Mujirushi Ryohin is the full name of the popularly known Muji brand from Japan founded in 1980. The name in English means: "No label, quality goods". Muji has been one of the brands that have popularized the anti-brand movement. With a mission to popularize quality of goods without screaming of any designer tags, Muji has merchandise of good quality at affordable prices. Though the brand does not have a corporate tag line, it occasionally comes out with the tag line "Simple. Functional. Affordable". This is to ensure that the message is engrained in the customers' minds.

With the global, regional and national markets being tremendously flooded with all sorts of branded merchandise, the no-brand strategy of Muji seems to work as a very powerful differentiating factor.

Muji goes to the extent of recycling or reselling the unsold products in the same condition, using natural fiber material, and including very minimal and informational manuals, with minimal packaging. All these activities in totality contribute to Muji's image of a brand that is against the "branded world".

Singapore Airlines is one of the most recognised and best-performing brands in Asia. The airline is unique because the boardroom takes dedicated leadership of the brand strategy unlike many other Asian companies. The face of the airline, the Singapore Girl, has become a very successful brand icon with an almost mythical status and aura around her. The Singapore Girl has contributed immensely to the success of Singapore Airlines' brand strategy and its positioning around customer and service excellence. Read more >>

Asia is fast becoming the center of global trade. China, India and the other Asian economies are emerging as global economies. But despite the economic boom, Asian companies are still competing primarily on low cost and have not yet realized the full potential of moving up the value chain and enhance shareholder value. The Asian boardroom mindset is focusing on short-term sales and cost savings.

Asian boardrooms and business leaders are biased heavily towards operations and finance and less on brand marketing as a value driver. Many Asian business leaders are yet to realize that branding is a boardroom discipline.

There are less than 10 global Asian brands if Japan is left aside. But Asia has an enormous untapped potential for creating and enhancing shareholder value through strong branding and brands. Towards 2020, a rapid changing landscape will emerge in Asia where the opportunities for Asian companies to benefit from branding will be larger than ever before. The growing emphasis on shareholder value and brand strategy to drive value will move up the boardroom agenda and become one of the most prominent drivers of value in Asia Pacific.

The book Asian Brand Strategy presents the Asian Brand Leadership model illustrating the paradigm shift Asian boardrooms and brands need to undertake to unleash their untapped potential. This will enable Asian boardrooms to move up the value chain, shape their competitiveness through branding and enhance shareholder value.