Chapter 1380 - 1374: Going to the United States
Zhou Mengxin said, "I heard that your Sichuan University Group is planning to shift towards the technology industry recently, is that correct?"
Lin Chuan smiled slightly, fully understanding Zhou Mengxin's thoughts. However, as a very close partner, Lin Chuan didn't mind revealing a little to her, which could also strengthen his ally's confidence.
Indeed, Lin Chuan did have this plan, and he had basically already made a clear plan for the future development of Sichuan University Group: "That's right. Moreover, this time we not only want to shift towards the technology industry, but we've also reached an agreement with Tianxin Research Institute to jointly develop a software."
"What software?" Zhou Mengxin looked at Lin Chuan with some confusion and said, "Your company is already venturing into the software field?"
Lin Chuan said, "Exactly. The software field has constantly been dominated by several giants from Europe and the United States, with profits so high I think you're even more aware of it than I am. Since this is the case, we must find a way to get a share of that."
Zhou Mengxin explained with a bitter smile, "Mr. Lin, we comprehend the profits better than you, but the barriers are extremely high. Otherwise, why would we ignore the astonishing profits ourselves? I want to remind you that the risks are immense, and it involves very strict patent issues."
What she didn't expect was that Lin Chuan was "unmoved" even after her well-intended reminder, seemingly very confident about patent matters!
Zhou Mengxin carefully watched Lin Chuan's expression, and when she confirmed he wasn't lying or joking, she fell entirely into a state of shock!
Initially, she had absolute confidence in Sichuan University Group's development, but never imagined that their progress had already far exceeded her previous limits of imagination!
After Zhou Mengxin bid farewell, Tang Yumeng walked in. After being busy for so many days, Tang Yumeng didn't show any fatigue but seemed rather spirited.
"Yumeng, it appears your skills have improved quite a bit recently," Lin Chuan said with a smile.
Ever since Tang Yumeng ate the Red Fruit, Lin Chuan taught her the cultivation mantra, which in turn made Tang Yumeng somewhat of a cultivator.
Actually, in Tang Yumeng's view, Lin Chuan was already quite formidable. After all, even three or forty hoodlums at once couldn't match him! It's truly hard to imagine how powerful someone stronger than him must be.
Tang Yumeng smiled and said, "Not bad. Anyway, lately, I've felt a stream of energy flowing inside my body. By the way, let's not talk about that now. The Chinese Chamber of Commerce in New York in the United States has sent an invitation, asking our Sichuan University Group to go."
Lin Chuan frowned and said, "What are they asking us to do?"
Tang Yumeng said, "It's unclear at the moment, but I guess it's probably about collaboration. The Chinese Chamber of Commerce in New York is quite influential, I reckon we should accept the invitation."
After pondering for a moment, Lin Chuan said, "Alright, then you and I will go. After returning, I'll have to go to Kunlun Mountain."
Tang Yumeng curiously asked, "Why go to Kunlun Mountain?"
Lin Chuan chuckled and said, "It's a secret."
Qingzi and Shuiyuan spent some time at the headquarters learning part of the Chinese dialogue and business communication. Lin Chuan then appointed them as Deputy General Managers of the Japan branch, letting them return to Japan first.
After all, they are now more theoretical, lacking practical business training.
Ironically, both the United States and Japan, despite being heralded as leaders of the global free market, have markets intrinsically filled with conservatism.
It's not that they are outrageous in policies or taxes, exhibiting local protectionism, but their nationals are incredibly conservative when it comes to purchasing foreign products.
Japan is a prime example of this.
All the citizens blindly believe their country's products are the best in quality—except for the price.
In agriculture: Their own produce is considered the healthiest and the most delicious, while foreign imports are deemed inferior, especially those from China. Completely ignoring that a significant portion of those agricultural products is entirely imported, with Japanese agriculture, feeding the nation's citizens without hunger is certainly easy, but having access to a variety of preferred vegetables is impossible!
In the service industry: Their own services are deemed the most premium and satisfactory. The services opened by Chinese and Koreans should be avoided at all costs; those people are here to steal and pollute our country. If you hire them for repairs, moving, or any other services, beware of your belongings being stolen!
As for industrial products, not to mention, they pride themselves as the world's second largest industrial nation. And since overtaken by China, they continuously emphasize the high quality of their industrial products and belittle Chinese products.
The United States, although not as extreme as Japan, also has a high-handed attitude towards electronic products.
Of course, the United States does indeed have the capital for such claims, as now over sixty percent of electronic innovations originate from there, and they have an impressive capability to turn innovations into marketable products, creating countless awe-inspiring items globally.
However, the problem now is that the United States' production capability has become disconnected from its innovation capacity!
While they can still hold onto the title of the world's leading industrial nation, they are facing a formidable assault from China. Especially since substantial support from basic components and military products is necessary to maintain this position.
Basic components symbolize the extraordinarily strong foundational capacity of the United States, unattainable by any other country worldwide. But embarrassingly, to consumers, these are not actual products.
The most typical example is the Feihong Group case back then. Feihong Group's development in the international communications market was tremendous, now accounting for a quarter of the global market share. But just when they were ambitiously venturing into the U.S. market, they were suddenly accused of having ties with the Chinese government.
If the U.S. government and companies adopted the communication facilities built by Feihong Group, their national secrets and corporate secrets would be completely transparent to China!
Such claims quickly filled all mainstream media and political circles in the United States overnight, further leading to intense public distrust towards Feihong Group's product safety.
Just days later, Congress enacted legislation to comprehensively ban Feihong Group's development and product sales in the United States, not even giving them a chance to pass security inspections.
To this day, this world's so-called "free" market hasn't lifted the ban on Feihong Group.
Lin Chuan seized this opportunity to consider visiting the United States.
Although he doesn't have a sure method to break into this gigantic U.S. market, he could at least gain a chance to see what this world's largest financial kingdom looks like.
According to the information collected by Qingzi and Shuiyuan, although the fall of Sea Domain Company harmed many vested interests, it caused heavy losses to small and medium investors, and it also led to a series of domino effects, secretly and rapidly spreading across various fields through financial leverage, further exacerbating the societal crisis. Yan Qingyu's prediction of a global financial crisis might not be far off.
Of course, currently, this is merely their imagination in the office. Lin Chuan wants to personally visit this financial sanctuary to see if there are individuals with insight who have recognized the potential risks of this impending financial crisis, and if measures have been undertaken to counteract it.
With the power of certain U.S. streets, if they truly recognize the underlying risks, halt this increasingly expanded financial leverage, and implement some regulatory measures, perhaps the crisis might still be suppressed.
However, if they continue business as usual, only focusing on the immense immediate benefits, then even God might not be able to save them.
Additionally, initially, Lin Chuan intended to have Su Nan accompany him, but Tang Yumeng received an invitation from a friend in the United States to join Lin Chuan on the trip, forcing him to call Su Nan to explain the situation.
Nevertheless, he still didn't want to miss this valuable opportunity, so he sent Su Nan ahead to the United States, planning to find a way to meet up later.
Originally, Lin Chuan wondered if he should take this downtime to travel around and observe the actual development of various markets and the impact of emerging companies.
But these "small matters" were enthusiastically arranged by Tang Yumeng. Lin Chuan understood that they were concerned about him being overworked, so going abroad early for rest was appreciated, and he no longer refused their kindness, letting Tang Yumeng book the flight tickets early and set off together with her.
To Lin Chuan, the United States is incredibly familiar, given his numerous ambiguous connections with President Omama and CIA Director Everson.
He had heard plentiful rumors about this country before. The world's largest nation, beacon of civilization, a financial kingdom, a car kingdom, innovation kingdom, technology kingdom...
In conclusion, everyone praises the United States highly, and at least till now, it remains the invincible, powerful, and civilized representative.
Although Lin Chuan doesn't entirely believe the internet's jokes, he acknowledges that its position as the sole superpower in the world isn't a joke.
After a flight of over ten hours, they finally reached the United States' largest city and the largest financial center in the world, New York.
But upon arrival, it was somewhat disappointing; the airport and infrastructure appeared old, inferior to Jiangbei City's airport, and even less so compared to the newly built international airport in the Capital City.
According to Tang Yumeng, this wasn't surprising. It should be known that the U.S. aviation industry far surpasses local standards. It can be said that, until now, domestic long-distance travel primarily relies on trains. However, in the United States, aviation is already the primary mode.