In recent years, the size of the sporting goods industry in mainland China is developing so rapidly that led many Chinese national sports brand to the market. Among them, the most representative brands, Li Ning and Anta, not only have outstanding performances in the Chinese market, but more gradually into the international sports market. But sporting goods industry as a mature market, especially under the domination of international brands such as NIKE and ADIDAS, it is very difficult for a new luxury brand to survive as a late-mover. In this research, based on New Business Model (Hamel, 2000) and Second-Mover Advantage Theory (Varadarajan et al, 1992), developing a structural model to discuss how could a new sporting goods brand succeed competing with existing brands and go international. Li Ning and Anta, two new China sproting brands, are taken as our study cases. Several important findings are as following: 1. The national character is the competitive advantage of the sporting goods company. Companies should integrate into the China element in the product, and also go to explore the spirit of China's unique culture. 2. Differentiation from competitors through brand positioning, to find their own niche markets. 3. Through continued sponsorship of international competition, the well-known players, not only can produce international visibility, and better able to establish its brand image. 4. China's overall environment provides the opportunity to develop sporting goods company. Key Words: Li Ning, Anta, Sporting Brands, Second-Mover, Competitive advantage

The purpose of this study was to establish whether co-branding could be adopted as a strategy for leveraging the favourable perceptions and attitudes of the strong constituent brand onto the co-brand, and, onto the weaker constituent brand. The study used a quantitative research methodology where the data is founded on the results from 369 surveys conducted in Johannesburg. The data was analysed using the independent t-test to accept or reject the proposed hypothesis. Using the Trust Based Commitment Model, the findings of this study show that customers’ commitment to the brand influences them to engage in more loyalty behaviours than those customers in mere functional or personal relationships with the brand. The implication of the results in this study is that the consumer’s commitment to the brand leads them to exhibit loyalty behaviours towards the brand, with the adoption of co-branded products being a possible outcome. As the study is limited to the impact of leveraging a strong sporting brand amongst the adult black male consumer segment in Johannesburg, the study cannot be used to make any inferences on the viability of adopting co-branding to leverage the strength of sporting brands amongst other consumer segments in South Africa.