Competitive Strategies.
Focus: In order to be more appealing to China’s trendy urban youth market, Li-Ning has set about
creating itself an international identity (business week, 2008). It has started sponsoring international
teams and athletes (Liu & Hang, 2007).This is in addition to a range of Chinese teams who wore the
Li-Ning logo at the Beijing Olympics.
Differentiation: The multi-brand identity strategy is a potentially interesting development and
could see Li-Ning following the same route to international growth taken by Lenovo, the Chinese PC
and consumer Electronics Company that acquired the IBM personal computer business and Think
Pad brand and Chinese car manufacturers who have acquired Rover and MG car brands (Business
Week, 2008). On the other hand it could be emulating Adidas, which owns Reebok and Taylor Made
sporting brands and Nike, which owns Converse and Umbro.
Some UK and US business analysts are intrigued by the idea of Li-Ning using the Beijing
Olympics as a trigger for an international expansion (The Economist, 2008).