Personal luxury brands "Made in China": who are they and what is their international presence? A case study of four Chinese personal luxury brands

Details

Supervisors

Claes, Marie-Thérèse

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en Ingénieur de gestion

Abstract

Thousands of years ago, in Ancient and Imperial China, “Made in China” was known for craftsmanship and high quality products such as silk, porcelain and jade. Today, however, the contrast cannot be more stark: with China’s rapid economic growth, industrialization and increased trade, many people associate “Made in China” with cheap and poor quality products – anything but luxury. Nevertheless, Chinese luxury brands do exist. Having emerged only a few decades ago, some of them are ambitiously trying to become the next “Chanel of China” or “Chinese Rolex”. This Master thesis aims at investigating these Chinese personal luxury brands, with a twofold purpose: finding the answers to the questions “who are they?” and “what is their international presence?”. First, it aims at unveiling the identity of these brands. Unknown to many people today, it is interesting to discover that many Chinese personal luxury brands actually do their best to establish themselves on the market and are characterized by certain traits. The second objective of this thesis is to investigate their degree of internationalization. Therefore, amongst others, the worldwide distribution of retail stores, nationality of target consumers and expansion strategy will be analyzed.