Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T04:45:19.267Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - The Executive Management Team and Organizational Change

A Routinized Transformation Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2020

Xiaobo Wu ,
Johann Peter Murmann ,
Can Huang  and
Bin Guo
By
Ziyi Zhao ,
Bin Guo  and
Xiaobo Wu
Xiaobo Wu
Affiliation:
Zhejiang University, China
Johann Peter Murmann
Affiliation:
Universität St Gallen, Switzerland
Can Huang
Affiliation:
Zhejiang University, China
Bin Guo
Affiliation:
Zhejiang University, China
Get access

Summary

The chapter discusses the crucial role that top management team played at Huawei to initiate, implement, and routinize organizational transformation. Huawei’s leadership always had a strong long-term orientation and it tried to strike a careful balance between dynamics and stability. It also relied very heavily on Western consulting firms to transfer best practice to Huawei. The chapter also documents Huawei’s constant structural transformation of the top management team since 1998 with the expansion of the firm. Huawei maintained strategic consistency by creating a new executive management team structure 2003 that relieved an overburdened CEO position through a more collective decision making process and later in 2011 by instituting a rotating CEO arrangement. A number of lessons from Huawei’s experience are identified that provide guidance for firms to facilitate organization transformation as they rise and face more global competition.

Keywords

Huawei. Management TransformationTop Management TeamTop Management ProcessesFounderRotating CEOs,
Type
Chapter
Information
The Management Transformation of Huawei
From Humble Beginnings to Global Leadership
 , pp. 71 - 109
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Alibaba. (2016). An introduction on Alibaba Partnership. Available at: www.alibabagroup.com/cn/ir/governance_9 (accessed July 30, 2016).Google Scholar
Bartunek, J., Krim, R., Necochea, R., & Humphries, M. (1999). Sensemaking, sensegiving, and leadership in strategic organizational development. Advances in Qualitative Organizational Research, 2, 37–71.Google Scholar
Hu, Y. (2016). Interviewed by Bin Guo, Ziyi Zhao via telephone, November 8.Google Scholar
Huawei. (2007). To all employees. (www.aliyun.com/zixun/content/2_6_1524095.html (accessed May 31, 2016).Google Scholar
Huawei. (2010). Annual report 2009. www.huawei.com/ucmf/public/documents/webasset/hw_092117.pdf (accessed October 28, 2019).Google Scholar
Huawei. (2011). Annual report 2010. www.huawei.com/en/about-huawei/annual-report (accessed May 30, 2016).Google Scholar
Huawei. (2012). Annual report 2011. www.huawei.com/en/about-huawei/annual-report (accessed May 30, 2016).Google Scholar
Huawei. (2014). Annual report 2013. www.huawi.com/en/press-events/annual-report/2013 (accessed October 28, 2019).Google Scholar
Huawei. (2019). Annual report 2018. www.huawei.com/en/about-huawei/annual-report (accessed April 2, 2019).Google Scholar
Liu, Z. (2013). The Gene of Shenzhen. Shenzhen: Haitian Press.Google Scholar
Lu, T. & Dang, Y. (2015). The Alibaba partnership and its construction of strategic board of directors. Tsinghua Management Review, 7, 57–60.Google Scholar
Reng, Z. (1997). Self-improvement, sharing wear and woe, and promote the progress of management. www.aiweibang.com/yuedu/117139106.html (accessed November 11, 2016).Google Scholar
Reng, Z. (1998). Do not be a flash in the pan. Available at: http://dy.qq.com/article.htm?id=20151225A00NMH00 (accessed 31 May 31, 2016).Google Scholar
Reng, Z. (2001a). The winter of Huawei. http://money.163.com/10/0625/14/ 6A1G9KH300253G87.html (accessed May 31, 2016).Google Scholar
Reng, Z. (2001b). The top priority is to survive. P&T Enterprise Management, 7.Google Scholar
Reng, Z. (2007). Letter of resignation. http://mt.sohu.com/20151214/n431255914.shtml (accessed May 31, 2016).Google Scholar
Reng, Z. (2008). Do not try to be a complete person. http://tech.hexun.com/2014-05-30/165286692.html (accessed May 31, 2016).Google Scholar
Reng, Z. (2009). Let the people who can hear the gunfire calls for the fight. www.iceo.com.cn/zazhi/2009/0412/191547.shtml (accessed June 4, 2016).Google Scholar
Reng, Z. (2010). Grey management. Business (Review), 4, 48–50.Google Scholar
Reng, Z. (2011). The river flows eastwards. http://finance.ifeng.com/news/people/20120227/5667533.shtml (accessed May 31, 2016).Google Scholar
Reng, Z. (2012). The debate on CEO rotation system under the leadership of the board of directors. Communications World, 16, 5.Google Scholar
Reng, Z. (2013). To catch up with dragon boat with the spirit of turtle. http://tech.ifeng.com/telecom/detail_2013_12/31/32631215_0.shtml (accessed June 1, 2016).Google Scholar
Tian, T. (2015). The methodology of transformation: Huawei’s philosophy and practices (transcripts). Speech on Huawei Forum, April.Google Scholar
Tian, T. & Wu, C. (2015). The Huawei Story. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.Google Scholar
Weick, K. E., Sutcliffe, K. M., & Obstfeld, D. (2005). Organizing and the process of sensemaking. Organization Science, 16(4), 409–421.Google Scholar
Wu, C. (2014). Huawei Has No Secrets. Beijing: China CITIC Press.Google Scholar
Zhang, B. (2012). How to Upgrade Organization Capability on Project Management: The Best Practice of OPM3 and Case Analysis. Beijing: Public House of Electronics Industry.Google Scholar

References

Teece, D. J. 2007. Explicating dynamic capabilities: The nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance. Strategic Management Journal, 28(13), 1319–1350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teece, D. J., Pisano, G., & Shuen, A. 1997. Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 18(7), 509–533.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×