Growth and Diversification
By 1991, Haier had become China’s leading refrigerator manufacturer. “Now we could let our
reputation precede our new products,” said Zhang. “It was time to diversify.” Haier found two
candidates: the Qingdao Air Conditioner Factory, and the Qingdao General Freezer Factory, both
stumbling due to poor management. Haier took on the debt of each firm and retained most of their
employees. Introducing a new air conditioner type at the former and Haier worker discipline at the
latter, within one year the new divisions had transformed a deficit of RMB 15 million into profits.
The newly expanded refrigerator, freezer, and air conditioner manufacturer was renamed Haier
Group in 1992. The same year Haier acquired 500 acres of Qingdao land for a new industrial park to
house corporate headquarters and the bulk of the firm’s factories and subsidiaries. The land cost
RMB 80 million and construction costs were estimated to exceed RMB 1 billion, while Haier’s 1992
profits were just RMB 51 million.
To finance such a large capital investment, Haier was counting on promised bank loans of RMB
1.6 billion, but within a month of the land purchase, the Chinese central government tightened credit
nationally in an effort to halt real estate speculation. Finding no other option, Haier turned to
China’s nascent stock market, listing 43.7% of its refrigerator division on the Shanghai Stock
Exchange in November 1993. The IPO of A shares (limited to investors from mainland China) raised
RMB 369 million. “It was the first time Haier had done such a risky thing,” recalled Zhang. “If we
had not been successful with our IPO, Haier would have disappeared. We’d never done anything like
this, and that should be the only time we do it.”
Acquisitions continued throughout the 1990s, sometimes under government pressure to take over
poorly performing firms. In 1995, the Qingdao Municipal Government pushed the nearly bankrupt
Red Star washing machine company onto Haier with the obligation to take on the firm’s employees
and RMB 132 million in debt, the equivalent of Haier’s 1993 profits. Within 18 months, however,
Haier had turned Red Star into the top-ranked washing machine manufacturer in China. Haier
added televisions and telecommunications equipment to its product mix with the 1997 acquisition of
Yellow Mountain Electronics located in Anhui province. By 1997, Haier had taken over 15 companies
in accordance with Haier’s acquisition strategy. “We buy only those firms that have markets and
good products but bad management,” Zhang said. “Then we introduce our own management and
quality control to turn them around.”