• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2013

This case focuses on Shanghai Tang, the first truly Chinese luxury brand that appeals to both Westerners and, more recently, to Chinese consumers worldwide. A visionary and wealthy businessman Sir David Tang created this company from scratch in 1994 in Hong Kong. Its story, spanned over almost two decades, has been fascinating. It went from what best a Chinese brand could be in the eyes of Westerners who love the Chinese culture, to a nearly-bankrupted company in 1998, before being acquired by Richemont, the second largest luxury group in the world. Since then, its turnaround has been spectacular with a growing appeal among Chinese luxury consumers who represent the core segment of the luxury industry today. The main objective of this case study is to formally examine how Shanghai Tang overcame its downfall and re-emerged as one the very few well- known Chinese luxury brands. More specifically, this case highlights the ways with which Shanghai Tang made a transitional change from a brand for Westerners who love the Chinese culture, to a brand for both, Westerners who love the Chinese culture and Chinese who love luxury. A close examination reveals that Shanghai Tang has followed the brand identity concept that consists of two major components: functional and emotional. The functional component for developing a luxury brand concerns all product characteristics that will make a product 'luxurious' in the eyes of the consumer, such as premium quality of cachemire from Mongolia, Chinese silk, lacquer, finest leather, porcelain, and jade in the case of Shanghai Tang. The emotional component consists of non-functional symbolic meanings of a brand. The symbolic meaning marks the major difference between a premium and a luxury brand. In the case of Shanghai Tang, its symbolic meaning refers to the Chinese culture and the brand aims to represent the best of Chinese traditions and establish itself as "the ambassador of modern Chinese style". It touches the Chinese heritage and emotions. Shanghai Tang has reinvented the modern Chinese chic by drawing back to the stylish decadence of Shanghai in the 1930s, which was then called the "Paris of the East", and this is where the brand finds inspiration to create its own myth. Once the functional and emotional components assured, Shanghai Tang has gone through a four-stage development to become the first global Chinese luxury brand: introduction, deepening, expansion, and revitalization. Introduction: David Tang discovered a market gap and had a vision to launch the first Chinese luxury brand to the world. The key success drivers for the introduction and management of a Chinese luxury brand are a solid brand identity and, above all, a creative mind, an inspired person. This was David Tang then, and this is now Raphael Le Masne de Chermont, the current Executive Chairman. Shanghai Tang combines Chinese and Western elements, which it finds to be the most sustainable platform for drawing consumers. Deepening: A major objective of the next phase is to become recognized as a luxury brand and a fashion or design authority. For this purpose, Shanghai Tang has cooperated with other well-regarded luxury and lifestyle brands such as Puma and Swarovski. It also expanded its product lines from high-end custom-made garments to music CDs and restaurant. Expansion: After the opening of his first store in Hong Kong in 1994, David Tang went on to open his second store in New York City three years later. However this New York retail operation was a financial disaster. Barely nineteen months after the opening, the store was shut down and quietly relocated to a cheaper location of Madison Avenue. Despite this failure, Shanghai Tang products found numerous followers especially among Western tourists and became "souvenir-like" must-haves. However, despite its strong brand DNA, the brand did not generate enough repeated sales and over the years the company cumulated heavy debts and became unprofitable. Revitalizing: After its purchase by Richemont in 1998, Le Masne de Chermont was appointed to lead the company, reposition the brand and undertake some major strategic changes such as revising the "Shanghai Tang" designs to appeal not only to Westerners but also to Chinese consumers, and to open new stores around the world. Since then, Shanghai Tang has become synonymous to a modern Chinese luxury lifestyle brand.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.157-173
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• 2014

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of fashion companies' micro-blogging marketing activities on Chinese consumer attitudes and purchasing intentions. In this research, the technology acceptance model (TAM) was used as the research framework, and innovativeness, self-efficacy, and perceived enjoyment variables were included in the model. Through an online survey, 195 respondents participated in this study. The results were as follows: fashion innovation and self-efficacy have a significant positive effect on perceived usefulness, as well as ease of use. These two factors have a significant positive effect on perceived enjoyment. Furthermore, and most significantly, this perceived enjoyment has a significant effect on the consumer's attitude toward the company, and intention to purchase the fashion company's products.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.6 no.11
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• pp.8-14
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• 2006

With an analysis of government owned corporations based on Chinese law as a subject and in the light of comparing and assessing intra-company domination called internal management organization with the domination structure of already established advanced nations, the objective of this study is to analyze the reality and possibility of company domination structure of Chinese government owned corporations. Especially, the intra-company domination structure in China from the points of view such as general meeting of stock holders, director and board of directors, and board of auditors, this study examines the direction toward which internal domination organizations in China form. Also, related to chinese corporations, the study proposes the model in which the possession right of general meeting of stock holders, corporation property right of board of directors, corporation representative right of the senior executive and superintendency of board of auditors are mutually restricted and inter-connected.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.128-135
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• 2021

WDM(Wavelength Division Multiplexing) is called a wavelength division multiplexing optical transmission method and is a next-generation optical transmission technology. Case company F has recently developed and sold PLC(Planar Lightwave Circuit), a key element necessary for WDM system production. Although Chinese processing companies are being used as a global outsourcing strategy to increase price competitiveness by lowering manufacturing unit prices, the average defect rate of products manufactured by Chinese processing companies is more than 50%, causing many problems. However, Chinese processing companies are trying to avoid responsibility, saying that the cause of the defect is the defective PLC Wafer provided by Company F. Therefore, in this study, the responsibility of the PLC defect is clearly identified through estimating the defect rate of PLC using the sampling inspection method, and the improvement plan for each cause of the PLC defect for PLC yeild improvement is proposed. The result of this research will greatly contribute to eliminating the controversy over providing the cause of defects between global outsourcing companies and the head office. In addition, it is expected to form a partnership with Company F and a Chinese processing company, which will serve as a cornerstone for successful global outsourcing. In the future, it is necessary to increase the reliability of the PLC yield calculation by extracting more precisely the number of defects.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.3-24
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• 2010

This study aims to identify the determinants on the implementation level of e-Trade of Chinese exporters in Shandong Province, China. From the review of previous studies, a research model and six hypotheses were set up and tested by the multiple regression analysis with total 127 effective survey data. Among the company characteristics, the company size was statistically significant to the utilization range and the utilization level. But unlike former studies in Korea, the utilization range showed the (-) mark. On the other hand, the innovative attitude of CEO didn't show statistical significance to both the utilization range and the utilization level. Among the information characteristics, the IT infrastructure was not statistically significant to both the utilization range and the utilization level. On the other hand, the education and training of technical personnel didn't have a significant effect on the utilization range, but it had a statistically significant effect on the utilization level. Among the external environment, the intensity of competition had a statistically significant effect on both the utilization range and the utilization level. In summary, the implementation level of e-Trade of Chinese exporters in Shandong Province, China is still behind that of Korea. But the fact that the small and medium-sized Chinese exporters are using Internet more actively than large companies suggests some implications for those of Korea.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.419-436
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• 2013

This study is targeted at chinese market about internet companies in chinese consumers character. According to the consumers characteristics, we want to see that the performance of internet companies of the empirical analysis. As a result, consumer awareness of internet companies, accessibility on connect line, and enhance the stability of deal to get significant results, respectively. These results show that the internet company needs to several factors for the enhance of performance in chinese market through its brand building, expansion of the server, the stability of the payment system, and education and training of human resources. However because this study is focused on the vast majority of China's 20 generation research, its result is not to expand throughout chinese all generation consumers

• The Journal of Economics, Marketing and Management
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.27-37
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• 2021

Purpose: By foreshadowing the historical background and cultural influence of Korean food and economic development in China, this paper demonstrates Chinese market entry strategies taken by TheBorn with its company history and CEO's background. Research design, data and methodology: The eclectic paradigm was utilized to analyze ownership, localization, and internalization advantages for TheBorn's first entry into the Chinese market. The research answers how TheBorn could expand its business in the early 2000s while most were skeptical about the globalization of Korean food. Results: First, possessing various restaurant franchises, food patents, and developments, and media use enabled to achieve a strong ownership advantage. Second, the Chinese market is conveniently located in South Korea. Thus, TheBorn could exercise direct management to its overseas restaurant to maintain the food quality and service. Lastly, establishing a sauce manufacturing plant and its branch company accelerated further expansions to other Chinese cities. Conclusions: Based on those success factors, TheBorn extended its business into different cities in China and emerged as a franchisor giant in the Korean restaurant franchise industry.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.375-393
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to investigate the Chinese investment environment and analyze the actual investment condition of Korean enterprises in China and examine the points at issue. In general, the investment environment in China shows satisfactory progress. China has a multiple and regional extension policy in investment. And the environment for investment changes to insufficiency of company profit, extension of service market, maintenance of legislative system, and insufficiency of preference about foreign company. There are situations of inclining to manufacturing, inclining of region, preference of independence investment, small-sized investment by small and medium enterprises, difficulty of financial assistance, excess of logistic cost, delay of logistic term, difficulty of settlement of legal dispute and difficulty of taking a relative information in investment of Korean enterprise in China. The results of the study indicate mostly that the investment of Korean enterprise into China needs turnover of service trade-tertiary industry, portfolio of investment territory, cooperation with Chinese enterprise through joint venture investment and a large-scale investment for extension of Chinese domestic market.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.367-408
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• 2018

This study examines the features of globalization process in GM and Hyundai Motors, especially in the expansion into China auto market, through a joint venture(hereafter JV) research center. Due to the large scale market in China and the 50:50 JV, the two companies had to respond in some way to the Chinese government's request for localization of research and development functions, and their response affected the role of the JV research center. Even though the improvement in technological capability expected from the JV by the Chinese side did not appear well in the early stage in both JV, but relatively the Shanghai GM JV research center had a technological progress compared to the Beijing Hyundai JV research center. This paper explains the differences in the technical capabilities of the two JV research center, despite the same type of JV, as the difference between the status of the Chinese partner and the global strategy of the parent company. SAIC, a Chinese partner in Shanghai GM as a top-tier company, not only has been strongly demanding technology transfer from GM since the beginning of the JV, but has also made efforts to improve its own technical capabilities. Meanwhile, BAIC, a Chines partner in Beijing Hyundai as a mid-tier company, has not been strongly demanding technology transfer and lacked its own research base. Regarding the parent company's global strategy, although both companies controlled the core areas of research and development by their parent companies, GM actively considered using the Chinese RV to develop Chinese and emerging country vehicles. On the other hand, Hyundai Motors responded to the localization demand of the Chinese government while paying more attention to preventing technology leakage through its independent research center in China. The above discussion shows that the process of globalization of a company is a political process in which the global strategy of the parent company and the demands of the stakeholders surrounding the subsidiary are collided and compromised, rather than a process in which the harmony and cooperation between the parent company and its subsidiaries are smoothly achieved as the parent company's policies are unilaterally implemented.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.147-174
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• 2017

Korean companies currently operating in China have made active efforts to undertake corporate social responsibility activities and corporate advertising to improve their image, as well as marketing activities directly related to their products. In this context, this study aims to analyze how corporate social responsibility activities and corporate advertising influence a company's image from the perspective of Chinese consumers. This study also analyzes corporate image, consumer-company identification, and the structural relationship between the consumers' behavioral responses and their evaluation of Korean products. Based on theoretical discussions and previous studies, the study tests five research hypotheses for the development of a theoretical research model. In order to empirically test the research model, data were collected by enlisting and observing MBA students from major universities in China. The results obtained by actual analysis are as follows. First, corporate social responsibility activities and corporate advertising were found to be positively influential on corporate image. Second, corporate image is positively influential on consumer-company identification. The consumer-company identification of Chinese consumers' evaluation of Korean products, and positive evaluation of Korean products in turn induce positive influences on Chinese consumers' behavioral responses. These results suggest that the Korean companies already established in China not only need to enhance a positive corporate image but also have to make efforts to undertake corporate social responsibility activities and corporate advertising activities in order to improve their continuous and long-term relationship with Chinese consumers.