3. How does the growing middle class in China help account for the high demand?

What do you think might happen if the middle class began to decline? In 2007, Robert Ravens retired and, with his wife, bought a lavender farm in Tasmania, Australia, called Bridestowe Lavender Estate. They came up with the idea of stuffing teddy bears with a mixture of dried lavender and wheat; the lavender would impart a lovely scent, and the wheat would allow the bear to stay pleasantly warm after being heated in a microwave. The Ravens called their invention “BobbieTM the Bridestowe Bear” and sold the cute purple bears at a high price, using the premium item to drive tourism to their farm.

Their retirement was turned upside down, however, when several popular Chinese celebrities took a liking to Bobbie Bear and promoted it on popular social media sites.

Demand exploded. The Ravens went from selling 3,500 bears in 2011 to 40,000 in 2015. Despite raising the bear’s price several times, demand was so high that they temporarily had to halt online shopping. The global economy has thus unexpectedly provided the Ravens with a dream market position and customer base. It also raised visits to their farm from 23,000 in 2007 to 65,000.16