Innovation continues to be an important topic and a key element in the Chinese market. WSJ China blog reported the results of agency Millward Brown and media company WPP’s annual research on the top 50 most valuable Chinese brands. So, just how have Chinese brands fared in the government’s priority to innovate?

The study analyzed the financial information of listed companies, ratio of attribution to corporate earnings from the brand(s), and paired it with data from a survey of consumers. A major factor in brand value comes from consumer perception of the brand’s progress in the area of innovation. While many brands have seen dramatic increases in brand value, others have seen declines or stagnation as a result of “a failure to innovate”. Not surprisingly, consumers in China value innovation as do their counterparts in other part of the world. Chinese brands who have had notable progress in this area include Tencent, maker of the Wechat app; Baidu, the internet giant; Hainan Airlines; and Septwolves, an apparel company selling upscale goods to China’s smaller cities.

For more discussion on China’s innovation, please see this article written by one of my students, Jae Zhou and a former colleague, Benjamin Bai.