Huawei, Lenovo are the only Chinese companies ranked in top 100 global brands
Dearth of Chinese names in the influential Interbrand list highlights slow progress in building competitive mainland brands
Huawei Technologies and Lenovo Group have been named as the only Chinese companies in this year’s top-100 rankings of the best global brands, demonstrating the mainland’s slow progress in developing brand names that can compete on the international stage.
The highly influential annual list by Interbrand, a New York-based global brand consultancy, ranked iPhone maker Apple as the world’s most valuable brand, followed by online search leader Google and beverage titan Coca-Cola.
Huawei, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment supplier, moved up in the list to No 72, just ahead of pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson, luxury jewellery retailer Tiffany & Co and fast-food chain KFC.
The Shenzhen-based company was ranked No 88 last year and No 94 in 2014, when it made its debut in the list.
For the second consecutive year, Hong Kong-listed Lenovo sneaked onto the Interbrand list.
The world’s biggest personal computer supplier advanced a spot to No 99 from No 100 last year.
It was ahead of US electric car maker Tesla, which made it to the list for the first time.
“Our approach to product innovation continues to drive our reputation with a loyal base of fans who are confident in what the Lenovo brand represents,” David Roman, Lenovo’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement.
The Interbrand list, now in its 17th year, identifies the 100 best global brands using a unique methodology that analyses the ways a brand benefits an organisation, from attracting top talent to driving economic value. Rankings are based on a combination of attributes, including financial performance.
For the world’s second-largest economy, plenty of work lies ahead more than two years after President Xi Jinping made it official policy for Chinese companies to build competitive brands.
He made it a clear goal in a speech in August 2014, when he demanded Chinese state-owned enterprises focus on brand building, according to a report by Bernstein Research in November that year.
Echoing comments originally made by Deng Xiaoping in 1992, Xi said: “We should have our own flagship products and establish our own world-renowned brands, or we will be bullied by others.”