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Chinese Dream represents values that Chinese firms should inculcate into their corporate cultures
Though much attention has been paid to the precise meaning of the Chinese Dream as envisaged by President Xi Jinping, most of the discussions have centered on the connection between national values and individual lifestyles and hopes for the future.
Recent discussions on the subject have spread further into the area of Chinese consumer culture and the likely impact it would have in triggering the much-needed increase in domestic consumption. But the area where the Chinese Dream could impact most of the Chinese society is organizational culture and the move toward more brand-oriented business models in Chinese companies.
Essentially, it is only with domestic and international brand building success inside Chinese companies that any tangible and permanent increase in consumption across China will be achieved.
The Chinese Dream can play a pivotal part here. Most agree that President Xi's vision, as set out in his Chinese Dream, presents a combination of powerful national values such as "pride", "patriotism", "self-belief", "ambition", "innovation" and even "assertiveness", which should form a key guiding path for future Chinese society and individual lifestyles.
Many also agree that many of these values are precisely what most Chinese organizations still lack as they attempt to modernize and compete with higher quality products and brand both domestically and internationally.
In short, therefore, the Chinese Dream represents a set of values that most Chinese companies should now inculcate into their own corporate cultures.
However brand building history makes it clear that successful brands, especially those that achieve consistent success globally, are not built on dreams alone.
In order to have maximum impact, therefore, on Chinese companies' brand building efforts the Chinese Dream requires further tangible details which will provide a much clearer and measurable path to branding success.
First of all, the Chinese Dream's call for "ambition" and "assertiveness" should be met with a set of ambitious domestic and international market growth targets over the short, medium and long term. Simply "dreaming" of becoming a global brand is woefully insufficient and could even prove counter-productive and de-motivating if left as little more than a fantasy.
Secondly, the Chinese Dream's call for "innovation" should be met with a move toward a corporate culture characterized by creativity. Tangible targets here should include a minimum number of "new" products launched each year and the inclusion of at least three emotional elements for each individual product brand. For example, positioning brands on common rational values such as "quality", "reliability" and "functionality" should be extended to include key emotional values such as "sincerity", "excitement" and "sophistication".
But finally, and fundamentally, it is the focus on traditional Chinese cultural values such as "pride" and "patriotism" and "self-belief" that could have the maximum impact on the development of world class Chinese brands.
These values should provide Chinese brand managers with far more confidence in not only their capability of building a successful brand but should also help convince them that they need look no further than their own country's rich history and cultural heritage in order to infuse their brands with the emotional appeal necessary to attract consumers domestically and internationally.
Inexplicably, all too many Chinese companies have not only overlooked Chinese history and culture as a key source of brand association, especially emotional attachment, they even appear to shun such a brand building path and make every effort to conceal their Chinese origins.
Among China's most successful corporate and product brands, it is only Tsingtao Beer that very publicly plays on its Chinese origins. Tsingtao's website (English and Chinese versions) highlight the current Chinese Year of the Horse and also display pictures of ancient China and even a sculpture of Confucius.
Consumers around the world hold Chinese history and cultural heritage in very high esteem.
Sadly, many of the most international of China's corporations such as Huawei and Lenovo make no attempt at proudly asserting their Chinese roots.
The Chinese Dream, therefore, is the vehicle with which Chinese brand managers, across all company sizes and industrial sectors, should set tangible brand association targets that include a minimum number of Chinese culture associations.
Importantly, it should also be noted by Chinese brand managers that the Chinese Dream not only requires tangible targets as outlined above but also presents dangers to any sustainable brand building success. Dreams are often perceived as unachievable and unchanging. In the incredibly fast-moving world of international business with rapid technological advances and shorter and shorter product life cycles and more and more frequent changes in consumer tastes, it is vital that brand managers' (Chinese) dreams are updated regularly. The specific targets and brand strategy that the Chinese Dream helps to establish one year and for one particular international market may well require modification the next, and so on.
Not that the above applies solely to Chinese brand managers and Chinese brands. The Chinese Dream can play an important part in the development and maintenance of an effective brand building corporate culture anywhere in the world, especially emerging market economies.
The author is a visiting professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing and a senior lecturer on marketing at Southampton Solent University's School of Business.
(China Daily European Weekly 05/16/2014 page11)
