Hongbo Lai - Chinese Local New Luxury Brands in a Digitally Empowered Era: Cultivation, Transformation and Upgrading

I took a teaching job at the Department of Communication, School of Art Design and Media, East China University of Science and Technology in 2011. During those years, I started to do some research on the transformation and upgrading of made in China, with design and luxury goods taken into consideration. The possibilities of new luxury brand building were explored in the situation specific to China. A few papers were coauthored with some teachers and students at the School of Economics and Management, Tongji University. Those works were limited to the perspective of design and new media, and digital media communication remained something in the dark.

Since 2017, I have been teaching at the Department of International Economics and Trade, Business School, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, and my enthusiasm for the research of transformation and upgrading of manufacturing has continued unabated. During this period of time, I filed applications for a number of province- and ministry-level programs in the disciplines of philosophy and policy consulting and was able to deepen the research of design-driven innovation, including the integration of artificial intelligence and design-driven innovation.

The outbreak of COVID-19 at the beginning of 2020, described as a black swan event, is posing a grave challenge to the world and causing a critical social crisis. In the context of the public health crisis brought by the virus, I think more about how local enterprises may turn the crisis into an opportunity. Meanwhile, seeing the boom of digital technologies amid the epidemic, I am more aware of the importance of design and digital media communication and determined to carry through a comprehensive study of new luxury brand building in China.

An unequivocal and conclusive definition of new luxuries is still absent. It is more like a transitional thing, which I try to cover in the broad sense of luxuries. From the perspective of made in China, new luxuries can be an interesting proposition in that it can at least distinguish premium goods from light luxury items. Forty years later since the launch of reform and opening up, made in China is now at a stage of quality development.

New luxuries in the broad sense have been proposed in the book. From this perspective, not only manufacturing but also agriculture and services are included. Anything can be a new luxury, as long as it is consumer-centric, made with high quality and enhances basic functions with the exclusive and ultimate elements of luxuries. In order not to overly extend the concept, the book focuses on traditional Chinese manufacturing and traditional products. After all, in the context of the epidemic and the challenging global trade environment, it is more urgent and necessary to drive quality development of the manufacturing sector and build China as a manufacturing superpower.

To become a manufacturing superpower, China needs industrial upgrading, or as we have always reiterated, moving up the value chain. With this in mind, the author attempts to address the topic from the perspective of new luxury goods. Inheriting the legacy of made in China, innovative breakthroughs in industrial upgrading are pursued, so that the industrial chain upgrading (LEAP) can be realized.

The book is the result of my persistent thinking and focus on manufacturing, transformation and upgrading. Thanks to Tongji University Presss editorial team (Zhang Rui, Yuan Jialin, Lu Yuanshan, et al.), as well as the external review team, the book will be published in China and abroad (Springer Press). I appreciate the contribution from Liang Lei, a doctoral candidate at the School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Zhong Suting, an undergraduate student at the Business School, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, the masters candidates I am mentoring and some students participating in the innovation and startup programs of college students. My family has been very supportive to my career. My deepest gratitude to all of you.