ABSTRACT
Marketing in China is not a subject which commands as much attention as some other aspects of doing business in China. Very few recent books on China discuss marketing in detail, and many mention it only in passing, preferring to focus on issues such as organisation, managing people, regulation, ethics and the like. The reasons for this are quite understandable, as the cultural issues involved in organisation behaviour and human resources management are demonstrably huge, while for marketing they are arguably less. Some even argue that there is no real difference between marketing in the East and in the West. When we discussed marketing in China with professors of marketing three years ago, they failed to identify any area of marketing where China differs from the West. Today, there has been some shift; consultants recognise that marketing in China may be different, but generally recommend that the difference be managed by passing on responsibility for marketing to local staff or affiliates, who will be aware of cultural differences and able to respond to them.
