Executive Summary

Haier Group is China's largest home appliance manufacturer and one of the world's fastest growing companies. It started out as a nearly bankrupt refrigerator plant in Qingdao, China, equipped with a group of low skilled and undisciplined workers, low productivity, inferior product quality and a loss making business. And the current CEO, Zhang Ruimin, first took over the company in 1984 and established corporate rules and culture, revamped business strategy and set up an incentive-based management control system. All of these transformed Haier into a global player in less than 2 decades. This case study examines the establishment of Haier's management control system and how it was adapted into the company's internationalization strategies, how it motivated employees to reach high performance goals and how it structured the business units to obtain optimal operational efficiency.

Strengths and Weakness of the company

Haier enjoy a well-known brand name and high reputation for reliable quality and first-rate customer service. Its strength also lies in its innovation in both production and management practice. Haier was ranked fourth among the global Electronic goods manufacturers in 2004. The Group successfully carried out product diversification to expand its brand beyond refrigerators, adding washing machines, air conditioners, and other items to its product line. Haier successfully conducted international expansion to go global with its own brand identity.Despite Haiers dominant role in domestic market, it comparatively lacks core competitiveness in international market, especially the high-end market.

It lags behind in capital, technology and management when compared with multinational companies such as Whirlpool Corporation.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. This case analysis studies the globalization projects of one of the most successful companies in China, Haier, and a small appliance company. The case analysis focuses on Haiers plans in the indian market to establish itself as a major brand. The case also gives information about the competition in the indian consumer appliance market and its structure, and the strategies adopted by Haier to overcome the obstacles. The problems faced by Haier in the high-end market in the indian consumer appliance industry and future prospects of the company in the indian market are also discussed. The case also provides information on the Chinese consumer appliances market .