I've long felt that while the Chinese have made giant strides in manufacturing technology, operations efficiency and even new product development, they haven't cracked the marketing nut yet. Once they do, they'll become strongly competitive with American companies, who figured out a long time ago that marketing, convincing someone to spend money on something they don't need, is the key to brand equity and subsequent pricing power. Now, Chinese shoemaker Li-Ning is going to test that assumption. The company, which currently makes 99% of its revenue from sales within China only, is about to launch in the U.S. with a high-profile store in Portland, right in Nike's backyard. Will Li-Ning become a household word like Hyundai and Samsung have done so well? Time will tell.
