Business at Oxford | Branding focus key for Asian cos

All businesses today are subject to turbulent, accelerating change. But Asian companies experience this to a greater degree as they try to catch up and overtake the competition. Periods of profound and rapid change put a premium on the ability to survive. Look at the Fortune 500. A surprising number of corporations on the list a decade ago are no longer on it, while recent economic and social crises have eliminated others entirely. But Coca-Cola, Colgate, Kellogg’s and other top brands of the 1920s have maintained their industry leadership in many disparate and changing markets despite changes of management over the years. Illustration: Malay Karmakar / MintStrong brands are amazingly durable. By contrast, relative newcomers such as Nokia have also dominated markets in really short time spans and are likely to stand the test... [read full story]