Expending abroad is a response to competition within the domestic market both from
imports and local products. Haier started ‘taking the fight to the enemy’ by breaking into the
U.S. market using a combination of quality, price and local manufacturing (Bier, 2001). When
a fierce price war heated up in China among domestic manufacturers, it avoided this by
shifting domestic competition overseas through implementing a strategy of “first go out to
‘West Oceans’ (i.e. developed countries overseas), then to the ‘West Region’ (i.e. China)”.
They levered their international competence with advanced technology and management to
innovate their range of products and explore undeveloped Western China by building their
production bases countrywide.