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Zhang Ruimin

Career

Early life

Zhang Ruimin was born on January 5, 1949 to a working class family in Qingdao, Shandong; his parents were employed in a local garment factory. As a youth, Zhang was swept up in the Cultural Revolution and like many other students, he joined the Red Guards as the movement cascaded across the country. He visited Mao's birthplace and attended rallies in Beijing since all schools had been closed, and when the movement was finally disbanded, he was able to avoid being sent down to the countryside. Due to the widespread upheaval, Zhang was unable to attend college (most having been shut down); instead, he began his career in obscurity at a state-run construction company in Qingdao in 1968.

Despite his humble roots and abbreviated education, Zhang had a voracious appetite for learning, and between his shifts working at the factory, Zhang would bicycle back and forth to management courses; he also read extensively on his own. Slowly climbing up the hierarchy of the company, he was promoted to workshop supervisor and then deputy director of the company in 1980 after 12 years of hard work. In 1982, he was promoted to deputy manager of the "Household Appliance Division" of the Qingdao municipal government. In a twist of fate, Zhang was dragooned into taking over as general manager of the Qingdao Refrigerator Plant when the previous manager left. He was the fourth person to hold the position and by then the company was in deep financial trouble with more than $10 million in debts.

Qingdao Refrigerator Plant

Early in his tenure as general manager, Zhang traveled to Germany to visit the company's German partner, from whom they were purchasing technology and know-how. He quickly realized that the company had a serious problem in terms of reputation and quality; it also reflected poorly upon his country. To ingrain the concept of quality into his workers, Zhang decided to conduct a demonstration with some of the factory's product.

A customer had brought a faulty refrigerator back to the factory and showed it to Zhang. Zhang and the customer then went through his entire inventory of 400 refrigerators looking for a replacement. In the process he discovered that there was a 20 percent failure rate in his merchandise. To emphasize the importance of product quality, Zhang had the 76 dud refrigerators lined up on the factory floor. He then distributed sledgehammers to the employees and ordered them to destroy the refrigerators. The workers were hesitant; the cost of a refrigerator at the time was about 2 years worth of wages. When Zhang saw the distress his workers exhibited, some even to the point of tears, he exclaimed: "If we don't destroy these refrigerators today, what is to be shattered by the market in the future will be this enterprise!" The refrigerators were smashed to pieces; Zhang himself took part in the attack on poor product quality. One of the hammers remains on display at company headquarters as a reminder to posterity.

The benefits of Zhang's exercise soon became clear; not only did it reinforce the concept of product quality in his own workers, it also garnered the company some much needed publicity. The next year, it's refrigerators sold well in major domestic markets such as Beijing and Tianjin. Zhang also instituted many reforms that were completely novel to the state-run Chinese economy at the time. To encourage productivity, Zhang tied employee pay scales to sales of the products which they produced. He also instituted a practice whereby a mistake by an employee would require that employee to stand before his co-workers to explain his error. Another new concept that Zhang introduced was customer feedback. After noticing that sales of his company's were poor in Sichuan province, he discovered the reason to be that villagers would use the machines to wash sweet potatoes, clogging the drains in the washers. In response, Zhang had his company redesign the product to wash produce in addition to clothing.

By 1986, Qingdao Refrigerator had returned to profitability and sales growth averaged 83 percent per year. With sales of just CNY 3.5 million in 1984, sales rocketed to CNY 40.5 billion by 2000. With the success of Qingdao's refrigerator company, the municipal government asked it to take over some of the city's other ailing appliance makers. In 1988, the company assumed control of Qingdao Electroplating Company (microwaves) and in 1991 took over Qingdao Air Conditioner Plant and Qingdao Freezer.

Haier Group

Haier Building in Manhattan

In 1991, Qingdao Refrigerator was renamed Qingdao Haier Group, borrowing and transliterating the last syllable of its German partner, Firmengruppe Liebherr. Zhang Ruimin stayed on as general manager, but he concurrently enrolled himself at the University of Science and Technolog to study towards a master's degree in business administration; he graduated in 1994. He was named the chief executive officer of Haier Group (the company had dropped "Qingdao" from the name) in 1993.

Zhang began a concerted effort to expand Haier's presence abroad, beginning in Europe, where Haier already had connections thanks to its partnership with Liebherr. In 1993, the company also began shipping its products to the Middle East and Africa, and also entered South East Asia in 1996. To break into the American market dominated by the likes of GE and Whirlpool however, Zhang realized that Haier would need to elbow its way in through under-served niche markets such as wine coolers and mini-refrigerators, popular with hotels and college dormitories. The strategy worked splendidly and by the turn of the century Haier claimed up to 60 percent of the electric wine cooler market. To further increase its visibility in the United States, Zhang also had Haier open a manufacturing plant in Camden, South Carolina that produced full-sized refrigerators. Factories were also opened in Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Jordan. By 2005, revenues at Haier had surpassed $12 billion and the company employed over 30,000 people; the Financial Times recognized Zhang Ruimin as one of the "50 most respected business leaders in the world."

Politics

Zhang Ruimin joined the Communist Youth League in the 1970's, when the organization was resuscitated after being shut down during the Cultural Revolution. He went on to obtain membership in the Communist Party in 1975, a move that gave him access to valuable connections within the local government.

As a collective enterprise, Haier is technically owned by its workers under the supervision of the government. However, it is markedly different from Chinese state-owned enterprises and Zhang has asserted that he runs Haier like a private company. Nevertheless, after having successfully turned around Haier, Zhang occasionally comes under pressure from government officials to take over other struggling enterprises. Once, he agreed to take on a pharmaceutical manufacturer, despite a dearth of experience or distribution network; the merger was Less Than successful. In another instance, he was urged to take on a bicycle maker, however in this case Zhang was able to resist.

In 2002, Zhang was appointed to the 16th CPC Central Committee's alternate committee, a position that does not hold any real power or responsibility. He was reappointed to the alternate committee for the 17th CPC Central Committee in 2007.

Personal

Zhang Ruimin is married and has one son. His wife keeps a low profile and previously worked as a party secretary at a textile factory in Qingdao. His son studied business at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Zhang is known to abstain from drinking alcohol.

Honors

1997: "Entrepreneur of the Year," Asia Weekly

1999: "Global 30 Most Respected Entrepreneurs (26th)," Financial Times

2002: "Businessman of the Year (2001) in China," CCTV

2002: "Global Business Leader and an Outstanding Donor," United Way International

2004: "Asia 25 Most Influential Business Figures (6th)," Fortune Magazine

2005: "World 50 Most Respected Business Leaders (26th)," Financial Times

2009: "China's Most Powerful People," BusinessWeek

Notes

^ a b "Chinaview: People". Xinhua. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2003-05/02/content_855995.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-12. 

^ a b c "Biography of Zhang Ruimin". Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.whartonbeijing09.com/bio-zhang-r.html.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-12. 

^ a b c d e f Lynch, David J. (2003-01-02). "CEO pushes China's Haier as global brand". USA Today. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2003-05/02/content_855995.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 

^ Yi, Jeannie J.; Shawn X. Ye (2003). The Haier Way. Dumont, NJ: Homa & Sekey Books. p. 163. ISBN 1931907013. http://books.google.com/books?id=NPjbS5ZGwisC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+haier+way&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false. Retrieved 2009-12-16. 

^ a b Landler, Mark (2000-07-23). "In China, a Management Maverick Builds a Brand". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/23/business/business-in-china-a-management-maverick-builds-a-brand.html?pagewanted=1. Retrieved 2009-12-12. 

^ a b c "Career data of Zhang Ruimin". China Vitae. http://www.chinavitae.com/biography/Zhang_Ruimin/career. Retrieved 2009-12-12. 

^ Schafer, Susan (2005-07-29). "Help Wanted". Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/id/147001. Retrieved 2009-12-12. 

^ a b "Zhang Ruimin, CEO, Haier Group, China". BusinessWeek. 1999-06-14. http://www.businessweek.com/1999/99_24/b3633071.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 

^ a b c d "A Jack Welch of communists". Newsweek. 2005-05-09. http://www.newsweek.com/id/51965/page/1. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 

^ a b c "Haier Rises Through Reform and Opening Up". People's Daily. 2001-08-08. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200108/06/eng20010806_76638.html. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 

^ a b "Haier Group Corporation". Funding Universe. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Haier-Group-Corporation-Company-History.html. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 

^ "About Haier Europe". Haier. http://www.haier.com/abouthaier/HaierWorldwide/Introduction_eur.asp. Retrieved 2009-12-14. 

^ "About Haier Middle East and Africa". Haier. http://www.haier.com/abouthaier/HaierWorldwide/Introduction_ma.asp. Retrieved 2009-12-14. 

^ "Haier Announces New Expansion At Its Camden Facility". Kershaw County, South Carolina. 2007-03-08. http://www.kershawcountysc.org/content/?nid=13&cid=269. Retrieved 2009-12-14. 

^ Yi, p.172.

^ Yi, p.165.

^ "China's Most Powerful People 2009". BusinessWeek. http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/11/1113_business_stars_of_china/38.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-14. 

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