Who is behind the screen?

Amidst the increasing losses and growing competition in the local market, leading to Oppo Mobiles' India Managing Director, Yi Wang resigning from his post, the Chinese company has announced to invest RMB 10 Billion in R&D in 2019.

In one hand, it declares to be running in loss, whereas on other hand, it is investing more and more. Industry analysts have attributed the losses to the company's huge marketing spends. The main reason behind the losses are huge spends even as returns are not coming in.

OPPO’s Founder, and CEO, Tony Chen announces a 150% year-on-year increase in its R&D and also the company would continue to increase investment on a yearly basis. With the increased R&D capital, OPPO will integrate its supply chain and build on its technical expertise to enhance the company’s technological capabilities.

Oppo's shipments for the third quarter declined 7.1% to 2.9 million in the third quarter of 2018, but was still the fourth largest brand with a market share of 2.9%, as per IDC data.

Now, the question arises why a company should invest more money on a yearly basis while it is already running in losses. Who is putting money in a company who is already amidst widening losses? Or, Is OPPO borrowing money for supporting business operations and expansion?

What do OnePlus, Oppo, and Vivo have in common? All these brands are owned by BBK Electronics having their Headquarter in China. All three brands are subsidiaries of one Chinese mega company, BBK Electronics, a decades-old-and-still-counting player in the consumer electronics game which began with making clones of the Nintendo Entertainment System, among other things. While Vivo and Oppo are wholly owned by BBK, OnePlus is technically a subsidiary of Oppo. The way they function is different.

Oppo and Vivo are very aggressive companies working in India. But in the case of OnePlus, the product is a bit superior doing well in the market, without much advertisement. That's where the quality plays a role.