(Yicai) Sept. 17 -- The Council for Global Brand Building was officially initiated during the World Trade Organization's Public Forum in Geneva, aiming to address the challenges faced by Chinese companies going global.

The CGBB was announced by global business and communications consultancy iMpact’s founder and Chief Executive Officer Chris Pereira yesterday. It brings together companies, universities, media organizations, professional service providers, and independent experts to answer a single question: how do capable, well-resourced Chinese brands earn lasting credibility when going global?

China’s outbound direct investment rose 8.1 percent to USD86.5 billion in the first half of the year from a year earlier, despite cross-border acquisitions having grown more selective amid heightened geopolitical uncertainties, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Commerce.

Innovation is global, but trust is local, Pereira said about the main issue troubling Chinese companies going global. They now foray into foreign markets with mature products, technologies, and supply chains, yet strong capabilities do not automatically translate into recognition, and recognition does not automatically translate into trust, he explained.

Trust remains a fundamentally local currency that has to be earned market by market through policy environment, industry partnerships, and people-to-people exchange, Pereira noted.

Broader industry conversation on this topic has been fragmented, scattered across corporate experience, academic papers, media commentary, and consulting methodologies, without a shared venue for different parties to compare notes and build on each other’s work, the organizers of CGBB said, adding that the council was founded exactly to fill this ecosystem gap.

Leadership and Founding Partner

Pereira will chair the CGBB, and Tang Weijing, partner and head of the iMpact Academy, will serve as secretary-general. Wang Xiao, a dual-PhD holder who directs executive education at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, joined the council as founding advisor.

Leading Chinese financial media outlet Yicai has come on board as CGBB's founding strategic partner. Its English-language platform Yicai Global will provide coverage and analysis for the council's research, while its Yicai Research Institute will contribute research expertise and analytical support to CGBB studies and reports.

The CGBB’s initial expert committee draws from branding, academia, law, and cross-border commerce, with members including Bruce Zou, senior researcher at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Wang Bei, associate professor at the University of International Business and Economics, Yu Jian, director of the Yicai Research Institute, Michael Low, founder and director of SENSE Collective, and Sun Yanhua, partner of Grandall Law Firm.

CGBB is now accepting applications from companies, institutions, and individual experts. Members of the expert committee are selected by invitation.

Credibility Index as First CGBB Project

As its first project, the CGBB launched the Global Credibility Index, an evaluation framework under development with academic institutions, media think tanks, companies, and outside experts.

The Global Credibility Index is designed to cover consumer perception, media reputation, branding, partner relationships, regulatory and social responsibility performance, and crisis and risk management. It will also address how artificial intelligence is reshaping brand credibility.

The index will track how Chinese brands are performing on trust in international markets and give companies a benchmark for identifying their own shortcomings.

Editor: Futura Costaglione