Brand Strategy for HUAWEI company Presented by: Eissa Alesayi Basheer Noaman Executive Summary Huawei, pronounced as “Wa-Wei”, ( China is able ) is one the fastest growing businesses today. It is also one of the top smartphone brands in the world along with the likes of Apple and Samsung. However, Huawei’s success didn’t happen overnight and has taken many years to reach its current standing. This case study deep dives into knowing about Huawei as a company, its Initial journey and international expansion strategies, Brand strategy, Brand cooperation, Brand positioning, Achievements, Worldwide presence, Challenges and Current status. •Name Huawei Investment & Holding Co. Ltd •Head office and Establishment Huawei Base, Shenzhen, 518129, China •1987. •Vision and Mission Bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world. •Headcount and global presence At the end of 2021, Huawei had over 195,000 employees working in more than 170 countries and regions , serving more than three billion people. Huawei ranked as the world’s 8th best employer in 2021 according to Forbes. •Ownership Huawei is 100% owned by 131,507 current employees and retired beneficiaries. Founder Ren Zhengfei’s investment accounts for nearly 0.84% of share capital. •Revenue and profit In 2021, Huawei’s revenue reached (US$99.9 billion). Net profit was (US$17.8 billion). In 2022 first-half, Huawei generated (US$47.31 billion) in revenue. •Main businesses The Company provide end-to-end Information and Communications Technology solutions. This includes telecom network equipment, IT products and solutions, cloud technology and services, digital power products and solutions and smart devices for telecom carriers, enterprises and consumers. •Research and innovation Every year, Huawei invests at least 10% of its sales revenue in R&D. In 2021, our total R&D expenditure amounted to (US$22.4 billion), equal to 22.4% of the company's total revenue. Huawei is the 2nd largest R&D investor worldwide according to the 2021 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard. •During the 1980s ,China's government tried to modernize the country's underdeveloped telecommunications infrastructure . •Ren Zhengfei, a former deputy director of the People's Liberation Army engineering corp, founded Huawei . •Ren hoped to build a domestic Chinese telecommunication company that could compete with foreign competitors . •The company reports that it had US$3000-4000 in registered capital at the time of its founding . •During its first several years the company's business model consisted mainly of reselling private branch exchange (PBX) switches imported from Hong Kong. •By 1990 the company had approximately 500 R&D staff dna ,began its own independent commercialization of PBX switches targeting hotels and small enterprises. • Huawei’s first major breakthrough came in 1993 ,when it launched its C&C08 program controlled telephone switch. It was by far the most powerful switch available in China at the time. • By initially deploying in small cities the company gained market share and made its way into the mainstream market. • In 1994 ,Huawei gained a key contract to build the first national telecommunications network for the People's Liberation Army of China. • Another major turning point for the company came in 1996 ,when the government adopted an explicit policy of supporting domestic telecommunications manufacturers and restricting access to foreign competitors . • In 1997 ,Huawei won its first overseas contract, providing fixed-line network products to Hong Kong company. • Huawei launched its wireless GSM-based products and eventually expanded to offer CDMA and UMTS. • In 1999 ,Huawei opened a research and development (R&D) center in Bangalore, India to develop a wide range of telecom software. • After 2000 ,Huawei increased its speed of expansion into overseas markets. • From 1998 to 2003 ,Huawei contracted with IBM. • In 2001 ,Huawei joined the International Telecommunications Union ITU . • In 2004 Huawei made a contract to build a third-generation network for Telfort, the Dutch mobile operator. It was the first such contract for the company in Europe. • In 2005 ,Huawei’s international contract orders exceeded its domestic sales for the first time. • Huawei signed a Global Framework Agreement with Vodafone. This agreement marked the first time a telecommunications equipment supplier from China . In 2005 ,Huawei also signed a contract with British Telecom (BT). • In 2008 ,Huawei embarked on its first large-scale commercial deployment of UMTS/ HSPA in North America providing TELUS's new next generation wireless network and Bell Canada with high-speed mobile access. • Huawei delivered one of the world’s first LTE/EPC commercial networks for TeliaSonera in Oslo, Norway in 2009. •Huawei has over 70,000 product and solution R&D employees, comprising more than 45 %of our total workforce worldwide. It has 16 R&D centers in countries including Germany, Sweden, USA, France, Italy, Russia, India, and China. 195,000 employees •From B2B to B2C – When willing to enter a country’s market netfo lliw iewauH ,sign contracts with government entities, to ensure their image of a reliable brand. – After several brand awareness steps Huawei finally sell their own brand of handsets directly to consumers. • Then Huawei likes to operate as a partner or a vendor for the country’s telecommunication companies –either for handsets or their network infrastructure, while studying the market and the culture of the country in the meantime. • Huawei has joint venture/ investment with– 3Com Corporation, USA 2003 – )Siemens, Germany( 2005 – )Motorola, USA( 2006 – )Telecom Venezuela( 2006 – )Symantec, USA( 2007 – )Global Marine Systems, UK( 2008 •Grameenphone Ltd. Bangladesh 2009. •As of the beginning of 2010 ,approximately 80 % of the world's top 50 telecoms companies had worked with Huawei . srentrap tnenimorP include :- – BT British Telecom, UK – Vodafone, UK – Motorola, USA – Orange, France – T-Mobile, Germany – TalkTalk, UK – Portugal, Telecom – Cox Communications, USA – Bell, Canada – Clearwire, USA • In May 2011 Huawei won a contract with Everything Everywhere. • From the very beginning Huawei leverage Word-of-Mouth marketing strategy to build their brand. But from 2013 ,they realize proper brand requires a strategy with “multiple legs ”such as advertising in different media and sponsorships. • In 2013, Huawei launched its "elbissoP ti ekaM" campaign aimed at making the connected world a reality for more people. •Huawei's award-winning Ascend-series of smartphones clearly illustrate how the company is working to change its image in the mobile handset market -from that of the low-cost alternative to one of a premium brand. • Focused on innovation and globalization, •Its work in partnering with telecom carriers around the world Since the beginning of 2014 ,Huawei has launched a series of promotional campaigns worldwide to build its ‘Make it Possible ’brand worldwide which includes sponsorship activities with leading football and other sports organizations. • La Liga, Spain • Arsenal Football Club, UK • AC Milan, Italy • Paris Saint-Germain FC, France • Borussia Dortmund, Germany • Galatasaray Sportif A.Ş,Turkey. • Atlético de Madrid, Spain • RC Bangalore, India China’s telecom giant Huawei has established successful B2B businesses in more then 170 countries and their Smartphone divisions are fast expanding. Huawei is now become the 3rd biggest Smartphone brands in the world behind Samsung and Apple. With solid technical expertise, Huawei has been steadily pushing medium-low end smart phones to the Chinese and global markets Main positioning approaches of the leading Smartphone brands in the Chinese market Marketing mix Product Strategy of Huawei The three primary business segments of Huawei include: •Carrier business •Consumer business •Enterprise business Price Strategy of Huawei Huawei has adopted a competitive pricing strategy which has helped them create a strong base of middle-class customers helping them reach millions of users. They also target the higher and lower ends with different range of products. Marketing mix Place & Distribution Strategy of Huawei Huawei is mainly in the business of selling smart devices, smartphones and telecom related products across the globe as far as its consumer business is concerned. It has its products available in more than 170 countries and uses e-commerce as the main channel for selling products globally. Promotion Strategy of Huawei Huawei uses both the channels, the digital method and the traditional method for marketing purposes. As in digital marketing, the core objective of Huawei is to use different social networks and websites which include Facebook, Twitter, Google etc. to promote their various products. The company has also partnered with several small and big organizations as a part of its marketing strategy and also uses brand influencers to promote its products across the globe. •Brand Finance, a UK based consulting firm selected Huawei among World’s Top 100 Most Valuable Brands in 2016 ,ranked 47th. • Huawei became the first Chinese company to rank in Interbrand's Top-100 Best Global Brands of 2015 ,at# 88 and 2014 ,at# 94. • Huawei was also chosen by BrandZ in 2015 for its "Global Top 100 Most Valuable Brands," ranked 16th among science and technology brands. • Huawei has been awarded enohptramS remusnoC naeporuE'2015 - 2016 'by the EISA for its latest flagship smartphone, Huawei P8 • .Huawei Ascend P7 won 2014-2015 EISA best product- consumer smartphone. • And many more awards around the globe . •A household name in Asia and increasingly in Western markets, Huawei is also rapidly becoming a market leader in Latin America and Central Asia, and a major player in Canada. • In 2015 ,Huawei achieved significant results from its focus on the pipe strategy. The company achieved sustainable growth in the carrier, enterprise, and consumer businesses . •Lack of brand name recognition outside China. It is partly countering this challenge by focusing on consumer products. • It plans to increase its enterprise business, while reducing its telecom equipment business. • They also face challenges of quality issues with their smart phones. To overcome this, it is hiring talent from other global companies such as Nokia . •Biggest challenge is how to sell its consumer products in the USA. In the US, one gets a phone along with a contract, so people only know what the cellular service provider will sell them. Huawei has not figured out how to do the marketing or retail side of it. One way of countering this challenge is bringing in more foreign expertise, especially for marketing. • Only quarters of its employees are foreigners and have no non-Chinese on its board of directors or in other senior posts. • Another big challenge is 'fear of Huawei' that it is involved in industrial & communications espionage. USA and other countries have banned all kinds of Huawei equipment from its networks. • Huawei is fighting these allegations by claiming the security concerns are unfounded & it has been caught up in a trade war between USA and China. In addition, it has offered these hostile governments with complete and unrestricted access to its software code and equipment . Huawei has been a pioneer of 5G technology in the market because of which it is in a position to sell 5G modems and related technologies. Bussiness Highlights in 2020 Conclusion Not until five years ago, consumers were aware of the brand Huawei. But today, it is one of the Top three Brands. Besides this, engaging corporate branding and marketing campaigns, effective pricing strategy, targeting the right consumer segment, and various other marketing strategies have helped the brand to become successful. However, Huawei’s major problem is the political climate that has affected its goodwill at different levels.
