The total brand value of Taiwan’s top 20 brands hit US$9.36 billion this year, a rise of 7.9 percent from last year, according to Interbrand Consulting.
“The rise in brand values is mostly attributed to Taiwanese firms’ especially successful forays into the emerging markets of BRIIC [Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia and China],” according to a statement from Interbrand, which also helps rank the annual 100 Best Global Brands for Bloomberg Businessweek magazine.
This year, brand values of each of the top five firms surpassed the US$1 billion mark, with Acer Inc (宏碁) — the world’s No. 3 PC maker — valued at US$1.4 billion, leading smartphone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) valued at US$1.37 billion and the world’s No. 5 PC brand, Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), at US$1.29 billion.
Anti-virus maker Trend Micro Inc (趨勢科技) is valued at US$1.23 billion and Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp (康師傅控股), also known as Master Kong, is valued at US$1.1 billion.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs, which commissioned Interbrand to do the survey for an eighth consecutive year, has set a goal for the values of each of the top five brands surpassing US$1 billion by 2013.
However, the results released yesterday showed that the goal has been achieved two years ahead of schedule.
Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), Taiwan’s largest food maker and No. 11 brand, which was valued at US$197 million, is a case in point about riding on the potential of BRIIC.
In addition to China, which makes up 60 percent of its food sales, Uni-President is targeting Southeast Asia — especially Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines — for new growth engines, said the company’s public affairs director, Selina Wu (吳旭慧), on the sidelines of the awards ceremony.
The company only saw its Southeast Asia business break even last year, after more than 10 years of operations in the market, she said.
It adjusted its strategies by ditching low-end products to focus on middle and high-end products, as well as expanding channels in bigger cities, which helped the business move into the black, Wu said.
Taiwan’s leading bicycle maker Merida Industry Co (美利達工業) is also seeing a boom from the Chinese market.
The company is expected to sell as many as 300,000 bicycles in China this year, up from 200,000 sold last year, senior marketing vice president William Jeng (鄭文祥) said.
“We are not competing in the 600 yuan [US$89] to 800 yuan bicycle segment. We are targeting sports cyclists instead of commuting cyclists,” he said.
According to Jeng, average sale prices of Merida bicycles are 2,000 yuan — a growth of 40 percent from last year.
Its production facility in Shandong Province, China, which is able to churn out 500,000 bicycles annually, is seeing a utilization rate of 60 percent, with 100 percent utilization to be achieved in two years, in line with market growth in China, Jeng added.
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