Introduction
Lenovo’s fundamental point of differentiation is innovativeness and creativity. As the Company began to make preparedness for global expansion, it borrowed its new name from the amalgam of part of its existing name- the Le in Legend, and ‘novo’ meaning new and ingenious. The combination of these two syllables, viz- le and novo gave birth to the new name-Lenovo, as it is known to the world today. This Lenovo’s essential point of differentiation and underlying success has been its constant quest for innovative practices and creativeness, which underpins most of its business activities.
Utilizing ThinkPad to build the Lenovo Brand image without detriment
Yes, ThinkPad was a great sub-brand of Lenovo Brand which Lenovo was reluctant to lose. Yes, ThinkPad could be used as a premium brand and Lenovo would represent the standard product. It would indeed be folly to take Lenovo products, stick the Think Pad tag on them and sell it to customers worldwide. This would be a surefire way of destroying the Think Pad market. According to my, this niche market needs to be differentiated and needs to understand brand essence and value deals and communicate it to consumers in the right way. In this way, Think Pad could build a Lenovo brand without hurting the Think Pad franchisee.
Strategic partnership with IBM and use of their logo
As a part of the ongoing deal with IBM, Lenovo could gain access to the right to use IBM on their products for the next 5 years. This was along with two major product offerings, well established IBM ThinkPad laptop and a ThinkCentre desktop. The IBM logo could only be used in IBM-Think Family products for other kinds of advertisements. The restriction was that the IBM logo could be used on the product types within the advertisement, and not as a separate logo in the ad as such.
Why Lenovo Family 3000 title and how it could underpin future business growth
The number (‘3000’) was given so as not to detract from the Lenovo name. Giving a name or subtitle would distract the consumer from the main brand image created by Lenovo. Besides the 3000 Family models are being targeted for small business owners and need to create their own value in use. While Lenovo needs to be price effective, it should not go overboard in showing itself as a company that provided cheap products and services. Thus, this is the right approach in that Lenovo 3000 Family needs to be distinguishable, pre-eminent and hold on its own in the Lenovo product group. Its design and workmanship need to be able to lure customers and afford ready sales. Thus, Lenovo 3000 Family would allow users to worry about their business rather than their PCs.
How Lenovo would like to be globally positioned and why?
Although traditionally, Lenovo has been seen to the world as a China-based company having a 40% concentration of business in this country, in the future, it would like to be viewed as a global enterprise. It has realized that in today’s competitive business, with Dell and Hewlett Packard (HP) being the brand leaders in the field, it would need to work really hard to retain its third position in the global PC market and would also need to increase its market share in countries and regions where it conducts business. Thus, Lenovo would be positioned as a global enterprise and would strive to become an international giant in the near future. Besides, although it is a well-known company in China, its global pre-eminence is still awaited. Under such circumstances, it is necessary that it repositions itself to cater to a global segment in the computer business.