LG Electronics China is working to develop more Chinese features as the multinational celebrates its 20th anniversary on the Chinese mainland in October.

"To build an LG subsidiary with Chinese characteristics is something that our top management emphasizes often," said a senior manager at LG Electronics China.

"This indicates that China is not only an appealing market but also plays a crucial role in LG's international strategy," he added.

LG arrived on the Chinese mainland in 1993 with a strategy that has not seen major changes until now - integrating into the Chinese market, building a localized system that covers manufacturing, research and development, sales and management, and then proceed to win the global market.

"To facilitate the strategy, LG even poured its profits generated in the Republic of Korea to its business in China in the early days," said the manager.

"Because the company knew that if it would like to use China as a springboard for its success in the world, it could not act as an outsider but should take China as its second home country."

The efforts bore fruit in 2004 when a complete chain took shape that covers manufacturing, R&D and sales in the company's three major business divisions of IT, home appliances and mobile phones.

In that year, its plant in Huizhou, Guangdong province produced the largest number of disc drives worldwide, while the Nanjing plant in Jiangsu province started mass production of such key products as laptop crystal modules and TV plasma modules and its Tianjin plant became the country's second-largest patent applicant.

Those achievements helped pave the way for LG to make inroads into the global market. Among other things, LG became one of the most popular washing machine brands in the US in 2007 and the world's second-largest LCD TV manufacturer in 2009.

"We cannot make it without our localization efforts in China," said the manager.

Localization efforts

LG has since forged ahead even faster. Its global sales revenue from home appliances reached $49 billion in 2011. Despite a weak market demand, the figure went even higher in 2012.

That is partly the result of the company's focus on local customer demands, in particular those in China, its largest market in the world, said the manager.

LG did extensive research on the Chinese market even before its entry in 1993. Its research team has since become more observant of customer demands to sharpen the company's competitive edge and enhance consumer satisfaction. One of their recent findings is that since the Chinese food has rich flavors, it requires a large amount of fresh ingredients, so larger space and separate storage in refrigerators are needed.

To meet the demands, LG has come up with a series of Door in Door refrigerators (G6000) that are equipped with smart storage system that prevents food smells from affecting other items by classified storage, said the manager.

He said the refrigerators also feature an intelligent storage system that improves their ability to keep food fresh and the adjustable racks allow customers to make better use of the storage capacity.

Shin Moon-bum, president and CEO of LG Electronics China, said the company's localization strategy should cover all its business activities in the country ranging from R&D to manufacturing and sales.

He also urged his staff to study Chinese history and culture and use more Chinese elements in the visual design of products.

In response, the company rolled out a series of jade-featured designs for the Chinese market in early 2013.

The LCD displays, which have jade powder sprayed on their housing, are also equipped with the IPS technology that renders better visual results.

On March 19, LG introduced two TV sets that combine traditional Chinese elements at the World Appliance Expo in Shanghai.

Each has a waterdrop tip at the bottom of the display and a boat-shaped stand, a combination that implies wealth in traditional Chinese culture, according to the company.

In addition, they feature hard-screen technology that presents viewers clearer images and an immersion 3D experience.

Some customers call them the best examples of integrating modern technology with traditional Chinese elements, the company added.

(Source: China Daily)