China Emerging: 1978-2008 by Xiao-bo Wu

Author:Xiao-bo , Wu [Xiao-bo , Wu]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Cengage Learning Asia
Published: 2010-10-12T16:00:00+00:00

Li Dong-sheng, Chairman of the TCL Group, together with Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric, at a forum in China in 2004. For Chinese entrepreneurs to be seated on the dais together with world-famous executives indicated that the former had begun to get some recognition, even though they still had a long way to go.

In 1995, the Changhong Group in Sichuan was the largest manufacturer of color televisions in China. Chairman Ni Run-feng was known for excelling at price wars; he personally went behind store counters to sell televisions.

company became successful and the reigning champion in the color TV domestic market. Multinational companies had not imagined that their defeat would come at the hands of these unforeseen price wars. General Electric was soon to face the same problem and lose as well. Based in Beijing, its GE Jiabao Lighting Company was never able to make a profit. Thomas Edison may have invented the light bulb and the company may have made light bulbs for over one hundred years, but its operating and manufacturing costs in China were high. GE was fundamentally unable to compete against the small factories in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. One GE bulb with its soft light and eco-friendly components could be used for the entire year but cost RMB 10. Domestic light bulbs emitted harsh light and could only be used for a few months, but they cost a mere RMB 2. GE’s market research finally concluded, “Our light bulbs have better features, but the Chinese look only at the price.”

The world’s largest appliances company, Whirlpool, faced even tougher problems. In order to enter the China market quickly, Whirlpool adopted a mergers-and-acquisitions strategy. It found four companies with relatively good performance that made refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens, and color televisions. However, the matter was not as easy as it looked. One employee later recalled that a tall, bearded American was appointed as the general manager of one joint venture. He shut himself up into an opaque glass-lined office, from which streams of English would emerge or occasion

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.