Chapter 531: Sigh About the System

"This condition is probably difficult for Kodak to accept." After hearing Fan Wubing's condition, Boss Zhu felt a little surprised and said smoothly.

It is true that Kodak is facing a relatively big crisis now, but this does not mean that they have completely failed. As a veteran package solution provider for image and text processing business, Kodak has encountered relatively big difficulties in the film manufacturing industry, but In other aspects, the development is very smooth. Now it wants to completely acquire the Chinese film manufacturing industry, but it just hopes to maintain the film business for a few more years. It does not mean that Kodak can no longer maintain it without the Chinese market.

Although many people are somewhat blindly optimistic about the importance of the Chinese market, Boss Zhu still knows it very well, so when he heard Fan Wubing's conditions, he did not feel that it was an easy condition.

Fan Wubing replied, "Within three years, our Fan Investment Group will only share Kodak's research results in digital camera manufacturing technology and memory card manufacturing technology, and will not directly put them into production, so we will not have any influence on Kodak's research results." any threat to its market position."

After hearing this, Boss Zhu felt a little thoughtful, thinking that Fan Wubing's idea was really weird, but he didn't know how Kodak would react?

For a new technology, a technology that is constantly developing, it is very likely that unlimited possibilities will arise in three years. A technology that seems mature now may become a thing of the past in three years. , no longer has any value.

Moreover, Kodak is not the only company developing digital camera technology. I really don’t understand why Fan Wubing is willing to suffer such a loss to share Kodak’s related technology, and yet promises not to use this technology to develop projects for the time being. product?

After everyone chatted for a while, the meal carefully prepared by the manager was finally served. The combination of meat and vegetables was very reasonable, and it was pleasing to the eye. The old Baifen brought over was a private collection that had been sold in the capital for more than thirty years. It is also relatively rare here, and the waiter who went to develop Shen Ying's photos also ran back and showed Shen Ying the developed photos.

Fan Wubing took two photos and looked at them. This one was printed, and the effect was a bit crude. Although this was a 1.6 million-pixel digital camera, the lens was also professional grade. But the clarity still needs to be improved. Although the effect is much better than that of ordinary point-and-shoot cameras, from the perspective of Fan Wubing, who is used to mature digital camera technology, this is still a rookie-level digital camera.

"It looks good, but the long-distance imaging effect is not good. The printing effect is also not satisfactory, but it is still worth it." After making a judgment, Fan Wubing took two bills to tip the waiter. .

"Thank you, sir." After the waiter took the tip, he suddenly smiled.

"Mr. Fan is really rich, isn't he? The tips he gave were all hundred dollar bills?" Upon seeing this, Boss Zhu joked, "I just poured you two cups of tea, should I still tip?"

Fan Wubing laughed and said, "If Boss Zhu takes action, the price will be sky-high. But I don't have the courage. Otherwise, if people find out, I will be shot to death?"

Speaking of which, Fan Wubing's tip was a bit too much, and it was not unreasonable.

He has been paying attention to too many things during this period, and he has not noticed details such as digital camera technology. Therefore, when he came over for dinner today and accidentally encountered this matter, he was enlightened, although it may not be what he is doing now. It is the best time to buy digital cameras, but it is imperative to start tracking the latest research and development technology and prepare for marketization.

After all, the market prospects for digital cameras and related products are extremely broad. Not only is the market itself huge, but it can also be transferred to mobile phones to form a leading advantage in the industry. This process is not very difficult.

Of course, in fact, if Fan Wubing waits until the digital camera technology matures and hopes to acquire ready-made technology and then develop new products, that is also possible, but the cost may be a bit higher. Considering this aspect, obtaining the current If you develop technology at the bottom, continue to obtain the progress of Kodak within three years, and then transform it based on your own needs, the effect will be better.

Moreover, Fan Wubing also hopes that his research institute can digest and absorb these digital technologies and develop components with independent intellectual property rights for the digital photography technology used in mobile phones. In that case, the long-term competitiveness will be stronger.

Fan Wubing is very clear about how promising the development prospects of digital photography technology will be in the next few years. If it is just from the perspective of digital cameras, or the sales volume has not reached the level that Fan Wubing desires, but considering the digital Fan Wubing is quite excited about the widespread use of photography technology in mobile phones.

Shen Ying was more interested in digital cameras, so she asked Fan Wubing if there were any latest models in China, or to what extent were the latest foreign products? Can you get a few back to play with?

Boss Zhu smiled and said, "Actually, this is very simple. We need to negotiate with Kodak anyway. Just ask them directly for it. I guarantee it will be their most advanced product, or it will be given to you for free."

Fan Wubing replied, "It's not impossible, but if we discuss business later, it would seem like we were accepting a commercial bribe."

After all, Boss Zhu's secretary contacted Kodak as soon as possible. Kodak President Pei Xuede happened to fly to Beijing for an event in the near future. After hearing that Fan Wubing was interested in participating in this project, he immediately expressed It is necessary to arrange the visit to China in advance and try to meet Fan Wubing as soon as possible.

"Look, Kodak is very proactive, right?" Fan Wubing said with a smile, "My request is not excessive at all."

In fact, he is also very clear that the reason why Kodak is not very disgusted with this request is mainly because the sales volume of digital cameras is still relatively small. Based on the sales volume of one million units this year, the actual operating revenue does not exceed 2 billion. US dollars, a dozen large companies are dividing up the US$2 billion market, and there really isn’t much profit left in their hands.

As for the future situation or what it will be, we can't see it yet, but a company like Kodak, which promotes digital camera technology on the one hand, and still maintains its leading advantages in traditional camera technology and image printing technology on the other, is obviously impossible to integrate digital technology into the future. Camera technology is my only goal.

In fact, Kodak's goal is very clear. Since everyone is rushing to develop cameras and digital cameras, then I will engage in the underlying unavoidable service support, digital printing of graphics, text, images and other implementation technologies, while you all are engaged in cameras. But it’s impossible not to print it out, right? Since you want to print, you can't do without our technical support.

Fan Wubing admires Kodak's idea very much. He also knows very well how big China's future digital printing and graphic imaging market will be, so he would rather not dictate and hope to obtain a certain proportion of shares through capital injection, which can be regarded as a tie-up. This is a ride.

If you can reach a cooperation agreement with Kodak, then when digital cameras and mobile phone digital technologies mature, you can easily use the service system formed by Kodak to provide value-added services for your mobile phone digital imaging technology. The scale of this market will be larger. It is large, and there is not much investment cost. It is basically pure profit.

After doing this, Boss Zhu's mood improved a little, and everyone started eating. Boss Zhu also drank two glasses of wine with Fan Wubing, chatting while eating.

Shen Ying was eating and looking through the photos. Suddenly she raised a question, "I remember Lucky Film is also pretty good. Are they also going to be acquired?"

When talking about this question, Boss Zhu paused and then replied, "Actually, many people have mentioned this question."

In the 1980s, Lucky, as the leader of Chinese film films, faced market demand, seized the opportunity and transformed decisively, developing my country's first generation color film, realizing the leap from film film to civilian photographic consumables.

However, due to the large gap between the domestic financial film industry and the world level, some domestic film factories launched a wave of comprehensive introduction at that time. Xiamen and Shantou photosensitive companies successively introduced two complete color film production lines. Lucky insists on introducing targeted technologies for its own use on the basis of independent development.

Then the wave of introduction failed to revitalize China's photosensitive industry, Shanghai's color reel line failed to form a designed scale, Xiamen and Shantou suffered losses for consecutive years, and Wuxi, Tianjin and other companies were barely able to survive.

Only Lucky has formed a virtuous cycle mechanism of producing one generation, improving one generation, developing one generation, and pre-researching one generation. In 1992, Lucky Gold BR100 came out, and Lucky shortened the gap between itself and Kodak from forty years. for eight years. With its superb color performance and excellent independent technology, it was elected as the king of Chinese film.

By 1996, Lucky Film Company's production of color film, color photo paper, color film, and aerospace film accounted for 100% of the country's total output respectively, and its market share reached

"However, the traditional photosensitive material industry is a capital and technology-intensive industry, and its research and development expenses are important indicators to measure its technological leadership. In 1995, Kodak's R&D expenses were US$900 million, while Lucky's R&D expenses during the same period were The cost is only three million US dollars, a difference of more than three hundred times," Boss Zhu said to Fan Wubing with some emotion, "Although Lucky has greatly shortened the gap with Kodak, the gap has been caused by the gap in the past few years. The technical difference is immeasurable. Before Lucai was able to occupy such a large market share, a big factor was the degree of market openness and price factors. However, with the development of the economy, people's interest in imaging technology If the requirements continue to increase, Lucky's competitiveness will rapidly decline. Therefore, I support a comprehensive joint venture, but some people cannot see this and simply oppose this cooperation proposal based on the words "national industry". , It’s really a bit annoying.”

Fan Wubing nodded. He knew very well that with the emergence of digital imaging technology, traditional photosensitive materials were facing a crisis of comprehensive decline. The industrial substitution crisis will make the gap between Lucky and Kodak wider and wider, but in the face of digital transformation, they seem even more powerless and unable to come up with a solution.

Many things in China, especially those related to state-owned enterprises, are difficult to deal with. In real history, in 2000, Lucky had intended to establish a digital imaging company. However, in 2001, the feasibility study report of Lucky Digital Imaging Co., Ltd.'s annual output of 20 million square meters of imaging materials project was approved by the State Planning Commission. Next, it had to enter the preliminary design review meeting. The project demonstration on paper was delayed for three years.

During this period, Kodak, Fuji, Konica, and Aike, old film manufacturers, all upgraded their old printing networks to digital printing and had long been involved in the manufacture of digital cameras. At this time, Lucky, which lacked core technology and capital investment, could only watch the excitement.

Soon, Lucky was left far behind by its competitors. When Lucky finally cooperated with Epson and opened its first digital laser printing store, Kodak's digital printing network service points had exceeded 1,800. The backwardness of digital printing bases slowed down the operation and development of Lucky's digital printing product chain, and the crown of the king finally fell into the dust.

"Sometimes, you can't do whatever you want. Just looking at the domestic R&D investment can determine whether the industry has development potential. Rather than leaving it here and slowly dying out naturally, it is better to promote it to the market as soon as possible." Fan Wubing said with some emotion, "If the domestic enterprise system problem is not solved, R&D investment cannot be increased. However, under the current situation, if R&D investment is not increased, any industry will fall behind. It's like the technology of general-purpose computers in China. In the early 1980s, there were still some things that could be shown off, but now, it's already catching up with others. I can't hold it anymore. Power is sometimes useful and sometimes not. The same is true for the system. In the past, our system was adapted to the development of productivity, but if we want to switch to a market economy, the management mechanism of state-owned enterprises needs to change. Otherwise, it will only become more chaotic and worse, and everyone will be finished together in the end. "

Shen Ying picked up a piece of matsutake and stuffed it into Fan Wubing's mouth, and then said, "Eat quickly, this is a dinner party, not a criticism meeting of the state-owned enterprise system."

Boss Zhu laughed at the table when he heard it. Fan Wubing had a big piece of matsutake stuffed in his mouth, and he felt very uncomfortable when he couldn't speak.

After swallowing it with great difficulty, Fan Wubing said, "The feeling of the state-owned enterprise now is the same as mine just now. I can't say it, and it's uncomfortable to hold it in."