France's Groupe Danone finally lost its foothold in China this fall after a two-year legal battle with local beverage maker Wahaha. Apple's iPhone logged a disappointing debut there in November. Figuring out the Chinese retail market -- which posted 5.9 trillion yuan ($867.6 billion) in total sales in the first half of this year - is far from a piece of cake for some big international corporations. But not for Kraft.

Not all ideas are created equal. The pogo-copter was a bad idea. So was New Coke, the electric fork and Gerald Ford’s “Whip Inflation Now” buttons. Ideas matter.