The 7th lecture of Siwei Forum was held at School of Management on the morning of March 9. Mr. Zhang Ruimin, the well-known enterpriser, Board Chairman and CEO of Haier Group, was invited to deliver a speech entitled There Are No Successful Enterprises, But Enterprises of the Age.
Nearly 500 people, including teachers, students, and alumni from UCAS, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University, Chengkung Universitiy and other universities, figures from business circle and media presented at the lecture. Many people had no seats, and even the aisles were filled with audience.
the audience
Zhang Ruimin started his lecture with the following: Don’t think of the day of success when you start a business, but pursue the lifelong success. Zhang Ruimin believes that successful enterprises move with the times. The so-called successful enterprises only result from keeping pace with the times. Contrary to the idea that it is extremely difficult for traditional enterprises to transform in the age of Internet, Zhang Ruimin thinks that the difficulty lies in the choice of transformation--abandon the old first or set up the new first. Zhang Ruimin is inclined to do both at the same time.
Mr. Zhang Ruimin
Then, taking Haier Group as an example, Zhang Ruimin developed his lecture centering on three points—overturn of Internet to enterprises’ strategic thinking, evolution of enterprises’ structure under new strategies, Haier’s goal in the age of Internet.
Zhang Ruimin said, Chinese enterprises, based on the theory of Alfred Chandler, an American business historian, who attributed the prime power of modern industrial capitalism to scale and scope, are pursuing economies of scale and scope, aiming to grow big and strong. Whilst Haier believes that the prime power in the age of information technology is not scale or scope. Rather it is the platform. So-called platform refers to an ecosystem that gathers resources. It mobilizes various resources in the fastest way possible to meet personalized demands of users in the Internet Age.
In terms of management, Haier uses its innovative Win-win Model of Individual-Goal Combination, which aligns employee goals with user needs, to inject vitality and creativity into the organization by allowing employees to create value for users and themselves. Haier has transformed its organizational structure from a pyramid into an inverted pyramid and then further flattened it into a dynamic network-based organization composed of innovative ZZJYTs (self-management units). Every node in this network is driven by users rather than leaders, and opened to external resources so as to enable Haier to meet the changing needs of users.
Zhang Ruimin also talked about Haier’s goals in the Age of Internet--“Business without borders” , “Management without leadership”, “Supply chain without scale”,“Enterprises become platforms”, “Staff become innovators”, “Users individualized”. He explained the goals in details for the audience to have a better understanding.
Finally, Zhang Ruimin finished his speech in the warm applause of the audience.
Profile
Zhang Ruimin, the world renowned enterpriser, founder of Haier Group, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Haier Group, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO, is the alternative member of the 16th , 17th and 18th Central Committees of the Communist Party of China.
In 1984, Zhang Ruimin took the post as Director of Qingdao Refrigerator Factory – predecessor of Haier, thus starting the prologue of Haier’s entrepreneurship. Through 30 years of development, with his innovative entrepreneurial spirit and advanced strategic decision-making in conformity with the trend of the times, he has turned a small collectively-owned factory into a global enterprise. According to statistics from Euromonitor, Haier has been honored as the world’s largest Major Appliances brand for four consecutive years. During the BCG’s Report, Haier is in the eighth position of the Most Innovative Companies 2012 and Haier is the only Chinese company which enters the top ten rankings.
