Chinese Companies

There’s an interesting debate going on among the expat community in China these days. The conversation is focused on the merits of living in this country and its ebb and flow is a great example of how people in small communities (there are only about 250,000 expats in Beijing & Shanghai combined) speak with themselves and how trends evolve and change as a result. Back in August of 2012, a longtime expat with a great story (and friends in the media) opined in an essay, “You’ll Never be Chinese,” that…

  When this blogger moved to China way back in 2008, online shopping was not only in its infancy, but it didn’t seem to be something that would catch on anytime soon. In a country where relationships are everything, buying things from strangers behind an electronic screen sounded like something that would be incompatible with the culture and that e-commerce would not be as fully embraced as it had been in the West. What’s more, the Chinese tend to prefer cash transactions over credit or debit cards, so the odds…

  “The media”. It’s a simple term embedded with tessellations of meaning that become all the more elaborate when one expands the view to include different countries, yet around the world, those in the PR industry and their clients often refer to “the media” very generally, assuming that everyone’s on the same page. Yet media operations in China and North America, for example, could not be more different, and while companies in both countries fundamentally realize this, there are still areas where assumptions are made about the function of media…

3 suggestions for Chinese companies branding themselves in the U.S. Nearly every company around the world wants their brand to be a household name. They want consumers to use their brand name as a verb – “Google it,” “Skype your friends,” etc. However, getting these types of results takes time – and effective brand management. It should come as no surprise that American consumers tend to be a bit weary when buying products coming from China. Since the 1980’s, China’s decision to use the Wenzhou Model has allowed the majority…