Jahangirnagar University

Assignment On
An Overview of Five Successful Consumer Brands of
China

Submitted to:
Shahriar Kabir
Associate Professor
Institute of Business Administration
IBA-JU

Submitted by:
Mir Abdullah Al-Mahfuz
ID No: 202001014
WMBA-23rd batch
Submission Date: 22-05-2021

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Letter of Transmittal/Declaration of Independence of this work

Here with i assure that, this assignment work titled "An Overview of Five
Successful Consumer Brands of China" is my own work. The work has
not been published anywhere or presented before for any kind of assessment.
Information used from external sources have been properly acknowledged/
referred.

Name ID Signature

Mir Abdullah Al- 202001014

Mahfuz

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 Table of Contents
Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………..6
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………...7
Backgrounds……………….……………………..………………….………………….7
Objectives……………………………………………………………………………….8
Methodology………………………………………………………….…………………8

China

China’ Strength…………………………………………………………..……………...9

China’s Challenges ………………………………………………..……………….10

Economic History of China……………………………………………..……………10

Evolution of Marketing as
Brands………………………………………….…………..11

Brand No. 1

Lenovo

Introduction…………………………………………………..………………..……….12

History of Lenovo……………………………………….……………………...………12

Company Behind the Brand………………………………………………………14

Current Market Position……………………………………………………………..15

Brand No. 2

Huawei

Introduction………………………….………………...……………………………….17

History of Huawei….…………………………………………………………………17

Company Behind the Brand…………………………………………………………17

Current Market Position……………………………………………………………..18

Brands in Global Economy…………………………….………………………..11

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Brand No. 3

Alibaba

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….21

History of Alibaba ……………………………………………………………………21

Strategic Outline for Alibaba …………………………………..……….….22

Price………………………………………………………………………….…………24

Branding……………………………………………………………………….……….24

Current Market Position…………………………………………………………..24

Brand No. 4

Xiaomi

Introduction……………………………………………………………………….....…27

History of
Xiaomi……………………………………………………………………..…27

Company Behind the Brand…………………………………………………….…...27

Current Market Position and Strategies…………………………………………..32

Brand No. 5

Air China

Introduction………………………………………………………………..……….….34

Company Behind the Brand and History………..……………………..…………34

Product Strategies……………………………………………………….……..………38

Pricing Strategies…………………………………………………….…………..…….39

Current Market Position………………………………………..…………...….39

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………40

References……………………………………………………………………………….41

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 Executive Summary

The long-term growth perspective of any country’s economy depends on its young
population and corresponding low dependency ratio, healthy savings, and investment
rates, increase of globalization and integration into the global economy. The economy of
China is characterized as a middle-income developing market economy. [1]

It is the world's second-largest economy by nominal GDP [2] According to the

International Monetary Fund (IMF), on a per capita income basis, China ranked 2nd by
GDP (nominal) and 4th by GDP (PPP) in 2020. [3].

Since the start of the 21st century, annual average GDP growth has been 6% to 7%, [1]
and from 2014 to 2018, India was the world's fastest growing major economy, surpassing
China. [4] [5] Historically, India was the largest economy in the world for most of the
two millennia from the 1st until the 19th century. [6][7][8]

China is considered one of the key emerging markets for future growth with its
expanding purchasing power. Comprising a large middle class with a relatively affluent
class as well as a small economically disadvantaged class – spending by this sector is
anticipated to more than double by 2025. [9] Chinese consumer durables market is
broadly segregated into urban and rural markets and is attracting marketers from across
the world.

The sector comprises of a huge middle class, relatively large affluent class and a small
economically disadvantaged class. Global corporations view India as one of the key
markets from where future growth is likely to emerge.

The growth in India’s consumer market would be primarily driven by a favorable

population composition and increasing disposable income. [10] And the brands behind
this growth are the core of the consumer market of India. Here, we have concentrated on
the top five consumer brands of India and will be able to determine the:

▪ brief history of the consumer experience

▪ company participation on branding

▪ market positioning and survival strategy of the brand over the period of time.

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Introduction:

A consumer economy describes an economy driven by consumer spending as a percent of

its gross domestic product, as opposed to the other major components of GDP (gross
private domestic investment, government spending, and imports netted against exports).
[11]. Brands play a vital role in consumers’ purchase decisions. Brands can provide
information in the purchase decision process, reduce risks related to a purchase, and they
can even serve support to the buyer’s image and feeling. Brands can be built and
established by means of advertising, providing information, sponsoring, etc. - usually,
brand building includes a combination of several means. [16] Consumer spending growth
has supported many economies over the past year at a time when industry, exports and
investment have been underpowered. Global growth in 2020– 21 may hinge greatly on
prospects for personal expenditure as investment spending will remain constrained if the
consumer market remains still and stable. Here the roles of commercial consumer brands
are beyond explanation and also adjustable now a days.

Background:

The consumer revolution in England is generally understood to have been in the

eighteenth century, although the concept of consumerism was perceived to have appeared
in the late 1500s and 1600s. [12] Prior to this, the middle Ages were understood to have
been a time of perpetual material poverty, in which the concept of the commodity or the
concept of the consumer did not exist. Maryanne Kowaleski argues against this view,
arguing that medieval charity, instructional guidebooks, and population growth
(paralleled by that of currency), created a consumer economy in the pre-Great Famine era
Research by people like Britnell and Campbell suggest commercialization first appeared
in the medieval period, and researchers like Christopher Woolgar have studied
consumption practices in elite households. [13] In their economy, they had many exotic
items (because of the imperial conquests of the British Empire) and it created an
environment for a desire-based mode of shopping that was pleasurable, not mundane.
[14] Romantic literary critic Andrea K. Henderson argued that this influenced Romantic-
era poetry because the poets were often part of an urban society. Desiring things that
could not be easily attained and were unavailable. This influenced their interpretation of
things like the past, and the non-urban natural world, because they had to construct
narratives to understand things that were inaccessible to them. [15] Thus revolution in
consumer market had stated taking place. And now here we are standing on the kingdom
of consumer market globalization.

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Objectives:

The digital environment has many benefits for businesses and for consumers. At the same
time, the continuous inundation with communication messages from a multitude of
brands increasingly confuses consumers and makes it more difficult for brands to stand
out from the mass and thus get enough attention in consumers’ purchase decision
processes. The information overflow in the Internet even exacerbates this situation (Lee
& Lee, 2004). From a today’s marketing point of view, a brand can be defined as the
symbolic embodiment of all the information connected with a product or service, or as
David Ogilvy put it, ―the consumer’s idea of a product [or a service] ―(Ogilvy, 2004).5 A
brand typically includes a name, a logo, and other visual elements such as images, fonts,
color schemes, or symbols. Furthermore, it encompasses the set of expectations
associated with a product or service which typically arise in the minds of people (Aaker
& Joachimsthaler, 2000). Such people include employees of the brand owner, people
involved with distribution, sale or supply of the product or service, and, ultimately,
consumers. Branding is an important value-added aspect of products or services, as it
often serves to denote a certain attractive quality or characteristic (Anholt, 2003). In order
to create distinguishable value for consumers, differentiation is crucial, as already
mentioned earlier. The value must be unique, i.e. separate the company’s offer from the
competition, and it must be sustainable over time (Aaker & Joachimsthaler, 2000). [16]

Methodology:

In order to create strong brands that deliver meaningful and long-term value to
consumers, the marketing view should not be too product-centric, because such a product
position might be too similar to the positioning of competitive products. As long as the
benefits provided by a brand are not substitutable by any other benefit, it might be the
brand, not the product or service, that a customer or consumer has a relationship with
(Schultz, 2003). A brand is therefore one of the most valuable assets of a company,
building a competitive advantage that will result in long-term profitability. All these
documentations are the result of

▪ Deep research

▪ analyzing surveys

▪ Questionnaires

▪ other’s research papers that results the overview of peoples' perceptions about the
events. The corresponding value for the brand owning company might be profitable
customers, valuable customer relationships, effective and efficient use of its resources,

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and in the end the ability to gain profits in order to survive or even to grow in the future
(Aaker & Joachimsthaler, 2000; Kapferer, 1997). [16]

China:

China is the world's largest economy. It produced $23.4 trillion in goods and services in
2017. On the other hand, the European Union with $20.9 trillion, and the United States
with $19.4 trillion. It has a mixed economy. Half of China's workers rely on agriculture,
the signature of a traditional economy. One-third of its workers are employed by the
services industry, which contributes two-thirds of China's output. The productivity of this
segment is made possible by China's shift toward a market economy. Since the 1990s,
China has deregulated several industries. It's privatized many state-owned enterprises,
and opened doors to foreign direct investment.

China's Strengths:

China is an attractive country for outsourcing and a cheap source of imports. Its economy
has these five comparative advantages:

1. The cost of living is lower than in the United States. This is an advantage because
Chinese workers don't need as much income since everything costs less.

2. China has many well-educated technology workers.

3. English is one of China’s official subsidiary languages. Many Chinese speak it. This,
combined with the high level of education and the wage differential, attracts U.S.
technology. It's hard to quantify how many jobs have been lost to outsourcing, and
estimates range from 104,000 to 700,000.

4. China’s 1.4 billion people come from a wide range of economic and cultural
backgrounds. This diversity can be strength or a challenge. Socioeconomic status is
largely determined by geography. China’s three main regions each have distinct class and
education divisions. Many people leave the rural areas to live in the cities. Most of them
are young and educated. They seek a higher quality of life. The level of urbanization
reached 34% in 2018.

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India's Challenges:

There are some challenges like

▪ Climate change

▪ Investors backed off

▪ Sea level rise [17]

Economic History of China:

The economic history of China describes the changes and developments in China's
economy from the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 to the
present day.

China has been the fastest growing economy in the world since the 1980s, with an
average annual growth rate of 10% from 1978 to 2005, based on government statistics. Its
GDP reached $USD 2.286 trillion in 2005.[18] Since the end of the Maoist period in
1978, China has been transitioning from a state dominated planned socialist economy to a
mixed economy. This transformation required a complex number of reforms in China's
fiscal, financial, enterprise, governance and legal systems and the ability for the
government to be able to flexibly respond to the unintended consequences of these
changes.[19][20] This transformation has been accompanied by high levels of
industrialization and urbanization, a process that has influenced every aspect of China's
society, culture and economy.[21]

The large size of China means there are major regional variations in living standards that
can vary from extreme poverty to relative prosperity. In much of rural China, peasants
live off the land, while in major cities like Shanghai and Beijing a modern service-based
economy is forming.[22]

Since the PRC was founded in 1949, China has experienced a surprising and turbulent
economic development process. It has experienced revolution, socialism, Maoism, and
finally the gradual economic reform and fast economic growth that has characterized the
post-Maoist period. The period of the Great Leap Forward famine and the chaos of the
Cultural Revolution negatively impacted the economy. However, since the period of
economic reform began in 1978, China has seen major improvements in average living
standards and has experienced relative social stability. In that period, China has evolved
from an isolated socialist state into a backbone of the world economy.[23]

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The high growth rates of the reform period were caused by the massive mobilization of
resources and the shift of control of those resources from public to private ownership
which allowed for improved efficiency in the management those resources. The benefits
reaped from this era of massive resource mobilization are now coming to an end and
China must rely more on efficiency improvements in the future to further grow its
economy.[24]

Evolution of Marketing as Brands:

The ultimate aim of any business is that it can gather as many customers and make a
name of its own, which is easily recognizable; in short to transform an idea into a brand is
what a business looks out for.

A business becomes brand when people both customers and rivals start taking it
seriously, which is why starting a business is not enough, proper branding is necessary.
Then it has taken a turn in publicity policy, mostly known as marketing which is
currently vastly used as ―Branding‖; making a company well-recognized and push its
idea among the targeted people achieving its goal.

Branding works as an identification, helping hand and also behaves as marketing

strategies. Day to day evolution also impacts over the economy. The technology is
changing every day and the competition is cutthroat, so it is difficult to match up with all
the steps to be in the business game, which is why branding helps in matching the steps.

Branding helps in evolving the product and its presentation according to the changing
conditions as well as with customer behavior so that the customer can know that the
product depends on his/her choice. Branding also helps in providing clarity about the
product to the customers who are new users.

All these ideas were the center of revolution in industry and thus Brandings and Brands
have become a part of our dependencies. [25]

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China Brands in Global Economy:

As the Chinese economy slows, consumers’ spending priorities change and markets
saturate, it becomes more important than ever for companies to rethink their strategies
and innovate. It is against this backdrop that WPP organized the BrandZ Top 100 Most
Valuable Chinese Brands forums in Beijing and Shanghai, on March 21 and 24
respectively, in partnership with the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business
(CKGSB).

The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands forums convened some of the
world’s most successful business leaders, including WPP CEO Sir Martin
Sorrell, Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke, Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga and Mengniu CEO Sun
Yiping, who is also a CKGSB student, to shed light on the latest marketing trends and
best practices. Joining these CEOs were CKGSB Associate Dean and Associate Professor
of Strategic Management Teng Bingsheng and Assistant Dean Zhou Li, who addressed
how Chinese companies are innovating and differentiating their brands as they go global.

Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of the WPP Group, which employs 190,000 people and reported
$19 billion in revenues last year, set the stage by painting a realistic picture of where the
Chinese economy is today and how companies should adapt. ―The 13th five-year plan
will serve as a business strategy for WPP, in which we see a shift from savings to
consumption, from manufacturing to services sectors,‖ he explained. ―We don’t see a
6.5% growth rate for China, instead we see volatility.‖ Despite this, Sir Martin
highlighted where opportunities lie, namely with strong brands. He revealed that the total
value of the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands increased 14 percent to $3.3
trillion in 2015, its highest level ever, despite the turbulent global economy.

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Brand Number 01

Lenovo

Introduction

Lenovo Group Limited, often shortened to Lenovo (/ləˈnoʊvoʊ/ lə-NOH-voh), is a

Chinese[6] multinational technology company. Incorporated in Hong Kong, it has global
headquarters in Beijing, China,[1][2] operational headquarters in Morrisville, North
Carolina, US, and an operational center in Singapore.[7][3] The company designs,
develops, manufactures, and sells personal computers, tablet computers, smartphones,
workstations, servers, supercomputers, electronic storage devices, IT management
software, and smart televisions, and is the world's largest personal computer vendor by
unit sales as of January 2021.[8] It also markets the ThinkPad and ThinkBook business
lines of laptop computers; IdeaPad, Yoga, and Legion consumer lines of laptop
computers; and the IdeaCentre and ThinkCentre lines of desktop computers.

History of Lenovo:

Lenovo has operations in over 60 countries and sells its products in around 180 countries.
It has research centers in Beijing, Chengdu, Yamato (Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan),
Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Morrisville (North Carolina, US),[9] and also has Lenovo NEC
Holdings, a joint venture with NEC that produces personal computers for the Japanese
market.

Lenovo was founded in Beijing in November 1984 as Legend, and was incorporated in
Hong Kong in 1988. Lenovo acquired IBM's personal computer business in 2005 and
agreed to acquire its Intel-based server business in 2014. Lenovo entered the smartphone
market in 2012 and as of 2014 was the largest vendor of smartphones in mainland China.
In 2014, Lenovo acquired Motorola Mobility from Google. In 2017, Lenovo acquired
Fujitsu's personal computer business.[10][11]

Lenovo is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the Hang Seng
China-Affiliated Corporations Index, often referred to as the "red chip" stocks.

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Company behind the Brand:

Liu Chuanzhi, along with a group of ten experienced engineers, officially founded
Lenovo in Beijing on November 1, 1984 with 200,000 yuan.[12][13] The Chinese
government approved Lenovo's incorporation on the same day. Jia Xufu (贾续福), one of
the founders of Lenovo, indicated that the first meeting in preparation for starting the
company was held on October 17 the same year. Eleven people, the entirety of the initial
staff, attended. Each of the founders was a member of the Institute of Computing
Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The 200,000 yuan used as start-
up capital was approved by Zeng Maochao (曾茂朝). The name for the company agreed
upon at this meeting was the Chinese Academy of Sciences Computer Technology
Research Institute New Technology Development Company.[12]

The organizational structure of the company was established in 1985 after the Chinese
New Year. It included a technology, engineering, administrative, and office
departments.[12] The group first attempted to import televisions but failed. It rebuilt itself
as a company doing quality checks on computers. It also tried and failed to market a
digital watch. In 1990, Lenovo started to manufacture and market computers using its
own brand name.[14]

In May 1988, Lenovo placed its first recruitment advertisement on the front page of the
China Youth News. Such ads were quite rare in China at the time. Out of the 500
respondents, 280 were selected to take a written employment exam. 120 of these
candidates were interviewed in person. Although interviewers initially only had authority
to hire 16 people, 58 were given offers. The new staff included 18 people with graduate
degrees, 37 with undergraduate degrees, and three students with no university-level
education. Their average age was 26. Yang Yuanqing, the current chairman and CEO of
Lenovo, was among that group.[12]

Liu Chuanzhi received government permission to form a subsidiary in Hong Kong and to
move there along with five other employees. Liu's father, already in Hong Kong,
furthered his son's ambitions through mentoring and facilitating loans. Liu moved to
Hong Kong in 1988. To save money during this period, Liu and his co-workers walked
instead of taking public transportation. To keep up appearances, they rented hotel rooms
for meetings.[12]

Some of the company's early successes included the KT8920 mainframe computer.[12] It
also developed a circuit board that allowed IBM-compatible personal computers to
process Chinese characters.[14]

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Lenovo (known at the time as Legend) became publicly traded after a 1994 Hong
Kong IPO that raised nearly US$30 million.[15] Prior to the IPO, many analysts were
optimistic about Lenovo. On its first day of trading, the company's stock price hit a high
of HK$2.07 and closed at HK$2.00. Proceeds from the offering were used to finance
sales offices in Europe, North America and Australia, to expand and improve production
and research and development, and to increase working capital.[12]

By 1996, Lenovo was the market leader in China and began selling its own laptop.[15] By
1998 it held 43 percent of the domestic computer marketshare in China, selling
approximately one million computers.[15]

Lenovo released its Tianxi (天禧) computer in 1998. Designed to make it easy for
inexperienced Chinese consumers to use computers and access the internet, one of its
most important features was a button that instantly connected users to the internet and
opened the Web browser. It was co-branded with China Telecom and it was bundled with
one year of Internet service. The Tianxi was released in 1998. It was the result of two
years of research and development. It had a pastel-colored, shell-shaped case and a
seven-port USB hub under its screen. As of 2000, the Tianxi was the best-selling
computer in Chinese history. It sold more than 1,000,000 units in 2000 alone.[16]

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Current Market Position of Lenovo:

China’s Lenovo maintained its position as the world’s largest personal computer (PC)
vendor in the first quarter of 2021 with a market share of 25.1%, as the company
tightened its grip on its supply chains amid a global chip shortage, according to research
firm Gartner.

In the first three months of the year, Lenovo shipped 17.5 million PCs, including
desktops, laptops and ultra-mobile premiums, representing a year-on-year increase of
42.3%, the highest among the world’s top six sellers, according to Gartner.

The research firm also said that Lenovo grew faster than average in all key regions, with
particularly strong year-on-year growth of 63.7% in the Asia Pacific region, as the
company appeared to keep their supply chains under control with a higher percentage of
its PCs being made in-house compared with other vendors.

HP, Dell, Apple, Acer and ASUS came in second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth with
respective global market shares of 21.4%, 16.5%, 8%, 5.7% and 5.4%.

Overall, global PC shipments rose 32% year-on-year in the quarter to 69.9 million units,
the highest growth rate Gartner has tracked since 2000.

―This growth should be viewed in the context of two unique factors: comparisons against
a pandemic-constrained market and the current global semiconductor shortage,‖ said the
firm’s research director Mikako Kitagawa.

―Without the shipment chaos in early 2020, this quarter’s growth may have been lower.
However, semiconductor shortages are now adversely affecting the supply chain once
again, with shipment lead times for some PCs extending to as long as four months.‖

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Brand Number 02

Huawei

Introduction

The company was founded in 1987 by Ren Zhengfei, a former Deputy Regimental Chief
in the People's Liberation Army.[5] Initially focused on manufacturing phone switches,
Huawei has expanded its business to include building telecommunications networks,
providing operational and consulting services and equipment to enterprises inside and
outside of China, and manufacturing communications devices for the consumer
market.[6][7] Huawei has over 194,000 employees as of December 2019.[8]

Huawei has deployed its products and services in more than 170 countries.[9] It overtook
Ericsson in 2012 as the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the
world,[10] and overtook Apple in 2018 as the second-largest manufacturer of
smartphones in the world, behind Samsung Electronics.[11] In 2018, Huawei reported
that its annual revenue was US$108.5 billion.[12] In July 2020, Huawei surpassed
Samsung and Apple to become the top smartphone brand (in number of phones shipped)
in the world for the first time.[13] This was primarily due to a drop in Samsung's global
sales in the second quarter of 2020, owing to the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic.[13][14][15]

Although successful internationally, Huawei has faced difficulties in some markets, due
to claims of undue state support, links to the People's Liberation Army, and cybersecurity
concerns—primarily from the United States government—that Huawei's infrastructure
equipment may enable surveillance by the Chinese government.[16][17] With the
development of 5G wireless networks, there have been calls from the U.S. and its allies to
not do any kind of business with Huawei or other Chinese telecommunications
companies such as ZTE.[18] Huawei has argued that its products posed "no greater
cybersecurity risk" than those of any other vendor and that there is no evidence of the
U.S. espionage claims.[19] Questions regarding Huawei's ownership and control as well
as concerns regarding the extent of state support also remain.[16] Huawei has also been
accused of assisting in the surveillance and mass detention of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang re-
education camps, which have resulted in sanctions by the United States Department of
State.[20][21][22] Huawei tested facial recognition AI capable of recognizing ethnicity-
specific features to alert government authorities to members of the ethnic group.[23]

In the midst of an ongoing trade war between China and the United States, Huawei was
restricted from doing commerce with U.S. companies due to alleged previous willful

16
violations of U.S. sanctions against Iran. On 29 June 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump
reached an agreement to resume trade talks with China and announced that he would ease
the aforementioned sanctions on Huawei. Huawei cut 600 jobs at its Santa Clara research
center in June, and in December 2019 founder Ren Zhengfei said it was moving the
center to Canada because the restrictions would block them from interacting with US
employees.[24][25] On 17 November 2020, Huawei agreed to sell the Honor brand to
Shenzen Zhixin New Information Technology to "ensure its survival", after the US
sanctions against them.[26]

History of Huawei:

During the 1980s, the Chinese government tried to modernize the country's
underdeveloped telecommunications infrastructure. A core component of the
telecommunications network was telephone exchange switches, and in the late 1980s,
several Chinese research groups endeavored to acquire and develop the technology,
usually through joint ventures with foreign companies.

Ren Zhengfei, a former deputy director of the People's Liberation Army engineering
corps, founded Huawei in 1987 in Shenzhen. The company reports that it had RMB
21,000 (about $5,000 at the time) in registered capital from Ren Zhengfei and five other
investors at the time of its founding where each contributed RMB 3,500.[37] They
include Mei Zhongxing, manager at Shenzhen Sanjiang Electronics Co.; Zhang
Xiangyang, a member of the Shenzhen Bureau of Development Planning; Wu Huiqing,
an accountant at Shenzhen Petrochemical Co.; Shen Dingzing, a manager at Zhuhai
Communications Equipment Manufacturing Co.; and Chen Jinyang, a manager in the
trade department of the state-run China Travel Service in Shenzhen. These five initial
investors gradually withdrew their investments in Huawei.

Ren sought to reverse engineer foreign technologies with local researchers. At a time
when all of China's telecommunications technology was imported from abroad, Ren
hoped to build a domestic Chinese telecommunication company that could compete with,
and ultimately replace, foreign competitors.[38]

During its first several years the company's business model consisted mainly of reselling
private branch exchange (PBX) switches imported from Hong Kong.[6][39] Meanwhile,
it was reverse-engineering imported switches and investing heavily in research and
development to manufacture its own technologies.[6] By 1990 the company had
approximately 600 R&D staff and began its own independent commercialization of PBX
switches targeting hotels and small enterprises.[40]

17
The company's first major breakthrough came in 1993 when it launched its C&C08
program controlled telephone switch. It was by far the most powerful switch available in
China at the time. By initially deploying in small cities and rural areas and placing
emphasis on service and customizability, the company gained market share and made its
way into the mainstream market.[41]

Huawei also won a key contract to build the first national telecommunications network
for the People's Liberation Army, a deal one employee described as "small in terms of
our overall business, but large in terms of our relationships".[42] In 1994, founder Ren
Zhengfei had a meeting with Party general secretary Jiang Zemin, telling him that
"switching equipment technology was related to national security, and that a nation that
did not have its own switching equipment was like one that lacked its own military."
Jiang reportedly agreed with this assessment.[6]

In the 1990s Canadian telecom giant Nortel outsourced production of their entire product
line to Huawei.[43][dubious – discuss] They subsequently outsourced much of their
product engineering to Huawei as well.[44][dubious – discuss]

Another major turning point for the company came in 1996 when the government in
Beijing adopted an explicit policy of supporting domestic telecommunications
manufacturers and restricting access to foreign competitors. Huawei was promoted by
both the government and the military as a national champion, and established new
research and development offices.[6]

Company behind the Brand:

In 1997, Huawei won a contract to provide fixed-line network products to Hong Kong
company Hutchison Whampoa.[41] Later that year, Huawei launched its wireless GSM-
based products and eventually expanded to offer CDMA and UMTS. In 1999, the
company opened a research and development (R&D) center in Bangalore, India to
develop a wide range of telecom software.[40]

In May 2003, Huawei partnered with 3Com on a joint venture known as H3C, which was
focused on enterprise networking equipment. It marked 3Com's re-entrance into the high-
end core routers and switch market, after having abandoned it in 2000 to focus on other
businesses. 3Com bought out Huawei's share of the venture in 2006 for US$882
million.[45][46]

In 2004, Huawei signed a $10 billion credit line with the China Development Bank
(CDB) to provide low-cost financing to customers buying its telecommunications

18
equipment to support its sales outside of China. This line of credit was tripled to $30
billion in 2009.[47]

In 2005, Huawei's foreign contract orders exceeded its domestic sales for the first time.
Huawei signed a Global Framework Agreement with Vodafone. This agreement marked
the first time a telecommunications equipment supplier from China had received
Approved Supplier status from Vodafone Global Supply Chain.[48][non-primary source
needed] Huawei also signed a contract with British Telecom (BT) for the deployment of
its multi-service access network (MSAN) and transmission equipment for BT's 21st
Century Network (21CN).[citation needed]

In 2007, Huawei began a joint venture with U.S. security software vendor Symantec
Corporation, known as Huawei Symantec, which aimed to provide end-to-end solutions
for network data storage and security. Huawei bought out Symantec's share in the venture
in 2012, with The New York Times noting that Symantec had fears that the partnership
"would prevent it from obtaining United States government classified information about
cyber threats".[49]

In May 2008, Australian carrier Optus announced that it would establish a technology
research facility with Huawei in Sydney.[50] In October 2008, Huawei reached an
agreement to contribute to a new GSM-based HSPA+ network being deployed jointly by
Canadian carriers Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility, joined by Nokia Siemens
Networks.[51] In November 2020, Telus dropped the plan to build 5G network with
Huawei.[52] Huawei delivered one of the world's first LTE/EPC commercial networks
for TeliaSonera in Oslo, Norway in 2009.[40]

In July 2010, Huawei was included in the Global Fortune 500 2010 list published by the
U.S. magazine Fortune for the first time, on the strength of annual sales of US$21.8
billion and net profit of US$2.67 billion.[53][54]

In October 2012, it was announced that Huawei would move its UK headquarters to
Green Park, Reading, Berkshire.[55]

Huawei also has expanding operations in Ireland since 2016. As well as a headquarters in
Dublin, it has facilities in Cork and Westmeath.[56]

Its Irish operations include communications, administration, marketing, consumer

business and sales functions.

The company also partners key Science Foundation Ireland centres such as Connect,
Insight, Adapt and Lero.

19
In September 2017, Huawei created a Narrowband IoT city-aware network using a "one
network, one platform, N applications" construction model utilizing 'Internet of things'
(IoT), cloud computing, big data, and other next-generation information and
communications technology, it also aims to be one of the world's five largest cloud
players in the near future.[57][58]

In April 2019, Huawei established the Huawei Malaysia Global Training Centre (MGTC)
at Cyberjaya, Malaysia,[59] which is Huawei's first training center outside of China.

Current market Position of Huawei:

By 2018, Huawei had sold 200 million smartphones.[60] They reported that strong
consumer demand for premium range smart phones helped the company reach consumer
sales in excess of $52 billion in 2018.[61]

Huawei announced worldwide revenues of $105.1 billion for 2018, with a net profit of
$8.7 billion.[62] Huawei's Q1 2019 revenues were up 39% year-over-year, at US$26.76
billion.[63]

In 2019, Huawei reported revenue of US$122 billion.[64]

By the second quarter of 2020, Huawei had become the world's top smartphone seller,
overtaking Samsung for the first time.[13]

Huawei, the known consumer electronics maker, is expected to see a sharp decline in its
global smartphone market share in 2021. A new report has revealed that the company
might have its market share fall to just 4 percent next year.

For those unaware, the Chinese tech giant is one of the most popular smartphone
manufacturers in the world. However due to recent obstacles, the company is expected to
only account for 14 percent of the global market share this year, which will drop to less
than a third of that by 2021, as per a BusinessStandard report. Researchers at TrendForce
stated earlier this week that a sustained campaign of sanctions against the company is the
primary reason for such a sizeable decline.

Furthermore, Huawei had been facing troubles with the US, with the worst actions
arriving a couple of months prior when the US Commerce Department reinforced
restrictions against the company, which had already lost its primary chip supplier TSMC
and disrupt its supply chain even further. The reinforced regulations also stripped away
its key software, and technological edge. Notably, Huawei recently had to sell its budget
smartphone business, Honor, after supply constraints and component shortages were
affected its subbrand as well.

20
Brand Number 03

Alibaba

Introduction

Alibaba Group Holding Limited, also known as Alibaba Group and Alibaba.com, is a
Chinese multinational technology company specializing in e-commerce, retail, Internet,
and technology. Founded on 28 June 1999[1] in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, the company
provides consumer-to-consumer (C2C), business-to-consumer (B2C), and business-to-
business (B2B) sales services via web portals, as well as electronic payment services,
shopping search engines and cloud computing services. It owns and operates a diverse
portfolio of companies around the world in numerous business sectors.[6]

On 19 September 2014, Alibaba's initial public offering (IPO) on New York Stock
Exchange raised US$25 billion, giving the company a market value of US$231 billion
and, by far, then the largest IPO in world history.[7] It is one of the top 10 most valuable
corporations,[8] and is named the 31st-largest public company in the world on the Forbes
Global 2000 2020 list.[9] In January 2018, Alibaba became the second Asian company to
break the US$500 billion valuation mark, after its competitor Tencent.[10] As of 2020,
Alibaba has the sixth-highest global brand valuation.[11]

Alibaba is one of the world's largest retailers and e-commerce companies. In 2020, it was
also rated as the fifth-largest artificial intelligence company.[12] It is also one of the
biggest venture capital firms, and one of the biggest investment corporations in the
world.[13][14][15][16] The company hosts the largest B2B (Alibaba.com), C2C
(Taobao), and B2C (Tmall) marketplaces in the world.[17][18] It has been expanding into
the media industry, with revenues rising by triple percentage points year after year.[19] It
also set the record on the 2018 edition of China's Singles' Day, the world's biggest online
and offline shopping day.[20][21][22]

History of Alibaba:

On 28 June 1999,[1] Jack Ma, with 17 friends and students founded Alibaba.com, a
China-based B2B marketplace site, in his Hangzhou apartment. In October 1999, Alibaba
received a US$25 million investment from Goldman Sachs and SoftBank. Alibaba.com
was expected to improve the domestic e-commerce market and perfect an e-commerce
platform for Chinese enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs),
to help export Chinese products to the global market as well as to address World Trade
Organization (WTO) challenges. In 2002, Alibaba.com became profitable three years
after launch. Ma wanted to improve the global e-commerce system, so from 2003

21
onward, Alibaba launched Taobao Marketplace, Alipay, Alimama.com, and
Lynx.[26][27]

When eBay announced its expansion into China in 2003, Ma viewed the American
company as a foreign competitor and rejected eBay's buyout of Alibaba's subsidiary
Taobao. Through applying existing technologies and gaining trust in the Chinese e-
commerce market, as well as expanding through dominating the market at a loss before
making a return on additional services, Alibaba's subsidiaries outperformed eBay in the
Chinese e-commerce market, claiming a growing percentage of consumers from eBay.
Alibaba subsidiary Taobao would later force eBay out of the Chinese market, with eBay
closing its unprofitable China Web unit, though the two companies would break even six
years later.[26][28][29]

In 2005, Yahoo! invested in Alibaba through a variable interest entity (VIE) structure,
buying a 40% stake in the company for US$1 billion.[26][29] This would as a result net
in US$10 billion in Alibaba's IPO alone to Yahoo!.[28][30]

According to Li Chuan, a senior executive at Alibaba, the company was planning in 2013
to open traditional brick and mortar retail outlets in partnership with Chinese real estate
company, Wanda Group.[31] Additionally, Alibaba purchased a 25% stake in Hong
Kong-listed Chinese department store chain Intime Retail in early 2014.[32] In early
2017, Alibaba and Intime's founder Shen Guojun agreed to pay as much as HK$19.8
billion (US$2.6 billion) to take the store chain private. Alibaba's stake—28% from 2014's
US$692 million investment—would rise to about 74% after the deal.[33]

In April 2014, Alibaba, Coatue Management, and Andreessen Horowitz led a US$250
million Series D financing round that was completed by Lyft, bringing its total amount
raised to $332.5 million.[29][34] On 5 June 2014, Alibaba bought a 50% stake of
Guangzhou Evergrande F.C. from Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd. in a deal that was
worth 1.2 billion yuan (US$192 million).[29][35] On 5 September 2014, the group—in a
regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission—set a US$60- to
$66- per-share price range for its scheduled initial public offering (IPO), the final price of
which would be determined after an international roadshow to gauge the investor interest
in Alibaba shares to shareholders. On 18 September 2014, Alibaba's IPO priced at
US$68, raising US$21.8 billion for the company and investors. Alibaba was the biggest
US IPO in history, bigger than Google, Facebook, and Twitter combined.[36][37][38] On
19 September 2014, Alibaba's shares (BABA) began trading on the NYSE at an opening
price of $92.70 at 11:55 am EST. On 22 September 2014, Alibaba's underwriters
announced their confirmation that they had exercised a green shoe option to sell 15%

22
more shares than originally planned, boosting the total amount of the IPO to $25
billion.[39][40]

Alibaba and the underwriters of its IPO were sued in a California superior court in a
consolidated class action lawsuit.[41] The lawsuit was filed in October 2015 on behalf of
investors who purchased Alibaba's American depositary shares alleging violations of the
Securities Act.[42] Alibaba reached a settlement agreement in December 2018, subject to
court approval, in which it agreed to pay $75 million to settle the lawsuit.[41][43][44]

In January 2017, Alibaba and the International Olympic Committee jointly announced an
$800 million deal that would last until 2028 in where the company would sponsor the
Olympic Games.[29][45] In September 2018, Jack Ma, the main founder of Alibaba,
announced that he would step down as chairman in a year's time so he could focus on
philanthropy.[46] In response to the announcement, The Economist stated that Ma had a
significant impact in China and worldwide via contributions and dedication to various
businesses.[47]

In May 2019, Bloomberg cited sources familiar with the matter as saying that Alibaba
was considering raising $20 billion through a second listing in Hong Kong.[48] On
Tuesday, 10 September 2019, Jack Ma officially stepped down as the chairman of
Alibaba, Daniel Zhang succeeded him at the head of the company. In September 2019,
the municipal government of Hangzhou announced that it was boosting its monitoring of
the private sector by embedding government officials in Alibaba and other
companies.[49][50]

In November 2020, The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese Communist Party
general secretary Xi Jinping personally scuttled Jack Ma's Ant Group IPO.[51] At that
time this was highlighted as the world's largest IPO suspension, sending a chilling
warning to numerous entrepreneurs. Bo Zhuang, chief China economist at TS Lombard
said that the suspension "forms part of a wider political drive as the leadership seeks to
widen and consolidate its control over finance and technology".[52] What followed was
an unexpected Chinese government-released draft on 10 November 2020, which gives
regulatory authorities a wider latitude to regulate their biggest tech enterprises.[53][54]

On 24 December 2020, China launched an antitrust investigation into Alibaba Group

regulators, in a crackdown on China's booming Internet space's anti-competitive
behavior.[55] In December 2020, the shares of Alibaba Group suffered a historic stock
price crash to the lowest close in around 6 months, following the antitrust investigation
into the company by Chinese regulators.[56] In December 2020, China's State
Administration for Market Regulation stated that it opened an investigation into Alibaba

23
over monopolistic practices.[57][58] The country's central bank, as well as three other
regulators, confirmed in a separate statement that the affiliated Ant Group would also be
summoned for discussions over "competition and consumer rights", where regulators
instructed the company to return its focus to digital-payments.[59] People's Daily, the
official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, endorsed
the investigation shortly after the announcement, claiming the investigation to be "an
important step in strengthening antimonopoly oversight in the internet sphere".[60][61]
As a result, from the antitrust probe, Alibaba lost nearly all of its stock-market gains in
2020, from $859 billion to $586 billion, by the end of December.[62] Jack Ma, co-
founder of both Alibaba and Ant Group, vanished from public view when Ant's IPO was
suspended in early November,[63] but resurfaced in January 2021 in a 50-second video,
appearing briefly via video link at the digitally facilitated Rural Teacher Initiative. As of
February 2021, he has yet to be seen in public.[64] The video appearance caused Alibaba
stock to jump more than 7%.[65]

In February 2021, Alibaba sold $5 billion in bonds, the company's third large sale of
dollar bonds, issuing four sets priced to yield between 2.143% and 3.251%. The four sets
of bonds were $1.5 billion of both 10 year and 30 year debt along with $1 billion of
bonds due in 20 and 40 years. The 20 year bonds were designated as sustainability
notes.[66][67][68]

On April 9, 2021 as part of a Chinese crackdown on big tech the state Administration for
Market Regulation issued a $2.8 billion fine against Alibaba for anti-competitive
practices and ordered Alibaba to file self-examination and compliance reports to the
SAMR for three years. Critics say the move tightens the Chinese's governments control
of tech companies.[69][70][71]

Company behind the Brand:

In 1999, Jack Ma launched the primary business of Alibaba, Alibaba.com, while working
as an English teacher in Hangzhou. Alibaba.com later became the world's largest online
B2B trading platform for small businesses as of 2014.[73] Alibaba.com has three main
services: the English language portal Alibaba.com, which handles sales between
importers and exporters from more than 240 countries and regions,[74] the Chinese portal
1688.com, which manages domestic B2B trade in China, and transaction-based retail
website AliExpress.com(全球速卖通), which allows smaller buyers to buy small
quantities of goods at wholesale prices.[citation needed] Alibaba.com went public at the
Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2007, and was delisted again in 2012.[75] In 2013,
1688.com launched a direct channel that was responsible for $30 million in daily
transaction value.[76]

24
In 2003, Alibaba launched Taobao Marketplace (淘宝网), offering a variety of products
for retail sales. Taobao grew to become China's largest C2C online shopping platform
and later became the second most visited web site in China, according to Alexa
Internet.[77][78] Taobao's growth was attributed to offering free registration and
commission-free transactions using a free third-party payment platform.[79] Advertising
made up 75 percent of the company's total revenue, allowing it to break even in 2009. In
2010, Taobao's profit was estimated to be ¥1.5 billion (US$235.7 million), which was
only about 0.4 percent of their total sales figure of ¥400 billion (US$62.9 billion) that
year, way below the industry average of 2 percent, according to iResearch estimates.[79]
According to Zhang Yu, the director of Taobao, between 2011 and 2013, the number of
stores on Taobao with annual sales under ¥100 thousand increased by 60%; the number
of stores with sales between ¥10 thousand and ¥1 million increased by 30%, and the
number of stores with sales over ¥1 million increased by 33%.[80]

In April 2008, Taobao introduced a spin-off, Taobao Mall (淘宝商城, later Tmall.com),
an online retail platform to complement the Taobao C2C portal, offering global brands to
an increasingly affluent Chinese consumer base. It became the eighth most visited web
site in China as of 2013.[81] In 2012, Tmall.com later changed its Chinese name to
Tianmao (天猫, "sky cat"), reflecting off of Tmall's Chinese pronunciation.[82] In March
2010, Taobao launched the group shopping website Juhuasuan (聚划算), offering "flash
sales", which are products that are available at a discount for only a fixed time period. In
October 2010, Taobao beta-launched eTao, a comparison shopping website that offers
search results from mostly Chinese online shopping platforms,[83] including product
searches, sales and coupon searches. According to the Alibaba Group web site, eTao
offers products from Amazon China, Dangdang, Gome, Yihaodian, Nike China, and
Vancl, as well as Taobao and Tmall.[74] As part of a restructuring of Taobao by Alibaba,
these spin-offs became separate companies in 2011, with Tmall and eTao becoming
separate businesses in June and Juhuasuan becoming a separate business later in
October.[84]

In 2010, Alibaba launched AliExpress.com, an online retail service made up of mostly

small Chinese businesses offering products to international online buyers. It is the most
visited E-Commerce platform in Russia.[85] It allows small businesses in China to sell to
customers all over the world, resulting in a wide variety of products. It might be more
accurate to compare AliExpress to eBay, though, as sellers are independent; it simply
serves as a host for other businesses to sell to consumers.[86] Similar to eBay, sellers on
Aliexpress can be either companies or individuals. It connects Chinese businesses

25
directly with buyers. The main difference from Taobao is that it's aimed primarily at
international buyers, mainly the USA, Russia, Brazil and Spain.[87]

In 2013, Alibaba and six large Chinese logistics companies (including SF Express)
established a company called Cainiao for delivery of packages in China. This network
gradually grew to 14 local logistics companies in 2014.[88] In 2016, Alibaba's Taobao
and Tmall, two of the world's largest and most popular online retail marketplaces,
achieved a total transaction volume of 3 trillion yuan (US$478.6 billion). The company
aims to double the transaction volume to 6 trillion yuan by 2020. As of February 2018,
Taobao reached 580 million monthly active users, while Tmall achieved 500 million
monthly active users.[89][90][91] It is also rapidly expanding its e-commerce network
abroad.[92] Alibaba has also announced that it will invest 100 billion yuan over five
years to build a global logistics network, underpinning an aggressive overseas expansion,
and demonstrating Alibaba's commitment to building the most efficient logistics network
in China and around the world. It is investing a further 5.3 billion yuan in Cainiao
Logistics to boost its stake to 51 percent from 47 percent.[93] The investment would
value Cainiao, a joint venture of top Chinese logistics firms, at around US$20 billion.[94]

On 11 June 2014, Alibaba launched US shopping site 11 Main. The 11 Main marketplace
hosts more than 1,000 merchants in categories such as clothing, fashion accessories and
jewelry as well as interior goods and arts and crafts and it plans to keep adding more, said
the company.[95][96] On 23 June 2015, Alibaba announced that it is selling 11 Main to
OpenSky, an online-marketplace operator based in New York.[97]

Lazada warehouse in Cabuyao, Laguna, Philippines during the company's 11.11 sale
promotion in 2018. Lazada Group is a subsidiary of Alibaba Group and Alibaba co-
founder Lucy Peng Lei is CEO of the company.

In April 2016, Alibaba announced that it intended to acquire a controlling interest in

Lazada by paying $500 million for new shares and buying $500M worth of shares from
existing investors.[98] Lazada Group is a Singaporean e-commerce company founded by
Rocket Internet in 2011. Lazada operates sites in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its sites launched in March 2012, with a business
model of selling inventory to customers from its own warehouses. In 2013 it added a
marketplace model that allowed third-party retailers to sell their products through
Lazada's site. Lazada features a wide product offering in categories ranging from
consumer electronics to household goods, toys, fashion and sports equipment. In March
2018, Alibaba announced its plan to invest an additional $2 billion in the company,
totaling a $4 billion investment. Alibaba also plans to appoint Alibaba co-founder Lucy
Peng as Lazada's new CEO.[99]

26
In October 2016, Alibaba launched Alitrip, later named Fliggy, an online travel platform
that is designed as an online mall for brands such as airline companies and
agencies.[100][101] Fliggy set the target audience as younger generation and it strives to
become a one-stop service when they plan their trips, particularly in overseas travel.[102]
On 7 August 2017, Alibaba Group and Marriott International hotel group announced a
comprehensive strategic co-operation. Two companies will set up a joint venture
company. Through the docking technology system and the superiority resources, Fliggy
has Marriott hotel flagship store. It has the same function with Marriott Chinese website
and Marriott mobile app to create the best global travel experience for consumers.[103]

In 2016, the Office of the United States Trade Representative added Taobao back onto a
list of notorious counterfeit platforms that includes the likes of torrent site The Pirate
Bay.[104] Alibaba denied wrongdoing and filed two lawsuits against the counterfeiters as
of January 4, 2017,[105] but brands whose sales have been affected by the counterfeit
products accused Alibaba of not doing enough.[106]

In 2017, Alibaba started opening a chain of supermarkets, named Hema (盒马, lit. box
horse), as part of the company's "new retail strategy," where customers can either order in
the store or online for delivery in under 30 minutes. It offers a mobile app that
recommends customers products based on data analytics.[107] In addition, customers can
have their groceries cooked to eat in the food court of the supermarket.[108]

In October 2020, Alibaba group agreed to pay US$3.6 billion to take control of China's
biggest hypermarket operator Sun Art from French billionaire Mulliez family. The deal
doubled the group's stake in the hypermarket chain with a tootles ownership of
72%.[109]

27
Brand Number 04

Xiaomi

Introduction

Xiaomi Corporation (/ˈʃaʊmiː/;[2] Chinese: 小米 ) is a Chinese multinational electronics

company founded in April 2010 and headquartered in Beijing. Xiaomi makes and invests
in smartphones, mobile apps, laptops, home appliances, bags, shoes, consumer
electronics, and many other products.[3] Xiaomi is also the fourth company globally after
Apple, Samsung and Huawei to have self-developed mobile system-on-chip (SoC)
capabilities.[4]

Xiaomi released its first smartphone in August 2011 and rapidly gained market share in
China to become the country's largest smartphone company in 2014.[5] At the start of
second quarter of 2018, Xiaomi was the world's fourth-largest smartphone
manufacturer,[6][7][8] leading in both the largest market, China, and the second-largest
market, India.[9] Xiaomi later developed a wider range of consumer electronics,
including a smart home (IoT) product ecosystem, which has connected more than 100
million smart devices and appliances.[10][11][12][13] Monthly active users (MAUs) of
MIUI increased to 291.6 million in September 2019.[14]

Xiaomi has 18,170 employees worldwide. It has expanded to other markets including
Greater China, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Russia, South Africa and most countries
and regions in Southeast Asia and Europe.[15][16] According to Forbes, Lei Jun, the
founder and CEO, has an estimated net worth of US$12.5 billion.[17] Xiaomi is the
world's 4th most valuable technology start-up after receiving US$1.1 billion funding
from investors, making Xiaomi's valuation more than US$46 billion.[18] Ranked 468th,
Xiaomi is the youngest company on Fortune Global 500 list for 2019.[19] In 2019,
Xiaomi's mobile phone shipments reached 125 million units,[20] ranking fourth globally
since 2018. The company has been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 2018.

History of Xiaomi:

2010

On 6 April 2010 Xiaomi was co-founded by Lei Jun and six others:

Lin Bin (林斌), vice president of the Google China Institute of Engineering

Zhou Guangping (周光平), senior director of the Motorola Beijing R&D center

28
Liu De (刘德), department chair of the Department of Industrial Design at the University
of Science and Technology Beijing

Li Wanqiang (黎万强), general manager of Kingsoft Dictionary

Huang Jiangji (黄江吉), principal development manager

Hong Feng (洪峰), senior product manager for Google China

Institutional investors participating in the first round of funding included Temasek

Holdings, IDG Capital, Qiming Venture Partners[21] and Qualcomm.[22]

On 16 August 2010, Xiaomi officially launched its first Android-based firmware

MIUI.[23] It resembles Samsung's TouchWiz and Apple's iOS.

2011

The Xiaomi Mi 1 smartphone was announced in August 2011. The device had Xiaomi's
MIUI firmware along with Android installation. The first Xiaomi Mi 1 smartphone was
then commercially appeared in Asia and East Asia technological markets.[24]

2012

In August 2012, following the first version of its smartphone, Xiaomi Corporation
announced its new device called Xiaomi Mi 2 smartphone. It was improved from the
previous version by updating the new firmware with the most updated Android
Version.[25]

2013

In August 2013, the company announced that it was hiring Hugo Barra from Google,
where he served as vice president of product management for the Android
platform.[26][27][28][29] Barra has declined to comment on the timing of the Google
relationships, and stated that he had been in talks with Xiaomi for over a year prior to
announcing the move.[30] He was employed as vice president of Xiaomi to expand the
company outside of mainland China, making Xiaomi the first company selling
smartphones to poach a senior staffer from Google's Android team.[31] Barra's focus was
to help Xiaomi grow internationally.[32][33] Barra quit his position in January 2017 to
join Facebook as VP of virtual reality.[34]

On 5 September 2013, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun announced plans to launch an Android-based
47-inch 3D-capable Smart TV,[35] which will be assembled by Sony TV manufacturer

29
Wistron Corporation of Taiwan.[36] The company explained the choice as to take
advantage of Wistron's skill as a supplier of Sony.[37]

In September 2013, Xiaomi announced its Mi 3 phone.[38]

By October 2013 Xiaomi was the fifth-most-used smartphone brand in China.[39]

In 2013 Xiaomi sold 18.7 million smartphones.[40]

2014

In 2014, Xiaomi announced its expansion outside China, with their first international
headquarters in Singapore. Future product launches and activities in the region will be set
up there.[41] Following Singapore, the company opened in Malaysia, Philippines and
India,[42] and plans to enter Indonesia, Thailand, Russia, Turkey, Brazil and Mexico in
the following months.[43]

On 21 February 2014, Xiaomi's Redmi and Mi 3 phone were released in

Singapore.[44][45] The Xiaomi Mi 3 batches were sold out within 2 minutes of the
opening day sale in Singapore.[46]

In March 2014, Xiaomi Store Australia (an unrelated business) began selling Xiaomi
mobile phones online in Australia through its website, XiaomiStore.com.au.[47]
However, they traded for only a few months, as Xiaomi soon "requested" that the store be
shut down on (or by) 25 July 2014.[47] Shortly after sales were halted, the website itself
was also taken down, on 7 August 2014.[47] An industry commentator described the
action by Xiaomi to get the Australian website closed down as unprecedented, saying,
"I’ve never come across this [before]. It would have to be a strategic move."[47] At the
time this left only one online vendor selling Xiaomi mobile phones into Australia, namely
Yatango (formerly MobiCity), which was based in Hong Kong[47] — although this
business closed in late 2015.[48]

On 17 March 2014, Redmi Note phablet was announced by Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun.[49]

In April 2014, Xiaomi purchased the Internet domain mi.com for a record US$3.6
million, the most expensive domain name ever bought in China, replacing xiaomi.com as
the official Xiaomi domain.[50]

In November 2014, Xiaomi said it would invest US$1 billion in television content
building.[51]

30
In December 2014, Xiaomi completed a round of equity financing led by Hong Kong-
based technology fund All-Stars Investment Limited, a fund run by former Morgan
Stanley analyst Richard Ji[52][53] raising over US$1 billion, with a valuation of more
than US$45 billion making it one of the most valuable private technology companies in
the world.[54]

The company sold over 60 million smartphones in 2014.[55]

2015

In April 2015, Xiaomi announced it would make its Mi devices available through two of
India's major e-commerce sites and through offline retailers for the first time.[56]

On 23 April 2015, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun and VP Hugo Barra came together to announce a
new smartphone named Xiaomi Mi 4i in India, the first phone to be launched in India
before any other country. The Xiaomi Mi Band was also launched in the same event.

On 27 April 2015, it was reported Ratan Tata had acquired a stake in Xiaomi.[57][58]

On 30 June 2015, Xiaomi announced its expansion into Brazil with the launch of locally
manufactured Redmi 2; it is the first time the company assembled a smartphone outside
of China.[59]

2016

On 24 February 2016, Xiaomi launched the Mi 5 smartphone.[60]

On 10 May 2016, Xiaomi launched the Mi Max.[61]

Shortly after starting operations in Brazil the company left the country in the second half
of 2016.[62]

In July 2016, Chinese artists as Liu Shishi, Wu Xiubo and Liu Haoran became the first
ambassadors of Xiaomi's Redmi series in China.[63]

In August 2016, Xiaomi entered Bangladesh via Solar Electro Bangladesh Limited.[64]

In September 2016, Xiaomi's cell phones became officially available in the European
Union through their partnership with ABC Data.[65]

2017

In January 2017, Xiaomi officially released its Redmi Note 4 Successor of Redmi Note 3
and becomes India's No 1 Smartphone Brand.[66]

31
On 20 February 2017, Xiaomi officially launched in Pakistan and brought its Mi and
Redmi Note lineup to the country.[67]

On 19 April 2017, Xiaomi launched the Mi 6, its flagship phone at the time.

In May 2017, Xiaomi opened two Mi Home stores; one in Bangalore (India) and one in
Bangladesh. It is the first of several planned for the region.[68]

On 25 May 2017, Xiaomi released the Mi Max 2.

On 26 August, a new version of Xiaomi's MIUI operating system, MIUI v9, alongside the
Mi 5X, were released.[69]

On 31 August 2017, Xiaomi opened its first flagship Mi Store in Faisalabad,

Pakistan.[70]

On 5 September 2017, Xiaomi released Mi A1, which is the first Android One
smartphone under the slogan: Created by Xiaomi, Powered by Google. In the event
keynote, Xiaomi stated they started working with Google for the Mi A1 Android One
smartphone almost six months ago. An alternate version of the phone is also available
with MIUI and is known as MI 5X.[71]

In September 2017, Xiaomi released the Mi MIX 2[72]

In October 2017, the EU's first Mi Store was opened in Athens, Greece.[73]

On 7 November 2017, Xiaomi started operating in Spain, making available the Mi A1

and Mi Mix 2 smartphones.[74]

In Q3 2017, Xiaomi overtook Samsung to become the number one smartphone brand in
India. Xiaomi has sold 9.2 million units during this period.[75]

2018

Mi Store in Hangzhou in 2018

On 20 February, Xiaomi opened their first Mi Store in the Philippines.[76]

In March 2018, at China's annual legislative session in Beijing, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun
announced that Xiaomi has "always been considering entering the US market" and will
launch in the US smartphone market by late 2018 or early 2019. Xiaomi already sells
assorted items in the US such as power banks and Bluetooth speakers.[77]

32
On 3 April 2018, Xiaomi launched the Mix 2S model which is a successor of Mix 2.[78]

On 25 April 2018, Xiaomi launched the Mi 6X, a successor to the Mi 5X.

On 22 May 2018, Xiaomi opened its first French Mi store in Paris.[79]

On 26 May 2018, Xiaomi opened its first Italian Mi Store in the Il Centro Mall in Arese,
Milan.

On 3 May 2018, Xiaomi filed to go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and aims
to raise $10 billion in IPO which is expected to be the world's biggest IPO raise since
2014.[80]

On 3 May 2018, Xiaomi announced its partnership with 3 (telecommunications) to sell

smartphones in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Austria, Denmark, and Sweden[81]

In May 2018, Xiaomi began selling some of their smart home products in the United
States through Amazon.[82]

In July 2018, Xiaomi opened its office in Bangladesh with a view to establishing a
manufacturing plant within the next couple of years. [83]

In September 2018, Xiaomi launched its 4th 'Mi Home' experience store in India.[84]
They also launched their products in the UK, offering UK customers to purchase without
customs fees.

2019

In March 2019, Xiaomi, partnered with AMTD Group, obtained one of the eight virtual
bank licenses in Hong Kong.[85] The company also has introduced Xiaomi Mi 9 phone
which has a fingerprint scanner in its display.[86]

2020

In February 2020, Xiaomi launched the Mi 10 5G and Mi 10 Pro 5G.[87]

In August 2020, for the 10th anniversary of the company Xiaomi launched Mi 10 Ultra
and Redmi K30 Ultra.[88][89]

In October 2020, Xiaomi surpassed Apple as the third largest smartphone maker in the
world by shipment volume, shipping 46.2 million handsets in Q3 2020.[90][91][92]

In December 2020, Xiaomi launched its next flagship phone, the Mi 11.

33
2021

In January 2021, Xiaomi launched its next midrange-flagship smartphone (Xiaomi Mi 10i
5G).[93]

On 19 January, KPN, a Dutch landline and mobile telecommunications company, sued

Xiaomi wanting financial compensation because of a patent infringement. The patents
were already part of lawsuits KPN filed against Samsung in 2014 and 2015 in a court in
Texas.

On 25 February 2021, Xiaomi unveiled the Redmi K40 Pro+ with 108 MP camera and
Snapdragon 888 chipset, along with the K40 Pro and K40.[94]

On 30 March 2021, Xiaomi announced that they will invest US$10 billion in new electric
vehicles for the next ten years.[95]

On 31 March, Xiaomi announced a new logo for the company, designed by Kenya Hara.

Brand Number 05

Air China

Introduction

Air China Limited (Chinese: 中国国际航空公司) is the flag carrier of the People's
Republic of China[2] and one of the "Big Three" mainland Chinese airlines (alongside
China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines). Air China's headquarters are in
Shunyi District, Beijing. Air China's flight operations are based primarily at Beijing
Capital International Airport. In 2017, the airline carried 102 million domestic and
international passengers with an average load factor of 81%.[3] The airline joined Star
Alliance in 2007, alongside Shanghai Airlines.

History of Air China:

Air China was established and commenced operations on 1 July 1988 as a result of the
Chinese government's decision in late 1987 to split the operating divisions of Civil
Aviation Administration of China (CAAC Airlines) into six separate airlines: Air China,
China Eastern, China Southern, China Northern, China Southwest, and China
Northwest.[4] Air China was given chief responsibility for intercontinental flights and
took over the CAAC's long haul aircraft (Boeing 747s, 767s, and 707s) and routes.

34
In January 2001, the former CAAC's ten airlines agreed on a merger plan,[5] according to
which Air China was to acquire China Southwest Airlines. Before this acquisition, Air
China was the country's fourth largest domestic airline. The merger created a group with
assets of 56 billion Yuan (US$8.63 billion), and a fleet of 118 aircraft.[6] In October
2002, Air China consolidated with the China National Aviation Holding and China
Southwest Airlines.[7]

On 15 December 2004, Air China was successfully listed on the Hong Kong and London
Stock Exchanges. In 2006, Air China signed an agreement to join the Star Alliance. It
became a member of the alliance on 12 December 2007 alongside Shanghai Airlines.

In July 2009, Air China acquired $19.3 million of shares from its troubled subsidiary Air
Macau, lifting its stake in the carrier from 51% to 80.9%.[8] One month later, Air China
spent HK$6.3 billion (US$813 million) to raise its stake in Cathay Pacific from 17.5% to
30%, expanding its presence in Hong Kong.[9]

History behind the brand:

In April 2010, Air China completed the increase of shareholdings in Shenzhen Airlines
and became the controlling shareholder of Shenzhen Airlines, allowing Air China to
further enhance its position in Beijing, Chengdu, and Shanghai as well as achieve a more
balanced domestic network.[10]

On 2 December 2010, Air China received Spain's highest tourism industry award, the
"Plaque for Tourist Merit." Air China was the first foreign airline to receive the award,
which is given to organisations and individuals contributing to the Spanish tourism
industry.[11]

On 23 December 2010, Air China became the first Chinese airline to offer combined
tickets that include domestic flights and shuttle bus services to nearby cities. The first
combined flight-shuttle bus ticket connected Tianjin via shuttle bus with domestic flights
passing through Beijing.[12]

Air China began offering free Wi-Fi internet service on board its aircraft on 15 November
2011, making it the first Chinese carrier to offer this service.[13] However the service is
not allowed on smartphones, only tablets and laptops.[14]

In 2012, after pressure from PETA, Air China stated that it would no longer transport
monkeys to laboratories. PETA welcomed the airline's announcement.[15]

35
On July 3, 2013 in time for the company's 25th anniversary, Air China successfully tested
Wireless LAN in flight. It was the first global satellite Internet flight in Mainland
China.[16]

In early 2015 it was announced that the airline had selected the Boeing 737 Next
Generation and 737 MAX for its fleet renewal programme of 60 aircraft. The deal, with a
value of over $6 billion at current list prices, has yet to be finalized.

Conclusion:

Over the past 2–3 years, we have been tracking the rise of Chinese consumer brands that
have effectively leveraged technology and post-millennial branding to scale quickly.
During our stint at ShopClues, we saw savvy merchants create brands with intelligent
merchandising and targeted marketing initiatives. The Chinese consumer brand landscape
has been abuzz with the appearance of new brands across categories. We deep dived into
the emerging consumer brand story and came up with some key observations and
insights.

While the trend toward forming an online presence has been clear for some time, the
pandemic has accelerated companies' plans. Sales in India's e-commerce market
reached$30 billion in 2019 and are expected to more than triple to over $100 billion by
2024, according to a joint research report by management consultancy Alvarez &
Marshal and the Confederation of Indian Industries. The best way to deal with the
complexities of the Indian market for marketing and advertising purposes is to invest in
and hire local knowledge. Both Indian and international companies specialize in
marketing in India.A comprehensive marketing plan that considers core elements such as
your brand, stakeholder management, public relations, media (including digital and social
media), and your product/brand value proposition is critical. Be aware, however, that you
will need to continually reassess your marketing strategy and plan. The Indian socio-
economic environment is constantly evolving and changing, which in turn impacts on
consumer choices.

36
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