Branded Snippets n China’s eagerness to become a global power has now spread to sports. Recently, President Xi Jinping, who is known as a football enthusiast, declared that he wants China to win the football World Cup within 15 years and to become a world football superpower by 2050. This has inspired wealthy Chinese investors to purchase majority interests in established international football clubs, such as Italy’s Inter Milan, Spain’s Granada and Espanyol, France’s Nice and Sochaux and Holland’s ADO Den Haag. In England, all four leading football clubs in the West Midlands – Aston Villa, Birmingham City, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers – are now owned by Chinese. This can be seen as a China making good on its desire to mark its footprint on the footballing world and to display its success on the global stage. China has so far only qualified for one World Cup, that was in 2002. China’s men’s team currently sits 88th in the Fifa world rankings, out of 209 nations. The Chinese Super League has been hit by corruption in recent years, with numerous players and officials banned for match-fixing, although efforts have been made to clean up the sport.
Teng Bingsheng, associate dean and associated Professor of Strategic Management at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB).
Inter Milan president Erick Thohir (left) cheers with new club owner, Zhang Jidong, founder of the Suning home appliances chain.
Did you know … PHOTO: CKGSB
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“While we can see that Chinese companies’ brand value is growing, they remain weak globally. Japanese brands that are doing well worldwide have taken more than 20 years to get to where they are today. Therefore, Chinese brands need at least another 10 years to develop themselves.”
PHOTO: InterMilan
Chinese investors on the hunt for football brands
n … that only 23 per cent of Western consumers could name a Chinese brand, and that only 32 per cent said that they had faith in products that were made in China, according to research by the brand consultancy MillwardBrown?
Chinese mobile phone brands conquer India
n In the near future, will Chinese fast food restaurant conquer the world and compete with global giants such as McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut? According to a report from Bernstein Research and Interbrand, this is a possible outcome – at least for some Chinese chains. There is a lack of global options for quick, cheap, consistent Chinese fast food, the report said, which will underpin demand for restaurant brands like Kung Fu Fast Food, Da Niang Dumpling and GLL Wontons. “The lack of a global Chinese restaurant brand is not for lack of a market: Chinese is among the most broadly appealing cuisines in the world (second only to Italian). Instead the challenge has been a logistical one, as Chinese food defies efforts to systematise the cooking process,” the report said. The three brands mentioned in the report seem to have cracked the code on consistent production, Bernstein analysts noted. Da Niang Dumpling is the only one with international branches due to its franchised model that leverages local area expertise. 8 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2016
PHOTO: iStock
Chinese fast food could go global
n Sales of Chinese smartphones in India are on the rise due to growing acceptance of brands like Vivo, Oppo, Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo. Xiaomi said recently that India has become its largest market outside China. Xiaomi has become the third-largest smartphone vendor in India’s top 30 cities, with a market share of 8.4 per cent, the company said, citing statistics from market research firm IDC. Vivo, another domestic smartphone brand, also aims to expand its business in India, by tripling its monthly production as well as starting online sales. Data from cctime.com in August 2016 showed that Chinese smartphone brands accounted for more than 25 per cent of India’s market in terms of shipments by the end of June, up from 19 per cent at the end of 2015. “As China’s mobile phone market is somewhat saturated, it’s a right choice that domestic brands have started to explore the gigantic Indian market, which is full of opportunities as many people in India still do not own a smartphone. Our brands are looking into the future of India’s mobile phone market,” Liu Dingding, a Beijing-based independent tech expert, told the Global Times.