Fortune Named TCL the Most Admired Chinese Companies of Year 2007

Fortune Named TCL the Most Admired Chinese Companies of Year 2007

October 19th,2007

Recently, Fortune China has announced the Most Admired Chinese Companies of Year 2007. This is the second time for Haier, Lenovo and TCL to obtain this title since 2006. Meanwhile, these three magnates have been listed on the Chinese Rising International Brands List recently released by the worldwide famous business magazine Business Weekly. Business analysts reckon that this indicates many leading enterprises represented by Haier, Lenovo and TCL have taken the responsibilities to be the Image Representatives of China and are leading the Chinese manufacturing industry to a breakthrough.

As the journalists know, companies listed in the Most Admired Chinese Companies of Year 2007 are chosen according to the questionnaires submitted by 25,000 senior managers, from 294 Chinese companies with over 5 billion RMB annual turnover. The evaluating standards include nine items, such as status of products and services, creativity, performance of international management etc.

The Chinese Rising International Brands List is co-produced by Business Weekly and the international consulting company Interbrand based on the opinions of 569 international sales experts, considering the companies' financial status and brand strategy. Eventually, 12 brands, including TCL, were listed as the Chinese Rising International Brands.

However, it might take three to five years for these Chinese challengers, such as Lenovo and TCL to become competitive international brands.

Haier, Lenovo and TCL have successively obtained the title as the Most Admired Chinese Companies for two years running and also been listed on the Chinese Rising International Brands List, which indicates that both local and overseas mainstream public opinion have kept a positive and affirmative appraisal of the leading Chinese enterprises.

Director of Fortune China, Wang Yiding pointed out that this was because these Chinese enterprises had already realized the challenges of the Chinese manufacturing industry and had started making breakthroughs by strengthening their creativity, increasing their products values and enhancing brand building.

Their efforts will help the Chinese manufacturing industry to change its low quality and low price image.

Taking Lenovo as an example, it has increased its product and brand's overseas recognition through utilization of its sponsor's status for the 2008 Olympic Games. TCL, as a Chinese enterprise who takes the lead in internationalization, has experienced the stages spanning from technical commercialization to the accumulation of core technologies and it has designed Promethean products for consumers using its worldwide industrial design centres.

Its innovative designs have successively won international prizes, such as the American Emmy Award, German Red Dot Industry Design Award and IF Design Award China, which greatly established the company's leading image in the international electronic consumer goods market. Since 2007, TCL has aimed at LCM to develop its high-end industry chain.

Also it released its new brand strategy, 'Originality Inspires Life', and it has devoted itself to becoming the most creative brand of China in the coming ten years. This practical and innovative spirit has attracted many senior members of international enterprises, such as Liang Yaorong from Phillip.

According to Fortune China, it is observed from enterprises like Haier, Lenovo and TCL that they all have something in common to make them the leading Chinese enterprises and different from traditional Chinese manufactures. They all occupied the leading place in the mainland and overseas market using high quality products and services. As the bellwether of the Chinese enterprises during the process of internationalization, they have all met setbacks. However, they have all gotten through the most difficult period and now they are stepping forward to establish world-class enterprises.

Specialists consider an enterprise as the name card of a country during global economic integration. Like IBM represents America, Samsung represents Korea; the image of a country is mainly supported by its exported products and enterprise image. The Chinese enterprises listed in the Most Admired Chinese Companies of Year 2007 do not only demonstrate to the Chinese manufacturers how to increase their international competency, but also have a significant influence to improve China's international status.

Appendix: A Brief Introduction to the Most Admired Companies List of Fortune Magazine

The Most Admired Companies List was created by Fortune magazine in 1983. The purpose of this ranking list is to commend those industrially successful champions who possess the leading positions not only in tables, but also in other aspects . Currently it is regarded as the internationally recognized standard to evaluate a company's reputation. In year 2006, Fortune China released this ranking list for Chinese local companies for the first time in order to carry forward its theory of the Most Admired Companies and to compliment the achievement of Chinese local companies.

TCL: Rising Chinese Force in Globalization

TCL stands for the abbreviation of The Creative Life, which means originality inspires life.

TCL Group Co. was founded in year 1981. Now it is one of the biggest Chinese electronic industrial groups managing a global scale business in consumer electronics. It has launched three corporations into the market, which are TCL Group (SZ.000100), TCL Multimedia Technology (HK.1070), TCL Communication Technology (HK.

2618). During the past twenty years, in line with Chinese reform and opening-up of the economy and succeeding with a dedicated and innovative enterprise spirit, TCL has rapidly developed from nothing to an outstanding company in the Chinese electronic information industry. In 1999, the company started its exploration of international business.

It exploited and popularized its own brand in the newly emerging market, purchased mature brands in the European and American market and became a bellwether of the Chinese national enterprises in the internationalization process.

While developing, TCL has established four advantages in creativity, quality, sales and consumers' perception:

TCL established many epoch-making creative products, such as the first hands free key-press phone, the first 28inch colour TV, the first diamond mobile phone, the first core-duo laptop and etc..

In 2006, the global annual turnover of TCL reached 46.85billion RMB; over 50,000 employees were spread all over Asian, American, European and Oceanian countries and districts. It set up sales departments in over 40 countries and districts to sell its TCL, Thomson, RCA colour TVs and TCL, Alcatel mobiles. In year 2006 its worldwide sales reached 21million colour TVs and 11million mobiles. With the overseas revenue exceeding the Chinese mainland revenue, TCL has become a real multinational company.

The TCL Group has set up research and development centres and dozens of R&D branches for its industry in China, America, France and Singapore and nearly 20 machining bases in China, Poland, Mexico, Thailand, Vietnam and etc.

Presently, TCL has formed an industrial cluster with multimedia electronics, mobile communication and digital electronics as the backbone while covering household electronics, core devices (model, chip, display apparatus, batteries), illuminating equipments and stereo industries.

The brand value of TCL in year 2006 has reached 36.2 billion RMB (4.7billion US Dollars), which is the third most valuable brand of China.

In the coming ten years, TCL will continue constructing the system with creativity; quality; sales ability and a consumer's appraisal system to make TCL the most innovative brand of China.

In the future, the development goal of TCL is to upgrade its international management, set up technical advantages with intellectual property rights to become an honourable and innovative worldwide advanced enterprise.