MADE IN CHINA
The West is inundated with goods
manufactured in China, but what of
homegrown Chinese brands? Here are
10 businesses going places in 2008
01 SHANGHAI TANG
Shanghai Tang is so far the only luxury fashion brand to make
the transition from China to Sloane Street, Rue Bonaparte and
(from this spring) Madison Avenue.
Founded as a store in Hong Kong’s
Pedder Street in 1994 by Hong
Kong businessman David
Tang Wang Cheung, the
company has been run
by luxury powerhouse
Richemont since
1998. There are
now 26 outlets
worldwide. Its
mission is “to revitalise
Chinese design by interweaving
it with the dynamism of the
21st century, producing a
vibrant and witty fusion of
East meets West”.
02 AIR CHINA
China’s only flag-carrying airline, saw
net profits in 2007 rise 56% to €382m
(CNY4.2bn) as faster economic expansion
lifted demand for air travel among the
growing number of wealthy Chinese.
The company, the world’s largest airline
by market capitalisation, will bring 24
new aircraft into service this year, at least
20 in 2009 and another 20 in 2010. To
further grow its international brand, Air
China joined Star Alliance – the world’s
oldest and largest airline grouping – last
December. This connects the airline with
its partners, which include, among others,
Singapore Air, Air Canada, Lufthansa,
United and Poland’s LOT.
03 AIGO
Created in 1993 in Beijing’s Zhongguancun
area as a provider of MP3 music players
and flash hard drives, Beijing Huaqi
Information Digital Technology Co Ltd,
or Aigo, overtook its main competitor
Samsung in the domestic market in 2003.
Aigo has since expanded to overseas
markets, including the US and Europe. At
the moment, the company is concentrating
on digital cameras, pledging to compete
against the Japanese giants. Feng Jun,
president and founder of the company
has said: “2009 will be a golden year for
Chinese companies to go abroad. It is the
right time for local players to register their
patents now”. In 2007, Aigo became the
first Chinese brand to join the Vodafone
McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 team.
04 HAIER
Although it only leapt into Western
consciousness when it bid for Maytag
Corporation, Haier is now the world’s
third-biggest manufacturer of white goods
although it also makes electrical goods.
Last year Haier entered into a joint venture
with Sanyo of Japan to sell refrigerators
under the Sanyo brand in Asia. It also
acquired Anchor, Daewoo’s appliance
business, for an undisclosed amount.
The deal, which included a refrigeratormanufacturing
unit at Ranjangaon in Pune,
west India, was the first for Haier India.
The company is planning to make India a
manufacturing hub to export to eastern
Europe, western Asia and Africa.
05 CHINA MOBILE
China Mobile, the largest mobile
telecommunications operator in China,
is expected to earn €7.5bn in pre-tax
profits for 2007, up 25.1% year-on-year
according to estimates by Merrill Lynch.
The operator, which has over 360 million
customers, is predicted to see its earnings
before interest, tax, depreciation and
amortisation rise 19.4% year-on-year to
€17.6bn. The future figures are dizzying
too. China’s telecoms firms are still waiting
for a long-delayed restructuring of the
sector and the rollout of homegrown thirdgeneration
(3G) technology, which will
enable blazing internet access and may
open up new sources of revenue. China is
increasingly turning to mobile phones over
fixed-line telephones.
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