Kathmandu Enter Into Chinese Market Essay Example for Free

Kathmandu Enter Into Chinese Market Essay With the rapid development of economy and society, Chinese market has attracted a great number of attentions from foreign companies. Therefore, how to enter into Chinese market and how to be a successful company in China has become a realistic issue faced by business managers, entrepreneurs and consultants. This essay will focus on introducing one Australian local brand â€Å"Kathmandu† which is an outdoor sport equipment company into Chinese market. Thus, a detailed analysis of the current situation of the Chinese market and this foreign company is indispensable. Firstly, this paper will analyze the current situation of the Chinese outdoor sport market and the Chinese economy, and then identify the strengths and weakness of the Kathmandu Company when entering into Chinese market. Subsequently, selection of entry modes and partner and recommendations will be provided to deal with or to reduce the risks when enter into the Chinese outdoor sport market. 2. BACKGROUND ABOUT KATHMANDU COMPANY Kathmandu Holdings Limited was established by John Pawson and Jan Cameron in 1987. The company started off as a small outdoor apparel shop in New Zealand and in 25 years has grown to a multi-national brand primarily producing outdoor sport clothing and equipment which combine with the advanced technology, high quality and high comfort level. Such as, tents and shelters, packs and luggage, sleeping gear, outdoor clothing, footwear and other accessories of outdoor. In 2006, one Australasian private equity company fully acquired Kathmandu for NZ$275 million. Currently Kathmandu does the business in Australia, New Zealand and England. The company slogan aims to capture young and adventurous individuals and the marketing strategy has been built around this notion (Kathmandu, 2012). 3. OPPORTUNITIES OF CHINESE OUTDOOR MARKET 3. 1 Outdoor sport in China Along with the development of economy and living stander, outdoor sport becomes increasingly popular in China. In China, outdoor sport was started at Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai in 1999(Chinese News, 2011). Currently, combing with pressure reducing, such sport increase quite fast and become one kind of society fashion. There are four outdoor sport activities which include High Mountain, exploration, rock climbing and bicycling in China (Chinese outdoor Sport Association, 2012). The outdoor sport is an professional sport activity not only require a good physical quality but also good clothing and equipment to resist the bad environment. Therefore, fast increase of the outdoor sport contributes to sharp augment on demand of outdoor sport clothing and equipment. As reporting by China Outdoor Sport Association, the number of annual sales from existing manufactories of outdoor equipment was 800 million RMB in 2010, while the number of that in 2000 was 60 million RMB, and the number of Chinese participation in the outdoor sport has reached one hundred million (China Outdoor Sport Association, 2012). Hence, along with the unbelievable development of the outdoor sport and the higher demand of outdoor products, obviously, the potential of the Chinese outdoor sport market is quite considerable. 3. 2 Situation of Chinese outdoor market Basic the market research, currently, there are approximately 200 Chinese local outdoor sport brands and around 1100 outdoor clothing and equipment stores. Although the outdoor industry of China is at beginning phases, every year increase 50%. The CEO of the GORE Company which is one of the beat 100 American outdoor equipment companies pointed out that such fast increase would maintain at the least 5 years in China (Simone, 2002). It can be calculated that the Chinese outdoor sport market should be worth around two billion. However, even though the outdoor sport is obtaining swift development, the outdoor market is relatively backward. The local manufactures only produce or provide elementary products or services, lack of the leading company and well-known brand is a serious issue in the local market. Therefore, it is a favorable opportunity for Kathmandu to expend to the Chinese outdoor market, because of the sharp escalation of market demand and insufficient supply of the local outdoor market. 3. 3 Competitors in Chinese outdoor market China already had around 200 local brands in outdoor sport market. However, in such new industry market foreign companies occupied the main position. According to the research, there are four main competitors for Kathmandu in the Chinese outdoor market, which include The North Face that is an American company, it has a long history and produce fine workmanship products, one company of France named ALGLE which entered into China in 1997, and its products are practical and noble. OZARK which is a Switzerland Company and the design of their products is following the characteristic of the Chinese. The last one competitor is Salewa from German (Chinese News, 2011). Compare with these foreign companies, the technology and quality of the local brands are at lower level, particularly, at the aspect of technology. Company is difficult to survive without advanced technology supporting, especially, in the outdoor sport market. Therefore, the outdoor market that has a small number of strong competitors will supply an opportunity for Kathmandu to obtain the biggest market share by adopting the advanced technology. 3. 4 Chinese economic situation For the financial reason, the Chinese market is quite appropriate for the Kathmandu to enter. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recourses, in 2010 the number of average disposable personal income of cities and towns was 21033 RMB, which was higher 11. 3% than that in 2009. Meanwhile, the recourses also mentioned that the number of average disposable personal income in cities and towns was 7414 RMB in the first quarter 2011, which was higher 14. 1% than that in 2010 (National Bureau of Statistics, 2011). The increase of the disposable personal income of the Chinese offered an ideally material guarantee for consumption of the outdoor sport, which also means that Chinese has obtained higher purchasing power than before. The Nominal GDP per capita continues experiencing increase since 2001 to 2010 from 8. 3% to 10. 3% (National Bureau of Statistics, 2011). Following the acceleration of the urbanization progress, increasingly Chinese has selected outdoor sport, particularly, the young people. As the China Outdoor Sport Association report 2010, 90% of the participators already have attained high education degrees and the wages in the 65% of them over 5000RMB per month, 20 to 40 years old people occupied 84. 1% (Chinese News, 2011). China possesses the most enormous consumer groups which attract the vision of the world. Such consumer groups will contribute more benefits than England and New Zealand for Kathmandu. According to the National Development and Reform Commission, there is a police of 5 years plant from 2011 to 2015, which will focus on inequality of wealth distribution and shifting emphasis from investment to consumption (National Development and Reform Commission, 2011). Therefore more money will be spent in rural and inland development. So that Kathmandu can expect a growing number of potential customers in the coming 5 years. Therefore, the current situation of the Chinese market is ideally for Kathmandu to attract more customers and to sales more outdoor products. 4. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF KATHMANDU IN CHINA Kathmandu has sufficient experience on oversea expending. According to the Kathmandu office report, currently, the company of Kathmandu has totally 107 retail stores, 65 located in Australia, 39 in New Zealand and 6 in United Kingdom respectively. In 2003 and 2004, the company entered into the market of United Kingdom, and speedy became one of the top two outdoor brands in the UK. The office report also mentioned that the Kathmandu Company made 237 million AU$ sales and obtained 7 million profit in 2011(Kathmandu, 2012). Therefore, the Kathmandu has sufficient expending experience, which enables to reduce risks that are bought by the insufficient of experience when enter into China. Furthermore, owning of advanced technologies is able to guarantees the leading position in Chinese outdoor market. Specifically, the technologies of anti-wind, anti-fire, waterproof and high heat preservation are adopted by all of their products with high comfortable level. Such advanced technologies are what the Chinese local outdoor equipment market and customers need. However, there are some weaknesses of Kathmandu can not be ignored in Chinese market. Firstly, lack of Guan XI (special relationship) will be the main issue for the company. In Chinese market, it is difficult to obtain long-term profit that making the business without a favorable Guan Xi, particularly, the closing relationship with the Chinese government. The Kathmandu may face some restriction from the Chinese Government. Such as, polices changing, law modifying and the controlling on some local resources, which will bring a great number of obstacles on operation of the Kathmandu company in China. Secondly, low brand awareness will lead to high cost in Chinese market. Obviously, although there is an increase in the demand of western products for the Chinese customers, the products selection of customers is quite cautious, especially on unacquainted brands. The Kathmandu may needs more patience to the Chinese clients to know more about the products of the Kathmandu, in other words, more time is required by the Chinese market. In addition, in such situation, more capitals will be spent by the company on advertising in order to build the name recognition. Thus, these weaknesses may bring some risks for the Kathmandu company operation in China. 5. HOW TO ENTER INTO CHINESE OUTDOOR MARKET 5. 1 Selection of the entry modes The selection of entry modes is crucial for every company when enter into a new market. There are two major entry modes, which include non-equity modes and equity modes (Chen Hui, 2002). As a multinational company and has good expending experience in the UK and New Zealand, it is undeniable that equity modes is appropriate to the Kathmandu when enter into Chinese market. The entry modes contain joint-venture, acquisitions and green-fields (Peter, 2008). Merger and acquisition can assists the Kathmandu directly entering into Chinese market by purchasing the company that already has established in China. However, a large number of capitals are required by the Kathmandu company to merger the Chinese local company, which means more cost will occur when choose this entry method. In addition, social-cultural environment issue should be considered by the western companies, acquisition entry method may be related to a sort of aggression by Chinese duo to the Chinese history, so that some threatens will be faced by the Kathmandu Company, for instant, anti-products and service of the company. The green-fields entry method also requires large number of capitals to support, and this approach is quite complicate to operate. While more freedom in designing the plant, selecting suppliers, and hiring a work force will be contributed by green-field (Ilkaka, 2007). Compare with acquisition and green-field, joint-venture entry method is more appropriate to the Kathmandu Company to enter into the Chinese outdoor market. The reasons as follow, firstly, Beamish pointed out that joint-venture is cheaper to exit compare with green-fields and also has the advantage that benefits the company to directly enter the market of other countries (Beamish, 2001). Secondly, the Kathmandu Company is not familiar with Chinese institutions and regulations, finding a Joint-Venture partner can help understand rules of running business, and the Guan Xi of the Chinese partner can be used by the Kathmandu in China. Moreover, such method will provide strong bargaining power with Joint-Venture partner for the company, as Kathmandu can provide high technical resources and product line which is the crucial issue facing by the Chinese outdoor companies. However, there are some disadvantages that lead to the risks to the Kathmandu Company from the joint-venture entry method. Firstly, the joint-venture may modify the partner to competitor (Swierczak, 1994). Specifically, it is dangerous that giving the advanced technologies to the partner to control. Perhaps the primary goal of the local partner is to control the leading technologies of the Kathmandu; such technologies will be used by other local companies on their products in order to obtain the bigger market share and to make more profit, which should be the most primary risk for the Kathmandu Company. Secondly, shared ownership can lead to conflict over goals and control. The ownership and administrative power will become the main conflict between the partner and the foreign company (Swierczak, 1994). In order to control and make the biggest profit to their own company, both local and foreign company adopts various approaches to attain the beneficial position in the joint-venture company. Such as, increasing the investment and controlling the resources. Balancing the advantages and disadvantages for the Kathmandu Company to select the entry modes in Chinese market, joint-venture is the ideally entry modes for the company. However, which Chinese partner should be selected by the Kathmandu is another issue. 5. 2 Selection of the Chinese partner There are a great number of local outdoor or sport brands in China. However, it is difficult to find a well-known outdoor sport brand because of the new outdoor market. Thus selecting a famous sport equipment company as the joint-venture partner is the best selection for Kathmandu Company. The Chinese sport companies include 361, ERKE, ANTA, PEAK, DOUBLE STAR, Xtep and LI NING (Chinese sport research, 2011). According to LI NING annual report 2010, the capitalization of the company has reached 8. 387 billion and has had 8156 sales shops in 1800 cities in China, and The number of LI NING brand retail stores is 7478 Moreover, LI NING has the highest reputation as the company is sponsoring several of Chinese sport national teams. The company already cooperated with AIGLE, LOTTO and Kason using joint-venture entry modes, which means that LI NING has had sufficient experience on such entry modes, and the high experience will assists the Kathmandu to reduce the risks on joint-venture (LI NING, 2011). Therefore, LI NING should be the most appropriate joint-venture partner for the Kathmandu Company, the large number of LI NING sales network and capitalization will contribute the convenience to the Kathmandu to enter into Chinese outdoor market. 6. CONCLUSION China has become the biggest market for the foreign company duo to the rapid development of economy and society. Such development specifically expressed in the GDP and the average disposable personal income continually increase, which also represent high purchasing power in China. In the same period, the fast development of Chinese outdoor sport market contributes to the high demand not only for the outdoor clothing and equipment but also for the advanced technologies of the outdoor equipment in the Chinese outdoor market, and the lower strong competitors also provide a God-given opportunity for the Kathmandu outdoor equipment company to enter such ideally market. Hence, how to enter Chinese market will be the first issue faced by every foreign company manager. The joint-venture entry modes should be the possible modes selected by the foreign company, particularly, the Kathmandu Company duo to the lower cost, easily access the market. The Kathmandu enables to use the local resources and Guan Xi network of the LI NING Company, which are the weaknesses of the Kathmandu, via joint-venture in order to become a successful company operating in China after into the outdoor market. Both companies will obtain the benefits that they want from joint-venture entry modes. 7. REFERENCES Beamish, P. W. ,Banks, J. C. 2001. Equity joint ventures and the theory of the multinational enterprise. Journal of International Business Studies, 18(2):1-16. Chinese Customs, 2011, â€Å"Export Procedure†, viewed: 20 May 2012, from http://www. customs. gov. cn/publish/portal0/. Chen, H. 2002, An analysis of determinants of entry mode and its impact on performance, Int. Bus. Rev. , 11 (2002), pp. 193–210. Chinese News, 2011, The demand of copper is recovering to the level before financial crisis, viewed: 20 May, 2012, from. http://www.chinanews. com/cj/2011/06-13/3108018. shtml Chinese Outdoor Sport Association 2012, â€Å"report of Chinese outdoor sport situation†, viewed: 20 May 2012, from http://www. iouter. com/. Ilkka A. Ronkainen, 2007, International marketing, Cengage Learning, 2007, p417-422. Joseph Simone, â€Å"Criminal Enforcement Against Counterfeiters†, China Business Review, 29/6 (2002): 22-23; Timothy Trainer, â€Å"The Fight Against Trademark Counterfeiting,† China Business Review, 29/6 (2002): 20-24. Kathmandu Annual Report, 2012, Introduction of Kathmandu, viewed 17 May, 2012, from homepage: http://www. kathmandu. com. au/. Kobrin, op. cit. ; Minor, op. cit. ; Charles Hill, International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace, 4th Edition (Bostom, MA: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2003), p. 47. Lining Annual Report, 2011, Introduction of Lining, viewed 17 May, 2012, from http://www. lining. com/eng/global/home. php. National Bureau of Statistics, 2011, â€Å"situation of Chinese economic†, viewed 17 May, 2012, from http://www.stats. gov. cn/. National Development Reform Commission, 2011, â€Å"situation of Chinese market development†, viewed 17 May, 2012, from http://www. sdpc. gov. cn/. Peter Liesch, and Duncan Poulson, 2008, â€Å"An Unconventional Approach to Intellectual Property: The Case of an Australian Firm Transferring Shipbuilding Technologies to China,† Journal of World Business, 35/1 (2000): 1-20. Swierczak, F. W. 1994, Culture and conflict in Joint Venture in Asia, International Journal of Project Management, 12 (1) (1994), pp. 39–47.

Different Sides of Embryonic Stem Cell Research :: Stem Cell Biology

The field of stem cell research remains highly controversial because of its ethical and moral values. â€Å"Despite the news in 2006 that researchers had found a way to harvest human embryonic stem cells without having to destroy embryos, controversy still surrounds potentially life-saving stem cell research.† (Gruen, 2007). Due to the strong emotional responses to some of the subject matter by the pro-lifers and certain religions and politics in general, I will attempt to explain different sides of embryonic stem cell research (ESC). This study describes what viable embryos are and the issues connected with them. Are stem cells viable embryos? Can they ever be a human being? Stem cells are no more than a precursor for some type of cell. They are not tiny embryos nor can they ever become embryos. Are human embryonic stem cells embryos? Although stem cells of themselves are not embryos, they are pluripotent; they can develop into any cell or tissue of the body. They are not ca pable of forming a new individual, as a fertilized egg or single cell taken from a four-cell embryo might if cultured in vitro and placed in a uterus. Stem cell research has become a subject of political discussion in recent years because of its social and ethical implications, but what is the big controversy with stem cell research? Most diseases are caused by the death of healthy cells in a particular organ. Parkinson’s disease is caused by the death of brain cells that produce a chemical call dopamine and diabetes is caused by the death of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. None of these organs can replace the cells that die. With stem cell therapy, these cells can be replaced. Researchers and scientists study stem cells to get a basic understanding of the process in cell development and disease. â€Å"The opposition of research on human embryos usually start and finish their argument with the claim that the human embryo is, from the moment of conception,a living , innocent human being. But the morality of using a being for research should depend on what the being is like, not on the species to which it belongs.† (Singer, 2001) This being of 64 cells has no brain and has never been conscious and can feel no pain. Take for instance researchers who do research on rats, the rats are not capable of preferring not to be in situations that are painful and frightening to them.

Animal Assisted Therapy Essay

Animal-assisted therapy sprouted from the idea and initial belief in the supernatural powers of animals and animal spirits. First appearing in the groupings of early hunter gatherer societies. In modern times Animals are seen as â€Å"agents of socialization† and as providers of â€Å"social support and relaxation.† [5] Though animal assisted therapy is believed to have began in these early human periods it is undocumented and based on speculation. The earliest reported use of AAT for the mentally ill took place in the late 18th century at the York Retreat in England, led by William Tuke.[6] Patients at this facility were allowed to wander the grounds which contained a population of small domestic animals. These were believed to be effective tools for socialization. In 1860, the Bethlem Hospital in England followed the same trend and added animals to the ward, greatly influencing the morale of the patients living there.[6] Sigmund Freud kept many dogs and often had his chow Jofi present during his pioneering sessions of psychoanalysis. He noticed that the presence of the dog was helpful because the patient would find that their speech would not shock or disturb the dog and this reassured them and so encouraged them to relax and confide. This was most effective when the patient was a child or adolescent.[7] The theory behind AAT is what is known as Attachment theory. Therapy involving animals was first used in therapy by Dr. Levinson who accidentally discovered the use of pet therapy with children when he left his dog alone with a difficult child, and upon returning, found the child talking to the dog.[8] However, in other pieces of literature it states that it was founded as early as 1792 at the Quaker Society of Friends York Retreat in England.[9] Velde, Cipriani & Fisher also state â€Å"Florence Nightingale appreciated the benefits of pets in the treatment of individuals with illness. The US military promoted the use of dogs as a therapeutic intervention with psychiatric patients in 1919 at St Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, DC. Increased recognition of the value of human–pet bonding was noted by Dr. Boris Levinson in 1961†.[9] Wikipedia – Animal-assisted therapy

Robert Bolt s A Man For All Seasons - 2006 Words

Etti A Man for All Seasons was a play written by Robert Bolt in 1960. The play showcased the controversy and corruption in sixteenth century politics in England. It demonstrated how treachery can easily befall anyone at any time as long as people have the determination and the correct position of power to bring them down. It displays how corrupt the time period was and how people were willing to turn on others for their own selfish reason. In Robert Bolt?s A Man for All Seasons, political corruption is shown through the destruction of Sir Thomas More. Relationships in the play take on a significant role; they influence how vulnerable a person would be to corruption. Trust and loyalty are dependent on relationships, the more trust a†¦show more content†¦The relationship between The Church and King Henry was very important because the dispute is what led to the downfall of More. It gave Cromwell the opening he needed to take him down, and he took it. More was very resistant to the premise of corruption. He can be labeled as one of the only people in the play who didn?t give in to it. More was unwavering in his fight against corruption, nothing could shake him. He was the moral compass of the story the only one who seemed to be following his conscience. His martyrdom and refraining from corruption separated him from others in the story. This also separated him from the common man, the people that Bolt was trying to connect with.3 The main reason for More?s resistance was his religious beliefs. More truly believed he was a man of God, and he was willing to die for his beliefs. ?And when we stand before God, and you are sent to paradise for doing according to your conscience, and I am damned for not doing according to mine, will you come with me, for fellowship4 More is a strong believer that he needs to follow his conscience, his reasoning for denying corruption is not exactly all religion based. He himself believes that he needs t o do what is right and listen to his own conscience and morality not exactly God. He is a firm believer in natural law. Not on paper, but in your heart. Without natural law, there is no protection in