Interesting article in today’s NY Times Chinese companies building global brands by acquiring well-known, existing brands. Because they’ve been in the news, the article mentions the Lenovo acquisition of IBM’s laptop business, Haier’s bid for Maytag and the CNOOC bid for Unocal.

The reason for the global business shopping spree?

“Chinese companies are now facing serious foreign competition at home,” said Marshall W. Meyers, a professor of management at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. “So they have to do something. They’ve got to grow to global scale.”

By acquiring well-known brand names, experts say, Chinese companies are hoping to get access to global distribution networks, sophisticated research and development and recognizable brand names.

It’s too bad that some of the existing Chinese brands won’t make it onto the global market. Brands like Purple Bamboo Pharmaceuticals, among many others. On the other hand, American firms could start teaming up with the guys at Good Characters to develop names that are going to work in China and the rest of the world.