BIZCHINA / Biz Who

Make Lenovo a global brand
(People's daily online)
Updated: 2006-06-19 17:01

Yong Tang: What is the biggest obstacle for Lenovo brand building? Lenovo has been wrongly attacked in the United States for the fact it is a state-owned company and it may endanger American national security. American Department of State recently just decided not to use Lenovo computers for their classified tasks as a result of the criticism from Capitol Hill.

Advani: We are trying to inform the government officials and our customers that Lenovo is a market driven company. The Chinese government doesn't make decisions in Lenovo. Lenovo makes decisions like any free market enterprise. The issue also gives us an opportunity to tell people what Lenovo stands for. Lenovo is all of those innovative products, high quality products, and excellent customer service. For us, communicating this message to the press and the customers and influential people is our strategy. There are now people who are standing up for us. Some analysts are writing very positive and supportive articles about us.

Yong Tang: But some Americans may not buy Lenovo products due to the above -mentioned reasons?

Advani: Every smart person knows that any PC they buy is being made in China anyway. I know there are a lot of conversations that are taking place in the press. They are saying: What is the big deal? If you look at HP, you look at Dell, you look at all those PC companies, they are all making PCs in China today. You take any PC and turn it over on the backside, it says "Made in China". When you look at American companies and European companies, they are very much aligned with China. They don't regard Chin as an adversary; they regard China as a huge market opportunity, just like India. Over 2 billion people in the rapidly growing middle class with incredible purchasing power. That is one angle.

The second approach is the natural resources in India and China. Because of the flat world and the Internet technology we can all be a part of virtual community. I think increasingly countries have alignment with each other. When we ask our customers "Is China an important region for you", not one customer said NO. Then I would say, do you want to know how we get 40% of market share in China? We can help you with that. Customers get excited. Dell would take their customers to see its supply chains and manufacturing chains. That is to show customers how efficient they are. We can do that too for our customers.

Yong Tang: I know you have an important strategy for 2008 Olympic Games. Why does Lenovo want to be associated with that event?

Advani: For the same reason we linked to 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Italy. What do Olympic Games stand for? It is the most international sports event. Olympic Games stand for international goodwill and pursuit of excellence. These are all values Lenovo has. So being affiliated with Olympic Games along with other partners like Coca Cola and Samsung is one good thing. We can provide IT equipment to the International Olympic Committee.

In Italy we had 10,000 Lenovo PCs and we had 200 events. 60 events are for sub zero in the mountain. We show we are able to run as complex as the Olympic IT infrastructure. By participating in that event Lenovo has achieved tremendous credibility. I was so proud when I was in Torino, Italy and I saw how much hard work the Lenovo employees put into. Our employees came from China, US and many other countries. Everything went smoothly without a single issue. The Olympic Games are uniting Lenovo employees around the world. Everyone had a common vision.


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