For the better part of the past decade, the world economy has been dominated by a unique geoeconomic constellation that the authors call “Chimerica”: a world economic order that combined Chinese export-led development with U.S. overconsumption on the basis of a financial marriage between the world’s sole superpower and its most likely future rival. In this paper, economic historians Niall Ferguson of Havard Business School and Moritz Schularick of Freie Universität Berlin consider the problem of global imbalances and try to set events in a longer-term perspective […]
Category: Consumer Behavior
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TV screens in China last year were bombarded with “mainstream” or tribute-style political and patriotic TV series. Unlike most previously released mainstream TV, which lost ground to popular overseas and commercially-produced local series, last year’s shows have attracted a substantial number of viewers due to their diverse and interesting content, modern production techniques and more natural acting approach […]
China’s only national TV broadcaster, China Central Television (CCTV), held its annual auction on Nov. 18 for ad spots during 2010 prime-time programming as well as title sponsorships for key programs such as CCTV’s Chinese New Year gala, nightly weather reports and special events like World Cup coverage […]
The more than 4 million Chinese families with million dollar assets in 2008 will reach 7.8 million in 2013, according to a new report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) published recently […]
Renren.com, often dubbed China’s Facebook, is re-branding itself as a social-networking site for everyone, not just Chinese college students […]
At the hype of US President Barack Obama’s first visit to China, the hottest sales item on Beijing’s streets is a t-shirt featuring Obama’s face replacing China’ former leader Mao Zedong’s face in an iconic image of the Communist Party and Red Army […]
China’s automobile market continued its robust growth in October, with passenger vehicle sales clocking a year-on-year growth of 79.6 percent, and provided enough indications that China is well on its way to occupy the top perch as the largest automobile market in the world […]
After a courtship of about 20 years, the Walt Disney Company has won approval from the central government of China to build a Disneyland-style theme park in Shanghai, Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, said recently […]
Tom Doctoroff, North Asia Director of JWT Advertising, shares some interesting angles on Chinese consuming patterns: The Chinese consumer is becoming increasingly modern and internationalized. However, while “egos” and ambitions are huge, the “new generation” is not becoming “individualistic” in the Western sense — i.e., the peoples never define themselves independent of society. The middle class, those who can afford non-essential items, is torn between two impulses. The first is projection of status which leads to a desire to be noticed (in public contexts), aggressive self-expression and experimentation with new modes of style and design. The second, in vivid contrast to the projection, is protection, a fear of sticking out too obviously or challenging existing hierarchies and social restrictions. The Chinese saying — “the leading goose gets shot down” — is as true today as it was yesterday […]
The Chinese government is asking its people to spend a little more and save a little less to help get the country through the global economic downturn […]