China’s corporate forces underlining its economic strength – Kaiser Kuo

 

Kaiser Kuo

China veteran Kaiser Kuo examines the ten Chinese companies, which are booming in China’s economy, despite the pressure it is under. Most names might be new to the non-Chinese, but these ten are worth putting on your China watch list, if they are not yet, he writes at the World Economic Forum: CATL (宁德时代), Envision Energy (远景能源), Haier (海尔集团), Huawei (华为), JinkoSolar (晶科能源), LONGi Green Energy Technology (隆基绿能科技股份有限公司), Meituan (美团), Pop Mart (泡泡玛特), Seres Group (赛力斯), Xiaohongshu (小红书 / RedNote),

Kaiser Kuo on Haier:

Status: Public (SSE: 600690), also listed in Hong Kong

Founded: 1984 by Zhang Ruimin

Headquarters: Qingdao, Shandong province

Main Businesses: Smart appliances, IoT, home automation solutions, digital factories

Why It Matters:
The oldest company on our list, Qingdao-based Haier revolutionized Chinese entrepreneurship — famously when its CEO used a sledgehammer to destroy a defective fridge in the year of its founding. In the 40 years since, it’s grown from a white goods company known mainly for its dormitory refrigerators into a global IoT appliance leader, integrating AI across its platforms and operating micro-factories in over 20 global markets while targeting zero-carbon operations.

What You Probably Didn’t Know:
Haier spun off nearly a dozen micro-factories: small, flexible production units focused on local demand and customization. In Qingdao, one “dark factory” — so-called because there’s no need for lights in this almost fully robotic operation — produces washing machines and fridges autonomously, with no more than three human overseers.

Think of it as…
GE Appliances meets Bosch’s precision engineering, with a dash of Netflix’s AI-driven personalization and modular, user-centric flair.

Nine more at the World Economic Forum.

Kaiser Kuo is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

Are you looking for more strategic experts at the China Speakers  Bureau? Do check out this list.

How the state moves into tech – Shaun Rein

China’s booming tech sector was mainly funded by private and sometimes overseas investors. Those days might be over as the state takes over that funding, with ride-hailing company Didi as a prime example, says business analyst Shaun Rein in Pymnts.

Pymnts:

Didi’s troubles include a ban on the company from registering new users until regulators have concluded an investigation into its data security.

This is a reversal from the situation just two years ago, when Didi was viewed by investors as largely bulletproof and rival companies were starved for capital. After the regulatory investigation into Didi was announced, things changed. In one instance, China’s leading food delivery platform, Meituan, jump-started the ridesharing service it had stopped offering in 2019, according to the report.

“The government wants tech players to have state-owned money,” said Shaun Rein, founder of China Market Research Group, per the report. “Beijing was not happy about Didi trading overseas, with the backing of foreign players including SoftBank and Uber.”

Regulators have been more closely scrutinizing unfair market practices by ridesharing companies, including Didi and Meituan. One example of such unfair market practices alleges unlicensed or unregulated drivers are hired by ridesharing companies, with the risk of operation then put onto those drivers. There’s also the order regulators have given to the ridesharing companies to quit taking so much of a percentage from transactions and to better protect users’ data.

More in Pymnts.

Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your (online) meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

Are you looking for more experts on managing your China risks at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.