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To make it more complicated, these export-oriented companies -- which I define as more than half of sales coming from exports -- are facing the branding issue in overseas markets as well as at home.

The Chinese domestic market, be it plastic machinery or finished products, is still competing on price. And the successful landing of made-in-China products in the United States, Europe and elsewhere also largely relies on competitive -- in other words low -- prices.

Does the brutal focus on price leave any room for brand building?

Yes, say executives from leading Chinese plastic companies at the CEO Forum of Chinaplas 2007 in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

“Of course [selling to original equipment manufacturers] is a short cut to sales growth. Building your own brand takes much longer but is much more important than some growth number,” said Zhang Jianming, chief executive officer of China’s largest injection press maker, Ningbo Haitian Group Co. Ltd.

Haitian runs production facilities in Turkey, Brazil, Italy and Germany and claims 51 percent of the injection press market share in Turkey.

Building a brand is not an easy task for anyone. It requires long-term investment and gives no immediate return. For the Chinese firms, the bottleneck is often technical. Short on research and development and unique products, the Chinese tend to produce items similar to what’s already on the market, but for a lower cost. That drives price wars and makes branding nearly impossible.

A popular slogan amongst Chinese entrepreneurs translates, “If others don’t have the product, I’ll have it; if others already have the product, mine is good; if others’ products are good, mine is cheaper.”

As Toland Lam, president of Meixin Manufacturing Co. Ltd., put it, “The most difficult part of brand building is to differentiate.”

Another company at the CEO Forum, Guangdong Liansu Technology Industrial Co. Ltd., is touting its PVC pipe and wood-plastic composite decks to customers in the United States. Vice President Ou Yang Rong said it is vital to stay a step ahead of competitors. “That only happens when you constantly develop new technology and products.”

Sometimes, an export market demands a separate R&D effort. Haitian’s Zhang said the company has an R&D center in Nuremberg, Germany, “we don’t use it for the Chinese market, of course!”

Intellectual property remains important. While Western firms hesitate to transfer manufacturing of many proprietary products to China, some Chinese companies also are having a headache with the enforcement of intellectual property protection.

Haitian CEO Zhang simply shrugged at the fact that quite a few press makers in China misleadingly use logos similar to Haitian’s. “What can you do?” he asked. “Patents and trademarks can only do so much. But we work hard to stay the market leader, and we don’t fear the copying.”

But nobody stops you from taking a more aggressive approach. Liansu’s Ou Yang said the 3 billion yuan company formed its own “crack down knockoff” team and diligently tracks violations. His philosophy -- that you need to do your best to “help” the authorities -- definitely works in China.

Nina Ying Sun is a Plastics News staff reporter and Asia specialist.