论文部分内容阅读
For most tech companies and consumer electronic products manufacturers in the world， Las Vegas， Nevada， the United States is a must-go place every January.
They have Consumer Electronics Show， or CES in short， there， which is a grand show of all the cutting-edge， exciting， surprising and sometimes unexpected electronics devices from various companies in this planet.
Starting in 1967， the CES is now a middle-aged man. Like everything that has to go through waxing and waning. The 47-year-old CES now seems to have encountered some setbacks and resistance. Some established tech and electronics companies， such as Apple and Amazon， thought the show to be impractical and meaningless and had expressed the will， or at least the desire， to stop their presence at CES. Microsoft， one of the largest tech companies in the world， even announced in 2012 that it would no longer be present in the show from then on.
The leaving and lack of devotion of the most innovative companies in the world were a pity for CES， as well as journalists and attendees coming to report and watch the latest tech trend in the world. However， this pity is somewhat offset by a new rising force – the Chinese companies.
The Increasing Number of Chinese Elements
Many people coming to this year’s Las Vegas show might be surprised to find that there are so many Chinese people at CES. According to the data from organizer ofCES， more than 900 exhibitors came from China， almost taking one third of the 3200 exhibitors setting up booths in the show.
What have impressed the visitors are more than the sheer number of exhibitors from China. The locations of their booths are also quite eye-catching. The “golden booth”， which was usually taken by Microsoft， welcomed a new owner this year. Hisense， a Chinese TV brand which made a stir in the overseas market with its panel TVs， took that booth and became the new neighbor of Intel.
Apart from Hisense， other Chinese companies， like TCL， Changhong and Haier， built booths that were so huge that they could easily stand out among the thousands of exhibitors. Huwei’s exhibition room almost doubled the size it had in the past two years. ZTE’s booth was large enough to accommodate a basketball show. Japanese media Sankei Shimbun reported that “the place left out by Japanese companies which have lost to Korean Samsung and LG was taken by Chinese enterprises”. Many people were attracted by the sheer size of Chinese companies’booths. Forbes reporter Rebecca Fannin was one of them. “Of course， all the leading China brands – Alibaba， ZTE， Hisense and Huawei – had large and attractive booths displaying their latest wares front and center on the convention floor，” she later wrote. “From what I observed， China had the biggest representation of all overseas markets although the LG exhibit certainly was huge！”
The size was important， but what really mattered to the visitors were how the booth looked like and what were displayed inside them. Changhong， a known TV maker in China， turned its booth into a bedroom full of traditional Chinese elements. With the theme of“LOHAS， My Dream”， it integrated the smart house appliances into the scene imitating the household situation. Haier set up a “smart kitchen” in the exhibition， in which a smart refrigerator that can smell the food was standing.
This year， Chinese companies brought various kinds of products to the CES. Home appliances， smartphones， tablets， audible devices， hi-tech wearable devices… What Chinese companies displayed could indulge every whip of people with different habits as long as they are related to electronics. The variety of displayed products was also enhanced by the state-of-art technologies inside them. Haier launched the 55-inch curved-screen OLED TV and 65-inch curved-screen LED backlight TV， which attracted a lot of local visitors.
“The China booths were getting a lot of attention from curious journalists and convention goers stopping by to have a look and explore what these players had to offer. I even overhead some oohs and aahs about the highdefinition TVs on display at Hisense，” Rebecca Fannin wrote for Forbes.
The grand cluster of products and exhibitors from China in the show could easily remind people of the past few years when Chinese companies gradually increased their presence and grew more experienced with the CES. In 2007， 20 Chinese companies， including Haier， Lenovo. TCL， Changhong， Skyworth， formed an alliance and threw a collective show in Las Vegas， starting Chinese companies’ journey with the CES.
From then on， more and more Chinese companies began to party them with the show independently. Their size got bigger and the list of products got longer. Nowadays， people can see more experienced and confident Huawei， ZTE， Hisense and Lenovo in the show， competing with the world-known multinationals， such as Google， LG and Samsung， for the attention of visitors. Apart from these big companies， more and more small companies of China found themselves in the CES as well. For example， some companies that produce portable charging devices， protective shells for smartphones or bags for laptops and tablets， had rented booths in Las Vegas and brought their products onto the shelf. Though they were not so attractive as their big peers， they could still supplement the categories of products Chinese companies are displaying in the show and let visitors know the diversity of “made in China”.
The Charm of CES for Chinese Companies
It can be forecast that the number of Chinese companies present in the CES will keep increasing in the next few years. It is almost certain that the products from them will be a long-time sight and topic of the visitors to the CES every year.
Then what made Chinese companies so attached to the CES， which has been thought to be boring by Microsoft and some other companies？ That is more or less related to the essence of CES. In spite of the somewhat lessened charm， the CES is still the best known consumer electronics show with the longest history in the world. It still carries the tradition of bringing the best and latest technologies and products to the world.
In the history， the products that can make a boom at CES could prove to be classic and memorable ones in the world. Windows OS， iPod， iPhone， Kindle e-reader， Play Station， Xbox， Google glass， SnapChat， 3Doodler and untold glorious names started to make their marks in the history of technological development from CES. Let’s not forgot that CES was once – and maybe still now – a long-awaited event for Apple， Samsung， Amazon， Google， Sony and even Microsoft， which were eager to bring their latest achievements to the world through the stage.
The Chinese companies， especially the technological companies， are not satisfied to be limited within their homeland and eager to merge themselves with the world. The CES， which could attract more than 150 thousand visitors– 35 thousand of them from overseas– and is held in the busy city Las Vegas， is a perfect stage for the Chinese companies to show their best to the world， especially the U.S. market.
When present in CES 2013， Lin Lan， vice president of Hisense， said to Wire Magazine： “The U.S. market is the most important overseas market for us. The company had consensus that Hisense would not be an international big brand should we not succeed in America， even though we have made great achievements in China or other countries.” Huawei also shared the same idea. Its CEO Yu Chengdong said in CES 2013 that the U.S. was a pivotal market for Huawei and will serve as the spring- board for the Chinese telecom device manufacturer to jump into the global market. In that meeting， Yu Chengdong spoke to the American audience： “We are making tablets and smartphones， but you do not know that. The network you are using now might be based on our devices， but you do not know our brand.”
This raised a problem – Chinese companies could produce good products， but their low brand awareness made their products hard to be sold in the international market. Global Icons CEO Jeff Lotman thought the shortage in the production of brand could not bring the profits and acknowledgement of consumers.
“This is rather surprising that those big companies from China have great strength but remains unknown in the international market outside of China，”said Lotman. “Therefore they were greeted with development problems in the world， but this is not without solutions. Once for a while， Samsung was just a small company producing lowend cell phones and cheap TVs. Now it is one of greatest smartphone designers and innovative brands in the world.”
Therefore， the CES became the most convenient tool for them to improve their brand awareness. Paul Gagnon， an analyst with market research company Display Search， said that those companies must take part in the CES for several straight years if they want the international success. “Even Samsung， Google and Apple， which could stir up excitement of the world with their product launching conferences， need to join in CES to improve their influence. The Chinese companies， which are still newcomers， have a greater reliance on the event.”
China Needs More than CES
Though the CES is very important for Chinese companies， none of them is naive enough to believe that a threeto-four-day show is already enough to make their names remembered by the world forever. To have a real international fame， they need more than CES.
Here we are talking about marketing. Gary Shapiro， CEO of U.S. Consumer Electronics Association， believed that the gap between Chinese companies and those international brands in the marketing strategies is much wider than the technological gap between them. In his opinion， Chinese companies need to set up respected brands in addition to competitive products. Peter Han， an analyst with Current， said that it was the lack of marketing skills that put Chinese companies at a disadvantage. Shawn G. Dubravac， Chief Economist with the Consumer Electronics Association， gives some advices about global strategy to Chinese brands.
“It’s packaged well， and it has cache to it. So over time， those things develop and build up， and consumers start to trust the brand. We’re starting to see that happen with Chinese brands on some levels， and over time they’ll build up a broader trust across multiple levels. Not just on price， but also on quality and overall expectations.”
Then， the innovative ability of Chinese companies needs to be improved as well. In CES 2014， Chinese companies brought a lot of new products to the visitors， but they still stayed in the level of “micro-innovation”， meaning that they could only make improvement or upgrade to a part of the product that has earlier foreign counterpart. Take the TV for example： though Hisense and Haier both showcased their curvedscreen TV， their products could not match LG， Sony and Samsung， which are more experienced in the new TV technology. The three foreign companies brought in the 4K TV， an achievement that no Chinese companies have made by now.
In CES 2010， Hisense’s board chairman Zhou Houjian delivered a speech at the start of the event – the first time ever a Chinese entrepreneur made a presentation in the show. In the speech featuring “From Made in China to Created in China”， Zhou Houjian said that Chinese companies were devoted to the independent technological innovation and progress and expecting a larger role in the international consumer electronics market.
Huawei had invested 153.9 billion yuan on R&D from 2005 to 2013. Its CFO Meng Xiaozhou said that the huge investment was to keep Huawei’s competitiveness in the global market； Coolpad， another mobile phone brand in China， has set up seven R&D centers in the world and five or six more are under construction now. Their efforts were rewarded with positive results： Huawei is now one of the 50 best telecom brands in the world and Coolpad is also one of the five largest mobile phone manufacturers in China.
As IDC analyst Kevin Restivo said， the Chinese companies are walking on the right path， but it will take some time for them to reach the peak. For Chinese tech companies， the way to catch up with the top consumer electronics enterprises in the world is still very long. They still need more efforts in R&D and marketing to have real marks in the global market.
They have Consumer Electronics Show， or CES in short， there， which is a grand show of all the cutting-edge， exciting， surprising and sometimes unexpected electronics devices from various companies in this planet.
Starting in 1967， the CES is now a middle-aged man. Like everything that has to go through waxing and waning. The 47-year-old CES now seems to have encountered some setbacks and resistance. Some established tech and electronics companies， such as Apple and Amazon， thought the show to be impractical and meaningless and had expressed the will， or at least the desire， to stop their presence at CES. Microsoft， one of the largest tech companies in the world， even announced in 2012 that it would no longer be present in the show from then on.
The leaving and lack of devotion of the most innovative companies in the world were a pity for CES， as well as journalists and attendees coming to report and watch the latest tech trend in the world. However， this pity is somewhat offset by a new rising force – the Chinese companies.
The Increasing Number of Chinese Elements
Many people coming to this year’s Las Vegas show might be surprised to find that there are so many Chinese people at CES. According to the data from organizer ofCES， more than 900 exhibitors came from China， almost taking one third of the 3200 exhibitors setting up booths in the show.
What have impressed the visitors are more than the sheer number of exhibitors from China. The locations of their booths are also quite eye-catching. The “golden booth”， which was usually taken by Microsoft， welcomed a new owner this year. Hisense， a Chinese TV brand which made a stir in the overseas market with its panel TVs， took that booth and became the new neighbor of Intel.
Apart from Hisense， other Chinese companies， like TCL， Changhong and Haier， built booths that were so huge that they could easily stand out among the thousands of exhibitors. Huwei’s exhibition room almost doubled the size it had in the past two years. ZTE’s booth was large enough to accommodate a basketball show. Japanese media Sankei Shimbun reported that “the place left out by Japanese companies which have lost to Korean Samsung and LG was taken by Chinese enterprises”. Many people were attracted by the sheer size of Chinese companies’booths. Forbes reporter Rebecca Fannin was one of them. “Of course， all the leading China brands – Alibaba， ZTE， Hisense and Huawei – had large and attractive booths displaying their latest wares front and center on the convention floor，” she later wrote. “From what I observed， China had the biggest representation of all overseas markets although the LG exhibit certainly was huge！”
The size was important， but what really mattered to the visitors were how the booth looked like and what were displayed inside them. Changhong， a known TV maker in China， turned its booth into a bedroom full of traditional Chinese elements. With the theme of“LOHAS， My Dream”， it integrated the smart house appliances into the scene imitating the household situation. Haier set up a “smart kitchen” in the exhibition， in which a smart refrigerator that can smell the food was standing.
This year， Chinese companies brought various kinds of products to the CES. Home appliances， smartphones， tablets， audible devices， hi-tech wearable devices… What Chinese companies displayed could indulge every whip of people with different habits as long as they are related to electronics. The variety of displayed products was also enhanced by the state-of-art technologies inside them. Haier launched the 55-inch curved-screen OLED TV and 65-inch curved-screen LED backlight TV， which attracted a lot of local visitors.
“The China booths were getting a lot of attention from curious journalists and convention goers stopping by to have a look and explore what these players had to offer. I even overhead some oohs and aahs about the highdefinition TVs on display at Hisense，” Rebecca Fannin wrote for Forbes.
The grand cluster of products and exhibitors from China in the show could easily remind people of the past few years when Chinese companies gradually increased their presence and grew more experienced with the CES. In 2007， 20 Chinese companies， including Haier， Lenovo. TCL， Changhong， Skyworth， formed an alliance and threw a collective show in Las Vegas， starting Chinese companies’ journey with the CES.
From then on， more and more Chinese companies began to party them with the show independently. Their size got bigger and the list of products got longer. Nowadays， people can see more experienced and confident Huawei， ZTE， Hisense and Lenovo in the show， competing with the world-known multinationals， such as Google， LG and Samsung， for the attention of visitors. Apart from these big companies， more and more small companies of China found themselves in the CES as well. For example， some companies that produce portable charging devices， protective shells for smartphones or bags for laptops and tablets， had rented booths in Las Vegas and brought their products onto the shelf. Though they were not so attractive as their big peers， they could still supplement the categories of products Chinese companies are displaying in the show and let visitors know the diversity of “made in China”.
The Charm of CES for Chinese Companies
It can be forecast that the number of Chinese companies present in the CES will keep increasing in the next few years. It is almost certain that the products from them will be a long-time sight and topic of the visitors to the CES every year.
Then what made Chinese companies so attached to the CES， which has been thought to be boring by Microsoft and some other companies？ That is more or less related to the essence of CES. In spite of the somewhat lessened charm， the CES is still the best known consumer electronics show with the longest history in the world. It still carries the tradition of bringing the best and latest technologies and products to the world.
In the history， the products that can make a boom at CES could prove to be classic and memorable ones in the world. Windows OS， iPod， iPhone， Kindle e-reader， Play Station， Xbox， Google glass， SnapChat， 3Doodler and untold glorious names started to make their marks in the history of technological development from CES. Let’s not forgot that CES was once – and maybe still now – a long-awaited event for Apple， Samsung， Amazon， Google， Sony and even Microsoft， which were eager to bring their latest achievements to the world through the stage.
The Chinese companies， especially the technological companies， are not satisfied to be limited within their homeland and eager to merge themselves with the world. The CES， which could attract more than 150 thousand visitors– 35 thousand of them from overseas– and is held in the busy city Las Vegas， is a perfect stage for the Chinese companies to show their best to the world， especially the U.S. market.
When present in CES 2013， Lin Lan， vice president of Hisense， said to Wire Magazine： “The U.S. market is the most important overseas market for us. The company had consensus that Hisense would not be an international big brand should we not succeed in America， even though we have made great achievements in China or other countries.” Huawei also shared the same idea. Its CEO Yu Chengdong said in CES 2013 that the U.S. was a pivotal market for Huawei and will serve as the spring- board for the Chinese telecom device manufacturer to jump into the global market. In that meeting， Yu Chengdong spoke to the American audience： “We are making tablets and smartphones， but you do not know that. The network you are using now might be based on our devices， but you do not know our brand.”
This raised a problem – Chinese companies could produce good products， but their low brand awareness made their products hard to be sold in the international market. Global Icons CEO Jeff Lotman thought the shortage in the production of brand could not bring the profits and acknowledgement of consumers.
“This is rather surprising that those big companies from China have great strength but remains unknown in the international market outside of China，”said Lotman. “Therefore they were greeted with development problems in the world， but this is not without solutions. Once for a while， Samsung was just a small company producing lowend cell phones and cheap TVs. Now it is one of greatest smartphone designers and innovative brands in the world.”
Therefore， the CES became the most convenient tool for them to improve their brand awareness. Paul Gagnon， an analyst with market research company Display Search， said that those companies must take part in the CES for several straight years if they want the international success. “Even Samsung， Google and Apple， which could stir up excitement of the world with their product launching conferences， need to join in CES to improve their influence. The Chinese companies， which are still newcomers， have a greater reliance on the event.”
China Needs More than CES
Though the CES is very important for Chinese companies， none of them is naive enough to believe that a threeto-four-day show is already enough to make their names remembered by the world forever. To have a real international fame， they need more than CES.
Here we are talking about marketing. Gary Shapiro， CEO of U.S. Consumer Electronics Association， believed that the gap between Chinese companies and those international brands in the marketing strategies is much wider than the technological gap between them. In his opinion， Chinese companies need to set up respected brands in addition to competitive products. Peter Han， an analyst with Current， said that it was the lack of marketing skills that put Chinese companies at a disadvantage. Shawn G. Dubravac， Chief Economist with the Consumer Electronics Association， gives some advices about global strategy to Chinese brands.
“It’s packaged well， and it has cache to it. So over time， those things develop and build up， and consumers start to trust the brand. We’re starting to see that happen with Chinese brands on some levels， and over time they’ll build up a broader trust across multiple levels. Not just on price， but also on quality and overall expectations.”
Then， the innovative ability of Chinese companies needs to be improved as well. In CES 2014， Chinese companies brought a lot of new products to the visitors， but they still stayed in the level of “micro-innovation”， meaning that they could only make improvement or upgrade to a part of the product that has earlier foreign counterpart. Take the TV for example： though Hisense and Haier both showcased their curvedscreen TV， their products could not match LG， Sony and Samsung， which are more experienced in the new TV technology. The three foreign companies brought in the 4K TV， an achievement that no Chinese companies have made by now.
In CES 2010， Hisense’s board chairman Zhou Houjian delivered a speech at the start of the event – the first time ever a Chinese entrepreneur made a presentation in the show. In the speech featuring “From Made in China to Created in China”， Zhou Houjian said that Chinese companies were devoted to the independent technological innovation and progress and expecting a larger role in the international consumer electronics market.
Huawei had invested 153.9 billion yuan on R&D from 2005 to 2013. Its CFO Meng Xiaozhou said that the huge investment was to keep Huawei’s competitiveness in the global market； Coolpad， another mobile phone brand in China， has set up seven R&D centers in the world and five or six more are under construction now. Their efforts were rewarded with positive results： Huawei is now one of the 50 best telecom brands in the world and Coolpad is also one of the five largest mobile phone manufacturers in China.
As IDC analyst Kevin Restivo said， the Chinese companies are walking on the right path， but it will take some time for them to reach the peak. For Chinese tech companies， the way to catch up with the top consumer electronics enterprises in the world is still very long. They still need more efforts in R&D and marketing to have real marks in the global market.