#50: China polarizes on (Beagles 🧪, Japanese school stabbing 🏫) & Rewriting business rule book as (mainland F&B brands back off in HK 🤺, premium brands hit the rocks 🪨) | Following the Yuan

Worrying patterns for the China market --

Hi everyone, hope you had a good Communist Party Founding Day on July 1st, I know both KPMG and Deloitte did. Sorry, I take that tone back, I actually want to applaud them. Objectively, staying close to the Party’s ideals could ease the worries for state owned companies or large companies in sensitive industries to work with them.

Separately, I’m noting down two patterns about China society and business in this issue: how polarizing views are shaping China’s public discourse, and businesses are feeling the need to find coping mechanisms in an economic downturn.

For the first pattern, businesses may find it easier to navigate — choose your target audience and make sure your messages align with mainstream values — though it’s much more challenging for political leaders to balance different interests of ‘many Chinas’? The second pattern directly affects at foreign businesses, and are especially tough for those that targeting the imagined middle-class. Do these people still exist and care about being middle class?

Let me know your thoughts below!