Haier
Haier globalization strategy
Encouraged by government to create international brands has built a reputation at home for quality, innovation, and customer service
Haier tries to replicate its domestic success overseas, it faces enormous challenges—everything from learning the preferences of new customers to managing its growing foreign operations
In the United States, it has established a beachhead by selling niche products under the Haier brand name through The Home Depot, Sears, and Wal-Mart, but its biggest test will come when it tries to sell more mainstream home appliances. Our purpose in exporting is to establish a brand reputation overseas
Many other Chinese exporters set up in easier markets first, Haier targets most difficult markets first, then other markets are easier to enter
Started exporting to US in 1990,
Many Chinese companies only do OEM work, Haier has higher sales, brand recoginition
Zhang Ruimin: All success relies on one thing in overseas markets—creating a localized brand name. We have to make Americans feel that Haier is a localized US brand instead of an imported Chinese brand. The same goes for the European market.
We have been successful in China because we are focused on meeting customer needs. We are organized to understand what customers want and to meet those needs, which are sometimes quite differentiated. We are following the same strategy in Western markets.
, Haier sells its products in 160 countries and owns 13 factories outside China, including a refrigerator plant in the United States
. Haier’s executives believe that they can extend its strong domestic brand reputation into the West by introducing innovative products for niche consumer markets and then expanding into bigger ones—a strategy that would enable the company to enjoy the higher margins that come with brand sales instead of slugging it out as a low-cost supplier to Western companies stiffer competition at home from new Chinese entrants and foreign
Encouraged by government to create international brands has built a reputation at home for quality, innovation, and customer service
Haier tries to replicate its domestic success overseas, it faces enormous challenges—everything from learning the preferences of new customers to managing its growing foreign operations
In the United States, it has established a beachhead by selling niche products under the Haier brand name through The Home Depot, Sears, and Wal-Mart, but its biggest test will come when it tries to sell more mainstream home appliances. Our purpose in exporting is to establish a brand reputation overseas
Many other Chinese exporters set up in easier markets first, Haier targets most difficult markets first, then other markets are easier to enter
Started exporting to US in 1990,
Many Chinese companies only do OEM work, Haier has higher sales, brand recoginition
Zhang Ruimin: All success relies on one thing in overseas markets—creating a localized brand name. We have to make Americans feel that Haier is a localized US brand instead of an imported Chinese brand. The same goes for the European market.
We have been successful in China because we are focused on meeting customer needs. We are organized to understand what customers want and to meet those needs, which are sometimes quite differentiated. We are following the same strategy in Western markets.
, Haier sells its products in 160 countries and owns 13 factories outside China, including a refrigerator plant in the United States
. Haier’s executives believe that they can extend its strong domestic brand reputation into the West by introducing innovative products for niche consumer markets and then expanding into bigger ones—a strategy that would enable the company to enjoy the higher margins that come with brand sales instead of slugging it out as a low-cost supplier to Western companies stiffer competition at home from new Chinese entrants and foreign