Haier Group Corporation [2] is a Chinese multinational home appliances and consumer electronics company headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong. Its Haier Smart Home Company affiliate, of which it owns 35%, designs, develops, manufactures and sells home appliances including refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, dryers, and microwave ovens under the brand names Haier, Casarte, Leader, GE Appliances, Fisher & Paykel, Aqua, Candy and Evo. Its Haier Electronics Group affiliate manufactures consumer electronics such as mobile phones, computers, and televisions. Its ThundeRobot brand, founded in 2014,[3] is focused on gaming computers and accessories. Haier Smart Home Company is ranked 407th on the Fortune 500.[4]
In 2004, Haier ranked 95th on World Brand Lab's World's Top 100 Most Influential Brands, making it the only Chinese brand on the list.[5] Haier has been one of The World's 500 Most Influential Brands by the World Brand Lab for 21 consecutive years.[6] According to Euromonitor International, Haier ranked first globally in sales volume of major appliances from 2009 to 2018.[7] In 2019, BrandZ ranked Haier as the most valuable brand in the IoT ecosystem category, with a brand value of $16.3 billion.[8][9]
Haier Group has two publicly traded affiliates that trade on three stock exchanges: Haier Smart Home (海尔智家) (sse: 600690 as well as "D-share" listing of Haier Smart Home in China Europe International Exchange of Frankfurt; ex-Qingdao Haier Co., Ltd.) and Haier Electronics Group Co., Ltd. (sehk: 1169).[10] In 1993, it listed its Qingdao Haier Refrigerator Co. subsidiary on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, raising CN¥370 million. In 2005, Haier entered the Hong Kong Stock Exchange through a "backdoor listing" by acquiring a controlling stake in a publicly listed joint venture Haier-CCT Holdings Ltd. (sehk: 1169).
History
The origins of Haier date back to a refrigerator factory built in Qingdao to supply the Chinese market in the 1920s. After the 1949 establishment of the People's Republic of China, the factory was then taken over and turned into a state-owned enterprise.
By the 1980s, the factory had a debt of over CN¥1.4 million and suffered from dilapidated infrastructure, poor management, and lack of quality controls, resulting from the planned economic system and relevant policies.[11] Production had slowed, rarely surpassing 80 refrigerators a month, and the factory was close to bankruptcy. The Qingdao government hired a young assistant city-manager, Zhang Ruimin, responsible for a number of city-owned appliance companies. Zhang was appointed the managing director of the factory in 1984.
Founding
Haier was founded as Qingdao Refrigerator Co. in 1984. With China opening up to world markets, foreign corporations began searching for partnerships in China. One of these, Germany's refrigerator company Liebherr, entered into a joint-venture
Technology
In 2015, Haier began investigating how the internet of things could be integrated into its devices.[30] The company cited by the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, which found three barriers to the adoption of smart home technology: lack of unified protocols/single point of access, passive services and the lack of complete solutions. At the time Haier's core competencies lay within the large appliance sector and not the small electronics sector. Subsequently, it partnered with the then leading IoT platform IngDan (硬蛋) owned by Cogobuy to overcome its shortcomings.[31] By utilising Cogobuy's ecosystem and supply chain, Haier was able to integrate IngDan's portfolio of components, modules, and edge voice analysis into smart appliance products.[32] Haier introduced its smart appliances across seven product lines in the major appliance industry: air, water, clothes care, security, voice control, health and information.
Company strategy
Zhang Ruimin, soon after becoming managing director in 1985, ordered his employees to destroy 76 refrigerators with sledgehammers following a customer complaint in an effort to radically change the company's culture to one that embodies quality control practices.[16][33] At the time, Chinese brands for domestically produced consumer goods were generally regarded by overseas consumer markets as being of poor quality, even when compared subjectively with foreign brands manufactured in China.[34] The cultural transformation towards quality driven manufacturing resulted in Haier becoming the first company in China to get ISO 9001 certification.[16]
Haier also has an environmental sustainable development strategy to improve the environment by conserving energy and recycling. In 2018, Haier got the "Greener China Business Award" due to its outstanding efforts to protect the environment.[35]
Controversy
In 2014, Haier was accused by German media of delivering smartphones and tablets with pre-installed malware.[38][39]
In 2024, Haier sent cease and desist letters to the open-source projects hOn and pyhOn, which developed an add-on for Home Assistant that allowed one to control appliances without Haier's 3rd-party cloud service.[40][41]
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and subsequent international sanctions, Haier faced criticism for its continued expansion in the Russian market. Haier announced plans to increase production in Naberezhnye Chelny, including facilities for refrigerators, washing machines, and televisions, along with the establishment of a fourth factory and plans to recruit developers in Russia for its proprietary OS for smart appliances.[42]
See also
- TCL Corporation
- GE Appliances
- Siemens AG
- AB Electrolux
- Airmate Electrical
- Maytag Corporation
- Samsung Electronics
- Sanyo
External links
References
- Haier Smart Home Company 2023 Annual Report^
- Jeannie Jinsheng Yi, Shawn Xian Ye. The Haier Way: The Making of a Chinese Business Leader and a Global Brand Homa & Sekey, 2003^
- ThundeRobot www.thunderobot.com, retrieved 2025-03-04^