The Presentation Of Chinese Internet Companies On Overseas Media

Since the establishment of China's first internet company in 1995,Chinese internet industry has rapidly evolved in the past two decades and become the most dynamic part of China's budding sector.Baidu Inc,Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings,collectively known as BAT,are the most representative and dominant three in the industry,all listed among the world's 10 largest internet companies by market value as of May 2016.The enhancement of the internet giants' strength and changing landscape of the sector have compelled the three giants no longer to be content with their original monopoly in search engines,ecommerce and social media and gaming respectively,but to expand in over diversified yet overlapping areas.The dynamics among the internet giants and between them and the authorities is drawing the spotlight of western media.This paper focuses on the recent coverage of China's most influential internet corporations,Baidu,Tencent and Alibaba on the well-known business news media the Financial Times,based on the framing theories and conducting an extensive content analysis of the 211 articles from 2014 to 2016,to explore the major frames adopted by the newspaper in presenting the trio and to investigate the corporate image portrayed in its coverage.Though this paper is dedicated to the most representative giants,implications drawn from the study may transcend beyond the performance and growth of the three,and to other participant's in China's booming internet sector.It aims to help China's internet companies reflect on their growth strategies and business performance,better understand the media environment they face,and further improve the image management in future expansion.The paper firstly identified major frames for each of the trio,and then investigates articles dealing with more than one company or the ecology of China's internet sector to explore a broader picture of the industry.For search.engine giant Baidu,the FT adopts three major frames:technological innovation,business scandal and cooperation&expansion;for social media and gaming titan Tencent,four frames are used:influential killer app,growth potential,expansion&competition and low-key chairman.While for ecommerce giant Alibaba,the frames are intellectual property rights violation,expansion&diversification,questionable governance and practice,and its iconic leader.The frames vary for the giants,reflecting their unique strength,business performance and growth strategy,and the frames share common grounds,as they are all involved in business expansion,characterized with acquisitions and mergers,cooperation and competition,facing the pressure of mobile shift and online to offline(020)trend.The study also evaluates the trio's corporate images presented by the FT from five aspects—business ethics,attractiveness,social responsibility,public relations and transparency:Baidu loses credit in business ethics and social responsibility where Tencent scores high;and Alibaba,positive for attractiveness and public relations among investors while negative for transparency and ethics.When examining the BAT collectively,the paper finds that the FT portrays the internet companies as a dominant and liberalizing force in China,and the cooperation and competition among the companies and dynamics between them and the government are worth consideration.The wholistic image for BAT,appears to be the combination of a vigorous explorer,a questionable power and a struggling liberator.The paper also notices the FT's highlight on a unique component of corporate image—leader of the company.Based on findings and discussions of the FT's framing and portraying of BAT,the paper further offer suggestions for companies in China's internet sector,highlighting the importance of business ethics,transparency,keen observation of trends,more efforts on social responsibility and public relation,and subtle dealing with the government.