am 17 years old and have been working for more than a month."

I am 17 years old, that is, I have just turned 16 years old.

"What do you think of the food in the cafeteria?"

"I think it's very good. The price is very cheap."

The factory cafeteria of Qudong Group is not for profit, and the food is very cheap. Two to three hundred yuan a month is enough to eat, and four to five hundred yuan can make you eat well.

Li Zhe chatted with Yao Xiaoyan for a few words and got to know her views.

After waiting in line for dinner, he, Jiang Hongshan, Zhang Wenjun, Yu Xiangzi, and Bai Wei found an empty seat and sat down. ,

There are too many people in the cafeteria, and there are many girls, making the environment very noisy.

The seats are basically occupied, and there is no single empty table.

Seeing Li Zhe and Jiang Hongshan looking for seats with their dinner plates, the girls quickly gave up their tables.

However, Li Zhe did not let them give way. Instead, he and Jiang Hongshan found empty seats and sat down.

Seeing Li Zhe and Jiang Hongshan sit down, the two girls at the same table were obviously a little nervous.

Li Zhe took a look at them. They were average-looking and plainly dressed.

The workers in this toy factory are all dressed normally. Those with dyed yellow or green hair, hair with explosive hair, or those with tattoos or restlessness were eliminated during recruitment.

"Eat this for you!" Li Zhe gave the chicken drumstick on the plate to the girl opposite.

Not only does this girl dress very plainly, but she also eats very frugally. There is only one vegetarian dish, one rice and a bowl of free soup on the dinner plate, which makes people look down on her.

The cheapest set meal cost only three yuan and she wouldn't bear it.

The three-yuan set meal is half meat, one vegetarian, and enough rice.

"Mr. Li, no, there's really no need." The girl didn't expect that the big boss Li Zhe would pick up food for her. She was stunned for a moment and hurriedly declined.

"Eat, I haven't touched my chopsticks yet!" Li Zhe said with a smile.

"I didn't... mean that." The girl said in an inaudible voice, then lowered her head and started eating.

"How long have you been employed?"

While Li Zhe was eating, he asked about the situation of the two girls.

Although this cafeteria is also a big pot of rice, the taste is pretty good, at least much better than the food in the Hongcheng Normal University cafeteria.

After eating in the cafeteria, Li Zhe went to Jiang Hongshan's manager's office to rest for a while. In the afternoon, he went to visit the employee dormitory.

The dormitories are all six-person rooms, which are similar to ordinary student dormitories, but compared to the eight-person, ten-person, or even dozen-person rooms in many factories, the conditions are very good.

And employees are only charged a nominal fee for accommodation and water and electricity.

Li Zhe is quite satisfied with the situation in the toy factory, which has basically met his expected standards.

In this era, few domestic private factories offer such benefits.

After inspecting the toy factory, Li Zhe and his party went to a nearby clothing factory to have a look.

The clothing factory obviously knew that Li Zhe was coming and made emergency preparations, but the inspection results were not as good as those at the toy factory.

By the time they left the clothing, it was already past 7 p.m. Li Zhe and the others did not go back to Shanghai, but found a hotel in the city to stay.

Tomorrow he will finish inspecting the remaining factories.