Beijing Olympic Sponsorship’s A Waste

May 1st, 2008  by China Business Success Stories

Beijing Olympic Sponsorship's a WasteWhile massive amounts of money is being spent on marketing in the run-up to the Olympics to capture China 250 million strong emerging middle class, unfortunately most marketing campaigns are failing to deliver the results that the sponsors like Coca-Cola or Adidas were hoping for. My latest piece looks at the effectiveness of Olympics sponsorship and …

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China’s Supply Chain raises the bar: Part IV

April 28th, 2008  by China Business Success Stories

Making the auto supply chain transparent

By Russel Beron

Innovative Changes in the Chinese Manufacturing IndustrySimilar to Haier Group, China’s automotive industry has an array of suppliers which require sophisticated systems to manage them. China’s auto market, an ongoing hot topic is becoming more competitive and manufacturers have to look at the entire supply chain to cut costs.

BeijingBenzDaimlerChrysler (BBDC) is a more recent joint auto venture which built a new manufacturing facility in Beijing in early 2007 to build the EClass Mercedes and Chrysler 300C. Recognizing the importance of communication with their suppliers, BBDC implemented a web-based EDI system which is user friendly for all levels of BBDC suppliers. This implementation earned Seeburger the CHaINA award of Best IT Supply Chain Solution for China. Read the rest of “China’s Supply Chain raises the bar: Part IV” or post a comment

China’s Supply Chain raises the bar: Part III

April 21st, 2008  by China Business Success Stories

Get your suppliers in line

By Russel Beron

Get your suppliers in line in ChinaWhile Alfred Dunhill needs specialized service to handle its high value products, large manufacturers such as Haier Group need specialize strategies to handle their suppliers.

According to a Gartner Research study about on Why supplier relationship management matters, procurement costs account for about 50% of expenses. As profit margins in manufacturing tend to be slim, the incentive to save on purchasing costs is very high.

To reduce costs, improve efficiency and obtain competitiveness to support the aggressive sales growth of different business units, Haier Procurement asked the IBM Global Business Services, SCM Procurement team to develop a procurement strategy for them. For their work with Haier, IBM won the CHaINA award for Best Supply Chain Consulting Partner in China. Read the rest of “China’s Supply Chain raises the bar: Part III” or post a comment

China’s Rising Retail Market

April 9th, 2008  by China Business Success Stories

Chinese youth intend to spend “considerably more” in 2008 than they did in 2007. Multinationals had better start thinking young

By Shaun Rein
This article originally appeared in Business Week

Chinese Youth ConsumersThe subprime debacle has rattled retail sales in the U.S., forcing many companies to downgrade sales estimates as consumers shy away from checkout counters. Luxury retailers and credit-card companies in the U.S. have recently reported bearish projections for the coming quarters.

China, however, is a retail market on the rise. In 2007 China posted 17% growth in retail spending. Electronics retailers Guomei and Suning posted record numbers, and both paint positive pictures for the future as Chinese consumers continue to buy LCD TVs from LG Electronics and mobile phones from Nokia (NOK).

Much of this continued growth is fueled by Chinese under the age of 32. My firm, the China Market Research Group (CMR), conducted in-depth interviews with 500 Chinese between the ages of 22 and 32 in 10 cities to gauge whether fears of a global slowdown would influence their shopping habits. Read the rest of “China’s Rising Retail Market” or post a comment

The impact of cultural difference when entering the Chinese market

April 8th, 2008  by China Business Success Stories

By Mona Chung

Chinese Culture Differences and GuanxiChinese market has been a highly preferred market for many organisations worldwide in the past twenty years. However, it is not an easy market to penetrate. Australian companies are among those Europeans and Americans who have been tackling the market with little positive results. One primary reason is that they do not appreciate the important role and impact of Chinese culture.

Cultural differences

Many business people argue that there are many similarities between Westerners and Chinese. After all we are all humans; we all understand if we are in business together we need to make profits. Read the rest of “The impact of cultural difference when entering the Chinese market” or post a comment