---
title: "Wolf-like Aggressiveness: The Era-Defining Character of Chinese Marketing"
description: "The transformation from a 'bookworm' in university to a wolf-like aggressive marketer is a common experience among Chinese marketers, driven by the environment rather than innate nature. This article argues that wolf-like aggressiveness was a necessary professional trait in a specific era of Chinese marketing, contrasting it with the 'kingly aura' of multinational corporations, and suggests that as Chinese companies grow stronger, they may adopt a more kingly demeanor while still valuing the wolf-like spirit that enabled their rise."
author: "刘春雄"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2014-10-21"
language: "en"
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markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/wolf-like-aggressiveness-the-era-defining-character-of-chinese-marketing-5db70c23.md"
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---

# Wolf-like Aggressiveness: The Era-Defining Character of Chinese Marketing

> The transformation from a 'bookworm' in university to a wolf-like aggressive marketer is a common experience among Chinese marketers, driven by the environment rather than innate nature. This article argues that wolf-like aggressiveness was a necessary professional trait in a specific era of Chinese marketing, contrasting it with the 'kingly aura' of multinational corporations, and suggests that as Chinese companies grow stronger, they may adopt a more kingly demeanor while still valuing the wolf-like spirit that enabled their rise.

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The "bookworm" in university became surprisingly wolf-like after engaging in marketing. This transformation is not unique to the author; many marketers have experienced it.

This transformation is an inevitable product of Chinese marketing in a specific era. It can even be said that in a particular era, marketers lacking wolf-like aggressiveness found it hard to survive. The wolf-like nature of Chinese marketers is not their innate character but a result of the environment—the environment reshaped them, and they adapted to it.

Wolf-like aggressiveness is not the life character of Chinese marketers but a professional style of a certain phase.

**Adopting Wolf-like Tactics in Confrontation**

Wolf-like aggressiveness is not exclusive to a few Chinese companies and marketers; it is a common trait among many, though the degree varies.

In the past, the concept of wolf-like aggressiveness resonated with many, indicating a strong overall demand among Chinese enterprises.

Why did Chinese marketers as a whole develop wolf-like traits rather than the "kingly aura" of a lion? In Chinese culture, the lion's "kingly aura" is almost entirely positive, while wolf-like traits are mixed—admired for intelligence, alertness, and combativeness, but also scorned for cunning and endurance.

A king needs the confidence of a king; a wolf has its own way of survival. Multinational corporations (MNCs) are often seen as having a kingly aura, with marketing moves that appear grand and righteous. Chinese entrepreneurs and marketers can only envy them because the MNCs' kingly aura stems from decades or even centuries of accumulated scale, brand, technology, and consumer influence, along with the absolute confidence of their companies and employees.

Statements like "Be prepared to lose money for 20 years" and "Educate Chinese consumers rather than adapt to them" once greatly stimulated Chinese marketers.

The kingly aura comes not from wisdom but from inherent strength. A lion has a kingly aura because it is a large animal in the forest; only large animals can have such an aura, though not all large animals do. Why don't rats and monkeys have it? Because they lack strength.

China's reform and opening-up aimed to invigorate domestically and open to the outside. Chinese enterprises, just emerging at the start, had to face MNCs directly, with differences of more than one or two orders of magnitude. How could they show a kingly aura? A monkey trying to display a lion's kingly aura would be laughable and disadvantageous.

The kingly aura relies on deterrence and winning without fighting. A wolf lacks deterrence but is highly aggressive. Chinese marketing is similarly aggressive, leading to calls for Chinese companies to learn "win-win." In reality, before achieving sufficient scale and a "balance of terror," win-win does not exist; breaking the balance and changing the landscape with wolf-like aggressiveness is what Chinese companies hope to achieve.

The wolf's physique and strength resemble the overall scale and strength of early Chinese enterprises, yet wolves can contend with much larger animals—just like Chinese companies. Many people constantly belittle Chinese enterprises, thinking they are no match for MNCs, even fearing that some industries would "collectively disappear" after WTO entry. Just as a wolf's wisdom dares to challenge larger animals, Chinese companies' wolf-like nature enables them to confront MNCs. Years of practice show that in the confrontation, Chinese companies' overall strength has risen, not fallen. Of course, their wolf-like behavior has also drawn scorn from some.

Many animals have similar physiques and strength to wolves, so why do wolves attract so much attention? Because their energy and behavior exceed their physique and strength. Chinese companies, small in scale but ambitious, naturally want to be noticed like wolves.

**Is the Kingly Aura More Noble than Wolf-like Aggressiveness?**

Chinese companies have a strong wolf-like color, and so do Chinese marketers.

Mr. Gao Jianhua, formerly of HP China, said that MNCs excel at backstage performance (strategy, R&D, planning), while Chinese companies excel at frontstage performance. Backstage performance relies on strength; frontstage performance relies on wisdom and spirit. Backstage is a "money-sea tactic"—the more money, the more you can do; frontstage is a "people-sea tactic"—you want to do things even without money.

Early Chinese marketing relied on "enclosing land" to build markets. With technology, products, strategy, and planning nearly blank, survival depended on marketers' wisdom and spirit. Without the wolf's alertness, wisdom, and agility, survival was hard. They lacked the strength for a decisive battle but had the courage. In such an era, what other winning strategy was there besides wolf-like spirit?

Wolves are pack animals; their terror lies not in the individual but in the group. People often criticize Chinese companies for lacking cooperation, but as a market observer, I find that Chinese companies exhibit highly unified group behavior, which frightens MNCs.

For example, some call the practices of Jinjiang enterprises in Fujian a "wolf pack tactic." In fact, this is not coordinated or commanded behavior but a collective unconscious consistency among companies, arising from similar scale, background, and thinking and behavioral habits. This shows that wolf-like aggressiveness is a collective habit of Chinese enterprises.

If Chinese companies and MNCs once had little overlap, now they are in close combat on the same stage. Comparing MNCs' marketing in China and abroad, I see that under the pressure of Chinese wolf-like marketing, MNCs have had to lower themselves to learn and imitate Chinese companies. Many MNCs that failed to adapt to Chinese competitors have already retreated from China.

China's marketing environment is changing. Some industries remain highly fragmented, such as agriculture and agricultural inputs, where wolf-like marketing is still needed, and the winners are usually those with wolf-like traits. Some industries have already achieved concentration, like home appliances, beverages, and meat products, where wolf-like aggressiveness is no longer decisive. Some industries are on the eve of concentration, like dairy, requiring both a kingly aura at the corporate level and wolf-like traits in marketers.

In the TV drama "Bright Sword," the protagonist Li Yunlong greatly admires wolf-like traits. When the Eighth Route Army fought the powerful Japanese, Li's alertness, wisdom, and courage were fully displayed. But during the Liberation War, as the People's Liberation Army grew rapidly, Li's kingly aura dominated, and wolf-like traits, though still present, took a back seat.

Chinese companies' overall strength is increasing, and one day they will show a kingly aura. For example, Huawei, once a strong advocate of wolf-like culture, no longer emphasizes it as much because its scale and strength have leaped to the world's forefront. Of course, when we all grow as strong as Huawei, we should not belittle wolf-like aggressiveness. Remember, we can show a kingly aura because we once had wolf-like traits. Nor should we look down on new wolf-like companies because of our kingly aura, as those we despise may replace us.

Each era has its character; evaluating an era's corporate behavior must be done against the era's backdrop. Using MNCs' kingly aura to belittle Chinese companies' wolf-like traits is a confusion of evaluation systems.

Finally, it must be emphasized that some mass media and social commentators often cite extreme cases of a few companies as examples of wolf-like behavior, such as collective brawls in stores or vicious competition among a few companies, and use these as benchmarks to judge wolf-like traits. This is harmful; fighting and bravery are not the essence of wolf-like aggressiveness.

Under the pressure of Chinese companies' wolf-like marketing, MNCs have had to lower themselves to learn and imitate Chinese companies. Many MNCs that failed to adapt to Chinese competitors have already retreated from China.

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