A customer looks at LCD television sets made by Japanese multinational Sharp Corp at a store in Tokyo. Asian corporations need to make branding an integrated part of all strategy decisions for their products to compete in the global league. [Photo / Agencies]

Branding is key for companies aspiring to become well-known retail leaders

With better quality products, improved supply chains and rising demand, Chinese and Asian corporations are increasingly making their way onto the global corporate stage. But they are unlikely to become true international players if they do not focus on getting their brand strategy right.

"All the surveys that are done on branding show that in Asia you probably have 10 recognised global brands," says brand strategist Martin Roll, author of the bestselling book Asian Brand Strategy.

"And most of them are Japanese and South Korean, with a few from the rest of Asia," he says.

Analysts say the problem is cultural and that many Asian corporations are locked into a corporate structure that is still family run and where branding is simply seen as an extension of advertising. But the status quo may be slowly shifting.

"I think that attitude is changing," says Ganeshan Wignaraja, director of research with the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) in Tokyo, comparing the situation with that of Japan three or four decades ago.

"Many companies now coming out of China and other parts of Asia are a generation or so behind the more established and well-known global companies from Japan or South Korea when it comes to branding.

Wignaraja explains that although building a brand can be extremely costly and time-consuming, it is essential. Without branding, a company will find it very difficult to become accepted as a household name, he adds.

"Competition today is fierce and branding will hold the key to success or failure."

Roll believes Chinese companies still have a long way to go to build their brands globally.

"It requires a totally new mindset. Chinese business leaders need to learn what it means to build something like a brand, which is much more than a slick logo," he says.

"They need to elevate branding to the boardroom level and engage a chief marketing officer - to put marketing at the forefront of business strategy."

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