| dc.description.abstract | Metso Paper Mills Business Unit abridged as “Metso” in this paper, assigned this study.
Metso is a global supplier of technology and services in the pulp and paper process
industry, and it focuses on delivering profitability and sustainability to customers.
Metso currently provides 136 products under three main brands: Opti, Sym and Val. The
inconsistent mixture of these three brands has been confusing Metso internally and its
customers externally. Thus, Opti rebranding applies Opti as Metso’s sole brand to unify
its previous brands, to reposition and modularize Metso’s selected offerings to capture
the growing Chinese mid-market under a lower total cost of ownership. The main
purpose of this study is to gain understanding of the Chinese customers’ perceptions of
Opti rebranding to assist Metso in effectively promoting the renewed Opti in the Chinese
market, while trying to explore guanxi’s role in selecting a supplier.
The literature review consists of rebranding, guanxi and service-dominant logic. The
research method applied to this paper is qualitative interviewing and participant
observation. Two Ji’an customers were interviewed as a pilot study, in addition to prestudied
12 experienced Metso employees. A field study on 17 Chinese customers from
six different papermaking companies was carried out in China during six weeks’ time.
All data was audio-recorded, member-checked and manually analysed by the researcher.
The findings of this study are that the Chinese customers pay little attention to the name
changes, but emphasize the tangible values of the renewed Opti. In China, guanxi might
be crucial in selecting a supplier when the suppliers’ price and quality are at similar
level. However, the Chinese mostly value cost-efficiency (性价比), technology level and
reliable references.
Hence, it is suggested for Metso to promote the renewed Opti in a holistic and detailed
manner. For example, the latest and proven technology will be cost-efficient and
ecological, and fast solve the customers’ existing problems. Moreover, customized
rebuilding and/or upgrading will reduce the operational costs, while reliable references
and sufficient technical data will support the aforementioned values. | nb_NO |
