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Li Ning As China Law Metaphor

By Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson

Is it the Shoes? Is it the Shoes? Is it the Shoes? ... it's gotta be the SHOES!" -- Mars Blackmon, from Spike Lee's 1986 film, "She's Gotta Have It" Adidas pays around $80 million to be a sponsor of the Olympics and Li Ning gets to carry in the torch, figuratively burning much of that $80 million. This is just so analogous to the legal treatment of foreign companies in China. China laws/rules are generally the same and for both foreign and domestic companies (at least with respect to those industries where foreign companies are allowed to participate as Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprises, or WFOEs), but when push comes to shove, it certainly helps to be Chinese. Now before anyone writes in to say this is true in every country in the world, let me say that I know this, but it differs by degree and it is the degree that matters. There are certainly worse places in the world for foreign companies (including many countries that are generally considered better), in terms of legal treatment, but there are also certainly better places. For more on this, check out the following: -- "The Greatest Free Ad Ever," at the Rocky Mountain News Summer Olympic Blog. -- "Li Ning and Li Ning Wins," at the Rory! And Everything is OK Blog. -- "Li Ning pulls off Olympic-sized Marketing Ambush," at Business Week's Eye on Asia Blog.

Full post as published by China Law Blog on August 11, 2008 (boomark / email).