HAIER - POSITIONING OF AN ASIAN BRAND IN
SOPHISTICATED WESTERN MARKET
About Haier
Haier is the world’s 4th largest whitegoods manufacturer
and one of China’s Top 100 IT Companies
The Haier Group is China’s largest home appliance
brand and one of the world’s leading white goods
home appliance manufacturers.
Founded in 1984 with headquaters in Qingdao,
Shandong Province, China ;Chairman and CEO: Mr.
Zhang Ruimin
Manufactures home appliances in over 15,100 different
specifications under 96 categories.
Haier is the official Home Appliances Sponsor of the
Employees: Over 50,000 worldwide
Haier’s global revenue in 2005 reached RMB 103.4
billion
Average annual growth of 68% between 1984 and
2005
No. of Subsidiaries Over 240 Listed Subsidiaries on the
Hong
Kong Stock Exchange & Shanghai Stock Exchange
Business Scope: Technology research, Product
development and manufacturing, Trade, Financial
services
Haier today…
400 products each year
60 category of products
Collaboration which gives it
access to 12 technological
research institutes,48
development
centres,10advanced
laboratories,6 design centres
Problems Faced
Most critical problems facing Asian brands in
recent years is the perception of “cheap &
poor quality”
Difficult to shift perception
Haier chose this issue to fight its battles with
the commercial enemy- US where quality
begins at home
Brand Elements
Logo
Taglines
‘What the world comes home to’
Brand messages in western
Europe- ‘Haier & Higher’ , ‘Head
held High’, ‘[Link] it’
Latest: Inspired Living
Brand Positioning
Known as having an innovative
personalized & high-quality
product designs & a reliable
after sales service
Positioned itself as an
international leading brand of
chinese origin
Brand evolution:
Motives behind brand
building
Began in mid 1990’s when CEO
Zhang was dissapointed with
Chinese markets:Price
wars,shrinking profits
He felt China’s entry into WTO in
2001 was more a challenge than
opportunity due to competition
from MNC’s,critical anti-dumping
regulations & non-trade barriers
on global markets
Strategic Branding
decisions while going
international
Market first,profits second
Three phases of brand building:
seeding,rooting & harvesting
Difficult things first,easier steps
later
Balanced growth
Observe & digest-imitate-design
them independently
Focus on quality
Break in with 1 product
Niche marketing
Haier American Trading as a JV
Brand Innovation
Product Mass Customization:
Compact rerigerators in college
dormitory rooms
Sensitive to needs along with
providing aesthetic value.E.g-
Wine cooler
Quick cycle of product
development
Innovation with Brewmaster &
refrigerater with fold-out table
for students
Some Innovative Products
Wine cellars
Beer Dispensers
Beverage centres
Cellular telephones
Water dispensers
Dish Washers
Refrigerators
Freezers
Fans
Rangehoods
All have good design & space utilization to
create value
Brand distribution
Internationalization strategy
Haier’s position in FDI
overseas
Technology Strategies For Successful
Internationalization
1984 : Acquired From Liebherrcompany of Germany a New
Refrigerator Technology . This Helped Haier to be leading
refrigerator producer in China
Period
Additional Method
Operational Area
-1991
1984 Refrigerators Imported refrigerator
technology from Liebherr
1991-1995 Freezer, Air Merged Qingdao Freezer General
Conditioners & Air Conditioner Plant
1998 Knowledge Sectors Formed Technology cooperations
with many external
organizations
1996 : Became an Exporter of not only its Products but also
Technologies. Used its Improved Technological capabilities &
product diversification to extensively enter into overseas markets
by means of strategic alliances.
“Since 1990 Haier’s Product Successfully entered into Europe, North
America and large number of developed countries”
Cooperative Research Programs: Haier’s cooperative partners includes
Toshiba, Mitsubishi, ESS, Philips, Mets & Lucent. These alliances
provide Haier with information about global trends in technology
development.
R & D spending as a percentage of sales ( 1997 - 2006 )
Company 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Haier 4.8 4.3 4.4 6.2 6.2
GE 1.7 1.6 1.6 1.8 1.8
Sony 5.9 6.9 7.0 7.1 6.6
Haier’s most important technology
alliances
Year Partner Cooperative
1994 GK Design Target
Engaged in the
1997 Company
Philips(Japan
(NL) &) cooperative
Produced color
1998 Metz (Germany
C- Mold (USA) ) design
TV -sets of new
Software
products
development
1999 Toshiba (Japan) Produced MRV
2002 Sanyo (Japan) & invertors series
SAMPO (Taiwan) of
R& commercial
D
air- conditioners
The Technology development institute composed of 11
institute & Labs that aimed to develop leading
technologies for international use in 5-10 years.
Haier invested RMB 500 million to build up an
academy responsible for developing new products to
be internationally competitive.
In 2001, the State Economic & Trade Commission of
China & the Evaluation Research Centre of the
Chinese Academy of Science co-evaluated Haier’s
Technology development centre and ranked it first
among 284 state judged enterprise technology
development centres.
Brand Culture
Brand Culture of
Haier………..
Initiation program
It emphasizes team work, safety, and
importance of quality
On factory floor Haier heritage are displayed
Trip to china
It attempts to blend the best of east and the
west in employee relations
The Future?????
Future…………
Haier has plants in 13 countries and sells its
products over 160 countries
Haier brand is on TV sets, air conditioners, mobile
phones, pc peripherals, restaurant chain, haier
brothers cartoon……
Goal is to get 10% of US market for standard-
sized refrigerators
Company is learning much from Nike and Dell
If it can survive in the united states and not dilute
its brand equity too much by trying to be all
things to all people, then a global brand will
emerge
Brand Strengths
Product innovation
Speed to market of new products
Passion of its people
Niche market strategy
Strength in low-end appliances
Decentralized sales and marketing
Ability to move the manufacturing plants away
from china
Brand weaknesses
Country of origin issue
Consistency of product quality across the markets is
still a bit suspect
Haier will have to take on the giant brands in mass-
as opposed to niche-product categories
Loss of focus in US market
Most design work is still done in china
Brand Architecture
Mainly Corporate branding
Shared branding
