On June 18, at the Marco Polo Hotel in Shenzhen, A&S hosted a CEO seminar to discuss Chinese security players' next step in the global security industry. Major players attended to share their opinions and experience, including Blue Card, Dahua, GST, Hikvision, Jinhualong, Launch, Longhorn, LSVT, Relong, Santachi, Sunell, TVT and ZKSoftware, forming a consensus of how Chinese manufacturing can overcome its stigma of providing cheap and unstable products.
For years, this annual CEO seminar has gathered the most influential players in the mainland to plan the next phase for Chinese security manufacturers. Parson Lee, President of A&S Group, pointed out that China is now an influential force to the global market today. With more and more people credit in Chinese products, it is the perfect time for Chinese manufacturers to increase its importance within the industry. This event is designed to be a platform for top management in the industry to devise a workable plan to enhance the importance of Chinese products in security industry.
Hikvision's Dream
For those who attended IFSEC this year, Hikvision's marketing approach, at the entrance and by the lanyard, made a stunning impression. This was a huge support to Chinese players, showing that Chinese players are more than just a manufacturing base. It represents that Chinese players have the ability to be partners in terms of R&D and marketing.
Tony Yang, International Marketing Director at Hikvision, said, "Back in sixties, Dr. Martin Luther King made a famous speech - "I Have a Dream”, and this has inspired Hikvision enormously.
To us, we also have a dream - to revolutionize the typical image of the 'made-in-China' label. We hope Chinese companies can do more than just OEM."
While the industry been suffered greatly from the economic turmoil this year, it has provided a great opportunity to Hikvision. Yang said that, a voice can be heard when the market becomes silent. "In the past, when the recession did not impact the industry so severely, no matter how much we presented ourselves, the effect was limited. Now, after this year's promotion at IFSEC, people are starting to pay attention to Hikvision."
Overall Branding
There is no doubt that China will serve as a crucial role in global manufacturing for a long time to come. At the security front, China has been exporting for less than 10 years. At the beginning, China's products acquired bad reputation due to poor quality and credibility. Nevertheless, things are changing. China's security equipment manufacturing turned from chaos to order, and this progress can be attributed to market competition, the improvement of market order, and to the efforts made by strong players, with independent innovation and brand-building. Buyers now have more confidence to purchase Chinese products, especially while budgets are an important issue.
Even so, under current circumstances, China has still a long ways to go to compete with other big names in the industry. However, most attendees agree, that branding is not only selling products with your own logo on them, but also a company overall branding. Several Chinese companies have R&D and innovation capabilities compounded with lower manufacturing cost, which makes them potential long-term and trust-worthy partners, providing the best price and performance-ratio products.
A&S Insight
At the event, John Shih, Editorial Director for all A&S Publications, also delivered an insightful review on ISC West, SecuTech Taipei and IFSEC. These three big shows are regarded as the most influential indicators in security. Shih highlighted the various discoveries from the show, respectively, and offered some guidance for Chinese manufacturers.
Shih pointed out that, Chinese manufacturers should put more effort in refining two types of quality - product quality and business quality, creating higher value among buyers. Besides, he mentioned that the Chinese market provides a great opportunity for new applications, allowing manufacturers to test market acceptance before exporting overseas.
Lastly, Shih urged Chinese manufacturers to emphasize their target markets. A small, but specific market can turn out a huge volume. With improving quality and more overseas business experience, Chinese manufacturers will find more opportunities this year.