Summary: In the 1980s, the beginning of reform and opening-up, many enterprises, including Haier, introduced advanced foreign technology and equipment in refrigerators. At that time, demand exceeded supply in the home appliance market, and many enterprises sought economies of scale, focusing on output while neglecting quality. Haier did not seek high output blindly. Instead, it was very strict with the quality of its products, and implemented comprehensive quality management. It valued the concept of “Always aiming at the top position”. When supply exceeded demand in the home appliance market, Haier won competitive advantage through superior quality.
In this phase, Haier devoted itself to the manufacturing of refrigerators and developed a set of implantable models in management, technique, talent, capital and corporate culture.
Summary: In the 1990s, the state encourages mergers and acquisitions. After merging and restructuring, some enterprises could not develop, or considered specialization rather than diversification. The creation of Haier was the merging of eighteen domestic enterprises with the thought of “Haier culture activated shocked fish”, and Haier entered into an era of vast development space in diversified business and expansion. At that time, there was fierce competition in the home appliance market and quality had become a basic requirement for consumers. Haier took the lead to provide the star service system. While home appliance manufacturers focused on price wars, Haier won competitive advantage through superior quality.In this phase, Haier began to implement the OEC (Overall Every Control and Clear) management approach, i.e., everyone shall conduct overall control of and clear every thing that needs to be done every day, with the aim to “accomplish what’s planned each day; evaluate and improve what’s accomplished each day”. This management approach also became the cornerstone of Haier’s innovation.
Summary: In the late 1990s, with China’s entry into WTO, many enterprises went abroad at the call of the state. But they found it was difficult to develop overseas, so they returned while continuing with licensing agreements. Haier thought that going abroad did not just mean earning foreign exchange. Instead, enterprises should create China’s own brands. Therefore, Haier proposed the “three steps strategy” of “Get in, Move into mainstream, Leadership”. Haier put forward the thought of “difficult first, easy later” and created a famous brand in developed countries. After the brand was established, Haier entered the markets of developing countries, and created the localization mode of “three in one”, i.e., combining design, manufacturing and sales into one.In this phase, Haier implemented “Market Chain” management. Such a management system was based on computer information systems and centered on order information flow to improve the logistics and capital flow and to rebuild the business process. This innovation management system facilitated information flow within the enterprise, and encouraged employees to align their value orientation with the needs of users.
Summary: The Internet era brings segmentation of the market, and the mode of traditional enterprises featuring “production-storing-selling” can no longer satisfy the tailored needs of users. The enterprises must shift from the enterprise-centric sale of products to the user-centric sale of services. That is, they should shift to the “demand manufacturing and delivery” mode. The Internet also brings integration of the global economy, and the relationship between internationalization and globalization is one of logical improvement. Internationalization means creating international brands with the own resources of the enterprises, while globalization means making use of global resources to create localized mainstream brands. They are quite different. Therefore, Haier consolidates the global resources in R&D, manufacturing, and marketing to create a global brand.
In this phase, the business mode created by Haier to develop consumers in the Internet era is a “Win-win Mode of Individual-Goal Combination”.
By grasping the opportunity brought by the Third Industrial Revolution, Haier adheres to its philosophy that “Successful enterprises move with the times”. It caters to the needs of personalized production and executes its networking strategy. To be specific, Haier embodies its foundation and operation on the network in two aspects, networking market and networking enterprise. In the networking market, the users and marketing system, like many others, are all depending on the network. And this trend triggers even greater changes that would definitely lead to the networking enterprise. The networking enterprise can be concluded as follows: borderless enterprise, which means that the platform team is organized by adhering to assembling and disassembling based on the goal; leaderless management, which refers to the self-promoted individual-goal; scale-free supply chain, to be specific, large-scale customization, and designing, manufacturing and distribution according to users' needs.
