1. Prepared by: Celeste Ng
IM426 – Business case 8: Establishing a Presence in China via Microblogging
Original case source & reference: Rainer, Kelly, Prince, Brad and Watson, Hugh, Management Information Systems: Moving Business Forward, John Willey & Sons, Inc.: New Jersey, 3rd Edition, 2015 
Prepared by: Celeste Ng
Date: March–June 2016

3. Sina Weibo (1)
The leading microblogging Web site in China is Sina weibo ( called weibo; http//english.sina.com/weibo/).
In 2013 this site attracted an estimated 500 million users
More than 260,000 active company accounts on microblogs in 2013, with more than 1,000 of these accounts belonging to multinational companies. These companies span 22 different industries.
It is now an integral component of global companies’strategies to expand their operations in China

4. Sina Weibo (2)
Mercedes-Benz, Starbucks, and Nokia are using microblogging:
Enhance communications with consumers,
Launch business campaigns,
Deliver positive information about their products, and
Build their brands
The fundamental difference between Chinese and Western microblog, Twitter lies in:
Twitter’s relatively low penetration rate in the U.S., whereas Weibo has a very high penetration rate in China
Weibo allows users to watch videos and view pictures seamlessly…. in contrast, Twitter typically presents video and pictures in the form of a hyperlink that users have to click to access the content.
Twitter limits users to 140 characters for each post. Weibo, by contrast, allow 140 characters in addition to various other features such as pictures, videos, and hyperlinks.

5. Merceses-Benz (www.mercedes-bezn.com)
The German luxury brand Mercedes-Benz
The company initiated a campaign to sell a limited edition of its Smart cars in China.
Mercedes-Benz sold all 666 units of Smart 2013 New Year Edition offered via Weibo in eight hours!

6. Starbucks (www.starbucks.com)
Starbucks opened its Weibo account in May 2012.
Today the coffee giant has more than 700,000 followers in China.
Discovered that targeted marketing campaigns can be converted into real-time store purchases.
In 2013, Starbucks introduced a campaign to increase Frappuccino sales on its microblog. During the two-month warm-up campaign, Starbucks put up more than 60 posts on its microblog, which generated 234,541 reposts and comments.
Result: 500,000 yuan ($80,600) microblog campaign resulted in more than 95 billion friend-to-friend recommendations and helped generate a 14 percent growth in Frappucino sales in China.

7. Ikea (
The Swedish furniture retailer set up its account on Weibo in October 2010.
Its microblog performs a dual role: listening to consumer feedback and suggestions, and providing positive, timely feedback on their concerns and needs.
Ikea’s daily schedule includes answering consumer’s questions, forwarding complaints to relevant after-sales departments, supervising keywords, and overseeing comments relating to sensitive topics on other microblogs that could affect the company.

8. McDonald’s (www.mcdonald.com)
In March 2012, China Central Television reported that McDonald’s was selling expired food at its branch in the upmarket Sanlitun area in eastern Beijing.
Within one hour of that report, the U.S. fast food giant announced the suspension of business at that branch.
Its also apologized on its microblog, triggering nearly 389,000 posts.
This strategy enabled the company to quickly and successfully resolve the crisis.

9. Questions
1. Describe the various advantages and benefits the multinational companies跨國公司hope to attain from their marketing efforts on Weibo.
2. Describe the disadvantages that multinational companies跨國公司 might encounter from their marketing efforts on Weibo.