Generic Giants

I am a business consultant. I grew up in China and spent the last 20 years in the U.S. I have been living in Beijing for the past couple of years. The question you posted is the same question I have been thinking for a long time. I think the problem goes far deeper than what you suggested. It takes a native who has overseas life experience to see it. It is not a business question, it is a national culture and government mentality question, and its solution will not be in the management of the big companies. It is much tougher. It's in a national cultural revoluntion.

Why do I say that? Think the definition of a brand. What is it? Any manager will tell you it is a promise. To build a brand, you need to repeatedly fullfil your promises so people form an expectation of your product quality. But from what I have seen as a native who has been overseas for a long time, today's Chinese society shows a salient feature to anyone who is there to observe -- the proliferation of false promises (implicit and explicit, and large and small), and the consequent culture of suspicion of any promise and contempt for anyone making any promise. Whats truly stunning, the incredible popular tolarence of rule breaking, which is breaking of an ordinary citizen's promise to the larger society. It is everywhere and happens every minute. Tens of people standing in line for a bus, fullfiling their promises to get on the bus in a fair and efficient way. A few will cut to the front as soon as the bus arrives, breaking their implicit promises. Everyone then pushes and shoves to the front to save their own chance to get on the bus. A massive breakdown of a promise-making / promise-fullfiling process takes place. Things like this are so common everywhere and at all levels that I think it is threatening the entire people's fundamental sense of decency. I am not alone in this. A couple of month ago, Beijing's Jin Hua Ri Bao (Capital Splendor Daily) printed an editorial proclaiming "we are now officially a people without a sense of shame".

If nobody makes or fullfils any promise implicit or explicit any moment of their lives, how can you expect any company, an organization consisting of societal individuals, to make serious promises and repeatedly fullfils them to the point consumers will form a regular expectation of its products? The organization may make a large effort to do so because the Japanese or the Americans are doing it. But it won't last because the effort is only an abnormal tweaking of the nerves. It will go back to its normal state of senses as soon as the degree of urgency drops in the slightest. Unfortunately brand building is something in business that is the most demanding on time.

Í know I am using strong languages but I am not against the Communist Party. I actually think they are doing a really good job managing the national economy. Maybe it is a development phase that every nation goes through. Maybe it is peculiar to the dvelopment model

For a country that has over 1.3B people, has graduated a million engineers, and has become the world's third largest economy in twenty years, strange how I cannot identify one product, one idea, one accomplishment, one piece of literature, style of music or dance, one technology, one groundbreaking piece of research, one sport, software, and so forth, that is patently and/or iconically Chinese in the modern era and that has mass or global appeal. Think about it. I am more dumbfounded than critical at this point. Would someone like to put forth any theories?

Every thing china does or doesn't do makes perfect sense if viewed through the lens of the downfall of the United States. They are committed to our destruction, and have been working at it since the communist takeover in 1949. Is there anyone out there stupid enough to believe that a nation as dysfunctional as North Korea could have developed nuclear weapons in such a short period without the active assistance and support of their greatest champion, or that the NK's could have mounted the recent cyberattacks on the United States government without chinese acquience and involvement?

The chinese government is crazy, all right, just like the proverbial fox. As long the world continues to beat a path to their manufacturing door, American manufacturing abilities will continue to decline. What difference does it make whether we know the name of the clapboard company that actually builds this junk, as long as we continue to buy and buy and buy? for example, does anyone know the name of the company that sold us that glycol-tainted formula some time ago, or the name of the company that sold us the poisonous drywall? Does anyone really care as long as Wal-Mart can keep prices down.

The chinese are the greatest threat this country has ever faced, and just like our pre-war commercial relations with japan, we will continue to help them increase their capabilities while we destroy our own. We sold the japanese old Buicks as scrap and they made bullets and bombs from them and sent them back to us. The chinese are doing the same, except in a 21st century sense.

In the not-too-distant future, ur grand-children will have to learn mandarin or wu if they want jobs, and we will have done that to them.

I didn't read the article, but I'm sure the reasons give are as follows:

Communism, oppression, repression, suppresion. no freedom of speech, no freedom of press, human rights violation. Tian'anmen, pollution, dog-eating, buck teeth, foot-binding, etc. Oh and free Tibet!

Our company is forced to do business with China by John Deere. The company we have to deal with sells tools and dies but calls themselves at once a furniture company, manufacturing plant, and any number of other names. They have no pride in what they do. They are just there to underprice American businesses and get our money. John Deere thinks that, that is a good idea. What do you think?

I'd rather not buy anything from a country that knowingly exports chemically-toxic consumer products or is run by a military dictatorship. 'Nuff sed.

verily3, we're talking about legitimate BRAND NAME items here, not that faux prada/gucci/chanel BS they make in china. where's the chinese BRANDS? 1.3 billion people, and not a single internationally recognized brand among them? not so much as a hershey bar? even the USSR had their furs and vodkas. kinda lame of china, imho.

The most famouse american brand I know is Kwok zuckers. Actually, it is not just kwok zuckers, the full name is ignorant Kwok zuckers. Their products are really high quality. They zuck all the time.

I still can't use the words "quality" and China in the same sentence, except for this one. I work in the automotive aftermarket, and in the last 20 years have watched Asian manufactured products destroy once quality brand names. Defective products, labor reimbursements and product recalls are all on the rise and customer relations are down. I sincerely hope that a name brand recognition problem for China could only get worse because believe me sooner or later brand names will once again have to associate with quality at some point. China can keep their cheap knockoff junk!