Li Ning Wants To Compete With Nike, adidas In Global Market

China-based athletic shoe and apparel company Li Ning has "big plans" for its sneakers, according to the N.Y. TIMES' Joe Nocera, who wrote under the header, "China Tries To Solve Its Brand X Blues.'' Li Ning execs want to "begin exporting to Europe and the United States -- and go toe to toe abroad with Nike and adidas." Li Ning COO Guo Jianxin said that the company currently "generates only 1[%] of its $700[M] in revenue from abroad; by 2013 -- when it hopes to be generating over $2[B] in revenue -- it expects 20[%] to come from exports." To get there, Li Ning "will have to become a brand like Nike and adidas," and Li Ning is "trying hard to figure out how to make the kind of branding splash that comes so naturally" to those companies. However, Nocera wrote the more Guo spoke about branding, the "more I began to have my doubts that Li-Ning was ready for the big leagues." Guo: "In the coming years, we are going to have to find a Jordan for Li-Ning. Nike had Jordan. Where is our Jordan?" Nocera noted Li Ning is "simply not confident that its current brand can stand up to its big Western competitors." Nocera: "Truth to tell, neither is just about any other big consumer company in China." There is a "powerful sense among Chinese consumers that domestic brands are inferior -- and a distinct lack of confidence among Chinese companies in the allure of their own brands" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/12).