International Journal of Cultural and Creative Industries
The Current Business Performance of the Chinese
Animation Industry: Key Structure and Emerging Themes
Zheng LIU
Zheng LIU, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China
Dr. Zheng Liu is a lecturer in the International Business School
Suzhou, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. She obtained her
PhD from the Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge with a thesis on the animation game industry. Her current
research interests include cross-culture management, suply
chains, and creative industry. Contact: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
With the popularity of IT, creative industries with digital content have become important. Among these
industries is the animation industry, which is rapidly expanding through traditional TV channels and
new media. Driven by government policy and market demand, China, the largest emerging economy,
is experiencing significant restructuring and growth in its animation industry. The aim of this paper is
to capture the business performance of the Chinese animation industry. Based on industry review and
interviews with a number of practitioners, five overarching themes are highlighted: clusters, outsourcing,
licensing, networking, and internationalization. In the near future, clusters will remain as an infrastructure
support for SMEs, whereas companies should develop strategies to upgrade towards original design and
brand development. International collaboration is an effective approach for expanding business for some
large Chinese companies. Potential research areas are proposed at the end of the paper.
Keywords: Creative industry, Chinese creative industry, Animation industry, Outsourcing, Cluster
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Volume 2 | Issue 2 | March 2015
1. INTRODUCTION OF THE CREATIVE
INDUSTRY AND ANIMATION
As IT becomes ubiquitous, creative industries
with digital content become important. China, the
largest emerging economy, is experiencing significant restructuring and growth in the animation
industry, with companies and clusters quickly
expanding across the nation and increases in
TV distribution and new media channels. The
development of the Chinese animation industry is
driven by government policy and market demand
with new features and challenges. The objective of this paper is to provide insight into this
industry from a country perspective. It aims to:
(1) review the current business performance of
Chinese animation industry, (2) identify priority
areas as emerging issues, and (3) suggest areas
for future research.
The creative industry refers to industries which
generate knowledge based on creativity. It is
related to creative cities (Landry & Bianchini,
1995), the cultural industry (Hesmondhalgh,
2002), and the creative economy (Howkins,
2002). Representative sectors include advertising, architecture, crafts, design, fashion, film,
music, performing arts, TV, and games (Howkins,
2002). Among these, the animation industry has
grown rapidly with the expansion of large firms
such as Disney, and products distributed worldwide through TV, cinema, and digital communication channels. Typical animation related products
include TV animation series, movies, consumer
products (e.g. toys, stationery, clothing) and
games (e.g. PC games, console games, internet
and mobile games).
The process of making animation movies or TV
series generally starts with conceptualization
(Figure 1). During this stage, companies, publishers, and sometimes character designers will form
a team together to generate concepts and ideas.
The actual production can be divided into three
Figure 1. Production process of animation movies/TV series
Source: Adapted from Hagiu, Khanna, Oberholzer-Gee, Egawa, and Toyama, 2006 (p. 17)
43
International Journal of Cultural and Creative Industries
phases, pre-production (e.g. play, character and
stor y-board development), mid-production/
production (2D and 3D animation), and post-production (e.g. sound). As with most labor intensive
processes, mid-production can be outsourced
to contract studios. Once completed, the final
product is distributed via TV channels, cinemas,
and DVD publishers, and further through merchandising in the form of consumer products and
theme parks.
Though the core production process is similar,
the supply chain management of animation industry varies from country to country. In Japan,
the animation industry is largely driven by the
comic industry, where best-selling comic books
are made into animations. Toy companies join the
animation conceptualization stage and share the
investment risk. In the United States and many
European countries, the animation industry is
closely related to the film industry, and character
is often well-designed before the actual movie
is conceptualized. Sample animation movies are
shown at exhibitions with the aim of attracting
investment. Merchandising includes consumer
goods and theme parks that contribute to the
diversity of the American animation industry.
In China, the comic industry is not profitable,
and most animation products are made for TV
programs. The merchandising is often left behind
in the later stages of the animation production.
The above features are shown in Figure 2, which
illustrates a highly commercialized model from
the United States, a mature supply chain in Japan,
and the early development of animation industry
in China. This figure is compiled from the Chinese
animation industry development report (2008),
with translation and interpretation by the author.
2. ANIMATION INDUSTRY IN CHINA
The first Chinese animation movie Princess Iron
Fan1 was released in 1941, marking that China
was on pace with other countries. The golden
age of the Chinese animation industry was the
1950s and 1960s, with many products (e.g. Havoc
in Heaven2) featuring traditional Chinese stories
and art styles. Since the open door policy of
the 1980s, the previous government supported
animation companies began to face the challenge
of self-funding, and turned into contract studios
for foreign firms. At the same time, overseas
products quickly occupied the Chinese market.
In 1999 the Shanghai Animation Film Studio,
previously the largest state-owned animation
company, spent RMB 21 million (US$ 3.36 million) producing the animation Lotus Lantern 3 .
This movie explored the possibility of a commer-
Figure 2. Process of animation industry from country perspective
Source: Author’s compilation from Chinese animation industry development report (2008)
1
2
44
3
Princess Iron Fan: 鐵扇公主
Havoc in Heaven: 大鬧天宮
Lotus Lantern: 寶蓮燈
Volume 2 | Issue 2 | March 2015
cialized business model for Chinese animation
industry. Though its box office income was more
than RMB 20 million (US$ 3.2 million), it did not
take any further steps towards merchandising its
characters. Since 2004, the Chinese government
began to realize the importance of maintaining
the domestic animation industry as an effective
way to preserve the national culture. A series of
policies were made to support original designs,
to establish animation featured TV channels
(2004), to waive tax for companies with original
productions (2005), to promote animation brand
development (2009), and to standardize the mobile animation industry. In 2005, the first 3D CGanimated movie Thru the Moebius Strip4 debuted.
In 2009, Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf 5 , a movie
based on a TV animation series, premiered with
a first day box office income of RMB 8 million
(US$ 1.28 million), marking the real commercial success of the Chinese animation industry
together with the development of film industry.
Despite the fact that only Flash was used in the
animation, this story attracted large audiences,
and the characters were further developed into
consumer products. Since 2010, several products
(e.g. Stories of Three Kingdom6) have been jointly
produced by Chinese and foreign firms. In 2011,
the movie Kuiba7 was produced as the first major
Chinese animation to enter the Japanese market. Figure 3 presents a timeline of the Chinese
animation industry with a summary of key companies, products, business models, technologies,
policies, and global impact.
Driven by government policy and market demands, the Chinese animation industry has witnessed huge changes in the last decade. In 2000,
the total production of animation was only 8,511
minutes national wide. In 2010, that amount increased to 220,530 minutes, growing to 261,224
minutes in 2012. By the end of 2008, there were
6,463 animation related companies and organizations in China with four animation-featured TV
stations, 34 TV stations for children, and 447
Figure 3. Timeline of the Chinese animation industry
Source: Author’s original work
4
5
6
7
Thru the Moebius Strip: 魔比斯環
Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf : 喜羊羊與灰太郎
Stories of Three Kingdoms: 三國演義
Kuiba: 魁拔
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International Journal of Cultural and Creative Industries
universities providing relevant courses. Clusters
grow as a base for SMEs to grow and resource for
large companies. There were 71 clusters/bases
with 44 authorized directly by central government offices), mainly located in Beijing, the Pearl
River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, and Hunan
province. Before 2000, the total income of Chinese animation was less than RMB 100 billion
(US$ 16 billion). In 2011, it reached RMB 621.7
billion (US$ 99.5 billion), and in 2012 increased
to RMB 759.9 billion (US$ 121.6 billion). Animation products now have a large market space in
China, due to the popularity of internet and digital media. The production capacity of the Chinese
animation industry is shown in Figure 4.
The current structure of the Chinese animation
industry is shown in Figure 5. This figure was
created by the author, and was improved based
on feedback from the inter v iewed industr y
practitioners. The focal company is similar to an
Overall Equipment Manufacture (OEM) in the
manufacturing system who designs concept and
product animation movies or games. The production component can be outsourced to specialized
studios who do graph design, animation (2D and
3D), and sound effects. Many of these companies
Figure 5. Structure of Chinese animation industry
Source: Author’s original work
46
Figure 4. Production capacity of the Chinese animation
industry (unit: minutes)
Source: Adapted from the Chinese animation industry
development report (2013)
collaborate and co-evolution in industry park
and clusters, which are supported by government
policy. The operator level is downstream of focal
developer companies, and contains TV houses,
cinemas, DVD/book publishers, the internet and
mobile platforms (including game operators), and
character manufacturers.
3. RESEARCH METHOD
To investigate the business models and challenges in the current Chinese animation industry,
a series of document reviews and interviews with
officials from companies were conducted. 38
companies including TV houses, OEM firms, outsourcing studios (both animation and game in-
Volume 2 | Issue 2 | March 2015
dustry), and industry clusters are selected for indepth studies. Semi-structured interviews (each
lasting two hours) were conducted with general
directors and marketing directors in animation
companies. The selection also covered four active areas of the animation industry in China, the
Pearl River Delta, the Yangzi River Delta, Beijing,
and Hunan province. Interview questions cover
company business models, growth strategies,
and the critical issues in operations and strategic
management. From the responses, five themes
emerged as critical factors in the current Chinese
animation industry: clusters, outsourcing, licensing, networking, and internationalization.
4. EMERGING THEME ONE: CLUSTERS
An industry cluster can be described as a geographic concentration of companies and institutions of a certain sector. In the United States, the
animation industry is closely associated with film
production in California. According to the Japan
animation industry trend report (2005), there
is a trend toward animation industry clustering
near the Suginami district and Nerima districts of
Tokyo, where companies share information and
form a complete value chain. Within China, there
are currently more than 70 animation industry
clusters with 70 to 80 per cent support from the
central and local governments. As late-comers to
this industry, most Chinese animation companies
are SMEs which require external resources and
collaboration. Therefore, clusters play an active role in firm growth by providing industry
information, technology support and training,
Table 1. Types of animation industry clusters
and communications platforms for SMEs, and by
attracting investment. Based on functional roles,
six types of animation industry clusters are observed in China (Table 1).
One of the industry clusters in this study is the
Yijing Animation Base 8 , located in Shenzhen,
which creates animation and internet games.
Wit h t he integ rat ion of reg istered member
companies (including IT, digital content, original
design companies, agency, media, and communication service platforms) and establishment of
centers (infrastructure, communication, training,
production, venture, IT capital, policy, PTP), its
core business are (Figure 6):
(1) To introduce advanced facilities overseas to
its member companies.
(2)To provide human resource training from
professional agencies.
(3) To introduce its member companies with
original products to external resources.
(4) To build up collaborative networks with local
animation and children’s TV channels
(5)To explore overseas markets by contacting
foreign sales agencies.
The member companies in this cluster benefit
from special polices on technologies, capital,
finance, and tax (e.g. discounted or free rentals of real estate, interest-free loans, Shenzhen
residence rights). At present there are 51 leading
animation companies (44 Chinese companies and
7 overseas companies) including original designers, game developers, studios, R&D companies
for applied technologies, sales agencies, financial
Type of cluster
Feature
Comprehensive
A diverse environment animation related companies
SMEs training
A platform for SMEs to share information and collaborate
Public service
A service platform providing technology and industry solutions
Leading firms
Cluster led by large firms to develop original animations
Software/tech
Cluster aiming to develop software and technology
Education
Training and education of animation professions
Source: Adapted from the Chinese animation industry development report (2008)
8
Location and example
Shanghai
Shenzhen
Wuxi
Hunan
Suzhou
Beijing, Hangzhou
This study is based on original interviews with the general director of the animation cluster and CEOs of member
companies of Yijing Animation Base ( 深圳怡景國家動漫基地 ).
47
International Journal of Cultural and Creative Industries
Infrastructure
Communication
Figure 6. Business model of the Shenzhen-based animation industry base (provided by the Yijing Animation Base)
institutions, publishers and distribution agencies, and publication and distribution companies,
forming an integrated supply chain. All firms are
encouraged to undertake original design work,
and one of them has become a well-known large
firm. In 2006, the animation production capability
was 14,000 minutes. In 2007, 26 original movies
and TV animations were produced in this cluster.
Currently it has established a training center by
collaboration with local universities. Of future
development, the director of the Yijing Animation
Base said: “There are several choices for the future. We can either continue as an industrial base
to support more SMEs, or merge into a large company with integrated supply chain, or collaborate
with media to promote our existing brands.” It is
true that though many Chinese animation clusters
face the challenges of managing their diversity, it
is important to build up supply chains internally
and extending networks using external resources
(e.g. sales agencies, TV channels).
5. EMERGING THEME TWO: OUTSOURCING
Outsourcing is a typical business model in the
animation industry due to the globalization of
48
industry and price competition. Currently many
large western companies outsource production
to countries such as China, India, and the Philippines (Tschang & Goldstein, 2004). However,
some companies such as Pixar do not outsource
(Kanna, 2005; Vemuri, 2005). This is because
Pixar is very technology oriented. In each of its
products, there is new innovation in 3D software,
character design, sound, and visual effects. Since
technology is Pixar’s key competitive advantage,
production is done in-house.
A general consideration for companies who want
international outsourcing is when and how to
outsource production to developing countries
with qualified skills. The location and partnership selection are very important. Once a partner
is selected, there are further issues in management of the outsourcing activity, communication, and control of quality, costs, and delivery.
Institutional and policy factors also inf luence
international outsourcing. Through the involvement of international outsourcing, some small
companies can also learn, growing from a pure
production studio into larger firms with design
capabilities. The Japanese company Production
Volume 2 | Issue 2 | March 2015
I.G represent s such good business practice.
Originally it produced animation for large firms,
however by upgrading designing competence, it
then developed characters and brands, outsourcing production to other studios, and exporting
production overseas. For the past 20 years 90 per
cent of Chinese animation companies have been
contract outsourcing studios. Though original
design capability is growing, in 2006 70 per cent
of firms in China still did purely overseas projects or joint production, according to the Chinese
animation industry development report (2008).
A representative company in the study, Original
Force9, is a Chinese outsourcing contract studio in
Nanjing. Established in 1999, this company is specialized in 3D art and animation production. With
240 employees, it has the capability of producing concepts, in-game 3D, special effects, Flash
games, and iPhone games for game OEMs. Since
the competition for outsourcing contract studios
is fierce, the company has implemented several
policies to continuously attract OEM clients:
(1) Developing products of high quality by adopting high-end software and training employees with updated skills.
(2) Establishing IP protection structures with
software (IP protecting database, control of
emails). This is one of the bases for building
up trust with western firms.
(3) Enhancing company competitive advantages
through development of 3D animation to CG
and concept design. Based on existing collaborative projects, it can further expand the
project range with high value added activities.
(4) Attending global conferences to form external networks.
At present the company has a long-term relationship with ten top global game firms. According to
the CEO of Original Force:
Our qualit y management , IP protection
system, and technical expertise are the core
9
10
competences in securing relationships and
establishing good reputation. As an outsourcing
studio, it is not easy to maintain long-term
relationships with OEM clients, especially large
western clients. Once they choose you, the next
time they can turn to your competitors who
can provide better quality at lower prices.
Therefore we have to continuously upgrade our
technology and managerial skills.
The company is currently planning to move towards CG concept production and original design.
6. EMERGING THEME THREE: LICENSING
When an animation brand or character becomes
successful, there is a trend to develop consumer
products through licensing. Licensing businesses
begin in western companies such as Disney
(Pragada, 2009), followed by Japan and South Korea. Children’s stationery products, foods, beverages, and clothing are the most popular licensing
sectors. Newcomers such as most Chinese animation companies, though they know that more
than two thirds of the profits from animation
come from licensing, are still in the early stages
of designing a suitable cartoon character. The
key point to most companies is how to develop
such influential characters, and introducing new
products to suit shifting customer demand. When
companies grow larger via branded characters,
they face new challenges in licensing effectively
to different sectors and locations with standardized management. Currently, management of the
brand and effective licensing are the challenges
companies face right now.
One of the earliest Chinese animation companies
focusing on character merchandising and licensing is Sunchime10. Established in 1999, it aimed to
develop animation and expand its brand across
diverse sectors. It is among the earliest Chinese
companies that realized the potential value of licensing and entered the market early. While pro-
This study is based on an original interview with the company CEO of Original Force ( 江蘇原力電腦動畫製作有限公司).
This study is based on online documents of the Sunchime ( 三辰卡通集團 ).
49
International Journal of Cultural and Creative Industries
ducing its original animation TV series Blue Cat 11
and broadcasted it on TV, it made every effort to
expand the brand. Beginning in 2002 it started
to collaborate with manufacturers, and gradually
developed more than 600 product types including drinks, stationery, and toys. However the
company was too eager to expand the business to
cover the large amounts of money necessary to
making an animated TV series. Because it collaborated with as many manufacturers as possible,
standard design styles, price standardization,
and quality management were lacking. In this
way, problems such as price competition, quality
failure, and distrust between the company and
retailers occurred. The company invested much
time and money in toy marketing, controlling and
managing retailers, and establishing a subsidiary
sales agency. Thus, less effort went into its key
competitive advantage: the design and production of animated TV programs. The decline in the
quality and creativity of its animation eventually
destroyed the image of its toy products.
The business model of this company (Figure 7)
suggests a potential business model of licensing
in animation industry that nurtures the whole
supply chain. The firm’s negative experience is
a cautionary lesson to other Chinese animation
companies in systematically managing brands,
aiming at different markets, controlling quality
and IP issues, allocating resources, and collaborating with partners effectively.
Figure 7. Licensing and character business model
Source: Author’s interpretation of the interview results
11
12
50
13
7. EMERGING THEME FOUR: NETWORKING
In the animation industry, TV houses play a
powerful role. The development of TV houses,
especially animation focused channels, requires
networking with a variety of animation related
companies. Sometimes the conceptualization of
animation is proposed by TV houses, and joint
production between TV houses and production
studios occurs. In this way a network of collaborating companies forms.
A company interviewed for this study, Kaku12 ,
is an animation specialized TV house in Beijing.
Though it has a team of 30 people for R&D and
marketing activities, the company usually proposes concept ideas, and product animation TV
series by collaborating with external companies
and studios. Through collaborative networks, the
company has expanded its business to brand protection, character merchandising, toy sales, and
theme parks, with the main focus on TV distribution and concept design.
In 2007, Kaku led a project of 100 episodes of
animation series Fuwa Olympic Travel13 by collaborating with six 2D animation companies and
one 3D animation company. It demonstrated an
effective way of coordinating different resources
in a network:
(1) In conceptualization and pre-production
stage, experts (play writing, character design) are invited.
(2) Asking two different types of studios (one
traditional hand painting, one 2D computer
drawing) to do the samples to compare their
art styles.
(3) Using the 2D computer drawing sample as
benchmark to find five other studios, four of
which collaborated with this company before,
while the fifth demonstrated good quality.
(4) To save time, mid-production began along
with pre-production, meaning that companies already started production without the
Blue Cat: 藍貓淘氣三千問
This study is based on online documents and an original interview with the general director of Kaku ( 北京卡酷傳媒有
限公司 ).
Fuwa Olympic Travel : 奧運福娃歷險記
Volume 2 | Issue 2 | March 2015
whole play being written.
(5)Frequent communication between the main
producers/directors and company producers/
directors.
(6) The production plan and timeline was totally
controlled. Computer-based technology saves
time in mid-production.
A comparison of a traditional in-house production
model with the company model by collaboration
is shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Comparison of in-house model and
collaboration model
In-house model
Conceptualization 6 months
Collaboration
model
3 months
Pre-production
N/A
- 3 months
- 2 samples
Mid-production
3-4 years
- 1 year
- 6 2D studios
- 1 3D studios
Post-production
1 month
1 month
Publish etc.
N/A
Mid-production
By running networks tightly and collaboratively
under a clear common goal, the project was completed successfully within 1.5 years. During the
interview, the general director of Kaku said:
The success of this project lies in its effective
c o l l a b o r a t i o n t e a m . We u s e a d v a n c e d
technology and information sharing system to
ensure frequent accurate communication. The
experience of leading this project can be used
for further projects, and we will consider more
collaboration projects with these team members.
8. EMERGING THEME FIVE:
INTERNATIONALIZATION
For most Chinese animation companies, how to upgrade from outsourcing studios to OEM firms, and
14
to enter overseas markets by direct export remains
a great challenge. Only a few have begun the internationalization practice through joint projects.
One successful company to go international is
Crystal C.G.14, originally established in Beijing in
1995. Its early business used advanced 3D software and developed networks with clients from
different industrial sectors such as TV houses
and construction companies. In its early stages,
the company joined several TV documentary
productions, making its 3D computing graph
technique well known. In 2008, it participated
in the digital show for the opening ceremony of
the Beijing Olympics. The high quality of its 3D
design began to attract clients from overseas.
Through continuously improving its technology
and services following international standards,
the company began its internationalization process by joining overseas projects, including the
application of multimedia technology to digital
films and 3D effect development for major events.
While actively participating in collaborative
projects, it established subsidiaries in Dubai
and Tokyo. With its experience and high quality
demonstrated in the Beijing Olympic project,
the company successfully joined the London
Olympic project. Now its London office has 50
employees with its business expanding from 3D
effect production to full animation development.
According to the company, technology is its core
competence, whereas collaboration provides the
firm with the opportunity to expand overseas.
Through series of collaborative projects, it continuously absorbed new knowledge, which lead to
further joint activities with large foreign firms.
9. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE
RESEARCH AREAS
This paper presented a picture of the animation
industry in China by describing its key products,
development trend, driving forces, and business models. From documents and reviews of
This study is based on online documents and an original interview with the art director of Crystal C.G. ( 水晶石數字科
技有限公司 ).
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International Journal of Cultural and Creative Industries
Table 3. Emerging themes in Chinese animation industry
Emerging themes
Clusters
Key success factors and research questions
(1) How to manage the diversity of companies?
(2) How to build supply chains internally?
(3) How to link internal capability with external resources?
(4) How to nurture SMEs to become large firms with original products?
Outsourcing
(5) How to develop core competences in a specialized area?
(6) How to maintain long-term relationship with OEMs?
(7) How to upgrade towards more value-added activities (e.g. design)?
Licensing
(8) How to systematically manage brands?
(9) How to control quality and IP issues?
Networking
(10) How to develop collaborative networks?
(11) How to coordinate different resources in a collaborative project?
Internationalization
(12) What are the challenges of internationalization (e.g. exporting, licensing)?
(13) How to go international through collaborative projects?
(14) How to communicate in cross-culture collaboration?
industry practices, five emerging issues were
identified and discussed, which include clusters, outsourcing, licensing, networking, and
internationalization. These issues were found to
dominate the current stage of Chinese animation
industry. In each topic, one case was provided
for a better understanding of the issue from the
business practice perspective. In the near future,
clusters will remain as a management model
and infrastructure support for Chinese animation companies, especially SMEs. An increasing
number of outsourcing companies are searching
for ways to upgrade to OEMs which can develop
branded merchandising. International collaboration has also begun among some large companies
in China.
Based on the Key Success Factors of each emerging theme, potential research topics are proposed, as shown in Table 3.
The study is based on an industry report review
and interviews with officials at animation companies. In order to implement the findings, a
large scale survey is required to determine the
most critical issues in each theme. Meanwhile,
qualitative research such as case studies can better capture and develop detailed business models
and processes.
52
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