Abstract

This paper focuses on some aspects of brand strategy taking in the Chinese market new features, not found in previous studies and practices of international marketing, which can be attributed to three combined conditions: the presence of a very different cultural context; the existence of a writing system, signs and meanings, quite different than usual; an overload of information on brands to a population not accustomed to a consumer market. Through a qualitative research, were set out in-depth interviews with scholars, managers, contractors, officers, and consultants. The aim was to identify key aspects of diversity in brand and product policies between the Western and the Chinese markets in order to isolate the marketing factors that require the development of specific strategies. The answers to the interviews show a reference model for defining the brand name, with different possible managerial applications. The model consists of five basic alternatives: the similarity of sound, the construction of meaning, the search for cultural synchronization, integrated solutions of the different components, or maintaining the original brand without any amendments.