Breaking finance and business news, tax information, jobs and more for finance directors and senior finance professionals.

Beer might change hands seven or eight times between leaving the brewery and reaching the consumer.

As a result, SABMiller has been encouraging big, well-established distributors to develop their capability and make deliveries more directly, cutting out middlemen and giving the company more ability to improve on the low margins.

Mervis says, "We integrated demand. Stores want to stock Snow beer because it sells, and people want to buy it because they can get it."

Nokia found a similar virtuous circle. "We had a strong brand presence, but not a strong retail presence. People knew Nokia but couldn't find our phones. We changed our distribution and turned our business around," Giles says.

Matheis says that getting products to the consumer is key. "We found in our data that the percentage of consumers willing to consider foreign brands is very high, but only a small percentage reported having the chance to shop for international brands," he adds.

Lessons to export

Entering China is not so much entering one market as entering many. Companies that learn the keys to success can transfer that knowledge when entering markets in other parts of the globe.

Giles says that Nokia is exporting its lessons from China to other developing markets, like India, Russia and Latin America.

The company's India management team recently met in China to "cross-pollinate" best practices.

At the same time, the Chinese market is diverse enough that, among its different segments, "there is a place for everyone," Driggs says.

"The key is how companies identify these differences, how they identify the different segments and how they pitch to the segments they want to reach," he adds.

Driggs explains that high-performance businesses know their customers, in each micro segment. They correctly gauge their buyers' needs and values to achieve a competitive focus and position in the market.

In entering the Chinese market, the fundamentals for high-performance businesses are no different from any market entry.

"You have to observe first hand, test and experience. You need commitment to learn and you need to be nimble enough to adapt," Driggs concludes.

Catherine Bolgar spent 12 years as an editor at The Wall Street Journal. She spent six of those years at the Journal's European edition in Brussels, where she was deputy managing editor. Since leaving the Journal two years ago to move to the South of France with her family, Bolgar has been a freelance writer whose work has appeared in numerous publications.

Related articles

• China predicted to overtake us by 2025
• Chinese government must avoid missteps to guarantee growth
• World Bank says Chinese and Indian economies 40% smaller than estimated
• UK firms warned of Chinese espionage
• How companies can exploit opportunities in China
• UK trade in China hit by culture gap
• Chinese highflyers mix global and local
• UK firms told to check Chinese suppliers

Related links

• Accenture