On December 26, Haier celebrated its 40th anniversary with a commemorative event centered around the theme "Evolution Has Origins; The Ecology Knows No Boundaries." This gathering took place in Qingdao, marking four decades of the company’s journey

Over the past 40 years, Haier has steadfastly maintained and passed down the spirit of entrepreneurial innovation, showing resilient growth in market performance.

The conference offered a thorough summary of the achievements over the past four decades, while also outlining a clear direction for the creation of a new Haier in the future

Additionally, the event honored employees, ecological partners, founding members, and long-serving staff with special recognition awards, expressing gratitude for their contributions to Haier's innovative growth, as well as to the enduring support from society at large.

Zhang Chonghe, President of the China Light Industry Federation, observed that the history of Haier’s development over the past 40 years embodies a journey of crossing from Qingdao to the global stageIt has been a path of responsibility, global ambition, technological guidance, and self-transformation.

Three Key Points: Leading the Tide to Showcase 40 Years of Innovation Achievements

Founded in 1984, the year often regarded as the "first year of modern Chinese companies," Haier has transformed over the 40 years from a nearly bankrupt small factory into a globally recognized IoT ecological enterprise

Projections for 2024 indicate that Haier's global revenue will exceed 400 billion yuan, boasting a compound annual growth rate of 34% since inception and accumulating a profit of nearly 298.6 billion yuan.

During the conference, Liang Haishan, Vice Chairman and President of Haier Group, encapsulated Haier’s 40-year journey with three elements: a global enterprise, a world-class brand, and a globally leading management model.One Globalized Enterprise, One World-Class Brand, One Globally Leading Management Model.

As a global enterprise, Haier has for 15 consecutive years maintained the top spot in global retail sales of major home appliances.

Starting from Qingdao in 1984, Haier has spread to over 200 countries and regions in the past four decades

It ranks first in seven nations including China, the USA, Japan, Pakistan, New Zealand, and AustraliaAccording to Euromonitor International, Haier has topped the global retail volume of major home appliance brands for 15 years running.

Today, overseas revenue makes up 53% of Haier’s total salesHaier showcases not only exceptional global market reach but also a robust ability to integrate resources and manage multinational operations, playing a key role in the global supply chainCurrently, Haier has established 35 industrial parks and 163 manufacturing centers across four continents and 20 countries, including 15 industrial parks and 60 factories overseasIt has also created the world’s first lighthouse factory in the home appliance industry, with nine lighthouse factories and one sustainable lighthouse factory, leading the industry in this aspect.

In terms of technological innovation, Haier has set up 10 major research and development centers worldwide, employing 24,000 researchers and connecting with over 250,000 industry experts, spearheading and participating in the publication of 109 international standards that significantly enhance the voice of Chinese enterprises on the global stage.

A World-Class Brand: Committed to Global Self-Branding and Creating Local Brands Beloved by Global Users.

Since starting to export products in bulk in 1991, Haier has adhered to the principle of entering overseas markets with its own brand

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Currently, Haier has been named the only IoT ecological brand in the "Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable Global Brands Top 100" for six consecutive years, based on a survey conducted across 54 markets involving over 4.3 million consumers, reaffirming global users' recognition of Haier.

World-class brands should possess enduring traits and stability to grow positively across cyclesThe World Brand Lab’s "Top 500 Global Brands" is authoritative due to its long-term evaluation process and comprehensive coverage of economic and corporate growth cyclesHaier made the list for 21 consecutive years and has consistently been in the top three in China for many yearsIn the Google-Kantar joint publication of the "Top 50 Chinese Global Brands," Haier has ranked first in its industry, remaining in the top ten for eight years, serving as a vivid example of China’s transformation from "Made in China" to "Created in China," and from product exporting to brand exporting.

Haier leads the world-class brand initiative by creatively proposing a three-tier brand strategy: launching the high-end brand "Casarte," surpassing Japanese, American, and European home appliance brands in China and ranking first in high-end appliances for eight consecutive years; creating the world’s first scene brand "Three Wings Bird," which has entered over 540,000 households in China, providing more than 600 million smart living services to users every month; and introducing the ecological brand "Kaos"—the first globally to center on mass customization while integrating user participation throughout the process into the industrial internet platform, maintaining its first-place position in the national "double cross" platform for six years.

Today, the global construction of ecological brands is thriving, showcasing a new branding paradigm that emphasizes open innovation, user-demand orientation, and win-win co-creation on a worldwide scale, reflecting "Chinese wisdom."

A Globally Leading Management Model: Committed to Maximizing Human Value.

Since its introduction in 2005, the "Rhombus" model has progressively evolved over 19 years into a guiding management paradigm in the IoT era.

By breaking down internal organizational “walls,” allowing each employee to directly face users and create value, Haier has successfully transformed into a self-organizing, self-driven, and self-evolving ecological enterprise

The successful replication of the "Rhombus" model has occurred in Japan's Sanyo white goods business, New Zealand's Fisher & Paykel, General Electric in the USA, and Italy's Candy, breaking the “77 law,” which explains the high failure rate of multinational acquisitions.

From North America to Europe, and from Asia to Africa, the Rhombus model transcends enterprise and industry boundaries, demonstrating strong vitality and exceptional results across various cultural contextsIt has been replicated across 47 industries in companies like Bosch Smart Mobility in Germany, Fujitsu Western Europe, San Marino ASA, and Xina in Africa, further validating its universality.

As of now, there are 14 self-organized community centers established globally focusing on the Rhombus model, with 417,000 member enterprises in 75 countries and regions learning about the model and 82,000 enterprises practicing it.

The history of Haier Group’s 40 years is rich and colorful

It encapsulates his vision and expectations for “Colorful Haier”: The fiery red of Haier strides toward brilliance through hard work; the azure blue of Haier advances to high-end through innovation; and the green of Haier builds an ecosystem oriented toward the future.

Three Haier Models: Continuous Evolution Anchoring a World-Class Ecological Power

In the tumultuous ocean of business, companies that can navigate for 40 years are truly rare.

In the keynote speech "Evolution Has Origins; Ecology Has No Boundaries," Zhou Yunjie, Chairman and CEO of Haier Group, addressed the query of what Haier is, why it exists, and what it plans for the future with his concept of "Three Haier": the global Haier, the evolving Haier, and the ecological Haier.

The global Haier reflects the dream at the company's inception and showcases Haier's achievements over 40 years.

For the past 40 years, Haier has held the belief that “truly world-renowned brands cannot emerge when confined to domestic markets; the risks of remaining within are more profound than those of venturing out.” Thus, through the philosophy of brand creation over OEM branding, Haier bravely stepped into the worldwide market

Since 1991, Haier has aggressively tapped into international markets, initially entering developed nations like Europe and the USA to confront its strongest competitors head-to-head and later moving into developing regions such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East and AfricaBy 2016, it finally reached a balance of profits and losses in international markets.

For the aspiration of creating a world-renowned Chinese brand, Haier dedicated 25 years, swiftly reaching the average profit margin of overseas OEM operations by 2016, and after 2020, the brand's premium effect gradually surfacedToday, more than 60% of the home appliances bearing Chinese brands in overseas markets are produced by Haier.

What enables Haier to become the world’s Haier?

The evolving Haier signifies both a dynamic journey of 40 years and the rationale behind Haier’s continuous leapfrog development.

Having gone through six strategic phases, Haier firmly believes that “there are no inherently successful enterprises, only enterprises in tune with the times.” Each upgrade in its strategic phase has affirmed the successes of the previous stage while innovating itself, occasionally even denying itself in times of success for a rebirth.

As its strategy evolved, so did Haier's management style, moving from self-managed teams and daily clear-up methods, to "market-based flow reconstruction," and finally to the Rhombus model, continually exploring management paradigms suitable for its development

The Rhombus model has now expanded from 1.0 to 2.0, elevating the ecological organization from “zero boundaries” to an infinitely evolving ecological platform.

Haier stresses the importance of technological patenting, standardizing patents, and internationalizing standards, leading in product, scenario, ecological norms, and management models across the globeCurrently, Haier leads the formulation of 109 international standards, facilitating industry transformation, upgrade, and high-quality growthIn September 2021, the European Foundation for Management Development awarded Haier the first-ever certification for the Rhombus model, marking the advent of an era in which Chinese companies shifted from accepting international standards to exporting them.

From an imminent bankruptcy of a street factory to evolving into a large multinational corporation, and from traditional industry to an open ecosystem, Haier is still evolving

The new technological revolution and industrial transformation represented by artificial intelligence are reshaping the economy, society, and culture in manifold waysAmid the challenges of the new era, Haier will continue to undergo a series of strategic, organizational, and operational transformations.

The ecological Haier represents not just the company’s development direction, but also the fertile soil propelling its continuous evolution.

In the era of network economy, businesses must evolve into ecosystemsAdapting to the times, Haier actively constructs its own ecosystem where scenarios replace products and ecology revitalizes industries

Under this ecological concept, Haier pioneered the "Three Wings Bird" scene brand, connecting over 500 ecological resources to provide users with intelligent full-home solutionsConcurrently, Haier has launched new business models like food networks and clothing networks, enhancing intelligent scenario experiences for usersHaier’s biological sector employs digital technology to innovate ecosystems, such as "Blood Networks" and "Vaccine Networks," based on IoT ultra-low temperature refrigeration.

The continuous emergence of ecological products at Haier stems from the robust growth of its entrepreneurial ecosystemTo ensure every employee shares value created through user value, Haier introduced the "Maker Incentive Platform," which innovates the incentives and constraints mechanism

All system designs within the platform maintain 100% collective shareholding at the Haier Group level, ensuring the company's nature of collective ownership remains unchanged.

Currently, Haier Group boasts over 15,000 maker partners, with share allocations that are dynamicPartners who create value can participate in profit-sharing, while those who fail to create value in a given year forfeit sharing, with also the stipulations that shares cannot be inherited and are reclaimed by the company upon retirement or breach of company regulationsToday, Haier has opened its entrepreneurial platform to global entrepreneurs, drawing over a million entrepreneurs, investors, and research institutions, achieving a much higher success rate than the industry average.

In the flourishing entrepreneurial ecosystem, Haier focuses on three domains: smart living, industrial Internet, and health

Utilizing an unbounded ecological approach, Haier constructs a progression from smart appliances to smart homes to smart living ecosystems; via the "Kaos" industrial internet platform, it enables industrial innovation and development, thereby establishing an ecological network for digital economy; and through Haier Bio, Yinkang Life, and Shanghai Laishi—its three publicly listed companies—it builds a comprehensive health industry ecosystem.

Zhou Yunjie stated that the world is Haier's stage, evolution is part of its DNA, and ecology remains Haier's ultimate pursuitStanding on a new starting point today, the ecological Haier is constantly exploring, with the next ten years marking a phase of flourishing ecological growth and the challenges of innovation and competition

He emphasized the need for strategic focus to establish three world-class industrial ecosystems: creating a world-class smart living enterprise by building an intelligent interaction engine that connects users directly, and ecological partners with zero boundaries to attain ultimate efficiency and experience; advancing towards industrial AI to innovate a new intelligent interaction engine, driving creation from both supply and demand sides to forge an industrial internet ecosystem; and finally, establishing industrial ecosystems in life sciences, clinical medicine, and biotechnology to become a leading entity in China's healthcare sector.

To achieve these goals, Haier aims to build three frameworks for exceptional operations and enhance five key ecological capabilities.

Zhou Yunjie identified three frameworks for exceptional operations: first, realizing distributed leadership through self-organization; second, establishing a boundless collaborative and innovative ecosystem; and third, leveraging artificial intelligence for infinite interaction and iterative optimization.

He also outlined the strengthening of five key ecological capabilities: first, enhancing exceptional technological innovation capabilities to fuel the ecological Haier; second, building robust global operational capabilities to forge a resilient ecology; third, honing efficient digital and intelligent capabilities to support Haier’s integration into the digital ecosystem; fourth, actively practicing sustainable development concepts to ensure healthy innovation for ecological growth; and fifth, establishing widespread brand influence and an open, inclusive corporate culture to offer strategic inspiration and cohesion for ecological Haier.

Three Turning Points: Ecological Inheritance Illustrating Resilient Growth DNA

Haier's 40-year growth history is a solid chronicle of determination and steadfastness in pursuing self-organization, self-discovery, and self-evolution within its ecological journey

Three pivotal turning points have marked the remarkable journey: the rebirth point back in 1984, the new model's inception in 2005, and the new engine set to launch in 2024, leading Haier to evolve into what it stands as today.

“Without ideas, enterprises find no way forward,” remarked Zhang Ruimin, Haier's founder and honorary chairman, reflecting on the company's 40-year journey of continual evolutionThrough three pivotal points, he underscored Haier's relentless adaptation and direction at different phases throughout its history.

The rebirth point began on December 26, 1984, marking a turning point for the nearly-defunct factory's emergence, fueled by the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation, which has been deeply ingrained in Haier’s DNA since.

When Zhang Ruimin took charge of Qingdao Refrigerator Factories amid a significant financial deficit of 1.47 million yuan and lack of worker morale, the first reform he initiated was a rigorous set of factory rules including prohibiting inappropriate behavior on the shop floor

This policy manifested the determination to survive, instilling hope for the company’s revival.

In 1985, Zhang Ruimin’s decision to smash 76 defective refrigerators not only raised employee awareness about quality but also expressed Haier's unwavering commitment to qualityIt represented a reflective journey regarding the company's culture and business philosophySince then, the spirit of entrepreneurship continues to grow stronger within Haier’s core valuesZhang noted, "Rebirth signifies a continuous process, and rise implies ongoing elevationWithout the innovation driving entrepreneurship, it's impossible to endure."

The new model turning point commenced on September 20, 2005, as Haier adopted the Rhombus Model, departing from traditional management practices and marking a pivotal shift toward an ecological transformation.

Confronted with the challenges of "big company syndrome," Haier pushed back against conventional management styles and boldly implemented the Rhombus Model

This transformative approach served as a sharp tool, dismantling multiple barriers between the enterprise and its staff as well as the enterprise and its usersIt transformed traditional executors into passionate entrepreneurs, empowering them to directly address user needs, make independent decisions, and take responsibility for their own profits and lossesThrough this transformation, employee motivation was fully ignited; they no longer passively awaited tasks but actively sought to create value for users, resulting in a surge of internal innovative momentum propelling Haier towards its ecological transformation.

The establishment of the Rhombus Model represented a significant innovation in Haier’s management philosophy, symbolizing the shift from traditional manufacturing operations to platform-oriented enterprises

This model enables Haier to swiftly respond to market changes, fostering continuous innovation and sustaining the company's vitality and competitiveness while also offering a reference for global companies regarding new management models.

The new engine turning point is set to initiate in 2024, marking the convergence with IoT, contingent on the evolution of a smart interaction ecology.

Currently, the driving force of traditional product-based and platform economies has become insufficient in producing impetus in the age of artificial intelligenceThe open, integrated ecological economy is evolving into a business model met with the demands of the AI era

The Rhombus model's evolution from version 1.0 to 2.0 signifies a shift from "zero distance" to "zero boundaries."

Version 1.0 aimed at overthrowing hierarchical companies, while version 2.0 seeks to disrupt industries, evolving from internal chain contracts (self-organization) to ecological chain contracts (self-evolving organizations with no boundaries). The open and boundaryless ecology continues to introduce negative entropy, promoting spontaneous evolution within the ecological environment.

The "new engine" aspires to form an ecosystem of intelligent interactions between users and various collaborators, creating a harmonious integration

Since the launch of Rhombus 2.0 on September 20, 2024, Haier has already seen multiple successful cases of "intelligent interaction ecologies" emerge within its organization.

For instance, the "Three Wings Bird" has birthed a new engine for smart homes, connecting a plethora of resources including intelligent hardware, smart home devices, designer services, and delivery services to form a boundless collaborative ecosystem, providing users with personalized scenario-customized services while also creating added value for all stakeholders involved.

Kaos has fostered a new engine for the ecological economy, collaborating with Chery Automobile to create an industry-specific industrial internet platform that not only redefines the industry ecology but also initiates a new era of personalized automotive industry services.

Catavi could present a new engine in the automotive sector by leveraging an online platform coupled with 56 offline touchpoints to engage users, uncovering personalized demands; simultaneously, it links remanufacturing factories, component suppliers, design services, and testing facilities through this multifaceted ecological partnership, efficiently facilitating a complete cycle from collecting user requirements to implementing personalized service plans.

Haier Medical Network is creating a new engine in the healthcare sector by collaborating with key partners such as the Chinese Research Hospitals Association to construct a highly cooperative and open-interactive ecosystem effectively resolving many obstacles in the translation of scientific achievements into practical usage, thus achieving swift transitions from innovation to clinical application.

Haier's 40-year journey, enriched by profound wisdom and insights, serves as a vivid example of how Chinese enterprises can reconcile their wisdom with global endeavors