Haier: A Case Study on How One of China’s First Global Brands Keeps Expanding

Abstract

In less than 30 years, the nearly bankrupt Qingdao Refrigerator Factory transformed itself into Haier, one of China’s first global brands. With its roots in the consumer appliance market, Haier extended its product portfolio also to the consumer electronic market. The company succeeded in transforming itself from an imitating manufacturer to one of the world’s most innovative companies. Using knowledge from several sources, Haier is able to stay up-to-date with consumers’ constantly changing needs. Furthermore, Haier is constantly developing and adjusting its business strategies to meet the demands of the changing market environments. Haier refrained from major brand acquisitions to enter developed markets at the beginning of its internationalization process. Instead of purchasing an existing domestic brand to enter international markets, Haier focused on positioning itself as a local brand in the different world markets by using local staff who would build up a market-specific brand. In order to reduce its strong dependency on its domestic market, Haier is likely to extend its global activities in the more mature markets (North America and Western Europe) in the near future.