That's the shortcoming of Trump's approach. So our products needed to be standardized. Particularly the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21, His ability to critically reflect on past successes and at the same time to identify the future challenges in the next decade makes Zhengfei an impactful business leader in the eyes of many Chinese. The hiring of IBM also made it possible for Huawei to learn from the West to allow introducing a more global vision. Why European Companies Should Double Down on AI Now, The Role Of Mobile Learning In The Future Of Remote Work, Connecting the Unconnected in the Automotive Industry Four Ecosystems that are Reshaping Automotive Industry Collaborations, Robot Travel Agency: A Warm and Technological Welcome, Riversoft Makes the Connection: From Travel Services to Medical Data Via NLP, Whats Next for TravelTech? Ren zhengfei invested much money and other resources on learning and putting this management system into effect. Mr. Ren Zhengfei has been capable of pioneering the development of technology while growing in the world. But there are still more than 180,000 employees working at Huawei. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Do you think that companies like yours are too powerful and need to be regulated? Ren has adopted the controlling only style which has made him successful leader. Tian Tao is codirector of Ruihua Innovative Management Research Institute at Zehjiang University. In the Qingdao headquarters of the Chinese company Haier stands a display case containing a sledgehammer. In a way obsessed by doing good for the customer, Zhengfei is relentless in communicating this purpose by means of stories to his employees and convincing them that they all should be dedicated to pursue the mission of the company: To connect people via communication.. 2023 The European Business Review | Empowering communication globally. I am just taking as a bucket of "glue". Zhengfei was very clear about this ambition and demanded that all Huawei employees would adopt the US-based way of looking at business as introduced by IBM. That's why I said he is a great president. The country wanted to reform and open its doors. When designers showed the first iPod prototype to Steve Jobs, he said it was too big. The TV channel is available in more than 415 million homes worldwide. Information that flows through the networks also belongs to our customers, not to us. So I'll let her face what she is facing. At this time, Ren Zhengfei's family was starving. Decisions were taken much slower than in the first more chaotic years of the company and fear existed that the bravery and courage underlying the companys striving for innovation would disappear. When we were negotiating with the German government about signing such an agreement, we didn't know top officials from the Chinese government were also discussing the same thing. If they have too much money, they would be obsessed with capital gains. I only wanted to keep my belly full. Also, he tries to avoid unnecessary interviews from the media and devote his time energy into working. They are buying our products in large quantities as the US government is advertising for us. If they don't, they might not buy our products. Have you thought of retiring any time soon? And he initiated an annual conference whose panels combined executives and faculty members. That creates a kind of balance. The leadership of Ren Zhengfei, however, does differ from this rather "controlling only" style in important ways. If a single backdoor was found in even one of the countries where we operate, our sales would shrink in all of them. Leadership styles. I could not keep up with the times. Arjun Kharpal: You've mentioned that she wanted to leave the company before she was arrested. company using his skills and core competencies. Make it smaller.[1] That moment of theater became part of Apples folklore, epitomizing Jobss relentless pursuit of perfection. I was naive and took it for granted that I could earn money playing with this huge industry. All rights reserved. Since China has become the second largest economy in the world, this relationship has taken new forms in the shape of several business initiatives. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. There are various types of leadership styles (Fiaz et al., 2017) 1. Otherwise, how can we make ends meet? Huawei is to a large extent no stranger to this system. When the state wanted to give me some awards for all of this, I felt ashamed. Mr. Ren: I don't know about technology, management, or finance. It will never happen. We will rush towards and focus all of our efforts on this technology. Its fighting spirit, however, made it resistant to many negative influences and today Huawei can be called the only true global Chinese company. The government would find it hard to address its deficit. This is because technology is lifeless and can be widely applied. The road to success for Huawei started in 1987 where it was founded in the economic testing zone of Shenzhen. Otherwise, they will become overweight and won't be able to move fast. So we gritted our teeth and pushed ahead. At first, we had several hundred employees focus on this point, then we had several thousand, tens of thousands, and now we have hundreds of thousands. In particular, the emergence of AI has accelerated social progress. Do you still feel Europe is open to Huawei, or could one country blocking Huawei mean that the whole union stops Huawei from participating in 5G? China has a population of 1.3 billion consumers. I'm not the one responsible for these achievements, and I shouldn't be the one receiving honors. Along the way he introduced one important innovation: the Clubcard, the UKs first supermarket loyalty card, which allowed Tesco to leapfrog Sainsburys into the number-one retail spot. As I said, this is because we have no real presence in the US market. For example, as the products of Huawei in their pioneering years were not yet well developed he visited many R&D offices abroad. When he passed away, I was on a vacation in the mountains with my family. Everything is limited. At the same time, the company acknowledged the contributions of dedicated employees by remunerating them generously. We want to sign such an agreement because we think it's the right thing to do. At that time, Ren zhengfei often told all kinds of stories to encourage its employees to imagine the splendid future and try to cast them into reality with their own hands. If they attack a country, that country will fight back. We will wait for the court to make its judgment. Also, much attention is focused on ensuring that an intellectual exchange is guaranteed within the company. Third, follow the small rules so that you can break the big ones. Everyone at GE knew what to expect from Neutron Jack Welch. No backdoors. He brought in editors from the target journals to help train the faculty on how to write more effectively for them. Because the board members were top executives, he brought one or two senior academics to each meeting to present their research, emphasizing that they needed to make it relevant to the audience. When George started as RSMs dean, in 2008, he was an outsider and a foreigner. Of course, several decades from now, that would potentially cause other side effects that we can't predict, but mitigating the side effects is better than immediate death. .. . .. .. Ren Zhengfei is successful Chinese businessman. Mr. Ren: When I was a kid, I didn't have many hobbies mainly because my family was poor. Tanks can cross a swamp, but needles can pierce hard things through. Chinas Huawei rapidly became one of the worlds most successful telecommunications equipment companies, with revenue exceeding $122 billion in 2019. Mr. Ren: There are perhaps some employees who have been intimidated by my military-style speeches, because about 160,000 employees have left Huawei. At Huawei, we often talk about the term of "Van Fleet Load", which was invented by a general of the US army. Mr. Ren: I don't know. Huawei, one of the biggest company focusing on making communication tools like cellphones, is famous all over the world. All Rights Reserved. Second, Premier Li Keqiang reiterated this point at a press conference following a recent session of the National People's Congress. He also. Will Europe understand us when they see how much effort we are putting into this? Ren possess the characteristics of Controlling leader who makes all important decisions ( Tanwar and Priyanka,2018 ). In his view, it was necessary in the second phase to wear the shoes of the Americans, and if your feet would not fit then we have to cut it. It was analog technology, analog automatic control. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. As a matter of fact, one of the strengths that people usually refer to when talking about Huaweis founder is that he is always thinking about the kind of company he wants Huawei to be in the next 10 years. Around 2008, Professor Arikan published a mathematics paper. This focus on unlimited delivery of services helped Huawei to gain the reputation that they sincerely cared about the needs of their customers, and as a result gave them a competitive advantage. Often, Zhengfei and other senior executives are also criticised on the forum. According to him, Huawei should be focused on building a company where peoples minds are the main asset and resource to rely on. It commemorates the long-ago day when CEO Zhang Ruimin pulled 76 refrigerators off the production line. Ren is the son of school teachers and grew up in a mountainous. Saying that he was great is an understatement. Smartphone was badly hit. Nothing we've achieved would give us the right to neglect any laws or overlook the technologies of any country. I majored in architecture back in school, but I studied electronics technology myself. This ability derives from his pro-active attitude. Consequently, Huawei's performance took a nosedive and employee satisfaction also sank. She's, of course, facing extradition to the U.S. How did you feel after her arrest in December? We just wanted to produce some small things that could easily be sold. We just provide the equipment used to build these networks. With an "umbrella", Apple sells at high prices and maintains high quality. At that time, China didn't accept Mendel's theories; instead, we followed Ivan Michurin's theories. We are supportive of this. We have given up on supercomputing and intermediate computing. Every year we invest more than 20 billion US dollars in it. In Huaweis early years, Zhengfei retained authority on major decisions such as corporate development strategies and culture building, but fully empowered employees when it comes to R&D, manager appointment, compensation & benefit allocation, and other areas. Meng is now in a similar situation. His company reflects these traits. We will not be affected by increased tariffs, either. On this forum, ideas are communicated frequently by senior executives and Zhengfei and feedback from all 170,000 employees is encouraged. If the US government speaks ill of Huawei, why couldn't the Chinese government speak in our favor? Huawei, one of the biggest company focusing on making communication tools like cellphones, is famous all over the world. Instead of issuing an EQ response to mollify the professor, George sent an OQ response: We all work for RSM.. High-OQ leaders stage moments of theater that will be told and retold throughout the organization. They replied that they could not make it smaller. If President Trump continues intimidating other countries and companies, and keeps randomly detaining people, who would risk investing in the US? Ren has adopted the "controlling only" style which has made him successful leader. Therefore, Zhengfei acted more like a catfish in the high-level decision-making process, who has constantly created imbalance to inspire passion across the organisation. Arjun Kharpal: One of the concerns is that these powerful technologies like artificial intelligence are being developed by a small group of very, very big technology companies. For example, in 2014, the company made a decision on bonuses, which received over 70,000 negative comments, leading to a modification of that decision. For the rest, let the organization keep doing what it does well. Rein was retired from the army, reason for his retirement was a large labor, reduction which has directly affected approx. Want to buy more than 1 copy? This can help us address the problem of how we distribute our increasing profit. He has indeed has proven that he has influence as well as insights which are, needed for formulating strategies. They don't choose certain goods just because a politician says so. The authors describe seven characteristics of Zhengfei's leadership style, including 'adaptive vision', 'humble dedication' and 'winning by cooperating'. Now we talk a lot about genetic modification, or gene editing. For example, executives are encouraged to read both specialised and non-specialised books to foster an intellectual climate. This introductory chapter offers an overview of the entire book on the management transformation of Huawei. With higher prices, we have started earning more. So this won't impact us too much. If they do, they will buy some of our products. We cannot deny the role that enthusiasm plays in the procedure. But unfortuetely he fails to, achieve military rank, due to which he was not allowed to join communist party of China for, continuing his career in Military field as, Ren Zhengfei family belongs to social background and, Ren Zhengfei was accountable for many, technological achievements. Instead, he believed it was a strength. Although this multinational company surpassed Ericsson in 2012 as the world leader in terms of sales revenue and net profit, the company is still relatively unknown to the European business audience. Avoid unnecessary interviews from the West to allow introducing a more global vision our increasing profit our. Still more than 180,000 employees working at Huawei ] that moment of theater became part of folklore. 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