The Haier Group is one of the world’s largest whitegoods manufactures with over 50 000 employees worldwide. The group was founded as “Qingdao Refrigerator Co.” in 1984 in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China. Haier Group has become a multi-billion dollar multinational with presence in over 100 countries (The Haier Group, 2007).
Throughout the course of Haier Group’s history, the firm has pursued an aggressive globalization strategy. Over the past twenty years, the group has expanded from its origins in China to regional markets in Europe, and North America, and Southeast Asia.
The Haier Group’s internationalization efforts can be broken down into a segmented timeline which extends from the late 1980s to present.
1984-1992
During the early 1990s, Haier Group began its internationalization efforts by expanding into Europe. It chose Germany as its primary destination and, in 1990, shipped its first batch of refrigerators. A year later, in 1991, it adopted its global brand name “Haier” from a German appliance maker that supplied technology to the company in its early days (Landler, 2000). The new name, replacing “Qingdao Refrigerator Co.”, provided the group with a recognizable name which could be marketed internationally.
1992-1998
After becoming certified with the ISO 9001 certification in 1992, The Haier Group launched an initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange under “Qingdao Haier Refrigerator Co.” which raised over 370 million RNY (Reminbi). (The Haier Group , 2007) The capital raised was predominantly used to fuel further expansion into emerging markets.
Simultaneously with the IPO, The Haier Group expanded into the Middle East Market and began exporting products in OEM form to the United States in 1995. The group pla ...