Dongguan“World Cup”

Ge Wenxin has lived in Shen- zhen since she graduated from college about eight years ago. As a diehard fan of the Italian soccer team， she finds herself glued to a television at all hours of the night to watch the World Cup. She hopes to one day watch them in person.

The 2014 World Cup host country， Brazil， is about 20，000 kilometers from China， which seems far for her. She’s unaware that pieces of the event are actually much closer. Just an hour drive from Shenzhen sits Dongguan， one of China’s most important manufacturing bases. Two weeks before the World Cup， Wagon Group’s production lines for World Cup souvenirs were still bustling. FIFA authorized the group to manufacture five different World Cup figurines， ranging from 25mm to 150mm in height. Since last year， Wagon Group has produced more than 10，000 such cups， including some in a limited edition.

Actually， “made-in-China” swarming the World Cup started happening back in 2002. But with more companies looking to capitalize on the event， Chinese enterprises found it harder to grab profits. For instance， 90 percent of Vuvuzela， the popular cheering horn at the South Africa World Cup， were made in China. But the profit margin for each product was only 0.2 yuan （.03 USD）， a record low to the point of being shameful.

Perhaps stimulated by this incident， Chinese companies began to creep upstream on the supply chain. This time， Wagon secured the rights to design and sell five categories of products related to the World Cup including metal， porcelain and plastic， which means， along with manufacturing， it can also sell products to global agents and retain an independent right to pricing.

Additionally， Wagon designed and manufactured various limited edition World Cup souvenirs as well as plastic mascots and badges. Wang Xiangyu， chief designer of the company， revealed that FIFA has very strict standards for products. For example， only five specific colors can be used for the mascot and its logo must be placed at a designated location. But once the designs were approved， the products could be mass-produced and quickly reached store shelves. Actually， in order to satisfy overseas orders， the company hired about 800 temporary workers， who worked eight or ten hours a day.

According to Li Zheyu， manager of Wagon Group， the global market scale of peripheral products for the World Cup could reach US$400 million. “With greater authorization and demand， this year is our sixth World Cup and also even better than the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup，”remarked Li.

Li pities the fact that most Chinese en- terprises remain at the bottom of the manufacturing chain. “Over the past few years， we’ve had many feelings about ‘made in China，’” he reveals. “Everyone is talking about made-in-China， but we are now trying to be authorized-to-China. These two concepts are totally different to us. When we have authorization， we can sell our products to any enterprise in the world. This is a great leap for us.”