Reinventing Giants: How Chinese Global Competitor Haier Has Changed the Way Big Companies Transform

"Haier is right up there with Apple and Amazon." — From the Foreword by Alexander Osterwalder, lead author of Business Model Generation Praise for Reinventing Giants " Reinventing Giants took me to a different world. There is a model of leadership that has emerged in Chinese multinationals; this book has the secret." — Abhijit Bhaduri , chief learning officer, Wipro Ltd; author of Don′t Hire the Best: An Essential Guide to Hiring the Right Team "I suggest you reflect for a couple of minutes on the companies that were once world champions but today no longer exist. What happened? They were not capable of redesigning themselves to maintain the interest of customers, leadership against competitors, technological updates, global presence, or financial health. Reinventing Giants gives us an excellent set of perspectives for this type of reflection built from the authors′ wide international experiences." — Pedro Nueno , president, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) "This book challenges our most strongly held views about how the best–of–class Chinese firms compete in the global economy. Through unprecedented access to Haier′s operations, we learn that competitive advantage is not about operations and low cost; rather, it′s about fast–paced innovation and focused, customer–led organizations. A landmark book that is a must–read for anyone who is serious about competing in the ′emerging markets.′" — Bernie Jaworski , Peter F. Drucker Chair in Management and Liberal Arts, Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, Claremont Graduate University "Here is a great book for learning how to organize in order to execute a unique business model. This book not only tells the story of a Chinese company, it tells you how any company can become globally competitive." — Jay R. Galbraith , president, Galbraith Management Consultants " Reinventing Giants provides an eye–opening picture of the future of Chinese, and global, industry. Zhang Ruimin, the genius of Haier, has integrated the most advanced elements of global entrepreneurship with age–old Chinese wisdom, and the result is a constantly self–reinventing and amazingly successful enterprise, from which we can, and must, all learn." — Sidney Rittenberg , legendary participant in China′s reemergence;author, scholar, consultant (Rittenberg & Associates); subject of the movie The Revolutionary

Foreword ix Alexander Osterwalder 1. Moving a Company with the Times: What Makes Haier Unique? 1 2. The Battle field: The Home Appliance Industry in the West and China 17 3. The Story of Haier and the Evolution of Its Corporate Culture 43 4. Liberating Talent: Tapping the Entrepreneurial Spirit 81 5. Building a Corporate Culture for the Twenty–First Century 109 6. Haier as a High Performer 147 7. A True Hybrid: How to Fashion a Strategically Agile Organization 175 8. A True Disrupter: How Embracing Change Creates Value 211 Postscript: While We Were Writing . . . 227 Appendix: How ZZJYTs Work 233

Bill Fischer is a professor of innovation management at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland. Formerly he was executive president and dean of the China-Europe International Business School in Shanghai and the Dalton L. McMichael Sr. Professor of Business at the Kenan-Flagler Business School of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He writes The Ideas Business blog for Forbes.com. Umberto Lago is associate professor of Management at Bologna University in Italy. He has been, at different stages of his life (often simultaneously): a university professor, private and public manager, entrepreneur,andconsultant.He is a member of UEFA Club Financial Control Body. Fang Liu is a research associate at IMD. Her research focuses on fields such as management innovation, marketing, and global business.