In a strategy review last year titled “Leaner, Faster, Stronger”, Denmark-based high-end consumer electronics business Bang & Olufsen (B&O) outlined six threats to its business, one of which was: “A lack of focus on growing economies, especially China.”
Given that in the luxury goods market, management consultancy McKinsey predicts China is expected to consume 20% by 2015, any high end company which cannot crack China is giving up sales which will be happily taken by competitors.
Some in the market think B&O management may have found the right partnership to deliver on its “Leaner, Faster, Stronger” strategy. Its share price rose by more than 10% last week, after it received a corporate venturing-style deal from China-based luxury goods distributor Sparkle Roll and private equity firm A-Capital, which specialises in identifying European investment opportunities for Chinese corporates.
The pair took a minority stake in B&O but there remains a mountain to climb for the Danish company to regain its former valuation before the financial crisis, which even after its recent spike is more than 75% down on 2007 levels.
As Global Corporate Venturing argued earlier this month, more corporates should look to take stakes in established companies in a private equity style, as well as considering the venture-style deals for which the discipline is known.
Sparkle Roll was luxury clothes company Burberry’s partner in China and owns a 15% stake in the UK company’s China retail and distribution business, after it was taken in-house by Burberry.
According to Andre Loesekrug-Pietri, head of A-Capital, the work of Sparkle Roll’s chairman, Ivan Tong, was an important part of Burberry’s success breaking China. Loesekrug-Pietri said: “Burberry was a huge success in China because of him [Tong]. Burberry was a very good experience for him.” Loesekrug-Pietri explained the Bang & Olufsen deal was an attempt on the part of Sparkle Roll to raise its profile by moving from being a distributor to a brand owner.
The trend of companies looking to find a corporate partner to help expand to another market, is not confined to China, and many think this strategy has become all the more important generally as corporates look to go global.
Bradley Rotter, executive chairman of US-based mobile device monitoring company AirPatrol, which is looking to expand into Europe by teaming up with a European corporate, said: “The internet has changed something which never changed much before in history – that is the unit of time. It has made it imperative to go big and go global as soon as possible. When a young start-up in Silicon Valley has a breakthrough idea and makes [widely read technology publications like] Om or TechCrunch, the knock-off happens much faster than it did before because of the rapid descent in the cost of doing a start-up.”
Corporates everywhere, think hard about the markets you provide access to, and see if this can be used to yours and others’ advantages.