IPP OF POP MART

北大光华MBA2021整合实践项目

Candidates of the Guanghua School of Management’s MBA program are given the opportunity to gain first-hand learning experience through the annual Integrated Practicum Project (IPP). IPP is a platform where students can practise their management skills and devise business strategies for the partnering enterprises. Students are expected to apply the concepts and lessons taught in class to tackle real-world challenges.

Last March 2021, our team was privileged to be selected by ‘POP MART’ for the IPP. POP MART, a leading multinational art toy company headquartered in Beijing, has a motto which is to “light up passion and bring joy”. With its unique blind boxes and rich collection of intellectual properties (IP), POP MART rose to become the largest art toy company in China within a decade after its founding. Having more than 200 brick-and-mortar stores and 1,300 roboshops across 21 countries and regions, POP MART also has a strong presence in Chinese e-commerce platforms. The continuous growth in the number of offline stores and its successful e-commerce penetration in China have also spurred POP MART’s exponential growth amidst the global pandemic.

Our team, comprising of six international students with diverse backgrounds, was more than excited to collaborate with the company to conduct research on consumer behavior in overseas cultural and entertainment markets. Our team believes that one of the challenges for POP MART moving forward is establishing a stronger presence in international markets and we hope to assist POP MART in achieving growth beyond China’s borders.

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 situation which poses many obstacles and travel restrictions, our team leader helped to act as a bridge between the team members (from various locations and time zones) and POP MART in Beijing, thereby facilitating a smooth communication throughout the entire process. In addition, two of our team members were given the opportunity to visit POP MART’s physical stores located in South Korea and Singapore.

POP MART 小组

组长：Amaia Mintegui

组员：Tan, Geffcristian Jordan、 Lau Xavier、Awalt Peter 、Swusdinaruenart Sikarin

北大光华MBA IPP

POP MART

We were impressed by the extensive alumni network of the Guanghua family where the CEO of POP MART, Wang Ning, a Guanghua alumni, along with the company’s key executives, had gave us a very warm welcome in our first meeting. We were thrilled to be learning and collaborating with our experienced seniors and our advisor, Professor Zhao Longkai. Our main assignment was to study POP MART’s overseas consumer behaviors, particularly that of the U.S. market, and to provide strategies which POP MART can consider as POP MART continues its expansion overseas.

Through our research, we got to learn more about the company, the core values that POP MART adheres to, how POP MART delivers these values to its customers and the strategies behind its success. Moreover, our team had an insightful sharing session where we analyzed POP MART’s e-commerce set-up in the U.S. and their global social media platforms. Through this session, we received valuable feedback from POP MART’s key personnel who had helped us understand the company’s online marketing tactics and how can we proceed in the next phase.

Following this session, we were also honored to have meetings with POP MART’s key executives, Liu Ran and Justin Moon, and with Professor Zhao. These gave us a better sense of the goal of the IPP and better understanding of what the future holds for POP MART. POP MART envisages to become the leading trendsetter globally through its IPs and to sustainably grow beyond being just a leading art toy company or ‘Chinese Disney’. Through these meetings, we also learned about various practical and interdisciplinary approaches from making strategic overseas investments, developing competitiveness advantage through exclusivity, building communities, and considering the different legal environments prior to market entry.

Our team was able to develop a clearer picture of how POP MART has won the market with its branding, IPs, and the importance in understanding consumer needs during this in-depth learning period of two months. With the IPP is nearing its end, the team is constantly working on helping POP MART strengthen its international presence via analyzing integration and responsiveness frameworks relative to POP MART’s potential competitors in the U.S. market. Also with countless online meetings, our team members got together to discuss, exchange our views, and learn to comprehend the various strategic alternatives available to POP MART such as global strategy, transnational strategy, replication strategy, or multi-domestic strategy etc and how POP MART ‘s existing success factors can be replicated and leveraged in the U.S. market.

While there are still a handful of weeks before the final report, our team looks forward to presenting our works as we believe this would add immense value to the company. Throughout this journey, we are elated to be given the chance to work hand in hand with POP MART to light up passion and bring joy to the world.

北京大学光华管理学院MBA整合实践项目

北大光华MBA整合实践项目作为全日制MBA学生必修课程，是一项具有社会公益性质的商业教育合作项目，旨在通过企业和学校联合打造的实践平台，不仅解决企业实际问题，同时提升学生管理能力。作为体验式课程，整合实践学生小组在教授的带领下，深入企业执行具体商业项目，提出改进建议和解决方案，并最终向企业提交咨询报告。每个项目都是由企业根据自身需求设计提供的真实课题，旨在解决企业当前存在的实际商业问题。

整合实践项目课题范围：为转型企业的管理问题提供战略、市场、人力资源、财务等方向的解决方案；为创业型企业或成长型企业的业务拓展提供商业计划等。