On December 26, 2009, Yves Rocher, founder of the global chain of beauty products which bears his name, passed away. The French President paid tribute to the successful French businessman and environmentalist. Bernard Angot, President of Bretagne International (the organization in charge of the development of Brittany’s economy), acknowledged him as a pioneering advocate of plants in cosmetics. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of La Gacilly, hometown of Mr. Rocher, will always remember him as a hero who boosted the local economy.

Recently Shanghai Jahwa, the largest local cosmetics enterprise has officially launched a cosmeceuticals brand “Yu Ze”, marking its entry into the medical cosmetics market. The chairman of Jahwa, Ge Wenyao, stated that brands like Avene, La Roche-Posay and Vichy occupy nearly 60% of the current cosmeceuticals market in China, making it a strategic area for Jahwa.

To promote their brand with both domestic and foreign audiences, China Eastern Airlines became the only airline partner of the Shanghai Expo in 2010. The painted “World Expo” aircraft – China Eastern’s (CES) fourth airplane for the World Expo 2010, decorated with bright colors – was recently revealed at a ceremony in Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. The plane took its maiden flight heading for Beijing on January 22nd.

After a four-month fight, the US food company Kraft finally acquired the British chocolate producer Cadbury. This $19.5 billion take-over has been approved by Cadbury's board, thus creating the world’s biggest chocolate maker according to Cadbury’s website.
Prior to the acquisition, Kraft was the largest candy, food, and beverage company headquartered in the United States and the second-largest in the world (after Nestlé SA) which markets nine brands each with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion. More than 50 additional brands belonging to Kraft have revenues greater than $100 million in more than 155 countries. Cadbury was a British confectionery and beverage company and the world's second largest confectionery manufacturer after Mars/Wrigley, with operations in over 60 countries under famous brands like Cadbury, Trident and Halls.

Recently, Chinese sports brand Li Ning opened its first U.S. store in Portland, right next door to Nike’s headquarters!

It’s estimated that the annual sales volume of Li Ning in 2009 will exceed its biggest rival Nike for the first time, making Li Ning the No.1 sports goods retailer brand in China. But it seems they will not stop there. To gain international recognition, Li Ning is now expanding its brand overseas, the Portland store being only one example.

As you might have heard, last week Google threatened to pull out of China. The news spread like a virus online and had a lot of people talking in China and around the world. The information first appeared on Google’s official blog in “A new approach to China”, posted by David Drummond, SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer of Google. The same day, the indices of GOOG went down by 1.3%. Rather than debate whether a retreat from China would be a good or bad move for Google, we would like to discuss the effect it could have on Google’s portfolio, partners, users, and competitors.

The Hermes Group plans to launch a new luxury handbag brand, Shang Xia (meaning "up/down” or “high/low " in Mandarin), in China this coming spring. The collection will be designed, manufactured and sold in China and shipped to some stores in Paris. The line incorporates Chinese raw materials and traditional craftsmanship. Shang Xia is considered to be an “affordable luxury” collection.

In the past, luxury brands were reluctant to localize too much in China in case it would be detrimental to their global brand image. However, this trend is changing, as is evident in Chanel’s recent flagship boutique launch event in Shanghai.