December 26, 2015 witnessed the 31st Entrepreneurial Anniversary of Haier Group. As always, CEO Zhang participated in the anniversary conference together with other Haier platform leaders and micro-enterprise representatives.
During the conference, CEO Zhang made a summary speech. He reflected on Haier’s five development phases starting from 1984 up to today. He mentioned that Haier always put much emphasis on human resources no matter what phase it was in. From September 2005 on, the concept of “Combination of Individual and Goal” was proposed and had been carried on ever since. Accordingly, Haier was on its way to transform itself from a traditional enterprise serving the customers to a platform enterprise serving USERS.
CEO Zhang quoted Thucydides in his speech. He re-phrased the ancient philosopher’s words and said that three elements decide activities of human beings, namely, horror, pride and interest. In the past, the three elements were up to the senior managers of an enterprise, yet Haier’s “Combination of Individual and Goal” meant to delegate the three elements to users, thus truly solving the transition from serving customers to serving users.
CEO Zhang also quoted Bible at the end of the speech. He re-phrased a Bible sentence in Chinese that “although we are suppressed, we are not trapped; although the usual exit is gone, there is still a way out”. He explained that there were no specific ways for big enterprises to transform themselves internationally. Haier, in a way, is a pioneer. He said Haier should lead as an innovator in corporate transformations. To be or not to be would precisely describe Haier’s determination in its transformations.
