Nestle
´
: China’s Chocolate War Sideshow 151
how any of Nestle
´
’s chocolate competitors could muster a via-
ble offense against this Goliath. Its domination of China’s
wide-open chocolate market seemed inevitable.
The Bir th of Nestle
´
China
Throughout the 1980s and first half of the 1990s, Nestle
´
’s
commercial operations in China were under the supervision
of Nestle
´
Hong Kong. Its head office was established in
Beijing at the beginning of 1996, and it assumed responsibil-
ity for China’s commercial operations from Nestle
´
Hong
Kong, which now answered to the Beijing office. The new
legal entity, Nestle
´
(China) Ltd.
6
was the first management
company of its kind authorized in China, and its purpose was
to coordinate the activities of all of Nestle
´
’s various manufac- ...