OREANDA-NEWS. June 24, 2011. The two-day 9th Baosteel Decision-maker's Seminar was held in Baosteel (Changshu) Leadership Development Center the other day. The trainees studied and discussed the theme of "corporate brand management". The leaders of Baosteel Group Corporation required each unit to take actions to fulfill the respective responsibilities and drive the Baosteel's brand construction.

Over 250 people attended the seminar including Liu Guosheng, He Wenbo, Zhao Kun, Ma Guoqiang, Liu Zhanying, Fu Zhongzhe, Zhou Zhuping, Zhao Zhouli, Wang Jinde and Li Haiping, etc. and other leaders above the level of assistant president of Baosteel Group Corporation and Baosteel Co., Ltd., as well as the principals of each department in the head office of the group and the general representatives of major overseas zones, the relevant leaders of the subsidiaries directly affiliated to Baosteel Group Corporation and Baosteel Co., Ltd., the trainees of 4th BSE Qualification Course and the relevant personnel from Baosteel's brand management system.

Brands are important marks for the enterprises to guide the customers to identify itself and distinguish its products from its competitors, and therefore are the core competitiveness of the enterprises. After more than 30 years of operation and development, Baosteel's brands have enjoyed quite high reputation in China. However, confronted with the complexity and uncertainty of global economic environment, the overcapacity of steel industry and the ever intensifying homogeneous competition of products, the increasingly heavy pressure for the target of energy efficiency and emission reduction, in particular the corporate vision put forward in Baosteel's new round development planning, all of these indicate that the competition in future is the competition of brands and Baosteel urgently needs to further enhance the influence of its brands.

The seminar invited the chief senior consultant and partner of Kotler Marketing Group Dr. Philip Kotler and global chairman of Kotler Marketing Group Dr. Milton Kotler, etc. to give lessons on special topics. With the topics such as "Marketing 3.0 Values-Driven Marketing", "Opportunities for reform: from corporate image construction to comprehensive corporate brand management", "B2B brand based on corporate/group perspective", "Challenges brought about by brand centralization and coordinated management", they systematically elaborated the theoretical achievements, best practice cases, methods and models of strategic management of brands and relevant thinking.

Through exercises in the classroom, panel discussion and interactive exchange, the trainees sufficiently recognized that brands are not only visual identification, but also unique assets, catalyst for reform and competitive edge; to set up B2B group company's brand, the synergy of corporate vision, values, mission and organizational strategy, the synergy of employees' interest and interested parties and the synergy of brand commitment and route for realization must be achieved. This seminar enables people to understand more clearly and explicitly the concepts of corporate brand management.

President He Wenbo of Baosteel Group Corporation pointed out in the summary of the seminar that Baosteel's reliable corporate image is the result of the joint efforts of several generations of Baosteel people, and the foundation to rely on for enhancement of performance and competitiveness. To speed up the brand construction of the group corporate is the need to implement Baosteel's new round development planning, and the need for Baosteel to walk out of the industry and toward the world. He emphasized that in face of the complicated market environment, we must take it up calmly with plans, improve the efficiency of assets operation and earnestly promote the implement of planned targets. He required that each unit should digest the results of the study earnestly and organize a dedicated discussion to put forward the understanding and action plan of brand management and Marketing 3.0 as well as the questions that may come across and the proposals. The group corporation and each subsidiary should take actions to fulfill the respective responsibilities, support each other and work together to construct Baosteel's brands into world renowned brands.