[Image courtesy of www.apcoworldwide.com/china]
China Direct would like to thank CBI member APCO for kindly providing the following analysis of the recently convened annual National People's Congress in Beijing.
For more information and analysis please download below.
Thank you.
[Image courtesy of www.wpp.com]
Commissioned by CBI member WPP, the annual BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Chinese Brands ranking was released earlier this week by Millward Brown.
Combining both financial data and consumer opinion gathered from interviews with over 35,000 Chinese consumers, the BrandZ China Top 50 is one of the most robust rankings of Chinese brands available.
Key trends emerging from the BrandZ China Top 50 study include:
• China's shift from maker to innovator
• The phenomenal rise of online and FMCG brands
• Rising incomes and a rapidly expanding middle class
• Consumers becoming increasingly brand-savvy
In 2011, the value of the Top 50 Chinese brands has grown by 16% to reach $325 billion, representing more than 5% of the Chinese economy. The top five brands in this year's ranking are as follows: China Mobile, ICBC, Construction Bank of China, Bank of China, and Agricultural Bank of China.
Please click here to read the full press release by WPP's Millward Brown and here to access the full report.
The Delegation of the European Union in China has very kindly prepared a full English translation of China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).
In mid-March 2011, the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, approved the new Five-Year Plan (FYP).
China's FYPs are blueprints which outline key economic and development targets for the country for the next five-year period.
This is essential reading for businesses seeking to either expand their existing China operations or position themselves in the market for the first time.
To download the full translation of the current FYP please click below:
Download Full translation 5 Yr Plan 2011-2015
[Image courtesy of www.burson-marsteller.com]
CBI member Burson-Marsteller offers ten key tips that foreign businesses should be aware of when positioning themselves in China.
Kindly upload this excellent overview below:
Download Burson-Marsteller China Perspective - 10 Tips for MNCs in China - March 2011
For more information about Burson-Marsteller, celebrating their 25th year in China, please contact their Beijing office directly via: douglas.dew@bm.com or Tel: 00 86 10 58162588.
China Direct would like to thank Douglas Dew and the BM China team for kindly sharing this information.
[Image courtesy of www.mobchina.blogspot.com]
The Chinese government has established a new department, known as the State Internet Information Office, to manage Internet information.
The move, announced earlier this week, is seen as an attempt by the authorities to streamline the administration of the Internet in China.
Currently the Internet is administered by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), Ministry of Culture and State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.
In the new set-up MIIT will retain responsibility for network access and the MPS in tackling cybercrime.
The new office will hold responsibilities including:
• Development of online gaming, video, audio, publication industries
• Promoting the development of major news websites
• Managing government publicity
• Investigating and punishing websites that violate laws and regulations
• Managing ISPs, domain names, IP addresses, registration, Internet access
Please read more here.
[Image courtesy of www.search-internetmarketing.com]
Ren Ren, Chinese social media giant and possibly the Mainland's answer to Facebook, has listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Shares in Ren Ren began trading at US$14 - at the upper end of its US$12-14 range predicted by analysts.
The company 's post IPO market value is US$7.5 bn, giving it a value nearly 100 times that of its 2010 revenues of US$76.5 m.
For China Direct's 2011 comments on China's growing online Social Media companies please click here.
Recent commentary on Ren Ren's IPO and company background can be found below:
[Image courtesy of www.maximumpc.com]
Baidu, China's homegrown version of Google has been facing some strong internal challenges from other web content providers.
[Image courtesy of www.publicaffairsasia.com]
Welcome back to our readers!
China Direct is now back in action after a week away.
The third annual Public Affairs Asia Industry Survey was released in Hong Kong today.
It highlights the importance for businesses to develop and localise their strategies to fit the local environment and concludes that whilst the industry is gaining in importance it suffers from staffing and capacity issues which in turn are hampering companies' international development plans.
For a summary please click below or alternatively further on for the full (16 page) report.
Download PA APA Survey 2011 PR
Download Public Affairs - 2011 APA Survey
Our thanks to Public Affairs Asia for sharing this important survey with China Direct.
[Image courtesy of www.tencent.com]
And have you even heard of China's largest online gaming company?
With 31% of the Chinese gaming market, a 52% increase in profits in 2010 and twentyfold increase in share value since listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2004 Tencent grew faster than Apple in 2010.
It recently purchased LA based Riot Games for US$ 400 million ensuring its supremecy in a market with only 20% PC internet penetration - leaving it with plenty of room for growth whilst adding to China's US$ 38 billion outbound investment deals for 2010.
Profit margins for this online phenomenon stand at a whopping 45%. Tencent is now in a race with longtime rivals Baidu and Ren Ren to establish a social networking platform for the 600 million users of its Tencent QQ fast-messaging service.
So will Tencent become China's answer to Facebook or has it bitten off more than it can chew and soon lose out to Apple?
Only time, and the 2.6 million simultaneous users of its most popular online games, online as China Direct types, can tell.
[Image courtesy of www.wobinode.com]
Taobao is China's biggest online shopping platform with more online sales in 2010 than Amazon, 370 million users and an estimated value of US$20 billion should it seek an IPO later this year.
Owned by Alibaba owner and e-commerce visionary Jack Ma, Taobao is revolutionising the way Chinese consumers buy online and could, in less than a decade, be larger than shopping behometh Walmart.
For more on the extraordinary growth of Taobao please read the following:
Download China's Biggest Online Shop - and it's bigger than Amazon
