Haier has topped a list of 2009’s most admirable Chinese companies in the Chinese edition of Fortune magazine’s October issue.

The semimonthly magazine commented that “The world-class company has successfully adapted itself to meet the needs of its customers, and enhanced the competitiveness of its products and services through constant innovation. This ‘most admirable company’ has always been very concerned with innovating according to the needs of its customers.”

The “Most Admirable Chinese Companies” list is launched by the joint efforts of Fortune magazine (Chinese version) and the global management consulting firm Hay Group in 2006. Haier has been included in the list in the past four years.

The Chinese version of Fortune magazine published in the same issue an article titled How can an all-round national champion step up into the world-class?, which said: “It is not an easy job to stay in the list every year, since there are nine criteria for evaluating the companies, which are: financial performance, human capital, leadership position of products and services, social responsibility and the effectiveness of global operations, etc. Those listed are all all-round champions.”

Through active exploration and the innovation through new business models, Haier has realized healthy development despite the background of world economic crisis. In 2008, its revenue amounted to 119 billion yuan; the profit growth doubled that of the revenue.

By Li Jing