Historical Evolution Research For The Products And Brands Of China’s Home Appliance

The household electrical appliance industry is closely related with people’s common life. Before the reform, the technology, equipment and product quality of Chinese home appliance are not so perfect. The number of household appliance is small, and the output value is also at a low level. Additionally the industry is lack of the ability in design and R&D. However, in the special background of the planned economy period, with the support from government and strong demands from majority people, Suzhou "Four Famous Brands" home appliances were booming during that period. In the1980s, China’s home appliance industry has a sign of "blind expansion and production capacity surplus". From1980s to1990s, foreign enterprises tend to change the tech-oriented development model to the capital-oriented development model. In this situation, Suzhou "Four Famous Brands" is not only face the fierce marketing competition with the famous foreign brands, but also have to settle the inner problems of ownership, management, product development, design and brand protection. With different situations, these four brands go into four decline modes.This article is written from three dimensions: the macro national, the meso regional and micro enterprises. First of all, this paper combines the history of the four famous home appliance brands and products from1970s and1990s. Then referencing to the economic development process and features of Suzhou and China as the meso and macro backgrounds, starting from the products’ design and the brands’ features, this paper is trying to find out a typical case of the study about the development of household electrical appliances industry and its brands, products. Finally this paper gives enlightenments for China’s home appliances and domestic brands when facing the globalization economic and more complex marketing environment.