eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose of the study is to find out what branding strategies affect the branded companies and then evaluate how the Chinese branded company’s operations influence its possibility to create a successful global brand, by investigating a Chinese household appliances and consumer electronics manufacturer (Haier Group) and identify its way of management when building its global brand.

DATA The data for this study partly come from the interviews of some managers in Haier groups in China, as well as more multiple sources of evidence were used, such as scientific papers, industry and company annual reports, internal company material, business press articles, prior case descriptions of the company (Haier group) and its historical data .

RESULTS Facing problems in the domestic market of intense competition and overcapacity, more and more Chinese companies share the same understanding that they have to go global for future growth and profitability. However, most of Chinese brands are still in its initial stage at moment. Compare with those famous global brands, they are weak in the areas of the brand value, enterprise size, global market share, competitive strength and technological innovation. Haier Group is one of the few successful Chinese branded companies in the global market, and it has been undergoing four major global branding stages: brand building, diversification development, internationalization and global brand building strategy phases, which holding rich branding knowledge and practical experiences on branding management. However, Chinese branded companies have a long road to travel in the internationalization process, and they could probably learn more from traditional Western or Japanese and Korean branded companies. Looking in the future, we believe that Chinese branded companies will learn fast and grow rapidly.