Reorient Your Business or Lose Out in the Internet Era, Haier CEO Tells Corporate Leaders

- Businesses Must Radically Rethink Corporate Structure and Stakeholder Engagement, says Zhang Ruimin at Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management

BEIJING, Aug. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Businesses must radically rethink their corporate structure and relationship with key stakeholders to maintain a competitive edge, Zhang Ruimin, the chairman and CEO of Haier, today told a conference of leading management experts. Speaking at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, the largest gathering of management scholars in the world, Zhang said that successful companies must work harder than ever to stay innovative and outlined Haier's approach to this business challenge.

"No company is successful because they are inherently better than their peers - true business leaders are successful because they adapt more quickly to changing market trends and remain successful only if they deliberately structure themselves to be nimble and unconventional even as they grow bigger," said Haier CEO Zhang Ruimin. "Haier has been a global leader for more than a decade. But to ensure that we continue to lead in the internet era, over the last two years we have completed a radical redefinition of our corporate structure and culture. We define our new approach by what we call the 'Three Nos' - no internal borders separating different divisions of the company, no management hierarchy, and no limits on the scalability of our supply chain."

The Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, taking place in Orlando, Fla., this week, brings together more than 10,000 management experts and business leaders from 83 countries to discuss global trends across all management disciplines. Zhang commented, "There is no successful enterprise, but the enterprise in the era."

About Haier

Haier is the world's leading home appliance provider, with global revenues of US$25.8 billion and profit of US$1.42 billion in 2012. Renowned for its unique network-based management structure and industry-leading integrated global R&D team, Haier's mission is to create innovative home appliances that anticipate the fast-changing needs of consumers in 160 countries around the globe. Euromonitor International, a world leader in strategy research for consumer markets, has named Haier the number one global home appliance brand every year for the last four years. In 2012 the Boston Consulting Group named Haier one of the ten most innovative companies in the world.