China Moves Closer to Global Brands

SHANGHAI, China – April 29, 2014 — China’s business leaders expect domestic brands to become a force in global markets within the next 5-10 years.

This was the result of a recent survey of CEOs conducted here by Cornerstone International Group, a global leader in retained executive search.   Executives were polled during a conference on branding attended by leaders from Fortune 500 companies and multinationals.

“Respondents characterize existing global brands as being in a stable state on the world market,” explains James Ng, Managing Partner of the Cornerstone CEO Committee services group. “But they see local brands in a strong growth mode. The majority believe China-based global brands will emerge within the next 5 to 10 years”

To read more about Cornerstone in Asia go here

China’s exceptional economic growth over the past three decades has made it the top exporting nation and produced some of the world’s largest companies. However, although they represent 19% of the global Fortune 500, no Chinese enterprises have yet made the Interbrand Top 100 global brands.

In the course of the conference, the participating CEOs identified five domestic companies which they expected would become top global brands within the next five years.

• Huawei – overtook Ericsson in 2012 as the world’s largest telecom equipment maker. Sales of $38.7Bn. Strong global presence servicing 45 of the world’s 50 top telecoms.
• Haier – one of world’s biggest makers of consumer electronics and appliances and largest refrigerator producer. Sales of $29.5Bn and 7.8% share of global white goods market (2011)
• Alibaba – E-commerce and internet company with online sales from its two top portals in excess of $170Bn, greater than Ebay and Amazon combined.
• Lenovo – multinational tech company and world’s largest PC producer. Strong global presence with operations in 60 countries and sales in 160 and sales of $33.9Bn
• Tencent – 5^th largest internet company with sales of $9.7Bn and market value of $150Bn on Hong Kong stock exchange

“These are very powerful brands that have been built organically,” says Ng. “The consensus is that we will see more acquisition of foreign brands and that the global brand growth will come from both strategies combined.”