Culture et consommation de marque: les consommateurs chinois et les marques étrangères (document en anglais)

Brand culture and consumption: Chinese consumers and the foreign brands

L’auteur tient à remercier le professeur Jean PHILIPPE pour ses précieuses suggestions portant sur la structure de cet article

Brand culture and consumption: Chinese consumers and the foreign brands

Abstract: China approaches a new phase of its economic development, during which foreign brands are not any more in the same position towards Chinese consumers. The consumers' attitudes towards the international brand have long been the subject of numerous studies in the western countries. Yet they are not sufficiently studied on Chinese consumers even if they may assume greater importance. Until now, the very strong preference for the foreign brands particularly the first choice brands of the Chinese consumers corresponded to socio - cultural characteristics of the country, as the concern of the hierarchy, the collectivism. This paper puts forwards a model of the preference of Chinese consumers for foreign brand. It draws a conclusion that it is important to understand the symbolic values of prestige required by the Chinese. To be successful in china, the foreign brands have to follow the rules of the games which govern this market.

Key words: Chinese consumers, foreign brand, country of origin, symbolic value, socio - cultural characteristics, Chinese culture, competition

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Brand culture and consumption: Chinese consumers and the foreign brands

An implementation of an opening up to the outside world has transformed the Chinese economic landscape since the 1970s, to a society of consumption. As the fourth largest economy entity in the world, China has achieved a gross domestic product (GDP) amounting to 2,200 billion in 2005 (21). With an average annual growth rate of 9.4% over the period 1979-2005 (6), China has come to the third place in the world in the summer of 2007. Being one of the first countries receiving foreign investment, China has become an unavoidable market. The phenomenon of foreign brands is a highlight of this period.

The daily life of Chinese people has changed because of foreign brands through the establishment of transnational corporations. The acceptance of products of foreign origin by Chinese consumers is with a genuine enthusiasm and due to various reasons: better quality, good reputation, greater diversity of choice, more attractive appearance, a feeling of liberty, new arrivals and so on. During the recent period everything that has a foreign name had to be of good quality, high price, and all those who consumed these products were regarded as rich and refined.

However, for Chinese enterprises, development of the brand is a complicated matter because the economic change took place very quickly. Indeed, Chinese companies have quickly understood the essence of brand. Over the past twenty years, with the advancing technical level, the manufacturing industry in China has not only won the confidence of Chinese consumers, but also established its brands and introduced its products in the international market. Some products of Chinese brands have become new 'stars' to the world. For example, HAIER Group is now globally the fourth enterprise in the electric appliances industry (15). Therefore, the competition between Chinese brands and foreign brands is more and more fierce. In this context, to attract Chinese consumers, foreign companies must have a thorough understanding of their ways of thinking, their values and decision-making levers.

The success of foreign brands among Chinese could be more complex than it seems. Why the Chinese show a strong preference for products that bear world-famous names? How to explain their superstition and credulity facing the products of international origin? Is there a competition for local brand? If yes, how does the competition influence the perception of foreign brand?

The consumers' attitudes towards the international brands have long been the subject of numerous studies in the western countries. Yet they have not sufficiently studied Chinese consumers, in an academic way following a rigorous methodology, even if they may obtain greater importance (Guo, 2005 (7)). So, Chinese consumers should be understood. In addition to the cultural differences that characterize the people, attitudes and behaviors of consumers appear intimately linked to the combined experience of generations of Chinese. Among many related concepts, the attitudes towards international brands, the preference for international brands has been chosen as a key issue in our study.

To try to answer these questions, we propose to structure our paper into four main parts. Firstly we 2

believe it is necessary to present the evolution of foreign brands in China, which allows us to have an overview of the context of our research. The second part will be devoted to the presentation of the conceptual framework of the issue of foreign brands. Then, we will trace the development of consumption in China. Finally, we propose, from all our lectures, methods of the research to solve our problem. We will conclude with the presentation of the contributions of our research and considered future developments.

1 - The evolution of the foreign brands in China

In the years of the Qing dynasty, Western foreign powers have forced the Chinese doors to open and therefore all foreign products began to enter China (27). For cooking, Chinese lit the fire with the yanghuo (foreign matches) and children were using the foreign oil lamp (yangyoudeng) when doing their homework. The productivity was so low in China that most general merchandise came from abroad (character yang).

The Chinese economy was characterized by shortages, due to insufficient domestic production before the year 1979 (Guo, 2005). Indeed, during the Cultural Revolution (1968-1978), ’ration tickets’ have been distributed to buy products in China. Obviously, it was impossible for the Chinese to make a choice among competing brands. After 1979, a reform and opening policy to engage fully in building a modern economy allowed all industrial sectors to experience prodigious growth. At that time, many foreign companies have failed to penetrate because of their lack of knowledge of the Chinese market and local habits, but foreign brands remained very attractive for Chinese. However, the price of foreign products was so high that average employees could not afford them. In 1990, many Chinese have expressed a genuine enthusiasm for foreign products, from car to food and clothing. By purchasing a product that bears a worldly famous name, Chinese consumer achieved a part

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