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March
Week 12, 2008
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Dear Zinester,
Here is this
week’s edition, covering:
- Marketing-China and Getting it
Right
- Luxury Brands in China: Part IV
- Cheap or value added
- Latest China Sourcing Trends
We hope you will enjoy reading this edition.
Have a nice Easter weekend!
All of us at China Success Stories
Chinese Expert Guest Blog
Marketing-China and Getting it Right
 China has become a synonym for future business growth. It is the business
nirvana of the 21st century. It is the place to be. Companies are
scrambling to get a share of the action. Not a day passes without some
company making an announcement of an investment in their future which
involves China.
Their reason for this scramble is the expectation of gaining vast increases
in shareholder value. Reported performance would suggest that these
expectations are difficult to realise. Anecdotal evidence would suggest
that decreases in shareholder value rather than increases in shareholder
value should be the expectation. Why is this? One reason for this is poor
marketing performance. Comparing companies that have been successful with
those that have not suggests that better preparation directed at
understanding the market context, marketing operating requirements (this
includes marketing management) and their surrounding culture would have
seen fewer red faces at senior management level and less red ink at
shareholder level.
Read the rest or post a comment
>>
Q & A
Tool
and Die experts in China
I am an experienced sales professional (20 years) with experience in
Manufacturing and Automotive. I am looking for high quality Tool and Die
manufacturers in China that have an interest to expand their current
business with North America.
Answer this question >>
Chinese Expert Guest
Blog
Luxury Brands in China: Part IV
 Luxury retailing in China clearly presents tremendous opportunities, but
also risks and challenges. In addition to heightening competition as is
common among emerging markets, the most significant and relevant of
challenges for luxury brands concern Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
regulations, the time frame for a return on investment, low luxury brand
awareness, booming Chinese tourism and limited retail infrastructure.
• IPR regulations
According to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing the piracy rate in China
remains one of the highest in the world and, on average, 20 percent of
consumer products are counterfeit. Even domestic companies are troubled by
piracy, with a recent study by the Ministry of Information Industry finding
that 37 percent of Chinese companies suffered from such problems.
Read the rest or post a comment
>>
Facts & Figures
Dinosaur Discoverers
You never know when these statistics might prove
to be of value to you. So without further ado, here's our weekly top
10.
Top 10 Dinosaur Discoverers
| |
Discoverer/Country |
Period |
No. of Dinosaurs |
| 1 |
Friedrich von Huene (Germany) |
1902-1961 |
46 |
| 2 |
Othniel Charles Marsh (USA) |
1870-1894 |
39 |
| 3 |
Dong Zhiming
(China) |
1973-2003 |
35 |
| 4 |
Edward Drinker Cope (USA) |
1866-1892 |
30 |
| = |
Harry Govier Seeley (UK) |
1869-1898 |
30 |
| 6 |
José Fernando Bonaparte
(Argentina) |
1969-2000 |
28 |
| 7 |
Richard Owen (UK) |
1841-1884 |
23 |
| 8 |
Barnum Brown (USA) |
1873-1963 |
17 |
| = |
Henry Fairfield Osborn (USA) |
1902-1924 |
17 |
| = |
Yang Zhong-Jian (‘C.C.
Young’) (China) |
1937-1982 |
17 |
(Source: The Top 10 of Everything 2007)
Chinese Expert Guest
Blog
Cheap or value added
 The mistake many people make when engaging manufacturers or buying
products in China is to think cheap. Lowest cost-lowest price, discount
discount discount. There is a much better alternative and one that traders
are not currently exploiting.
For example lets take a pair of shoes. Almost 50% of all the shoes sold in
the UK originate in China. Now the costs involved in manufacturing a pair
of shoes include the cost of materials, ie. leather, the cost of packaging,
the cost of the overhead…rent rates electric etc, the cost of labour
& management and of course the cost of shipping. However, think of
this… the labour aspect of the combined costs is probably less than
10%.
Read the rest or post a comment >>
Fun & Games
Lost
in Translation
An episode of the Danwei TV series ‘Sexy Beijing’. What
is your Chinese name?
Watch the video >>
Chinese Expert Guest Blog
Latest China Sourcing Trends
 Sourcing from China has evolved from a straight-forward, cost-driven
approach to more elaborate and strategic varieties. While the recent
product recalls did not seem to have impacted Chinese exports based on
overall figures, however we have come across anecdotal evidence suggesting
the otherwise.
Undoubtedly the initial sourcing interest was triggered by China’s
notorious low costs, both direct (such as those for labor and land or rent)
and indirect (rendered under a myriad of government export incentives, such
as subsidized fuel costs, export VAT refunds, non-taxation and/or tax
reduction).
Over the years the exercise has evolved from a static, per item
price-driven modus operandi to more sophisticated ones. For example, many
US buyers now employ a vertically or laterally integrated approach, or
both.
Read the rest or post a comment >>
Comments
Brian in reply to Inside Chinese Business–Book Review
Great review! Simply understanding the way of doing business
in china, you would be ok even you are not a master of Chinese language or
culture. As a guy born and educated in …
Brian Su in reply to Ask Colin Friedman for China Expert advice
Yes, China is a large country with various regional taste
and flavor. Any generalization of Chinese culture or business
practice/protocol does not make any sense. Things are constantly
…
David in reply to Inside Chinese Business–Book Review
You guys are right. The only thing that is mystical about
Chinese business is the language–and that is honestly a big deal.
It’s a big deal for Chinese themselves with all the dialects ...
Paul Carlone in reply to
Cheap or value added
Is there a formula you can apply to working out how much to
spend on labour? Is this something that can be taught, or something that
can only be learnt? …
Gio in reply to Travel Agency in Shanghai
Dear Pablo, Forget about opening a WFOE in the travel
sector: it is not permitted. You have to team up with a Chinese
counterpart...
Leon in reply to Chinese fibre glass material company
Hi, I have a friend in a fiber glass factory, the factory is
among the top10 in its field in the world. If you are interested, pls
contact me and I would like to introduce you to this factory.
KenBW2 in reply to Cheap or value added
I agree. There’s far too much emphasis on just getting
the job done these days. What happened to taking a pride in the workmanship
of what we do or own? Would be nice to …
Paul Murphy in reply to Cheap or value added
Definitely a different view to take on the whole situation,
but I think the idea of products designed cheaply so that they’d
break quickly (and for this to be considered acceptable by …
Andy in reply to Cheap or value added
I guess most of European entrepreneurs expect Chinese labour
to be dirt cheap, and most Chinese manufacturers know this is what we
expect and fulfill our expectations. I wonder …
Emilia Nieminen in reply to
Scientific study on Guanxi in Business
I was wondering what is the total number of people
interviewed or surveyed for this research. It kind on undermines the
results not to know in what sort of scale the study was conducted
…
Mike in reply to Travel Agency in Shanghai
Pablo, Best way is to find a local government certified
agent to work with to make flight arrangements (they must be licensed
anyway). You can make the EU arrangements via …
Aneta in reply to Luxury Brands in China: Part III
Thank you so much for updating me with China’s
Business News, it helps me to know more about China. As everyone knows,
most of luxury brands are purchased by clients all …
JP in reply to Chinese fibre glass material company
Hi, we deal with all sorts of fibre glass material, from raw
material (mats, roving, BMC, SMC, Carbon) up to finished products. we ource
from different companies throughout China…
Leon in reply to Chinese fibre glass material company
Hi, Jean-Philipp, Thanks for your attention and reply. Pls
add me by MSN or skype so that we can discuss in details…
Richard Kaye in reply to
Cheap or value added
You make a very good point. I think the reason is many years
of indoctrination and obedience has led to a propensity to acquiesce to
others expectations. An entrepreneurial …
Benjamin in reply to Marketing-China and Getting it Right
Mona, you have some good points. While I may disagree that
Chinese managers are effective because of their thousand year history I do
agree that Chinese management practices, while …
Benjamin in reply to Inside Chinese Business–Book Review
Thank you David. I greatly enjoyed your
article.
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