Emergent brandscape in China: “Sony was not built in a day”

David Barboza interviewed Karl Gerth who teaches modern Chinese history at Oxford University about his new book 'As China Goes So Does The World'. Professor Gerth is optimistic about Chinese brands. His take is that China will get strong brands indigenously or it will acquire foreign brands. We just have to give it some time: Professor Gerth: “Sony was not built in a day.”

However, on an ominous note professor Gerth said about IPR protection and enforcement in China: “Rather than China increasingly protecting the intellectual property like the brand integrity of multinationals, perhaps counterfeits manufactured in China and exported globally will undermine global brands and consumerism itself. This is happening. Even as retailing and branding have been encouraging much more consumption in China, consumer confidence (both nationally and internationally) has been undermined by the massive production of Chinese counterfeits.”

Read Mr Barboza's interview for the New York Times here.