Over the past 30 years Haier CEO Zhang Ruimin has led the company through several path-breaking business model changes, which have helped the company build a strong brand, grow both organically and through acquisitions, globalize and “get close to the customer”. Zhang is now leading the company through yet another transformation to make it what he calls an “internet-based platform company” made up of extremely responsive micro-enterprises. For the closest parallel, think of a Silicon Valley within a company. In this rare interview, he talks about his management philosophy.
Scott Anthony on Limiting the Risks of Innovation
Innovation expert Scott Anthony talks about the challenges of the ‘first mile’ where an innovation moves from an idea to reality.
Xiaomi’s Mission Impossible?
Having conquered China’s smartphone market, Xiaomi now wants to take over your living room—and the world
How CEO Zhang Ruimin Reinvented Haier – Three Times Over
Bill Fischer, author of Reinventing Giants, on how CEO Zhang Ruimin transformed Haier from a lumbering giant into the world’s largest white goods manufacturer—and a world-class brand. China has never been at the forefront of management innovation. Whenever you talk of management innovation, the companies that come to mind are GE, Procter and Gamble, Whole […]
Beyond Profits: China’s Social Entrepreneurs
A new breed of entrepreneurs takes on China’s most vexing problems
Liao Jianwen on Social Innovation
In recent years, a handful of Chinese entrepreneurs have set up companies that use legitimate business models to tackle some of the country’s most vexing problems — and also turn in a profit. As these early experiments show, social innovation — or using business models to solve social and environmental problems — requires a fundamentally […]
