The People’s Republic has seen a lot of foreign companies find success in recent years, but a shift is happening in the market. It involves less foreign expansion into China and more innovation coming out of the country. Technology is at the forefront of the shift, with Chinese tech companies beginning to outperform their foreign counterparts. Many of these tech giants can attribute recent success to their globalization strategy and ability to engage a global customer base.
Lenovo
Lenovo is a household name in the west and perhaps one of the best examples of Chinese globalization. Their success abroad has led them to become the world’s largest PC vendor in 2013, jumping ahead of American names like Dell and HP, and holding onto that title in 2016. Today Lenovo remains at the top of the list of successful global technology companies, and leads the pack in terms of globalization efforts.
Lenovo has customers in more than 160 markets and their products, like the ThinkPad Laptop and Yoga Tablet, come from a combination of foreign and Chinese innovation and execution. Sales of their computers have come to speak for themselves. Lenovo shipments in 2015 took up nearly 20% of the entire PC market.
Huawei
Shenzhen based Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. is currently building its brand image overseas but has already built a successful R&D model throughout the world. Known for their globalization efforts to create solutions that apply to a global customer base, Huawei has 21 R&D centers in countries including the US, Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, Russia, and Turkey. In recent years, sales outside of China have been the driver of Huawei’s business and attribute to about 60% of its total revenue.
R&D is the lifeblood of Huawei. This is embodied by their recent marketing campaign, which focuses on them becoming a leader in cloud technologies and “Building a Better Connected World”. The Cloud and the evolution of 5G are two areas where Huawei are leading the industry in terms of R&D with 45% of all Huawei employees working in these areas internationally.
ZTE
ZTE is another Chinese technology leader that has penetrated the global market in recent years, but has done so rather quietly. Also headquartered in Shenzhen, ZTE has made a sizeable effort to increase brand awareness in the US, where its market share doubled in 2015. ZTE had claimed 8% of the US market in Q2 of 2015, becoming known as an affordable alternative to Apple and Samsung.
By 2016 ZTE had gained success outside of China thanks to its strategic sport partnerships. After teaming up with the Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks, ZTE was able to further improve their brand awareness. Considering the Warriors are looking to repeat their 2015 championship in 2016, it would seem that ZTE is primed to cash in on their NBA partnerships.
Making the jump from one country to another is a difficult venture, but these tech giants prove that it can be done. With the right globalization strategy and partner, it’s possible to make the leap.
Written by: George Delle Technical Writer at CSOFT International
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