Haier Group

Haier Group Corporation

Headquarters in Qingdao, China
Native name	海尔集团
Type	Collective enterprise
Industry	Home appliances Consumer electronics
Founded	1984; 33 years ago (1984)
Headquarters	Qingdao, China
Key people	Zhang Ruimin (Chairman and CEO) Liang Haishan (Rotating President) Zhou Yunjie (Rotating President)
Products	Major appliances Small appliances Commercial heating and cooling systems Consumer electronics
Revenue	CNY 201.6 billion (2016) USD 29.2 billion (2016)
Net income	CNY 20.3 billion (2016) USD 2.94 billion (2016)
Number of employees	90,000
Subsidiaries	GE Consumer & Industrial Fisher & Paykel Haier Electronics Group Hotpoint America Qingdao Haier
Website	www.haier.com

Haier Group Corporation is a Chinese collective multinational consumer electronics and home appliances company headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong province, China. It designs, develops, manufactures and sells products including air conditioners, mobile phones, computers, microwave ovens, washing machines, refrigerators, and televisions.

According to data released by Euromonitor, in 2014 the Haier brand had the world's largest market share in white goods, with 10.2 per cent retail volume market share. This was the 6th consecutive year in which Haier had been the market share leader for major appliances.

The origins of Haier date back long before the actual founding of the company. In the 1920s, a refrigerator factory was built in Qingdao to supply the Chinese market. After the 1949 establishment of the People's Republic of China, this factory was then taken over and turned into a state-owned enterprise.

Haier had been founded as Qingdao Refrigerator Co. in 1984. With China opening up to world markets, foreign corporations began searching for partnerships in China. One of these, Germany's refrigerator company Liebherr entered into a joint-venture contract with Qingdao Refrigerator Co., offering technology and equipment to its Chinese counterpart. Refrigerators were to be manufactured under the name of Qingdao-Liebherr (simplified Chinese: 青岛—利勃海尔; traditional Chinese: 青島-利勃海爾; pinyin: Qingdao-Libohaier). The installation of Liebherr's equipment and technology was accompanied by new quality management processes. By 1986, Qingdao Refrigerator had returned to profitability and sales growth averaged 83 percent per year. With sales of just CNY ¥3.5 million in 1984, sales rocketed to CNY ¥40.5 billion by 2000; a growth of more than 11,500 times.