A Close Look at Strategies for the Chinese Market

The Chinese market has certain specific features to be born in mind which is what the students of the second edition of the Luxottica Challenge did when competing to come up with the best plan for positioning in that market, analyzing the preferences of Chinese consumers and the best ways to attract them.

The Challenge was held within the course in Corporate Strategy of the China MIM, the double degree MSc program in International Management delivered jointly by Bocconi University and Fudan School of Management. The Challenge saw the participation of 25 Bocconi students and 12 from Fudan in mixed teams who where divided into Retail and Wholesale market sections and who, with the initial help of two China-based Luxottica General Managers, had to devise and present a report on the positioning of Luxottica brands and products in China.

The Challenge is one of the activities linked to the Luxottica Chair in Chinese market and business development, created in 2019, part of the strategic partnership between Bocconi and Luxottica.

"For students it was an opportunity to immerse themselves in the real topics and challenges of a company, not just what we teach them in the classroom," explains Fabrizio Perretti, who holds the Luxottica Chair and is Director of the China MIM. "After being given some initial elements and indications from Luxottica managers they were thrown into the deep end and touched first hand the problems and difficulties of coming up with a strategy, looking into aspects ranging from pricing strategy to social media strategies."

"This project allowed me to put into practice what I learned in the classroom in the context of a real company. And thanks to Luxottica's managers, I better understood the choices and principles behind a large multinational company," says Francesca Boretti, part of the winning team for the Wholesale section of the Challenge. "My team's work was based on interactions with physical and online stores, as well as a survey of Chinese consumers, which allowed us to better understand their preferences and the differences between the Chinese and Italian markets. It was clear the importance of targeting specific market segments and differentiating the offer according to the different preferences of consumers, with particular attention to their perception of the various brands. And this project represented a real team building experience, even with people coming from a totally different context from mine."