Sun Jiawei/Shanghai Daily news

The price of a designer handbag can be thousands times more than an ordinary brand, even if the two are of similar quality. This is the charm of brand names. In today's world branding means profit.
However, few Chinese enterprises are enjoying the benefit brought by successful branding.
According to a recent survey by World Executive Digest, most of the top 10 business brands favored by Chinese managers belong to foreign enterprises. The only exception was the most favored business school, where all the candidates were Chinese colleges.
It is discouraging. Although people believe  China has a few world-renowned brands like Lenovo and Haier, the number is still small, and the scale too limited.
Among the 10 polled brand categories, Chinese brands don't appear among the top 10 in groups such as digital cameras, watches or mobile phones.
Some people attribute the situation to the fact that Chinese enterprises aren't as "affluent" as their multinational competitors, who can generously throw money on advertising and various marketing strategies. Others think that brand building need long-term efforts, and therefore, given more time, Chinese brands can perform much better.
They're only partly true. Advertising is an important component, but branding is more than that. Besides, brands don't simply grow as time passes. So, maybe the mindset of branding needs to change at Chinese enterprises.
Are the brands valuable to the company, and in line with a company's strategy? Is the allocation of marketing fees suitable? And is it based on scientific market research?
Sha Sha, project manager with McKinsey&Company, believes that companies should spend more time and money on statistical market research.
"If you aren't clear about the market," Sha said. "How can you make wise decisions?"
Branding isn't optional. It determines how well enterprises make money from consumers.