DPO
–
265-E
November
2012
Hailing a New Era: Haier
in
Japan (B)
Despite the
initial doubts that
the Japanese workers
had about joining
Haier,
over
the
next few
month
s
they
became more accustomed
to
the
new
management system. The
fir
s
t
self-
managed
units
(ZZJYTs)
that started to
opera
t
e
smoothly helped convince the remaining
employees
that
the
new
system was
w
orkabl
e
.
Similarly, whereas many sales people initially refused to sign the
new
Individual-Goal Combination
employment contract that was
based
on committing to higher
lev
e
l
s
of
performance
in
exchange
for higher
i
n
centive
s,
Du
continued
to explain
the
rationale of
th
e
contract and highlighted
the
und
e
r
l
ying
win–win
benefits.
In the end, all
salespeopl
e
accepted the terms
and
signed the
contract.
As
CEO
Zhang reviewed the
recent success
in Japan, he
was
pondering
whether H
a
ier’
s
experiences
in
Japan
would
also serve as
a
guide
for
expansion
to other
countries.
What had they
l
e
arned
that could
be applied
to
strengthening Haier’s
position in the
European
markets? And what about
developing
its
presence
in Latin
America?
Zhang knew that
the
Ja
pane
s
e
endeavor was
not an
endpoint
in its
expansion
but a
mere milestone
on
an ongoing journey to
develop
and maintain its global brand.
i
This case was prepared by Professors Carlos Sánchez-Runde, Yih-teen Lee, and Sebastian Reiche, with the assistance of
Yen-Tung Chen and Yuki Kotake, researchers, as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or
ineffective handling of an administrative situation. November 2012.
This case was written with the support of SEAT Chair of Labor Relations.