Is China really copycatting?

This is in response to a colleague who posted a recent article from the Wall Street Journal titled, “China’s new generation of copycat stores.”on the GETDA Linkedin Group Channel.

The WSJ article is located here:

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/08/03/photos-chinas-new-generation-of-copycat-stores/?KEYWORDS=copycat+stores

Having lived in the PRC for just short of two years this is not entirely surprising, nor is it shocking… I have also had the advantage of also living in Japan for 3 years as well.

What Mr. Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal may say about copycatting I would call normal market research and good business tactics.

I see it as no different to how companies here in the United States  garner competitive advantage from seeing what their competitors do well …do better than themselves …then putting on their own very similar version, marketing and selling “their “ version of what is selling well.

In fact, what the WSJ calls copycatting I would suggest is purely normal business.

I am somewhat disappointed that Mr. Murdock’s WSJ chose to single-out China as some sort of pariah… ( Dr. Ranasinghe has informed me that this infection may be spreading) perhaps the WSJ playing on media coverage to offset the global opprobrium about their parent entity and the disgusting phone hacking scandals.  The WSJ probably “copycatted”  rabid postures begun by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) with raised placards demanding that the United States be harder on China insisting huge amounts of movies and music are being pirated, forgetting where America and all Americans buy their xxxx large underwear, and where indeed the placards they brazenly raise are made.

The WSJ may conveniently forget it …but I am surprised if someone forgets that China is constantly responding to our requests for assistance by buying our AMERICAN debt – thereby helping keep this nation afloat so you can indeed wear your Chinese-produced  xxxx large underwear while raising the made-in-China placards to protest the fact that you are wearing them.

Where did the WSJ say any of that?  The fact is that the WSJ failed to admit that all businesses around the world – including American -  do this… this is not a China-unique phenomenon, and to suggest otherwise is lacking wisdom….but more,  its bordering on crass unfairness and racism …both distinctly un-American traits.

All around the world there are people researching new and innovative ways to part you - the consumer – from your money.

Why aren’t you writing stern letters of protest to your legislators because AMERICAN marketers know you - the American buyer – so well …they use point of sale techniques which intentionally put packages of gum and candy at the check-out stand at your local grocery store – because they understand the American-birthed concept of “impulse purchases”?

The fact of the matter is that China is gleaning market research from all around the world not just America (to think that it’s just America is so arrogant as to surpass belief) – all around the non-communist, capitalistic world. China is learning what and how the US consumers purchase goods and services. They are applying what we have foisted off on them about how to compete and how to sell.  The PRC is gaining strides - huge leaps and bounds - in this area.  As with every other nation which is watchful and pensive, because China is learning so fast it does not have to go through the weaning years that the United States did on market research. China just hires the best and brightest Chinese students – those just graduated with MBAs from excellent universities around the world - who are readily equipped with the information they need to be successful.

You should know that probably unlike the WSJ researchers – I have personally visited the Ikea store in Beijing and it looks exactly like every other Ikea you have ever been in …except there are less pink people, and more… much more Chinese shoppers. Indeed, it was so packed I had to walk through the Kitchenware department twice trying to edge myself over to a counter packed with Chinese Shoppers …to look at some knives that caught my eye. So if Ikea is losing ground in China, it cannot be because the Chinese are not visiting it intent on buying IKEA products… It must be something else.

While I lived in China my local supermarket was next to a Chinese-owned store called Homeway. At a time when Home Depot had NOT entered the PRC market …it  looked and felt exactly like Home Depot, so they were not copycatting any US company in China.  It was no surprise to me when the Homeway signs were suddenly replaced by signs of new ownership and management with a new store name…  go on …you guessed it …the US-owned “Home Depot”.

It was far easier for Home Depot, in their initial step into the PRC, to purchase a very successful existing Chinese owned store…a store where the brand was already established. Where the Chinese shoppers had had good experiences. Was Home Depot then copycatting ( a la the WSJ ) a Chinese store?   If so should it not be vilified by the WSJ.

Here in the United States we know very well that our patent and copyright system is not only completely flawed but it has stifled creativity and innovation.

Just look to your local newspaper. Inevitably the technology section and you will see some sort of suit or case against copyright or patent infringement. This speaks more to me about corporate greed rather than “fighting” for their rights, but that is just my humble opinion.

In Japan you can visit very fine restaurants such as First Kitchen or Moss Burger. Perhaps the WSJ could argue that they are McDonalds or Burger King copycats. Or you – using your excellent insight - can say they are – instead - providing something that is uniquely Japanese. Where else can you get a tasty Rice Burger, or Curry Burger or French Fries with a choice of 5 different flavors including green tea.

This I believe is true innovation, and knowing who your consumers are.

I personally do not put too much thought into rabid WSJ arguments of piracy and the like.

Middle Eastern, African and some Asian cultures are such that to copy an idea means something honorable because the original idea was felt by you to be so excellent that you are in fact showing extreme respect for that original idea by only “adapting” it and making it better to suit local tastes. It should be seen to mean the local business is giving kudos to the original idea.

The reality is that there really is nothing truly new - or something perfectly curtailed to the original concept – under the sun. Nothing American is only for Americans UNLESS WE BECOME ISOLATIONISTS. But if we intend the rest of the world to see, taste, feel our products …then buy them …someone …somewhere is going to believe they can be adapted to better serve the local circumstance.  Do you think an American Pizza is like a pizza in Italy? I have had pizza in Italy, it is not like American pizza. I have had pizza in Japan, it is nothing like American pizza. Or do you think US Chinese food is anything like real Chinese food? No …we’ve “copycatted” it and products get adapted to particular tastes.  To erroneously claim copycatting is far too self-aggrandizing a term.

What the WSJ does not say ( probably because it knows the intelligent among us will laugh them into oblivion ) is if they and anyone else feel so badly about the rest of the world and its ways …then they should – as Dr. Ranasinghe often says – shun the rest of the world …stay at home …lock the doors …do not allow the world in …and do not venture out to accrue profits. Have the WSJ try that for a while. What they will find is that the rest of the world will really continue on its merry way with or without the United States. If America  disappeared or chose to close its borders I would suggest the rest of the world would continue . .

Further is it not that ideas should be free for all of us to use and to stifle it is to stifle the future, especially when the benefits of said idea can help many others?

Certainly I am not saying that the originator of the idea should not be remunerated for their idea…but only IF ITS AN EXACT COPY …not if it’s even slightly different …not if it has been even slightly adapted. Such is how US patent and copyright law should function.

But say you were an African researcher and learned an American scientist had discovered an Aids vaccine. A vaccine desperately needed all over Africa.  Say you requested that the Americans sell the vaccine throughout Africa at a reasonable rate which Africans could afford. To your horror – with people dying all around you from AIDS … you find the American pharmaceutical companies refuse to help …refuse to lower their rate even a fraction. How would you respond? Would you think it robbery by the American companies?

If you were then contacted by an Indian scientist who could recreate a similar vaccine  ( not the same …just similar …with equal efficacy ) at a cheaper rate whilst NOT infringing on patent laws… would you think it robbery? Would you say the Aids sufferers of Africa are deserving of your insight and “bigness” of heart?

Finally, being global villagers, I would challenge everyone to be angry when an Australian owned newspaper attempts to publish news in this manner. The word “Copycat” especially is particularly patronizing. Perhaps China should demand payments from the WSJ for their western world’s use of the printing press. The Chinese did invent it you know and the WSJ are using their own – even if adapted – versions of an original Chinese design.  Or perhaps they should demand payment for our use of fireworks every 4^th of July. They did invent it you know. This WSJ article posted on GETDA’s Linkedin channel is decidedly and unabashedly pro-western, and anti-China in its tone. It grandiosely assumes that anything that looks “western” must be the result of copycatting.

I would caution anyone who gleefully posts copies of stuff like this – WITHOUT FIRST PUBLISHING THEIR OWN DISCLAIMER THAT THEY DO NOT ALIGN WITH SUCH WRITING.

I have written several articles on this matter, while specifically focusing on Japan. One in particular written many years ago was titled “Japan: Westernization or Globalization”… let me say clearly that consumers are the same around the world, the cultures may differ, the languages may differ, but people all over the world worry about their families, and want to buy the best for them. This is a fact that market research need not enter. If a business looks similar to other businesses, that is not necessarily a copycat, take it into good cognizance that it may simply be that it is a good business model, and that any businessman or businesswoman would be foolish enough not to recognize that fact. This has nothing to do with westernization, and everything to do with living in the global arena.

Daniel Wolf MBA