On the renaissance of Chinese brands

This article is inspired by a somewhat counter-intuitive phenomenon that has recently been highlighted in the contemporary business literature, but which does not appear to have been examined within a peer-reviewed environment. We are witnessing increasing successes by domestic brands in China, often at the expense of established multinational brands. Given that China is the world's largest national market in terms of population, this trend is worthy of investigation. Our approach is neither causal nor confirmatory. Instead, we undertake an exploratory review of robust secondary data sources. Our goal is to shed empirical light on what appears to be a ‘Sinosyncratic anomaly’, and then to provide a framework and springboard for future research in this domain. Clearly, our approach is not without limitations, which we do consider. However, there is a pressing need for global marketers to recognise and understand the reasons behind the mixed fortunes being experienced by some of the world's most admired (Western) brands in China, with a view to making empirical generalisations to other emerging markets.