The Strategic Research Of Triangle Brand Licensing Management Of QC Group

QC Group is a state-owned foreign trade enterprise with a history of 60 years.Triangle is one of the brands managed by QC Group and participates in market competition through brand licensing operation.Triangle occupies a top three market share in the lower tier cities with annual sales of more than ten million units,and generates annual sales income of over one billion yuan for all business partners.As an old brand possessing a history of fifty years,Triangle developed the first electric rice cooker in 1963 and grew into a brand with domestic sales of more than 10 million units in 2015.Triangle's small household appliances witnessed and participated in the development of China's small household appliances industry from growing out of nothing,to supply falls short of demand,and now oversupply.In the process,it establishes a suitable operation mode for self-development — licenses eight comprehensive managing factories.The licensed factories take full responsibility for comprehensive research and development,production,sales and after-sales.This special license operation mode takes the advantages of both systems of state-owned and private enterprises;it differs from traditional OEM/ODM/OBM mode,Disney brand licensing,or McDonald's franchise.In the meanwhile,this operation mode also brings many obstacles for Triangle's development,such as licensing income growth weakens,brand competitiveness declines,raw materials and other integrated costs squeeze profit margins,homogeneous low price competition between licensed factories,and channel price chaos.How to maintain the competitive edge of Triangle's brand licensing operation and enhance benefits of brand management are the strategic problems that QC Group needs to resolve.The dissertation takes Triangle brand party and the licensed party as research objects;and uses methods of literature consulting,historical analysis,interviews;studies by means of strategic analysis tools of SWOT,PEST,Michael Porter's Five Forces Model,and draws the following conclusions:QC Group should adjust Triangle's licensing operation strategic positioning:(1)sets low cost positioning and ensure product performance and quality meets the requirements of the vast majority;(2)expands product range positioning appropriately to kitchen appliances;not limits to rice cookers,nor expands to all small household appliances;(3)separates market positioning as domestic and foreign markets and also licenses domestic and foreign markets separately.Development strategy of licensing operation:(1)licensing party's functions shall be expanded and maximizes the scale and scope of economic benefits,strengthens the rights to bargain with the licensed party;(2)the main function of the licensed party is to accept management and guidance of the licensing party,enjoy scale and scope of economic benefits and accomplish manufacture and the marketing.Finally,in the light of the above strategic selections,QC Group shall establish a specialized business department and adjust licensing contract contents.By means of strategic research of Triangle's brand licensing operation,the value of this study is to explore enterprise's development sustainability and strategic significance of this operation mode,which is different from traditional product operation strategies or brand strategies and it has certain practical value.Hope the study in the dissertation provides a theoretical basis for Triangle's brand licensing operation and meanwhile provides reference and inspiration for similar enterprises and their business managers.