BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment
US icons struggle to find local Web model
(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-01-24 09:53
As eBay becomes the second American Internet giant to hand over its
Chinese operation to a local partner, following a similar move by Yahoo!,
China looks more and more like a curse for US companies than a creative
expansion into the world's largest potential market.
The soaring success of American Internet icons in other international
markets has simply not translated to China, and once-invincible firms
find themselves in the unfamiliar role of reeling from battles with local
rivals.
Related readings:
EBay buying StubHub for $310M in cash
Yahoo China to target business customers
IBM and Yahoo to challenge Google
Their troubles, say industry experts, can be traced to poor understanding
of Chinese users' habits, slow progress in using local managers and a
US-centric business model.
Xie Wen, former CEO of Yahoo! China, agreed that common failures of US
Internet giants in China include a lack of understanding of Chinese
users' habits and slow progress in tailoring overall operations to fit
the culture.
"Apparently, eBay and other US Internet companies did not do enough to
localize their companies' culture, management teams and operations," he
said. "If they don't change themselves in China, they will never win in
this large market."
Qu Xiaodong, general manager of CCW research, a domestic consulting firm,
said it was a failure of catering to the majority of Chinese Internet
users that led to the underperformance of most US Internet companies in
the country.
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