Basics in Globalization

Barbie Gets Booted in China and Handling Global Corruption

MBA 502 Global Business Environment

Barbie Gets Booted in China

According to the Los Angeles Times in an article by David Pierson published on March 8, 2011, Mattel, Incorporated is closing down the company's sole stand-alone store dedicated to the legendary American doll, Barbie (LA Times, 2011). The store was nestled in a downtown area of Shanghai’s Huaihai Road which was loaded with foreign retailers and luxury brands. The store was a enormous six-story, 36,000-square-foot Barbie store embodied by gaudy pink neon lights and featuring cosmetics, a spa, a cafe and a bar designed by one of Shanghai's premier restaurateurs. This store was not just about pleasing young girls but also well-to-do women as well. Paul French, who is the founder of Access Asia, thinks Mattel goofed on this venture in assuming that Chinese women and children would go crazy over this childhood brand (LA Times, 2011). Just how could an establishment such as this possibly fail? Well, the culture is different and the people are different and quite frankly, no one can assume that a successful icon, such as Barbie is in the United States, will automatically transcend to other cultures. Also, although there is complete brand loyalty and recognition in the United States, this does not mean that the Chinese people have any clue as to what a Barbie doll is there. Ironically, the doll is produced in China where millions of Barbie dolls are manufactured for distribution to the US and other parts of the world. But the Chinese people never really bought in to Barbie with declining sales in a Chinese market which averaged 18% sales gains per year (Bloomberg News, 2011). Mattel had to cut its sales targets three times during the two years the Barbie store was operating in Shanghai (Bloomberg News, 2011). What were the major factors which caused Barbie’s demise? Well, according to Ben Cavender, a Shanghai-based analyst at...