【英语中国】创品牌还是做代工 中国企业面临选择

Chinese companies have for years puzzled over how to break out of low-profit manufacturing for Western companies and expand into the U.S. market with their own brands. Jack Yang thinks he has the answer.

The Chinese entrepreneur makes equipment to mount GPS navigation devices onto car dashboards. The mounts are sold by U.S. companies under their own brands. Now, Yang is promoting his own line of dashboard mounts, with higher-end features, under his own label.

To promote his line, he has teamed up with two American partners who provide branding and distribution services--a tack many Chinese companies traditionally have balked at.

(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal Web site, WSJ.com.)

Like many Chinese businessmen, Yang has spent little time in the U.S., speaks virtually no English and had no idea how to navigate the U.S. market. Most American consumers have never heard of his company, Changzhou Asian Endergonic Electronic Technology Co., or its English brand, Zuuma (pronounced zoo-ma), a name created by his U.S. partners.

'It's not that small- and medium-sized Chinese companies don't want to develop global brands,' he said in a phone interview in Chinese. 'We don't know how. We don't understand the U.S. market, culture or business model.'

The Chinese government is loosening rules for investing abroad and offering educational seminars to encourage companies to develop their own brands and expand overseas, as part of a strategy to move up the value chain, just as Japanese and South Korean companies did decades ago.

Yet only a few Chinese companies have broken free of making products that are sold under others' brands or remaining confined to their home market. Among the handful that have are computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd. (LNVGY, 0992.HK) and household-appliance giant Haier Group. A growing number are trying, though, including construction-equipment manufacturer Sany Group and medical-devices maker Mindray Medical International Ltd. (MR). The move is providing opportunities for Western companies ranging from public-relations firms such as Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide to law firms to global brand consultancies such as Interbrand.

The story of Zuuma's creation highlights both the potential and pitfalls facing Chinese concerns looking to build global brands.

Yang, age 56, began making garment bags in 1990 at his factory in Changzhou City, Jiangsu province. In 2005, a Chinese GPS company asked him to produce a mounting device. Yang designed a dashboard mount filled with steel ball bearings and lined with silicon. The features were aimed at preventing the mount from sliding off the dashboard during sharp turns, a problem with the more common models filled with crushed rock and lined with rubber. Many consumers mount their GPS devices on windshields, but more are now buying dashboard mounts, especially as the use of GPS-enabled smartphones grows.

Yang, who has U.S. and Chinese patents for his mount, said he sold 400,000 of them in 2009 to North American and European importers, mostly to companies that sell them under their own brands.

With mounts retailing for an average of about $30 in the U.S., Yang's profit of about 40 cents per unit represented a sliver of what retailers and wholesalers made. Then he discovered that another company was selling knockoffs of his mounts in the U.S. and filed a lawsuit against a dozen retailers that sold them.

The suit presented an unexpected opportunity: Executives at Chicago advertising agency Monogram Group read about the case and proposed to help Yang create his own brand and to get a richer margin.

'You're very passionate about your product, your invention. Why make such a small margin?' Monogram President Scott Markman asked Yang through a Chinese-speaking executive at the firm.

Yang was receptive. The two sides signed an agreement last September 2009 to work together. Markman brought on Michael Zakkour, managing director of China BrightStar, a New York-based China-sourcing company, to oversee marketing and distribution. Many Chinese companies have long balked at paying high fees for consulting and other services. Markman and Zakkour reduced their fees and agreed to take a commission based on units sold.

The U.S. partners envisioned it would take three to five months to launch a brand that symbolized superior quality at a slightly lower price, conveyed a sense of fun and sounded Western. They also wanted a distribution plan that included pitching to retailers and partnering with Internet retailers.

Yang, by contrast, wanted to see orders.

The tensions were apparent one morning as the group dialed into a conference call from Chicago and China. Zakkour said Sitefinder GPS, a Canadian distributor, was continuing to order Zuuma mounts, and that Priceless Resource Inc., a U.S. consumer-electronics distributor, was meeting that day with two retail chains to pitch Zuuma. In Chinese, Yang said this news was 'good,' but then he announced he had reached a deal with a major Chinese telecom carrier to produce a still-in-design Zuuma GPS-and-cellphone mount.

It was the first Markman and Zakkour had heard about the Chinese-carrier deal. They worried it could undermine their strategy of enticing big U.S. retailers with an exclusive product, or lead to copycat devices hitting the market before theirs did.

They decided not to tackle the issue head on, suggesting the group hold another call later. 'We get Jack's intentions loud and clear. He's living for the short term,' Markman said later.

Yang separately said, 'Things haven't moved very quickly.' But he notes: 'It's like digging a well. If you make superior preparations, you will have big returns.'

So far, the reaction from distributors has been promising. Three major U.S. consumer-electronics retailers have agreed to carry the Zuuma product line. And Sitefinder, which supplies many oil-field truckers, wants to make the Zuuma GPS mount a standard offering. 'I did doughnuts [driving] my wife's van to try to knock it off. It wouldn't come off,' said Sitefinder President Al Abraham. 'It's far superior in terms of build quality and materials' to rivals.

Yang isn't taking chances. He plans to continue making GPS mounts under original equipment manufacturing, even though they would compete with his line. 'Zuuma doesn't have any big sales yet,' he said. 'We'll start decreasing our OEM orders when Zuuma can cover our company's costs.'

多年来，中国公司一直在苦苦思考如何突破为西方公司低利润代工的藩篱，进而以自己的品牌打入美国市场。杨全国(Jack Yang)认为他找到了答案。

这名中国企业家生产将全球定位系统(GPS)导航仪安装到汽车仪表盘上的设备。这些软座支架由美国公司以他们的品牌进行销售。如今，杨全国正在推广他自己的仪表盘座架产品，这些产品拥有更高端的特色，且拥有自己的品牌。

The Monogram Group常州市亚细亚吸能电子科技有限公司生产将全球定位系统导航仪安装到汽车仪表盘上的设备，并以Züuma品牌在美国销售。为了推广他的产品，他找了两位美国合伙人，后者提供品牌推广和分销服务。许多中国公司一直不愿采取这种策略。

同许多中国商人一样，杨全国很少呆在美国，基本上不会说英语，也不知道如何打入美国市场。大多数美国消费者从未听说过他的公司──常州市亚细亚吸能电子科技有限公司，也没听说过其英文品牌Zuuma，这是由其美国合作伙伴创造的名字。

他以中文接受电话采访时说，中国的中小企业不是不想发展全球品牌，只是我们不知道该怎么做。我们不了解美国的市场、文化和业务模式。

中国政府正在放宽海外投资的规定，并设立了教育研讨班以鼓励各公司发展自己的品牌并进军海外市场，以此作为其提升产业价值链战略的一部分。这与日本和韩国公司数十年前的作法同出一辙。

然而只有少数中国公司已摆脱了为其它品牌代工或局限于本土市场的命运。已经成功打入国际市场的公司包括电脑制造商联想集团和家用电器巨头海尔集团。但越来越多的公司正在努力朝这个方向迈进，例如建筑设备制造商三一集团和医疗设备制造商迈瑞医疗国际股份有限公司等。他们此举为众多西方公司提供了机遇，包括奥美公共关系全球集团(Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide)等公关公司、各法律公司以及Interbrand等全球品牌咨询公司等等。

Zuuma品牌诞生的故事彰显了试图建立全球品牌的中国公司所面临的机遇与陷阱。

杨全国今年56岁。1990年，他开始在江苏常州自己的工厂中生产西装套。2005年，一家中国GPS公司让他生产座架设备。杨全国设计了一种以钢珠轴承填充并以硅衬底的仪表盘座架。当汽车急转弯时，这种设计能够防止座架从仪表盘上滑落。那种更常见的以压碎岩填充并以橡胶衬底的产品存在这个问题。许多消费者把他们的GPS设备安装在挡风玻璃上，但越来越多的消费者现在会购买仪表盘座架，特别是随着越来越多的用户使用带有GPS功能的智能手机，他们更需要仪表盘座架。

杨全国为他的产品申请了美国和中国的专利。他说，2009年他向北美和欧洲的进口商售出了400,000个产品，但大多是以别人的品牌销售。

在美国，每个支架的平均零售价约为30美元，而杨全国的利润仅为40美分左右，与零售商及批发商的利润相差甚远。后来他发现另一家公司在美国销售他的支架的仿制品，因此与销售仿制品的十多家零售打起了官司。

这场官司带来了意想不到的机遇：美国芝加哥的曼格兰广告有限公司(Monogram Group)的高管看到了这起案件，并提议帮助杨全国创建他自己的品牌以获得更丰厚的利润空间。

曼格兰公司的总经理马克曼(Scott Markman)在公司通过一个会讲汉语的高管问杨全国，你对你的产品、你的发明充满激情。为什么只赚这么少的利润？

杨全国善于接纳别人的建议。2009年9月，双方签订了合作协议。马克曼找来了纽约的中国采购公司──China BrightStar的董事总经理扎库尔(Michael Zakkour)负责市场营销和分销。许多中国公司长期以来一直避免为咨询和其它服务支付高额费用。马克曼和扎库尔降低了他们的费用并同意按销量抽佣。

美国的合作伙伴想把这个品牌打造成质优价廉、体现了乐趣感且完全西方化的品牌。他们预计这需要三到五个月的时间。他们还想打造一个分销计划，内容包括向零售商推销产品以及与网络零售商合作。

相对而言，杨全国更希望看到订单。

一天早上，这种紧张关系显露出来。他们在芝加哥和中国召开了电话会议。扎库尔说，加拿大分销商Sitefinder GPS继续订购Zuuma支架，美国消费电子设备分销商Priceless Resource Inc.将于当天与两家零售连锁店会面以推销Zuuma。杨全国用汉语说这是好消息，但之后他宣布已经与一家大型中国电信运营商达成协议生产一种Zuuma 品牌的GPS和手机支架，目前产品仍在设计之中。

这是马克曼和扎库尔首次听说中国运营商的生意。他们本想用独家产品吸引美国的大型零售商，他们担心这可能会妨碍他们的策略，或导致模仿者抢先攻占市场。

他们决定不正面处理这个问题，因此建议稍后再举行另一次电话会议。马克曼后来说，我们完全明白杨先生的想法。他更关注短期回报。

杨全国则单独表示，事情进展不太迅速。但又说，这就像挖井，准备越充分，回报越大。

到目前为止，分销商们的反应良好。美国三家大型消费电子产品零售商已同意承销Zuuma系列产品。为许多油田卡车司机提供产品的Sitefinder公司希望把Zuuma GPS支架当作一款标准产品。Sitefinder公司总裁亚伯拉罕(Al Abraham)说，我开着我老婆的货车不停地转圈，想把它弄下来，但它就是不掉下来。它在结构质量和材料方面具有很大的优势。

杨全国却不愿冒险，他计划继续以代工方式生产GPS支架，尽管这些代工产品可能会与他的品牌产品竞争。他说，Zuuma的销量还不大，一旦Zuuma能承担公司成本，我们将开始减少代工订单。