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Haier marches on in int'l market
By Ju Chuanjiang (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-03-13 17:02

So far, the company has worked with more than 200 overseas producers in the home appliance design sector.

Haier has also set up sales networks in 20 African countries and regions.

The company's joint ventures in Nigeria, set up in early 2001, now produce 300,000 sets of home appliance products annually, including refrigerators and TV sets.

Another joint venture in Tunisia produces 200,000 sets of home appliance products per year.

Haier currently holds the largest share of the African home appliance market.

"We will take three steps in our global strategy. First, we should set up a large overseas production and sales network. Second, all Haier's products that meet the local market demand should move into the major sales channels. And last, the company should produce mainstream products in local markets," said Yang.

Technological Innovation

Yang said that technological innovation is the core element for the company to realize the global strategy.

"Advanced technology plays a key role for us to enter into the global market. So we have kept investing large sums of money out of sales revenues in technological innovation," the Haier president said.

According to Yang, Haier has earmarked more than 10 billion yuan between 2001 and 2005 for scientific and technological research.

The company has undertaken six national "863 technology projects", five "national torch technology projects" and 47 national key projects for research and development of new projects.

Last April, Haier developed the nation's first dryer-tumble washer, attracting large volumes of orders from overseas sales agents in Germany, Spain, France and Russia.

"We have developed a series of high-end home appliance products following large investments into technological innovation. Now we will attach more importance to the establishment of sales networks that meet high-end overseas market demands," Yang explained.

As a result, Haier is seeking more partnerships with leading international sales agents in order to build a more professional and effective global sales network, according to Yang.

Haier also signed a sponsorship project with the United States' National Basketball Association (NBA) last April, becoming the sole TV sponsor for the world's leading basketball competition.

Meanwhile, the company also launched a sponsorship project with a basketball team in Saudi Arabia and set up the Haier Rocket Basketball Team in April last year.

"Such cooperative projects with the world's leading sports entities will help boost Haier's development in the global market," Yang said.


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