Feature: Italian experts eye bright future of Made-in-China

The Made-in-China is on the path to success on the international scene, Italian experts told Xinhua recently during a forum on brand development held at the world exposition in Italy's business capital Milan.

"I think that for China to develop good brands it is only a matter of time," Giovanni Fiori, professor of business administration and director of the Double Degree in International Management (DDIM) program at LUISS University in Rome, said.

DDIM was organized by LUISS University in Rome, Bocconi University in Milan and Fudan University in Shanghai to see Chinese and Italian students study together for two years in the two countries under an agreement between the Italian and the Chinese ministries of education.

In certain industries, Fiori said, China has already developed important brands.

"Now everybody in Italy knows Huawei, which was completely unknown here until 10 years ago, because of its high quality and reputation. I believe it will have a great market share in the Italian market soon," he said.

Other examples, he added, are Xiaomi, which the professor believes will be "a very important brand in Italy in a couple of years," and the Tsingtao beer that he noted has become quite popular in Rome.

It will take more time instead in the luxury sector, which has deeply-rooted reputation in Italy and France, to achieve the same level, but "China has such a powerful economy that in most sectors by 10-15 years we will have many Chinese brands known worldwide," Fiori highlighted.

In his view, it was possible for China's economy to develop so fast over the last few years thanks to the country's thousands of years of history.

"China was for many centuries the most developed country in the world. We cannot forget that many things that we invented in Western Europe in the 20th century had been invented by Chinese people much earlier," Fiori went on saying.

"Now we are still used to think about the Made-in-China as cheap products, maybe sometimes of a low quality, but things are changing dramatically also thanks to internet and the new technologies. We should think about a future of Made-in-China really different from what we think now," he explained to Xinhua.

According to Fabrizio Perretti, director of the Master of Science in International Management at Bocconi University in Milan, not only the Made-in-China need to focus on quality, but also has to re-communicate itself.

"This is not just an individual effort, it is a collective effort. I think the role of the government and of local institutions is fundamental because the Made-in-China as any made-in brand are based on culture," he told Xinhua.

Perretti suggested a few elements that can help the Made-in-China go international.

Firstly having an identity is fundamental, he highlighted.

"I do not think that Chinese companies have a long experience in dealing with identity, which is mostly a Western concept. But whenever you have to compete globally, you need to build an individual identity," he explained to Xinhua.

In order to represent an identity, Perretti went on saying, it is important to create a story. For example, he noted, Italy is very famous in the world because of its cuisine.

"But most of the ingredients that we use were discovered in other countries. We imported them and now we are renowned for them on the world stage," he pointed out.

"This means that you can bring the best things from other countries in order to then create your own things and try to develop a story, which of course takes time, especially as regards the luxury sector," he agreed with Fiori.

Variety is another crucial element to develope top brands, Perretti added.

"If you want to be able to stand out on the world stage, you have to bring together the best people from different countries inside your company, because variety brings innovation and support for new ideas," he suggested.

In the end, Perretti stressed, everything is based on culture.

He believes that education has the key role to put different students from different parts of the world together and enrich the diversity and the variety of each of them to enhance the competitiveness of brands on the global market. Endit