Harvard Experts Talk About Li Ning'S Business Strategy

　　 marketing management The successful cases of, have entered the teaching materials of world famous business schools and become the topic of intense discussion in the elite class of business students. It is no news for the rapidly developing Chinese IT companies and household appliance enterprises in recent years, but for China, the degree of sports professionalism and marketization lags far behind that of Europe and the United States, The local Li Ning Sporting Goods Company attracted the attention of Harvard Business School and specialized in collecting original data, and writing a case analysis report cannot but be said to be a milestone.

It is an enlightening and open teaching feature of business school to only describe cases objectively and leave space for students to think, but this does not prevent one of the two authors of the report, an associate professor of Harvard Business School Luke Vohugh Mr. (Luc R. Wathieu) formed and expounded his own views on Li Ning's business strategy to reporters.

Ink and wash painting, Chinese kungfu, product design, promotion and interpretation of oriental elements are different from Nike and Adidas“ Li Ning ”It is absolutely "Chinese", which determines that its brand construction must reflect the distinctive "oriental elements" in the international perspective, which is a cultural gene that a local enterprise with an open spirit must possess. In Luke Vohugh's words, in the era of globalization, only by fully exploiting and utilizing the traditional culture with its own characteristics to participate in international competition can we find the root of our foothold. "It is absolutely wrong to give up or ignore this point". In terms of product design and promotion, Li Ning is constantly demonstrating "oriental elements": interpreting the running speed of Li Ning's shoes with the help of the image of ink painting, and setting off Li Ning's shoes with the extraordinary skill of basketball players in Chinese Kung Fu Basketball shoes Later, Damon Jones, an NBA player with oriental temperament, created a sports passion different from that of Europe and the United States

"'Hua Mulan' is a true oriental legend, but Disney has created its own modern western business myth with exquisite interpretation." While appreciating Li Ning's focus on tapping traditional culture, Mr. Luke Warhugh mentioned in his report that the American company has set a precedent of great success by "attacking Chinese cultural resources". He told reporters that in the era when Japan's economy took off, "its design style and culture were once popular in the world. Today, when the world looks to China, such stories will be repeated". Therefore, Li Ning's "interpretation of the East" is full of strategic vision.

For college students and young people, as far as the target customer group is in line with the market characteristics and consumer positioning, Li Ning Company currently focuses on college students. According to the survey made by Luke Vohugh, the company's positioning is based on demography, geography and sports type analysis. For all major sporting goods manufacturers, students are core target customers, representing nearly 60% of sports enthusiasts. According to the positioning that its product is a medium price brand, Li Ning resolutely focuses on the college student market. "College students have limited living expenses, so they must have a sense of value. Primary and secondary students can ask more money from their parents, and they don't care about the price very much.". Once Li Ning's products penetrate the primary and middle school students' market, they will inevitably compete head to head with Nike and Adidas, which are particularly powerful.

In response to this, Luke Warshew commented that it is crucial for the native Li Ning Company to aim at the core customer base, focus on attack, and avoid head-on collision with powerful multinational companies. It is this accurate positioning that prevented them from winning the partnership status of the Beijing Olympic Games at any cost, Instead, it helps students, especially college students' favorite NBA basketball stars such as Damon Jones, sponsor Chinese football players such as Li Tie and Zhao Junzhe, or sponsor members of the Chinese national team to drive Li Ning, a Chinese independent brand, by inspiring patriotic feelings among Chinese people.

In terms of sales channel layout in medium-sized cities, secondary markets and competitive advantages, Mr. Luke Worthy found through research that Nike and Adidas are very powerful in large cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and Li Ning does not compete with these two international giants too much in these cities, Although the company has a considerable share of the brand market in Beijing. According to the unique value orientation of the product, the company adopts the strategy of "maintaining and consolidating" the primary market and focusing on the secondary market. After years of efforts, by the beginning of this year, the company has formed a channel network consisting of 3005 retail stores, 111 directly managed retail stores and 257 special counters.

Mr. Luke Warhugh commented that Li Ning is a very successful example in the secondary market. In China, where brand competition is unprecedented, the company should indeed consolidate its success in the secondary market, but Li Ning should have a strong sense of crisis. Now some multinational sporting goods companies are also targeting these markets, Therefore, the company should creatively integrate the overall strategy.