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Branding High on the Agenda at the 4th Outsourcing Summit of the Zhongguancun Software Association, China

Zhongguancun Software Association (Zsoft)
2006-11-23 13:00 1469

BEIJING, Nov. 23 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The Zhongguancun Software

Association (Zsoft), an independent body looking after the interest of the

5,000 software SMEs in the ‘Silicon Valley of China’, today announced that

the 4th Outsourcing Summit of the Zhongguancun Software Association, held on

November 23, echoed the growing importance of branding for Zsoft and member

companies who are expanding software and service business internationally,

with branding becoming a key development point as the capital city looks

towards the 2008 Olympics.

(Logo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/200611231224.jpg )

Bin Yu, President of Zsoft, stated, “China is now a bright spot in the

world arena, but there are few in the US IT offshore sourcing business that

are aware that Beijing-based Zhongguancun is the brightest spot. There is

now a compelling need for us to support the Chinese government in a concerted

effort to brand China and indeed Zhongguancun. Professional country branding

and place branding to increase brand awareness and perceived value is the

name of the game to help our member companies compete on an international

scale with US software and service outsourcing businesses that are growing

amazingly fast.”

In 2005, Beijing accounted for 39% of China’s USD780 million worth of

software outsourcing business. According to McKinsey, total IT service in

China will grow to USD6.8 billion in 2007.

Mr. Kenneth Tsang, Chairman of the newly created Strategic Branding

committee of Zsoft, commented, “Country branding is important as a proxy for

customers who do not have prior experience with the branded product. To many

in the US, particularly in the second and third tier cities, ‘Brand China’

is an unknown quantity. For the minority few, who think they know China,

most have a preconceived notion of cheap prices, poor quality and counterfeit

products.

“It is encouraging to see that the situation in China is evolving.

Steady improvements are being made across the broad spectrum throughout IT

and software businesses. Zsoft and its members are advocates of

competitiveness, high quality, integrity and the credibility of both software

and service. Messaging and delivery is of paramount importance to increase

the awareness of the Zsoft brand and to change the negative perception in

people’s mind of China.”

This view was endorsed by Mr. Bin Yu, who added, “Branding of Zsoft and

member companies should well serve software outsourcing businesses to support

building ‘Made in China’ into a competitive, high quality and trustworthy

name; one that the world buyers would be happy to associate with.

“I am encouraged to see a silver lining behind the dark clouds. There

is now a welcome awakening among many of the Chinese boardrooms in that they

are no longer clouded by the misconception that branding is simply

advertising and PR. With keen insight and studied intellect, many CEOs and

entrepreneurs in Chinese software and service companies now understand and

believe in the power of brands, and brand equity in particular. The days

when they simply treat their brands as a trademark, one that is cold and

lifeless is over. They now realize the importance of the three major

components of Vision, Mission and Brand Promise that make up the soul of an

organization, how it can guide and steer the corporation now, in five years

time and into the future.”

The famous handshake between Premier Zhou Enlai and President Richard

Nixon in 1972 ended decades of estrangement between the US and China, and

since then China-American trade has grown, surpassing USD211.60 billion in

2005.

Mr. Yu continued to add, “There are many US companies wanting to come to

China but they are deterred by a general lack of knowledge of the China

market, its companies and people, and much more so by what was presented to

them as mysteries behind the Chinese veil. Without connections and a clear

guide, there is a general lack of adequate trust and confidence. The SME US

companies are not motivated, certainly not sufficiently enough to make a

decision to travel some ten thousand miles to have a feel for the Chinese IT

and software market, and they still do not realize how much they can save

through outsourcing in this part of the world. Zsoft is the answer to this

identified problem for US companies, providing a fast track for US companies

to enter China in confidence and with peace of mind. Our association will

establish eight channels connecting the two markets in areas of ‘Project’,

‘HR’, ‘Communications’, ‘Products’, ‘Branding’, ‘Consulting’,

‘Market Intelligence’, and ‘Venture Capital’. These business channels

will serve an effective purpose for perfect matching and forging of China-

American partnerships that are essential for materialization of business

opportunities.

Success has been achieved for Japan and Singapore. This business model

is now proven, and we intend to apply this whole-heartedly from the Zsoft

platform to help our member companies to open-up the American market, and

vice versa for American companies to break new grounds in the China market,”

concluded Mr. Yu.

Mr. Tsang went on to finish by saying that, “We will embark on a

strategic branding mission in 2007, one that will entail a reversal of the

current situation. Instead of us going out to the US to look for business

opportunities, IT outsourcing companies in the US, particularly those in the

2nd and 3rd tier cities who do not have a physical presence in China, will

take the initiation through our channels. They will be strongly motivated to

come to China for reliable and quality service at a competitive price.”

About Zhongguancun Software Association

Zhongguancun Software Association (Zsoft) is a Beijing-based non-profit

software association, representing about 5000 software companies in

Zhongguancun Science Park (Zpark), the so-called Silicon Valley in China.

Zsoft is under the auspices of Zhongguancun Science Park (ZPARK)

Administrative Committee, and aims to facilitate the development of software

companies in ZPARK.

About the Zsoft software outsourcing platform

On November 8, 2005, Zhongguancun Software Association (Zsoft) launched

the Zsoft Software Outsourcing Platform. The platform helps software

companies in Zhongguancun to explore markets and attain outsourcing orders by

setting up outsourcing project networks, organizing outsourcing summits and

by offering expert consulting service, etc.

The outsourcing platform functions as the gateway for international

software outsourcing service buyers to enter China. It creates win-win

models for both international and Chinese companies through the information

platform http://www.zsoft.cn , the four times-a-year Zhongguancun Software

Outsourcing Summit, seminars and the one-stop service for international

companies to establish business cooperation with Chinese software vendors.

Source: Zhongguancun Software Association (Zsoft)
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