Haier

the speech made by the Haier CEO Zhang Ruimin is a presentation the closest to .. On August 21, the 2004 Business Conference of the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations was held in Shanghai, with hundreds of experts and scholars as well as more than 500 students from Harvard University, Cambridge University and other top universities worldwide giving speeches and participating in the discussion on problems in the course of Asian development. Among the entrepreneurs who were invited to make speech in that morning, Mr. Zhang Ruimin was the only one from a Chinese company and figure with focus. For the 20 meters of distance between the rooms for presentation and interview, Mr. Zhang was clustered around all the way by people from media and enterprises. In his speech, Mr. Zhang pointed out that Chinese companies should change going out into three steps ¨C going out, getting in and going forward. Mr. Zhang also illustrated the "three steps": What do we rely on going out? We should have differential advantage, and this differentiation means setting up reputation locally, or embodying this reputation in the name brand. How to get in and become a local company? Setting up a local factory is not enough, and we should go into the local commodity market. The most important is that going in should go into the heart of customers, and get recognition of them. No matter it is going out or getting in, the ultimate goal is going forward, which means getting completely recognized locally, and becoming a well-known local brand. The start-up story of Haier and its successful overseas strategy made the present MBA students overwhelmed with interest. Almost 300 people were crowded into the small conference room, and more than ten times of warm applause could be heard. Dave Wilson ¨C a student of Harvard University said, "I'm greatly impressed with his presentation; he knows the company's vision very well, what the overseas market is like and how to manage their company's products." A student from Boston University said to Mr. Zhang with excitement: "In all the speakers, your presentation is the closest to the practice!"