As China Inc goes global, buying up the likes of Italian tyre company Pirelli, its executives are looking for more subtle ways of introducing their businesses to the rest of the world. It is the commercial equivalent of the Chinese government’s recent foreign policy decision to discard hard-power projection in favour of soft-power persuasion.
The shift is partly because whenever a Chinese company acquires an overseas company, questions are raised about its intentions. Will it move jobs to China? Does it intend to strip the target company of its best technology?
In their search for new marketing techniques, some Chinese executives have discovered what for them is an unusual tool — international sponsorships of popular sporting events. The famous Volvo Ocean Race, for example, might one day become the Geely-Dongfeng Ocean Race.