Marketing

Case: A Grand Entrance? Li Ning’s Emergence as a Global, Chinese Brand

The problem

The goal for Li Ning’s management was to go internationalization, and planned to generate half of all sales abroad by 2008. And to become one of the top Sports Equipment Company in the world. On the other hand, by internationalizing, the

company wants to make its products more attractive to young urban Chinese so it will be more competitive against Nike and Adidas at its domestic market.

However, though Li Ning clearly stated its mission to be ‘a world leading brand in the sporting goods industry’, they faced a lot of challenges and barriers:

- They too much focus on the domestic market, and missed the best timing and opportunity to step in the international market

- Their key international competitors, such as Nike and Adidas, have been putting their key efforts and had a heavy investment in China market, which caused Li Ning could only defend in domestic market first, and diluted their attempt and efforts for international market

- Li Ning did not have a clear strategy and approach to go for internationalization, and they just kept shifting their focus, which made them in a weak place for competing oversea. And they did not choose the right market for starting their first international store.

- Li Ning’s brand equity was not strong for oversea market, and the brand was still regarded as the number one brand in China domestic market only, and they did not have enough market and consumer intelligence for oversea market, which caused them a very hard and difficult start in other countries.

All of the above barriers seriously blocked Li Ning’s way to go internationalization.

The Alternatives and Issues:

The alternative of focusing on domestic market

Li Ning continuously grew between 1998 and 2008, and firmly established itself as China’s No.1 sports good brand. In addition, their revenue in 2009 would continuously grow compare to 2008. However, Li Ning has lost...