beijing@b2binternational.com | +86 (0)10 6515 6642
July 3rd, 2009
PetroChina, the Shanghai-listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), and mainland
Following a stock-price rise of 3%, taking its total market value to some $336 billion, PetroChina is now the most valuable company in the world. It is worth approximately $100 million more than fellow Oil & Gas giant, United States-based Exxon Mobil. Industrial Bank of
June 26th, 2009
Media magazine (www.media.asia) recently published the results of its ‘
Covering
Many of those featuring highly in the list will be familiar names to both Eastern and Western markets and consumers alike. Some strong brands which are less well recognised outside of
The Full Top 10 list is:
1. Sony (Consumer Electronics)
2. Samsung (Electronics/White goods)
3. Canon (Camera/Office equipment)
4. LG (Electronics/White goods)
June 12th, 2009
May 31st, 2009
I was originally asked to prepare a piece to share thoughts and experiences on our work in China with that of colleagues in Europe and the US, and this post revisits the piece I did a few weeks ago on www.b2binternational.com.
After two and a half years being back in Beijing permanently, there are obvious similarities between our work here and that of colleagues, ad fellow researchers in other markets: we have to win and design projects, identify respondents and sources of information, collect data and analyse data, the same as my colleagues elsewhere. This is pretty much as you may expect anywhere.
Things get slightly different, however, on the type of projects: for the first two years the majority of projects have been market analysis and market development, with less interest in more quantitative projects like customer satisfaction. There is though more and more customer satisfaction work, as clients become more established, and of course we become more established with existing companies. In our experience market analysis tends to focus on both the factual (size, structure and trends), and the analytical, i.e. what does it all mean for developing sales. These projects tend to feature more qualitative investigative techniques and in some ways are more akin to a jigsaw, but where you first have to find the pieces, before you put them together.
Full service clients have included Western multi-nationals, larger medium sized foreign companies, Chinese domestic companies and companies from elsewhere in
An increasing number of clients are from within
Methodologies for data collection here include all the usual suspects and, language aside would be largely familiar to clients and colleagues in the other countries. There are though some differences in application, for example focus groups tend to work better in smaller numbers, 6 to 8 being optimum. It is often argued that especially in business, face to face interviews are necessary. Very often this isn’t the case. We recently had a project looking at the market in the “bio-solids” industry, meaning we had to talk to respondents in Chinese sewerage works. Initially this seemed quite daunting, until it became clear that these people were extremely receptive, no pushy sales people come and call (for perhaps obvious reasons), and they are seldom asked about the intricacies of their work. Recruitment was aided by the incredible take up of social networking and bulletin boards among Chinese professionals. As a country undergoing rapid change, it is perhaps no surprise that methodologies and attitudes to them are changing too. From a “consensus” of f2f being the only acceptable technique just a few years ago, telephone and indeed online have moved in importance incredibly quickly, with instant messaging even being used for in–depth qualitative work. Whilst respondents are often very keen to work with different approaches, the market outside
In this short space available, it is clear that the many principles and approaches are of course similar there are nuance affecting all aspects of the process. Where this may be more complicated or even contentious is around how this is manifested in every day work, for example the amount of time required on quality check and HR issues and administration, and this will be covered soon.
May 14th, 2009
The annual ESOMAR Asia Pacific Conference was held this year in
May 4th, 2009
It seems that wherever you look articles and opinion on the world financial crisis abound, ranging from the position that we have note even seen the worst yet to “the green shoots ” view first expounded by Norman Lamont in the UK during the last major downturn to hit western economies. Being based in Beijing, the prevailing view of that we come across tends towards the optimistic. For example a recent China Daily article pointed to a survey of senior marketing managers suggesting that three quarters believed that China’s economy will recover faster than those in the west, and that a full turnaround was due within a year. Nothing particularly striking here, although it is definitely worth looking into what is being said in more local publications, and to look at what factors are causing this apparent relative optimism.
According to the People’s Daily earlier this week (see the following link in Chinese http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2009-04/28/content_241737.htm企业业绩在回升（企稳回暖看亮点）《 人民日报 》2009年4月28日09版) there is evidence at a general level that many of China’s listed companies expect to see growth or increased profitability in their performance by the middle of this year. This improved performance is expected to be “concentrated” in construction, biomedicine, transportation, electrical, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery industries. It is almost certainly no coincidence that these industries are focused on domestic demand rather than exports and are also subject to promotional policies and the stimulus plans. These sectors are predominantly the preserve of domestic companies, including State Owned Enterprises, what then of markets with major foreign participation? Are there any reports backing some of the optimism we have heard about?
Let’s take the automotive industry, a business that by any standards is undergoing a tough time globally. The 2009 Shanghai International Auto Show that was held in April for example, featured debuts of 13 new types of car from international auto brands, a record over previous show. China’s “International Finance News” (http://finance.people.com.cn/GB/71364/9168265.html从上海车展看跨国车企“中国信心”–《国际金融报》 2009-04-21 第08版) commented that this indicates the continued strength of the Chinese auto market, currently the world’s largest. Again, government policy received some of the credit for this dynamism, as “many senior managers have repeatedly emphasized the confidence in the Chinese market from the sound development of China’s macro-economic and macro-economic policies” as Shenyang Daily reports “我们对中国市场充满信心”《沈阳日报》2009年03月30日. Similar sentiments are found in other industries, for example Haitian, a leading plastics manufacture quoted on the specialist plastic chemicals website plaschem99 report that domestic demand has passed its trough, again stimulated by government measures. They do however point out that as around 40% of their sales are exports, the future there is hard to predict. (http://plas.chem99.com/news/545575.html –海天08年业绩衰退 但对中国市场信心满满 卓创资讯 2009-4-14 9:10:59).
April 2nd, 2009
Advertising spend in
In figures released by
To some extent these statistics are particularly interesting because many Western surveys, reports and think tanks continue to predict a tough year ahead for advertising. Spend on television and, in particular, print ads is expected to suffer at the hands of the recession; conversely, the internet should continue to cement its position as the advertising medium of choice. It remains to be seen to what extent this will be the case in
March 13th, 2009
Last year, an increase in demand for whisky from
In 2007, total global sales of all whiskies amounted to 495 million liters. In 2008, malt whiskies demonstrated a 5% increase in worldwide sales, with even higher sales growth in
According to the Scotch Whisky Association, $1 billion has been invested across the Scotch whisky industry for 2008-2009, much of which is expected to be used to expand production capacity.
90% of all Scotch whisky produced is exported; exports rose 4% to a record $5 billion in 2006. At this time, whisky sales accounted for 25% of
Sales in
However, the sheer size and the preferences of the Chinese market are now causing a global shortage at the top end of the market (for 12-year-old and older malts). Reports claim that so much whisky is being exported that distilling companies in
To find out more about the work we do in the Food & Beverage Industry, call +86 (0)10 6515 6642 or visit: http://www.b2binternational.com/China/b2bsectors/food.php
February 27th, 2009
A recent article appearing on AdAgeChina.com reported that the China Advertising Association has introduced new guidelines for 2009 to consolidate internet media advertising standards. It is hoped that these new measures will make it easier for digital media companies to sell advertising space and reduce the associated production costs.
Digital media in all its various forms has seen rapid growth in
It is estimated that up to $2.3 billion was spent on digital media in 2008, with some experts predicting this amount could grow by 35% in 2009. Yet Chinese marketers spend only a fraction of their advertising budgets in online media compared to marketers in the world’s second largest internet market, the
Internet advertising in
With fewer size options and format permutations for online advertising, more marketers should be willing and able to invest in online advertising in the future. Online advertising has witnessed huge growth in many other countries around the world, and it increasingly forms a vital and integral part of any company’s marketing mix.
February 19th, 2009
Two news articles about the Chinese automotive industry have been circulating this past week. First is the news that in January,
If the trend continues throughout the rest of 2009,
While car sales have slowed in China over recent months, the slowdown has been even greater in America, and car manufacturers are all looking at new ways to encourage sales - new advertising campaigns, sales promotions and pricing discounts, improved customer service and warranties, etc.
On the back of this comes news that
Still in the early stages, neither the launch date nor the name of the new luxury brand has been announced.
In the past, Chery has been criticized by some for developing more projects than it can manage successfully. However, its new company philosophy is to concentrate more resources on a smaller number of tasks.
By announcing its intentions to enter a new market, we assume that the company intends to focus considerable efforts on serving this new segment, and we presume that it has carried out a thorough market assessment study to establish that there is an opportunity for its specific new offering.
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Beijing: Moscow: London: New York: July 04, 2009
