Chinese companies needed to place brand building more at the centre of their strategy, and concentrate on more than just a name and logo in their early stages of development, participants at the Hamburg Summit said on Saturday.

On the second day of the Hamburg Summit, panelists discussed the conundrum that whereas more and more Chinese companies are appearing on global league tables of the largest corporations, very few global brands have emerged.

"The idea of the brand is often not shaped in the boardroom, but as an afterthought, where following the growth of a successful company they then think about the brand," said Mei Yan, Senior Partner of Brunswick Group in China.

But this is too late, she said. Companies need to think about their brand from the beginning, and not just focus on a narrow area such as a logo.

Joel Backaler, Associate Vice President at U.S. based Frontier Strategy Group, and author of the book "China Goes West" said that in the long term he was optimistic about the prospects for China establishing global brands.

"The view of the West is relatively skeptical about the ability of Chinese companies to build global brands," said Backaler.

But he sees a generational change, driven by Chinese students studying abroad, and Westerners studying Chinese. This younger generation will help bring more brand awareness into corporate culture in China.

"We are in a transitional phase," says Backaler. Meanwhile, in the short term, he sees acquiring established Western brands as a solution for companies wanting to go global.

Participants also suggested that Chinese companies should be more willing to engage external consulting services, and be willing to pay for advice, either domestically, or when building a presence abroad.

"We have seen companies where there has been a clear disconnect between what they want to sell and what U.S. consumers want to buy," said Backaler.

But there have also been success stories, such as Pearl River Piano Group successfully having a high end piano developed by an internationally recognised piano designer, and winning global market share with this line of pianos under the Ritmuller brand.

One participant noted that in the United States there are many specialised companies that think up names for products and companies, and that thinking of an attractive name was important at the very beginning for any ambitious company.

"To succeed you need to produce high quality products, and also have an attractive brand name," he said.

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