Competition is a strange thing. It makes brands do many things. Gone are the days when any brand was known for just one star product. Also gone are the days when any brand will be known for one star product and an array of "me-too" products. The likes of Apple, Toyota, Sony and others have been fairly successful in ushering in the age of the star brand portfolio for their respective brands.

Brand portfolio usually refers to the company's set of brands and/or products. The traditional logic behind having a portfolio of brands rather than a single brand has been possible diversification and risk minimization. Given this logic, most brands have had portfolios where one brand led the charge and other brands either tested waters in different segments/sectors or fought against other leading brands to keep the charge going. But this is changing.

Look at Apple. It started with Macintosh computers, which soon became a rage among the many who despised the market leader Microsoft. Macintosh became such an iconic product that Apple was almost synonymous with Macintosh. Apple could have rested on its laurels and continued with Macintosh. But then, Apple did something different with iPod. Not only did the iPod change the face of digital music, it gave a much needed boost to Apple. It further cemented Apple's brand identity as one of the true global icons. So hugely successful was iPod that when sales of its Mac computers fell, Apple still managed to beat market expectations because of iPod.

Once again, Apple did not stop at iPod. In 2007, it came out with the revolutionary iPhone, which not only has become one of the fastest selling mobile phones, but is also on its way to change the way consumers think of mobile phones.

Thus, Apple's brand portfolio is a treasure trove. It has three products in three different market sectors: computers/laptops, digital music, and mobile telephones. Each of these leading products has its own product line.

As such, Apple is well guarded in three ways:

1. The brand portfolio continues to bolster its image as a true global icon with top notch technology, world class design and awe inspiring user interfaces
2. The brand portfolio protects the Apple brand from possible downturns in any one sector
3. The brand portfolio offers Apple the strategic and innovative leadership to enter new markets, new product categories and still not dilute its brand equity

Time and time again, Apple has managed to change the rule of the game. It will be interesting to see when Apple slips, how it manages its brand and its world of loyal, almost cult-like, followers.

The recent offer by Microsoft to acquire Yahoo! brings to the fore yet again the high stakes involved in the online world. With a few dominant players and billions of dollars at stake, the online world of commerce, advertising and search is just starting to heat up. No where is this hotter than in China, the world's second largest Internet market. Even though Google and Yahoo! are the worldwide leaders in search, they have taken a beating in the highly complex and competitive online market in China. The Chinese online market is controlled by China's own brand: Baidu.

Baidu controls 57% of the Chinese search market, while the global search leader Google comes in a distant second with 18.7% and Yahoo! a close third with 13.6% of the search market. With the online search market amounting to US$260 million in 2006 and estimated to grow by 50% to 60% compounded annually over the next three years, the competition seems to be just starting.

This highlights the complexities of the Chinese market. Even though Google and Yahoo! have the resources and technological know how, the unique cultural and ethnic nuances of China makes knowledge of the people and their language a strategic competence. It also helps Baidu that it is a homegrown brand with a very strong brand identity that inspires and rallies the Chinese population and those together have effectively managed to take on global giants.

Given that China has millions of small and medium sized businesses that are yearning to capitalize on the enormous market opportunities, Baidu can yet again leverage its "Chineseness" and continue to grow. That only 130 million Chinese, a mere 10% of the population, are online compared to almost 60% to 70% in the US, Japan and South Korea offers Baidu an even better opportunity to surge ahead with its position of brand leadership.

Baidu has so far waged a very successful fight against the global giants. With the affluent Chinese aspiring to anything global, it will be a tough road ahead for Baidu to balance its brand experience. The competition is heating up and none of the search engine brands will disregard China in their portfolio.

Apart from China's highly lucrative business opportunities, one of the features of the Chinese market that gets reported regularly in the global media, is how Western companies find it difficult to crack into the market and survive and thrive. There are many examples of Western companies and brands trying to establish a strong base in the Chinese market but failing such as eBay, NewsCorp, and even Starbucks. But one of the global icons has managed to beat the odds and establish a near strangle hold on the Chinese market.

This success is of Nokia's. The world's number one mobile phone company has established itself as the market leader of the mobile phone industry in China. By commanding a 35.3% of the market as of the last quarter of 2007, Nokia is ahead of its nearest competitor Samsung by 22.1% (Samsung's market share is 13.2%). Not only that, China has emerged as Nokia's largest mobile phone market with a year-on-year sales up by 38.6%, with Nokia selling 70.7 million phones last year.

Such a phenomenal success brings to focus Nokia's branding strategy in a tumultuous market such as China. The resurgence of Samsung, Motorola and LG in the global markets has been well recorded. So much so, that Nokia was blamed by many for its complacency and for not having checked Samsung's rise in the mobile phone market. But the picture in China seems totally opposite.

Nokia seems to have refocused on two key areas: distribution and investment in R&D. Nokia's earlier preference was to establish tie ups with national distributors with a goal to gain a national presence. But recently, the company's sales head revealed that Nokia now has decided to go with regional distributors in order to solidify its position on region by region basis. Secondly, Nokia seems to have made considerable investment in R&D in China itself so that the Chinese market does not end up being just a cheap manufacturing base. Such a commitment seems to have paid well in sustaining the Nokia brand.

Even though the story so far has been very encouraging to Nokia, it remains to be seen whether Samsung can leverage its Asian identity to sneak into Nokia's strong hold on the Chinese market. The focus must be for the executive management team to focus heavily on brand building and distribution.